Leaving, On A Midnight Train

to Dehradun. Okay, so it doesn't sound as glamorous as Georgia, but it's a damn fine way to travel! We had a curtained compartment all to ourselves, and the beds were more comfortable than the ones in the club we stayed at in Dehradun. Rod says the bed was more comfortable than Virgin Airlines Upper Class sleeper seats, and trust me, these were an awful lot cheaper! £80 return, for all four of us. We've now invested in a map of the Indian railways system so we can search out more overnight journeys.



This was a second class airconditioned cabin. We would have booked first class, but we only decided to go two days before and they were all sold out. Second class was fine! If the journey had been longer (this train left at five minutes to midnight and arrived at the ungodly time of five forty in the morning) we'd have wanted first class, because someone comes to your cabin and feeds you (I'm assuming not literally, though knowing some Indians, I might be wrong...)

They also provide sheets, a blanket and a pillow (which hadn't arrived when we took our photos). We were told later that we could pay a man 10 rupees to make the bed up for us. As both Rod and I are more than capable of throwing three rectangular pieces of fabric onto a flat, rectangular bench, we opted not to. We're also far too cheap! Even though we haven't needed blankets at home for a while because it's already quite warm overnight, they were absolutely vital on the train. We'd paid for second class airconditioned, and airconditioned we got!

Dehradun is in the foothills of the Himalayas, and has a military history. It's a little cooler than Delhi, so the British took their soldiers there to train. We were based at The Dehradun Club, a 100 year old clubhouse opposite the Parade Ground. It's also an educational stronghold, with many of India's best schools and research centres based there. Here's a pic of us in front of a tiny part of the Forest Research Institute, an incredibly long and beautiful building constructed during the Second World War.