5 days and counting…

The frantic last-minute preparations are in full swing, with my planned date for departure is looming on Tuesday 29th June. By frantic preparations I mean lots of cups of tea and me tapping away on a laptop all day. Here are some up-to-the-minute updates:

1. I returned yesterday from a weekend jaunt to a the ex-British hill station of Shimla. It was all I had hoped for – a classic Victorian seaside town but built up in the clouds of the Himalayan foothills. Highlights include afternoon tea and skittles at the former residence of Lord Kitchener (now a swanky hotel),  Sunday morning church, monkey baiting, and of course the stunning toy train ride back down the hills, complete with breath-taking sunset.

The trip has given me a good dose of the British-Raj legacy, more of which I hope to discover on my railway escapade.

2. I’ve decided to beef myself up a bit as I’m foreseeing a certain Delhi-belly induced weight loss during my railway extravaganza. Since beef is in scant supply in these Hindoo parts I have invented ‘The Milk Plan’. This involves downing one half litre plastic bag of full-fat milk each day (Indian milk is bizarrely sold in sealed plastic bags, which can also be used as small pillows). It appears to be working and in the last week I have gained 1.5kg. A testament to the holy cows of Delhi.

3. Tomorrow I go to central Delhi in search of tweed…

Up into the clouds

Evenin’ all,

I have just updated the ‘The Passage’ section so all you train-spotters and map-heads out there can see an itinerary of my precise passage around the circumference of India. If you’re exceedingly interested, I’ve also put up a word document which has the exact timings, distances of each train journey…

I’ve also recently acquired a Just Giving page, so If any of you ladies or gents have any funds to spare, or maybe you have become disillusioned with the true meaning of money, (which is after all just numbers floating about on a screen), then please click the ‘sponsor me’ button on the right, so you can give wantonly to FRANK and his Water.

During the Raj-era, when Great Britain had control of India, the whole administration of the country retreated from New Delhi during the hot summer months, to the cool hill station of Shimla. I take many of my cues from the British Raj, so this evening I will do likewise, taking my train-planning operation (aka my brain and my notebook) with me up to the Himalayan foothills for the weekend. I’m rather excited about the 2-foot gauge Kalka-Shimla toy train which makes the final ascent up into the clouds. This is the final hurrah, the last cup of decent tea, and possibly one of the last times I enjoy an Indian train journey before the Overland Chapati Express sets off in 12 days time…

Choo Choo,

Jonathan

Tickets: BOOKED. Being ‘back in time for tea’: COMPROMISED.

Yesterday, I loafed patiently for over three hours on the ample sofa array of the New Delhi Railway station International Tourist Bureau. But wait! This was no tea party. Quite the opposite… The outcome is that I have now bought the 18 train tickets that will slowly chug me to the four compass points of India’s railway system within a foolish 20 days.

After reaching the front of the queue  (for the second time) and presenting a man in a white doctor’s coat with my itinerary, he carefully went through the details of each journey, looked at me over his glasses like and like a stern schoolmaster he warned “this will be a busy trip”. He then wheeled his chair back, stretched his arms, cracked his knuckles and downed his chai in preparation for the arduous process of printing each ticket using the ancient computerised booking system.

Right, so I am now due to embark from Old Delhi train station at 23:30 on Tuesday 29th of June, and will make my return on Sunday 18th of July. Unfortunately I’ve had to revert back to my original plan of travelling round the country clockwise, rather than anti-clockwise as I decided a couple of posts ago. After spending all of Monday re-scheduling the journey, it turned out that journeying anticlockwise (and thus getting ‘back in time for tea’ in Darjeeling) would take quite a few days longer, involving more overnight stops in unhelpful places. Ah well! Instead I will now start the journey with a fine cup of cha in the hills and, to make the witty subtitle work, end with afternoon tea at the finest dining establishment in all of New Delhi (or alternatively a cup of 5 rupee chai in a dirty street-side stall).

Tally ho!

p.s. ‘The Passage’ page to be updated shortly…

The world’s greatest adventure playground

I’ve just got back from a visit to the National Rail Museum in Chanyakapuri, Delhi. I was intending to do some serious research and a dash of train-spotting but ended up having a jolly good time instead. They call it a museum but it’s basically a massive adventure playground with eighty-odd old trains as your climbing frames. The experience was completed with a jaunt around the grounds on the miniature ‘Joy Train’. Magic!

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE

The Overland Chapati Express is an epic solo expedition to the four corners of India in under 20 days by sleeper-class train, on a budget of only £200 sterling and hopefully wearing tweed. I am doing this to raise funds for FRANK Water, a UK-based charity set up to provide clean water facilities in rural Indian villages. I am truly grateful for all donations to this spiffingly good cause:

DONATE to FRANK Water

Choo! Choo! All aboard the Chapati Express

Right ho!

I’ve been planning the grand railway expedition for a month now, but since my rough date of starting the trip is approaching fast, I thought I’d better start blogging to keep old Blighty and of course the rest of the world updated…

At it stood this morning I was due to depart from New Delhi at 23:30 on Sunday 27th of June, but things have all been shaken up by a couple of  new developments today:

1. I found out that I can’t book train tickets every few days during the trip, as I had planned to. They tend to get sold out for days in advance, which means I’ll have to book pretty much all my journeys in Delhi before leaving. Crikey!

2. I discovered that I can’t buy a IndRail pass for an Indian citizen, which means that my faithful assistant and translator, Sri Prashant Sehghal, can’t join me for the journey. Damnit I will do this on my own.

3. I came up with the great title of ‘The Overland Chapati Express …And back in time for tea”. However to make this title work, I’ll need to END in Darjeeling as opposed to going there FIRST which was my original plan. Yes, this means circumnavigating India anti-clockwise, which is the opposite direction to which I have been carefully scheduling for the last few days. Clockwise. Ah well, I will now reschedule the whole trip just to make the title work, and thus end up in Darjeeling for a nice cup of cha. I fear this is not the last great sacrifice that I’ll have to make for such frivolous ends.

Laters potaters!

xx