Visiting Trivandrum

    The train would be leaving in a few hours, so we had plenty of time for a stroll, packing a suitcase and having lunch. At Ernakulam Town, or North Railway Station, there are only two platforms. Finding out on which platform our train would arrive, was a bit of a challenge. We asked a fellow traveller, and they said Platform 1. We had not yet noticed the electronic sign in the station main hall. And if we had, we wouldn't have known how to find our particular train among all the trains on the board.

   While standing on Platform one, I noticed a sign saying "Towards Thrissur". Now we know that is in the oppposite direction to Trivandrum. Again going back to the information desk and asking for our platform, confirmed what we suspected: we should go to platform 2. As our train rolled into the station (Indian trains are immensely long) we hurried toward a door. The Brothers had told to hurry to et into the train, just like everyone else. That way we might be able to secure a seat. In our hurry and our worry, we did not take the time to locate the A/C carriages, but climbed into the first available second class door. Once inside, it was impossible to move in any direction.

   Like pegs in a barrel we were stuck between the other travellers. No way we could sit down. But, on the other hand, no way we could fall over either. But we were a bit worried of having to stand like this for the full six hours of our journey to trivandrum. In spite of all the fans on the ceiling, the opened windows and open doors, it was stifling hot in the compartment. After 1,5 hours, a few of the seated passengers got out of the train at their stop, and they gestured to us to take their places. Sitting down was definitely an improvement to standing up all the time. But we ran out of our water a lot afster than we passed the kilometers to Trivandrum. We had som salty nuts, and some sweet candies, and tried to doze away the hours. We were soaked by our own sweat, by the time we reached our destination. The first thing we did as we alighted gthe train, was to buy a bottle of water and finish it as we were standing at the stall. As we ghd been sitting still (more or less) for hours, we decided to walk towards the HotelTower Regency that Simon had selected online on the train. On our way there, every 10 meters or so a rikshaw driver asked if we didn't need a ride.

   All dusty and sweaty we arrived at the four star hotel. the doorman and the deskclerk clearly had second thoughts about this kind of visitor. As we told them we hadn't booked online, but preferred to do business directly with the hotel (rather than giving booking.com a percentage of their profit), and that we anted a luxury room, their attitude changed. Unfortunately, the hotel swimming pool was closed already, as it was dark, but the restaurants were still open. We were very tired from the journey. So we took a little bit of rest, had a nice shower and went up onto the rooftop restaurant, where we enjoyed a tatsy dinner and a beer. The first beer in six weeks, drunk in this heat, combined with our exhaustion of the day, made for a very long night's sleep.

   The next morning we took a dip in our private swimming pool. Private as there were no other guestst there. We had a breakfast from a very extensive buffet. After that, we went to the desk to ask for some help regarding our return tickets for the train. Apparently, you can reserve seats by using the app, but you would still have to go the the station to collect your tickets. So we might as well go to the station and get our tickets there. We looked up the train we wanted back to Kochi, and went to the station. There, we had to fill out a reservation-form. In the app we noticed two seats available in first class A/C, so we requested those. We handed the form to the booking lady behind the desk, who entered our data into her computer. No sooner had she finished typing, and our tickets were printed out for us. First class tickets for our return journey the next day. This left us with time and peace of mind to explore the city.