Railway in India. Indian Railways: Travel Planning and Ticketing, Tips, Useful Information
The romance of rail travel won my heart as a child. The sound of wheels was associated with sandwiches, a cold cutlet in foil, boiled eggs and radishes. Now I try to travel by train everywhere.
That is why, despite the presence of an air ticket, I decided to go from the night train. Yasha, our expert on India (loves her like I love Japan), explained to me the intricacies of booking tickets:
"They all sell out about a month in advance. But there is a special quota for white people of foreign tourists, it opens a day before the day of departure. You can order via the Internet. But then you need to register on the website of the railway company. And for this you need a registration, or at least a local phone number. In principle, you can buy a SIM card, but you also need a residence permit for this. Or a hotel. Or you can go to the station - it's about half an hour from here. Or go to a travel agent and let him fool around with it, it will cost you about a hundred rupees."
If you, like me, are confused by Yasha's explanations, let me summarize for you:
"You have to go and book tickets at an agency, it's practically free."
So I did. Yasha explained to me the difference between the classes of carriages for a long time, but without a visual aid, I again did not understand anything, so I told the agent to take the highest class that would be. Seven easy visits to his office (“Come back in an hour, everything will be ready!”), and I had the ticket in my hands.
Tickets in India are paper. I don't know what will happen if I lose them. Might have to go through . Well, luckily I didn't lose it this time. Arrived at the station with a margin of time. The station is impressive, in front of it is a large square.
In general, again, according to Yasha, Indian trains tend to be late. They may leave on time, they may be an hour late. Maybe 12 hours. It's like a roulette wheel. In India, the people are enlightened, they perceive such changes in the schedule philosophically. People are sitting on the floor in the lobby of the station, talking.
There is a huge board on the wall. Someone is out of luck - the Hogwarts Express train was canceled.
Those who do not have enough space in the lobby can wait right on the platform.
And this is the waiting room for VIP passengers. A strict Sikh was sitting at the entrance and demanded to show him my ticket. Apparently my class of service satisfied him, and he launched me to chat with the local elite. I'm really after the third cockroach, who tried to get to know me, fled back to the people.
Anyway, it's time for me to go to my train - until I find the platform, I need it, for now ... The transitions between the platforms are all overhead.
Warning in the transition: Beware, there is some kind of comic a large number of volt!
You can also see from above that some tracks are used for freight trains. It is not clear why they pass through the station.
Tankers are also driven away here.
By the way, elevated crossings in India are only for women and cowards. Real men don't use them. I felt a little ashamed.
Okay, we need to look for my train and car. Ride me all night. In India, wherever you go by train, it is always better to take the night one. They do not walk fast, you can sleep. It's good that I have one night. When I picked up the ticket, there was a guy there, he was going across the whole country - he had to travel for hours. I have, I know, a sleeping car ... Maybe this one? Written by sleeper.
I looked - in my opinion he is not. I was embarrassed that you can put your hand through the window from the street. Then I remembered, Yashin's story, that Sleeper is where there are no glasses in the windows. At night, you need to put on a sleeping bag. Good thing it's not mine.
Nearby is a "second class" carriage. It is not only windowless, but also sedentary.
It must be wonderful to ride in such a car all night. Will have to dobriifin ask. He seemed to be riding
If you look closely, it looks like a prison. Look at these poor people!
Some windows not only have glass, they don't even have bars. Emergency exit- if nothing needs to be opened or knocked out, then it's easier.
And there are entire wagons specially for luggage. It’s hard for you and me, who travel with suitcases, to understand, because you can just push it under the bed ...
But India is on a different scale. Here's how much someone carries with them. There isn't enough room for a bed. So there is a separate car.
Here on the platform, they are also waiting for something. In general, the Indians are waiting anywhere. So probably in China it would be if they let people on the platforms. But the Chinese love order, and very much (almost no one, and almost never). And in India - please.
Here even animals walk on the platforms. And what about monkeys? Waiting for the train, talking to the locals.
Not everyone is ready to wait on the platform. Some jump right on the train.
So it seems it is already more like my car. "AC" means air-conditioned. Why air conditioning in winter? Yes, because in such cars the windows are glazed. This is the suite for which they let the VIP into the waiting room. The style is reminiscent of Soviet compartments. But this one is three-tiered, and I took a two-tiered one.
Here he is. Finally. The most expensive carriage on the entire train. Overnight fare came out to about $23. (This is already with what they threw in the travel agency.)
A listing of passengers with their seats is hung near the doors of the car. Maybe the loss of a ticket would not be as catastrophic as it seemed to me.
I went into the wagon. In appearance, a reserved seat-reserved seat. The shelves are normal, spacious, there is a fan on the ceiling. You can live.
There is some confusion in my department. Three Asian guys are trying to kick two of them out of their seats. indian women. The boys have neat tickets for these seats, and they also photographed the list on the outside of the car, where their names are written. And the aunts have handwritten seats on their tickets. But they are already sitting in them, and are not going to move yet, despite all the eloquent persuasions and arguments. This is partly because they don't understand English very well.
"What kind of dinner are we going to have," a man in uniform suddenly asks, "Vegetarian or not?"
"Conductor!" says the most sociable of the guys, holding out the tickets "help us sort out the seats!"
"Now, now. What kind of dinner do you want?" everyone around said that they would be vegetarian, after which he turned around and left without looking at the seats.
Came back five minutes later with packed lunches.
"Four hundred rupees from you," he said. Then I noticed the inscription "Express Food" on his uniform shirt, and I realized that he was no conductor.
"Isn't food included in the ticket price?" surprised Chinese "I thought it was on!"
"No, no. What are you. No way," the lunch box salesman assured him. Then we noticed that none of the Indians took lunch. And in general the man addressed only to tourists. Divorced again, I thought.
By that time, the guys managed to find a real guide, and he transplanted the aunt to other places. Later they explained to me that even if there are no tickets at all, then we must boldly jump on the train. You can always negotiate with the conductor. In extreme cases, you will pass in the vestibule until the bed is free at the next stop.
And I got to know my now definitely neighbors. Two of them were from Taiwan - one was called Matt (he was sociable), the other was Ian. The third was a Japanese ("Kon-bon-wa!" I interrupted immediately) his name was Kengo.
When Matt found out that I was from Moscow, he exclaimed "Welcome! Mania call Dyyyma!" It turned out that for some reason he taught Russian at the university. And the Chinese of all the names are so unpronounceable that instead of translating them for foreigners, they choose new ones for themselves. Therefore, the dude in English introduced himself as Matt, and in Russian he is Dima.
As expected, our vegetarian dinner was inedible.
We looked with envy at the Hindu couple in the side seats, who thought of bringing chips with them, and now we were feasting.
Five minutes later we set off. The conductor walked along the carriage and asked all foreigners to sign that they had been warned about the danger of poisoning on the train.
"It's good that we were warned in advance right after dinner," Dima joked, signing for everyone.
As it turned out, no one will give us rest. Vendors of extra meals, crisps, bottled water and tea kept passing by.
"Well, is tea free?" asked Kengo.
"Certainly!" exclaimed chai-walla.
"Then we're three." - "Four!" I corrected it.
The guy poured us four glasses, handed them out, and said:
"Eighty rupees." It was stupid to argue, especially since 20 rupees per person, although it is a robbery for a small glass of tea, is still less than 30 cents.
After chatting for a couple of hours, we went to bed. In the carriage, each compartment is curtained, I don’t remember this in Russian reserved seats.
The next morning we arrived at the Taj Mahal. I went to put my backpack in the storage room, where they refused to accept it without a lock.
"Go to the store, buy a lock," the locksmith pointed me to the kiosk. A completely useless castle costs 25 rupees. I'm sure ten of them go straight into the caretaker's pocket.
I look, some train has come to the freight track. No one is embarrassed by the lack of a platform, everyone goes straight to the rails.
In the evening of that day, having taken the bag, I had to go further.
"Your train back to Delhi will be super-luxe," they promised me when they saw the tickets. "Speedy. Almost like"
I wonder if these people have ever seen a shinkansen. Well, in general, the train was clean and really fast. And as expected in a shinkansen, I overslept all the way.
Let me show you some locomotive locomotives for dessert:
They are all very "industrial". Clearly, serious things.
All locomotives are different! Probably someone understands them, will tell where they come from, are they called nan? ..
Ah, I almost forgot. There are also carriages for chairs. There is no limit to the variety of Indian wagons!
These are the trains in India. Senseless and merciless - this is about them.
The mountain railways of India are worth traveling, if only because there are real toy trains that were designed and installed more than 130 years ago by British engineers. In fairness, it must be said that it is in India that you will see outstanding examples of railways in the mountains, built taking into account the most difficult conditions of the mountain landscape and violent tropical vegetation.
The first directions for the movement of this type of transport were opened between 1881 and 1908. In the process of creating amazing railway lace and serpentines, very bold and witty engineering solutions were used. As a result of the project, India received efficient railway lines laid in a mountainous area of extraordinary beauty.
Today they are still operating, carrying passengers in full. The rolling stock is also preserved from those times immemorial and serves as a living example of how machine-building enterprises worked in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century According to the idea of designers and engineers, the mountain railways of India should connect the high-mountainous climatic resorts with the foothills, laying their winding paths through picturesque mountain landscapes cut by valleys and rivers. The implementation of such grandiose plans at that time became the embodiment of the outstanding plans of British technical specialists, for example engineering marvels and huge changes in technology.
In total, seven small railway lines have been laid in India, six of which are narrow-gauge (gauge - 2 feet i.e. 610 mm) and one - 1 m wide. Today, there are only about 20 similar railways all over the world, which are still remain in use for the time being. All the roads that will be discussed were built in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by order of the British, who led the country at that time.
Three of the seven roads listed above are in very hard to reach places, including:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (eng. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, 1881)
- Kalka-Shimla Railway (eng. Kalka Shimla Railway, 1898)
- Kangra Valley Railway Pathankot (1924)
The fourth - Masren Hill Railway (eng. Matheran Hill Railway) is located in Maharashtra.
The next one, Lumding-Silchar - built at the turn of the 20th century, the railway line lies deep inside the state of Assam, in the valley of the Barak River and the Kachar Mountains.
In 2005, another mountain railway was put into operation in India - Kashmir, its branch runs in hard-to-reach mountainous areas in the Himalayas in northern India.
UNESCO-listed mountain railways of India
According to the list world heritage UNESCO, there are three ancient lines in the country included in its lists:
1. Kalka-Shimla Road(English Kalka Shimla Railway) - laid in the foothills of the Himalayas, in the state of Himachal Pradesh (north of India, the capital city of Shimla), its length is 96.6 km. The branch was designed in the middle of the 19th century, its operation began in 1903. Passengers who used this route claim that the scale of the construction carried out in those years is really impressive to the core. Obviously, the difficulties that the engineers and builders of this road overcame were also enormous.
The city of Shimla, the starting point of the railway line, served as the summer capital of the British colonial government of India in the middle of the 19th century, since it was located in the very north of the country, in the Himalayas, fragrant with cool and clean mountain air in summer. In southern India, the state of Tamil Nadu (Tamil Nadu) and its capital Chennai performed a similar role of the same summer retreat for the government.
The need to build a mountain railway in the direction of Shimla was caused precisely by the displacement of the ruling officials. For the summer, they, as a rule, left Delhi for the mountains, for comfortable climate, and by autumn they returned back to the offices and offices of the capital. There are currently four trains running on the Kalka-Shimla-Kalka route, two of which are UNESCO-listed historical rarities, the Shivalic Express and the Himalayan Queen. The third - modern representative railway transport, Rail Motor, the fourth is the cheapest Simla Express transport.
Travel time of historical toy trains is approximately 5 hours. Shivalik Delux is more luxurious than the Himalayan Queen in terms of comfort, Rail Motor has average level comfort, i.e. less comfortable than Shivalik Delux. In accordance with the level of service, the fare on these trains is also determined.
Ticket price on Indian mountain railways
You can ride from Shimla to Kalka:
- for 415 rupees ($6) - at Shivalic Delux
- for 305 rupees ($4.15) - on Rail Motor
- for 255 rupees ($3.8) - on Queen
- for 65 rupees ($1) - on Simla Express
Schedule of trains on the mountain railway Kalka-Shimla-Kalka
The first flight from Kalka (Rail Motor) is at 5.10 am, Shivalic Express is at 5.30 am, Simla Express is at 6.00 am, Himalayan Queen leaves Kalka at 12.10 am. Shivalick Express is a more comfortable and more convenient train, which can be seen in the price of the ticket.
2. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway(Eng. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway)
This Himalayan railway is located in the foothills of the Himalayas in West Bengal (a state in the northeast of India), its length is 88 km. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, also known as the Toy Train, is a 2-foot (610 mm) narrow gauge railway running between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. It was created between 1879 and 1881 and is about 78 kilometers (48 miles) long. As the train travels along the route, it overcomes elevation changes from 100 meters (328 feet) at New Jalpaiguri to about 2,200 meters (7,218 feet) at Darjeeling.
3. Nilgiri(Nilgiri Hills) - a mountain railway line is located in the Nilgiri Hills (Blue Mountains) in the state of Tamil Nadu ( South India), its length is 45.88 km. The peculiarity of this region is belonging to the territory biosphere reserve Nilgiri, also included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
IN early XIX centuries, these places were very popular in the summer and on weekends as excellent oases for the British to relax. In 1827, the town of Ooty became the official summer resort capital of the province of Madras. Since then, the construction of local mountain roads, and in 1899 a huge work was completed - the Nilgiri mountain railway. Trains still run along the rails of the old railway line.
The rare New Delhi Express is a toy train known far beyond the borders of India, running along the Nilgiri line, it is also included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The toy train with passenger cars runs once a day from Mettupalayam at 07.10 and reaches Ooty at noon. The return flight from Ooty is at 14.00, passengers arrive in Mettupalayam at 17.35.
According to the new plans, the train on the Mettupalayam-Ooty route is planned to be connected to the Nilgiri Express, which runs from Mettupalayam to Chennai via Coimbatore.
IN summer period to increase the number of traffic, an additional flight is planned, which will operate in April and May. It will depart from Mettupalayam at 09.30 (AM) and from Ooty at 12.15 (PM). There are also daily trains between Koonur and Utagamandalam stations, with four trips each way. The Nilgiri Express covers a distance of 26 km (16.2 miles) on the mountain railway, passing through 208 curves, 16 tunnels and 250 bridges. Uphill journey takes about 290 minutes (4.8 hours), descents last 215 minutes (3.6 hours). The Nilgiri Hills branch has the steepest track in Asia with a maximum gradient of 8.33%.
Do you want to go on a mythical journey, feel the breath of the Himalayas or the Blue Mountains of India? We recommend doing this at least once in your life!
Train timetables can be found on the Indian Railways website - indiarailinfo.com.
Because most we made our movements between the cities of India by rail, the time has come to tell about it in more detail.
I think any person on planet Earth, when he hears the phrase "Indian Railways" imagines something like what we see in the photo above. I want to upset you, and maybe even please you, that this is not entirely true, I would even say - not at all.
Of course, if you wish and with some luck, you can arrange something similar for yourself, but, in general, Indian railways make a rather positive impression. Although, perhaps, this was caused by our initially low expectations.
For me, it is better to use Asian - it is cleaner, since it is easier to maintain order in it, plus Indians use a hygienic shower, and not toilet paper, and this also has a beneficial effect on the cleanliness of the room.
Fellow travelers
As we have said more than once, Indians are big kids, so get ready for unceremonious attention from them. No aggression or hostility - only childish curiosity, everyone will want to get to know you, communicate, and so on. In Mumbai, for example, we had not yet had time to get into the car, and a simple Indian guy had already come to our aid. In general, we didn’t need help, but it didn’t bother him at all ☺.
The fact is that the lists of passengers are posted right at the entrance to the car, and you can always make sure whether this is your train in front of you, or just the same, but late for a day.
So the guy "helped" us look for our names in the list, although it was difficult for him. But when we got into the car, he gladly changed places with me so that Oksana and I would ride side by side. Well, how else, we already know each other - almost relatives, one might say.
In general, it's certainly all very nice, but sometimes quite tiring. Although, you see, it’s better that way than if they looked at you like a wolf all the way.
Stations
For the most part, railway stations in India are quite utilitarian structures. Those. no embellishments and frills for you - cheap and cheerful. Here is a concrete box - this will be a waiting room, here is a platform with a canopy made of corrugated board, here are overhead crossings over the tracks with bars so that no one falls out, and so on.
Of course, there are exceptions to any rule, for example, in Mumbai. But that's the exception, to prove the rule.
Apparently, realizing this, the stations are still trying to somehow revive. For example, look at the funny drawings in Jaipur at the station, in my opinion, very nice.
And you can always agree to meet at the column with the cow ☺. Again, it is easier for children to remember where their parents were left to sit. All in all, pretty and functional.
Peculiarities
There are no conductors in Indian trains in the usual sense, i.e. no one will check your ticket when boarding the car, instead, a list of passengers is posted on each car with all the route information - no privacy, yeah ☺. The ticket is checked by the controller, already on the way, also according to the list. Two more follow from this feature. The first, as such, you may not have a ticket in your hands, one of these is enough:
Most likely, if you don’t have any of the above, nothing terrible will happen, it’s unlikely that another Vasily Pupkin is traveling with you in the car, but I wouldn’t check this possibility ☺. By the way, you can read about how to buy tickets for Indian trains.
And the second, in your rightful place, another passenger may well be sitting, who mixed up the train, carriage, date or his own name. By the way, the same thing can easily happen to you, so you don’t need to make a fuss right away - it’s better to wait for the controller.
Be prepared that every minute a merchant will pass through the car with something, and sometimes more than one. Traffic jams can also arise from merchants right next to your place, plus they all loudly shout out the name of their product. Unfortunately, there is no recipe against this, but: "Forewarned is forearmed!"
If in cars without air conditioners you can easily catch a heat stroke, then in cars with them you can freeze. Plus, fans are installed in the car, which theoretically can be turned off, but the Indians immediately turn them on again - apparently, they are hot ☺.
I really liked that the cars have sockets, although the AC 3-Tier Sleeper had only one socket per compartment, but it's better than one per car. In order not to monitor the phone, we put our power bank, and only then charged phones from it - very convenient.
By the way, about tracking things. Everywhere they write that it’s better not to leave things unattended, one really wants to answer this: “Thank you, captain!” But to protect yourself even more, you can fasten your luggage to special cables, which are presented in abundance under each seat.
Also, on the Internet you can find stories about the delays of Indian trains. In the most creepy stories Delays are described almost a day. So is it really, we have not been able to verify, fortunately. All three of our moves were exactly on schedule, apparently, we have good karma ☺.
That's all, if I remember anything else, I'll definitely add it. Yes, do you have any questions? Ask, we will try to answer. And most importantly, do not be afraid of Indian trains, of course, they are not up to it, but this is a very convenient and economical option for moving around India.
India- a country not only of elephants, spices and yogis, but also of railways. Their length in this country exceeds 60,000 km and ranks third in the world in terms of length. Its network has entangled all the Indian states in a dense web. In almost every more or less large locality there is a railway station. This type of transport is the most convenient for traveling within the country over long distances and gives a great chance to feel and touch India, as they say, from the inside.
To the inexperienced eye of a European, it may seem that the railways of India are complete chaos, and some of their features even cause shock. However, this is not entirely true, and if you look, Indian trains are quite a comfortable and convenient means of transportation.
What is the minimum knowledge required to travel on Indian trains?
First of all, in India there are several classes of trains and wagons in them.
- Shatabdi Express or Shatabdi expresses are the most expensive trains, usually running between major cities, the maximum duration of the trip is usually no more than one day. In these express trains, there are only two types of carriages AC chair and AC executivechair.
- The Rajdhani Express or Rajdhani Express is a train that connects Delhi with the state capitals. They include the following types of cars: AC 1st class (1AC), two-tier AC (2AC), three-tier AC (3AC) and 2nd class
- Other express trains, as well as mail trains, are the bulk of Indian long-distance passenger trains. They have cars: 2AC, chaircar (seated), non-AC sleeper (sleepers without air conditioning) and non-AC 2nd class (second class without air conditioning).
- Passenger trains - follow short distances and are a kind of our commuter trains. This type of train is the cheapest. The carriages in them may vary in different states, but in any case, these will be carriages for "Spartans" and "extremes", and traveling in them (if you dare to do so) can be one of the most unforgettable adventures of your life.
The average train speed in India is something like this:
- express trains - 80 -100 km/h
- ordinary express, postal and passenger 30 – 50 km/h
When planning a trip and including a trip by train in India, remember that you need to book tickets in advance, preferably at least 2 to 3 weeks before the trip. At major stations and tourist centers there are special ticket offices for tourists, where you can sometimes buy tickets when they are no longer available at regular ticket offices. However, you should not count on it one hundred percent. In addition, if you intend to purchase tickets in them and pay in Indian rupees, in addition to your passport, be prepared (sometimes may be required) to present a certificate from the exchange office or a receipt from the electronic terminal. But we will devote a separate story to this method of buying tickets - Tourist railway quotas
India is eternal, it does not change and is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. It will always be chaotic, dirty, mystical and incomprehensible. And its trains will always be a serious test for a person accustomed to minimal comfort. That 10 years ago I traveled around India in exactly the same trains as now. Nothing has changed, except that pastures have become even more shabby. But at the same time, the Indian neighbors remained the same sincere, sociable and cheerful. Six hours on the train from Varanasi to Gorakhpur near the Nepalese border flew by not surprisingly unnoticed. I even managed to take a nap for a couple of hours, which rarely happens to me in such inappropriate places for this in the context of cleanliness and hygiene.
To be sure to buy tickets for the Indian train, you need to take care of this in advance. The fact is that trains in this country are subsidized by the state and are very cheap by our standards. Only one in ten Indians can afford a plane, and therefore the whole country is massively moved by rail. Big country, one billion and two hundred million people. Therefore, trains are almost always packed to capacity, and there may not be tickets a day or two before departure. The easiest way is to spend two hours and master the idiotic registration on the website of Indian railways on the official website Indian railways, for which, in addition to angelic patience, you also need an Indian phone number and an Indian credit card. What, you already grabbed your head? Then there is an easier option. But twice the price. Go to the site 12goasia.com and buy a ticket there in three minutes, paying with any card. That's where I bought the tickets. A ticket from Varanasi to Gorakhpur cost 700 rupees ($10) on the Indian Railways website, but I paid $17 through an intermediary. Well, to hell with him, but with tickets.
So you bought your tickets. Then go to the station. Pay attention to the broken sleepers here. It's no surprise that train derailments happen regularly in India -
There are eight (!) types of carriages, but three are relevant for the traveler: sleeping with air conditioning, sitting with air conditioning and sitting without air conditioning. Sedentary without air conditioning is hellish trash, the whole village goes there, there is always twice more people than places and you will get untold pleasure with a minus sign. The coolest class is a kind of Soviet reserved seat, only with curtains, looks from the side in the following way -
Surprisingly, cleaning is done before boarding. Tyap-blunder of course, but still nice -
Each carriage has four toilets. Two with toilets and two with a hole -
And two more washbasins with mirrors -
My car, the coolest in the train -
At first, I threw things upstairs, not assuming that I would sleep -
However, I soon felt like taking a nap. Curtains create some comfort, and if they weren’t so dirty, then they wouldn’t have any price at all -
And you can also open the sunbeds and they will turn into seats -
Linen is distributed in the same way as in Russia and Ukraine. Except in paper bags. Included in price, no extra charge
Some "nodes" of the car -
Gorgeous door handles -
Having examined my car, I go to look at the next one. The transitions between cars are safer than in our trains. But also dirtier. Garbage everywhere -
What would you think? This sleeping place conductor. It closes in a closet in the vestibule -
The neighboring car, in principle, is exactly the same. But without curtains and with fans instead of air conditioning -
Sleeping conductor -
A few shots through the door. By the way, no one closes the doors in the vestibule, you can jump out -
Everywhere people walk along the rails -
Arrived, this is Gorakhpur. We can say that with one foot in Nepal -
About five hundred meters from the railway station there is a bus station. Today there is a specific flood and all the schedules have gone astray. My bus, which was supposed to leave at 12:30 in the afternoon, ended up leaving at almost two -
Pour on the track. By the way, there are no women's restrooms. That is, not at all
Travel to Sonauli on the Nepalese border costs a ridiculous $ 1.5 per 100 km of travel -
And yet India is still very far from the achievements of civilization familiar to us. The popular Indian site Redbus sells tickets online for buses across the country. Of the four people I know, two managed to use the ticket bought online. Today I joined the ranks of those who were forced to buy a ticket again from the conductor. Why? This, they say, in Delhi and Mumbai is "your online", and here in Gorakhpur you pay in cash! India, you are beautiful -
One hundred kilometers traveled almost 4 hours, which is quite normal for India. And here is the border with Nepal -
Initially, I "failed", that is, I went to the border, logically estimating that passport control there. But it turned out that the exit passport control of India was not here, but a kilometer behind, in a small stall between vegetable shops. I stomp back from the border deep into India, as they say -
This is where the stamps are placed. And only then go to Nepal, which is a kilometer from here -
I lost an hour running back and forth, finally I'm in Nepal -
You asked how the issue of my lack of free space for stamps in my passport was resolved? Yes, not a very pleasant decision. At first, the Nepalese refused to let me into the country and sent me to hell, saying, go back to India and change your passport. This is of course not an option. I say, let's settle the issue amicably? I will not retell the whole epic, as a result, the visa was pasted. Not just like that. But also without excesses, so to speak. Right on the last page, where the rules for using a passport -
Hello everyone from Nepal!