Our Road to Hell (Somnath Express to Diu)
Next, we were chugging along on a diesel choo choo, “2nd AC class” to be precise, what an experience! The map below shows our journey so far, 2099kms over 20 days, by car and now the last leg by train!
Our journey to the train station was a little rushed to say the least, thanks to Mr & Mrs Trump visiting Ahmedabad the same day as we did. All roads into and out of the town were closed until 4pm, we snuck in about 6pm and became the centre of attraction in the “AC waiting room”, only for use by those with “AC train tickets”, others have to sweat it out on the platforms in 30c heat!
I’m not sure why we are as popular as Donald and Melanie, but everywhere we go, people stop to say “hi” or “hello”, then “where are you from?”. When we reply England, we also ask where they are from, that confuses them 🙂 Next question is “can we have a selfie with you?” Even just walking along the street, we are asked if people can take selfies with us??? We gave in to one group of pretty young teenagers once because they kept staring at David, only to find they didn’t have a phone!!! In some Palace gardens, we came across a whole school who wanted their photo taken with us. We had a bit of a laugh with the teachers, asking them for 100 rupees first, (£1.10) before being thronged by 50 children aged from 5 to 15, all smiling at us until our jaws ached. Such a lovely feeling to be adored by one’s subjects 🙂 🙂
Meanwhile, back on the train…….I’m on the top bunk, two chainlink rails holding me from falling onto the man below. Mum, dad and toddler are all sausaged onto two beds below whilst their son aged 7 or 8 is in the bunk above, opposite me, eyeing me up. He keeps farting, no wonder his parents called him Baloo!
We are on a sleeper train from Ahmedabad to Junagadh where at 6am the next morning the luxury of a new driver will meet us and take us to Diu (pronounced DEW) and the relative uncomfortableness of a sleeper train with 4 strangers should soon be forgotten. Humhhhhh…..
Its an odd sensation, being on a packed hot night train and looking at nothing except the grey ceiling 3 foot above and a strange brown limbed, fully dressed, child opposite. David was in another top bunk at my feet, with a different stranger below him. Even the lower bunks are closed off to the outside world, curtains closed all around them. Then a shuddering motion when every so often the train tilts to one side and I feel like my body will slide along the plastic bed and my head will hit the walls but the train tilts the other way and that feeling goes.
There’s a girl in the next cubicle who’s on her laptop with all her lights on, most people turn their lights off immediately and are trying to sleep. Someone laughs and a baby cries, coughing, farting and snoring mix, the air con kicks in and eventually people drift off to sleep.
I set my alarm clock for 3.50am, our stop was supposed to be at 4am, barring traffic jams and delays. Indian traffic is notorious so we allowed another hour before being collected by a driver! We eventually dismount at 4.45am, and our driver is also on Indian time, arriving at 6.55am! In the meantime, we sit on the platform, centre of attention again, saying “good morning” to the rough sleepers, school children and office-wear clad people waiting for the 6.45 to where ever.
As we boarded the train, after walking the whole train length twice, I notice 3rd (cattle) class, just as you see it on TV, wooden seats, crammed full, no glass in the windows, just metal bars….reminded me of certain trains in Germany long time ago, people peering out…
Dui town
Dui is the Union territory in the State of Daman & Dui, a coastal town at the eastern end of Diu Island, India. A bridge connects the island to the state of Gujarat which overlook the Arabian Sea. Dui is an independent state and therefore sells alcohol (only available in bars, not in restaurants), Gujarat does not!
We finally arrive late morning, to a modern 4* hotel where very few of the staff speak English, so our simple request for “2 black coffees, cornflakes with cold milk, then toast and jam” results in 1 cup of milky white coffee, toast and marmalade, then cornflakes, then inedible pancakes! We crash out, exhausted, and decided to try again the next day!
We were out walking last night and came across a procession of well dressed people, complete with wedding band, heading to a pre-wedding clothing ceremony. The bride to be’s uncle is very wealthy and gave an outfit to everyone attending. It was happy, colourful and a little over the top but we were pleased to be invited to watch.
Wedding crashing
The next day, we listened to the wedding band, heading off to another hotel. Day 3, we were woken at 8.30am by the wedding procession, this time with the bride and groom in a “horse drawn carriage” being paraded past our hotel. A few of the guests recognised us, invited us down but I really didn’t think they would appreciate my attire, nightshirt and dirty feet, so we kindly declined.
We explored the whole island in our few days, not that difficult considering its only about 10km long! We found all “5 beaches you must visit”, sadly they did not match up to the glossy clean images on the internet. At no point would we consider more than paddling in the water’s edge, we would have to fight through the rubbish and debris. Water sports were very cheap…..still not enticed in.
Portuguese Influence
The major attraction on the Island is an old fort, built and used by the Portuguese during their occupancy, until 1950s. You can see the European style buildings with painted tiles all around the town, three Roman Catholic churches (that are now very run down) and family services (a small hospital, school and gardens and playgrounds) but everything is barren or overgrown with weeds and unused. All references to the Portuguese were removed once the Indians took over, and its as though the Indians declared “don’t use these facilities” and things are left to decay. Very sad.
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