photos of my peregrination to india.

it is extremely hot in May, up to 45 or even 48 degree .i have never been through a day with a temperature lower than 40.

and it is very dirty, people are generally rude with sort of a crime vibe. cities not that noisy as i expect them to be .

i traveled nonstop by train , everyday covering 300-500km, i have snapped more than 3000 photos, enjoy !

hong kong metro , en route to the airport.

hong kong airport , viewing out from the lounge

onboard the sri lanka flight , need to transfer in colombo

indian visa and entry stamp,from kolkota airport custom

extra food requested by me, just too hungry because i missed my lunch in order to catch the flight.

spicey srilanka-style hamburger.

flight meal, pretty hot. guess all was starchy rice, cured in different shape.

layover in sri lanka airport, overnight , just decided to get a visa on arrival when i came back , but this time i spent in the lounge , too tired to budge

first photo in india, people waiting for shuttle bus outside the airport.

metro connected to the airport was still under construction.

i asked some indian for direction, they just ignored me while some of them pointed out there was no metro and even there was, it was not going to the train station where i decided to start me big journey

40 rupee, 200 naira, to the railway station, which was at the other side of kolkota , and this bus took me one hour to there . what a bus trip ! it cruised the whole kolkota, i saw lots of things , vibrant scenes.

I'm traveling with you pictorially

roadside vendor selling cucumbers, slathered with some mustard or maybe curry. i prefer the mustard ones.

crossing the huge steel bridge to the other side of the river. it was said that the bridge was not allowed to be taken a photo of, but this rule was not enforced, at least not on those sitting in a passing-by bus

howrah railway station viewed from afar. it was one of the three giant stations in kolkota, a city of 8 million people.

first day trip, from kolkota to bhubaneswar. 155 rupee , 750 naira , for 440km, so cheap !

it was for the cheapest non-reserved tickets. but i just hopped on the higher class cabins, say, the hard seat, the sleeper, anyway, there were usually many vacant seats in these cabins (because you need to book weeks ago, which was not possible for many travelers, let alone an improvised one, like me), and i just paid for the gap money if i was asked to.

the sellers on the road outside the train station. food with dubious hygienity.

Awon ti igbesa, well done. Watch what you eat out there o.

interior of the compartment. it was so hell-like. dirty, hot, stuffy, dark, noisy, dangerous, people were hostile, facilities were old and shabby, everything was flaking off and rickety, toilet was stinking and virulent.

yeah, this was why i came to india. just for a real adventure.

snack on the train, very cheap, 20 rupee, 60 naira, but very doughy, and untasteful. called samosa. just never gonna eat them.

igbesachick:
first day trip, from kolkota to bhubaneswar. 155 rupee , 750 naira , for 440km, so cheap !

it was for the cheapest non-reserved tickets. but i just hopped on the higher class cabins, say, the hard seat, the sleeper, anyway, there were usually many vacant seats in these cabins (because you need to book weeks ago, which was not possible for many travelers, let alone an improvised one, like me), and i just paid for the gap money if i was asked to.

In Nigeria dis would be like 8 to 9k

India...one of the countries i don't wish to visit, enjoy your trip

Did you stay in a hotel or...

I heard cities like New Delhi and Mumbai are very beautiful

Stephenmoka4:
Did you stay in a hotel or...

in very low-budget guest house, i will mention this later

Papanwamaikpe:
I heard cities like New Delhi and Mumbai are very beautiful

i will cover these cities too, but later

dusk was coming, but still three hours to my today's destination.

usually i would sit 8 to 12 hours everyday in the train , which ran 60 km/hour . not very slow, but not bullet train. so, i would arrive each town VERY late. once i arrived in a city at 2 o'clock morning.

food trolley at the platform. but i did not like indian food. so, i seldom bought any. i would buy food after i reached any town and settled myself in a guest house .. they served food to very late.

power socket in the cabin. but the voltage was 110v, which means my phone would last 1 day instead its usual time 2 days.

igbesachick:


in very low-budget guest house, i will mention this later

I Wonder how the Indians would react around you in such a place

lush crop fields, typical rural scene. very relaxing views.

Stephenmoka4:
I Wonder how the Indians would react around you in such a place

some welcomed me, even beckoned me to come inside to have a look, some refused me by saying there is no room available.

in southwest india, where racism was most rampant, i chanced to be told ALL rooms already taken by others. 20 hotels/gusthouses in 2 cities refused me. very impressive !

in kochi, i had to reveal my passport and ask the railway policemen to help me to solve the problem. they phoned a hostel and finally put me in.

next day, full of anger, i deliberately went back to EACH hotel which had rejected me , and asked again. surprisingly , they rejected me again, and said all rooms taken. how can that be possible ? at 7am all rooms taken?

i told one owner of the hotels, i said he was lying. he was furious and hard to resist to beat me.


but, some other indians were nice. it is a big country, anything could happen. be open minded.

first day's final destination. a provincial capital city .

arrived very late. maybe 10 pm.

i was afraid to go out of the train station. because in the train, two riffraff acosted me, leered at me, and even asked me where i would sleep that night. i shunned them and sit around some educated-looking guys, who promised to escort me out of the station.

just a false alarm. first day nervousness.