Well, that's camping...

Found some, uh, interesting photos on IndiaMike today that made me a little sad.  I had heard how there're copious amounts of tea sold on the train and it's delicious and you have to try it and that's the real India yada yada and was actually really excited to try it.  That is, until I saw these:

This would be an IRCTC employee making chai in what is either currently a bathroom or a bathroom that's been converted to a cooking area.  Now 1/3 of the readers on IndiaMike say this is a hoax, 1/3 say it's gross but they've had 100s of cups and never been sick, and 1/3 say they're never drinking chai on the trains again.

My immediate reaction was to swear off tea served on the train (one good piece of advice was to bring a thermos and ask your hotel to fill it as you walk out, but how long will it stay warm for?).  However, I'm out to try new things, even if it is sub-Darjeeling-quality tea.  It gets cold at night and something tells me that my craving for Starbucks Peppermint Mochas will go unrequited, so this will have to work.

Speaking of trains, WOW.  It could not have been harder to book my train tickets online.  The website required an extra pin that I register for through Citibank, but that wasn't immediately obvious and it's been Calls to CITI then emails to the Indian Rail Authority.  Then more calls to CITI and emails to Master Card.  Then several more emails to the IRA because my phone won't let me call India.  Oh, and the irony isn't lost on me that every customer service rep from Citi I speak to is already IN India.  It was like a cruel joke to hear these Bengali accents knowing that they're already at where I'm trying to get to.  Aarrrgghh!!  Oh, and to the last lady I spoke to from Citi: I know you're not a southern belle from Savannah.  I don't care that you have an out-sourced job in Kalkotta, so just drop the accent.

But I am now the proud owner of e-tickets from Delhi to Amritsar, Amritsar to Rishikesh, Rishikesh to Lucknow, and Lucknow to Varanasi.  I've basically taken care of my transport needs up until the 8th of December, I think.  So, I have my plane ticket, passport, the first train tickets and accommodations booked, I'm picking up my visa Wednesday afternoon and I can buy the last few little things I need this weekend. 

I think I'm pretty well set.  What could go wrong, right?