arrival continued

Hello and sorry again about my tardiness with the updates. Sometimes it’s hard to find time to go down to the bazaar for internet access. Anyway, to continue with the story…

So we took a taxi to the train station in Delhi before the sunrise. I was amazed at the number of people out and about; most of the day laborers for construction projects and such rise early, and the shopkeepers must be up to serve breakfast I guess. The station was quite crowded, but definitely manageable, although it took us awhile to find which platform our train was on. When people tell you its hard to get around in India with luggage they are sooo correct. Between us four interns and Matthew and Ivy who picked us up, we had four large suitcases, two hiking packs, three backpacks, a large duffle, a heavy box housing our survey equipment, and a box containing a large tripod. Again, it was all manageable, but getting our luggage onto the train and into the overhead racks was a chore.

I described the train ride pretty well in my diary, it goes as follows: “The train ride to Dehra Dun was great. They served us tea and biscuits (residue from the brits) and breakfast on the way. It was interesting to note the change from the square concrete and masonry buildings of Delhi sprawled out in all directions (some housing projects in the distance looked like cabrini green), to smaller infrastructure scattered between irrigated fields, to just the fields themselves as far as the eye can see. Tall, grass like sugar cane fields were intermittently broken up by verdant rice paddies and yellow flowered mustards stems in between. I’ll never forget the first major town we passed outside of Delhi. Most of people were children on their way to school, the square block homes stacked on top of each other looked far cleaner and well kept, and the surrounding green of the agriculture cut the brown grey and charcoal of the town. It was really quite beautiful in its simplicity and plainness. Almost 5 hrs. into the ride, the scenery shifted as we began to enter the hills. The elevations rose on both sides of the tracks and we even went through a tunnel.”

Dehra Dun was fascinating, we entered around 1pm and it was more like what I expected India to be than any other place. Long streets lined with rows of small shops and chaotic traffic that somehow gets everyone where they need to be. We picked up a taxi that would take us to Mussoorie, and began the long, winding ascent. This was by far the most incredible part of the journey. A 1 ½ lane road winding through the mountains, catching glimpses of a city built on the top of the ridge around every bend. No description can accurately depict the first time you take that route, but it was the most amazing drive I have ever experienced.

I will try to put up pictures from the trip and Mussoorie soon. This town is so incredibly beautiful, its almost a pity that I can’t fully describe or show the full extent of Mussoorie’s splendor. It is absolutely no surprise that it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India. This brings us up to my arrival here, hopefully soon I can update you about the events of the past week. There is just so much to tell, I’m having difficulty keeping it all straight.