On the train to Agra.

We lay around the room for a long time, not really wanting to go anywhere. Had this tasty rum and mango juice concoction Swaffy made up, though the rum was pretty awful on its own. We went to dinner, I got mutton biryani (rice) which was tasty, though I'm still not great with spicy. They also gave us raddishes with lime to squeeze over, which was good. Nate took me to this crazy little beer and wine store (we passed people carving statues on the way, wish I had had my camera, so cool), you go in and there's just a counter and a dozen or more men all trying to shove their way to the front, hopefully get the attention of the man working there, who's also on his cell phone, and buy whatever you need to buy. I picked up a 22 of a Kingfisher, local beer. Went back to the room, relaxed, laid around, Zypy and Nate went to get Zypy's charger. David and Sigrid stopped by at one point because we had no idea where we're staying in Agra, I had Denny's yellow folder which also didn't have any information, we weren't exactly sure how many nights, it was all very worrisome. Funny in its way, but worrisome. Well, it turns out later that Nate knew, but was out as already mentioned, so that took care of that. I drank my Kingfisher – pretty good, waited for Nate and Zypy to get back (they finally did around 9:30 or 10) and crashed, alarm set for 4 to get up. Well, Mikey wakes us all up saying it's already 4:40 (we were to meet at 4:45) and that we need to go, we all check our clocks and say no, Mike, it's 3:40. It was, in fact, 3:40. I set my alarm back to 4:15, we slept 'til then, got ready, headed down.

Oh, forgot to mention, the night before Mike had bought something called Daadi ki karahi. Kind of like crackers with lots of spices? Very good.

So we headed down, returned some things that had been left in our room, I argued with the front desk about whether or not we had taken water from the minibar, ended up paying even though I'm pretty sure no one drank it (it was less than $1, meh), and headed out in small groups. The walk to the railway station was fairly uneventful, some traffic but not as bad as the day, same fairly awful smells, less people bothering us – we looked more determined, it was earlier. Got there, waited for David and Sigrid who took a cab, waited for our train (we got there around 5:15, train left 6:15), eventually got on the train, and here we are. They served us... something? It was pretty good. Also free water, which I was suspicious of, but which appears to be actually free. Also, the newspaper reports that an American school banned the dictionary after a student was looking up “adult words” in it. Seriously, America? Seriously? If anyone reading this blog knows anything about that, let me know, would you please?

The train ride is pretty pleasant, less bumpy, I think, than Thailand. Lots of fields we're going through, lots of talking with David and Sigrid which is always fun.

Everyone on the trip is a little on edge, nerves are getting frayed, we're getting irritated with each other. The stress of Delhi didn't help. From what I've heard, India wears on people in general, according to Denny it's the most demanding leg of the trip. Hopefully none of us will kill each other before we're through.

PS, 8:20: Oh, and by the way. Trash? Trash everywhere. Street, houses, alongside the rails, under the rails, everywhere. We just passed a small village and the effect was... a bit stunning. It really is just thrown around, no effort. Also, monkeys, pigs, goats? Yeah, all in the towns. Awesome thing though, is ox-drawn carts next to buses to tuktuks. Seems anachronistic to us, totally natural in Delhi (that was yesterday I saw that, and this morning before we left.) In other general notes, houses crumble, walls fall, roofs are sometimes nonexistent... scaffolding and temporary housing everywhere... yeah, it's like you hear and see in media, but it's something to see it in person as we pass through these areas.

Another general note I forgot to put down in Thailand: Especially in Narita Airport, but elsewhere as well, you really do see people wearing those little facemasks. Mostly East Asian tourists. Another media stereotype that's turned out to be true. It's not everyone by any means, but it's certainly present a lot of different places.

Wednesday, Feburary 3rd, roughly 8:05-8:15 AM local time