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India, former jewel and crown of the British of the British empire. Birth place of Mohandas Gandhi, and with a population of nine hundred million people, it's the largest democracy on earth. For the next week I'll be travelling through just two of its 26 states, starting off in the capital New Delhi.
With most rural areas having no airports or good roads, the best way to see India is by train. My journey takes me through Rajasthan and Gujarat over 2,500 km in 7 days aboard the royal orient. A special service that departs from Delhi just once a week.
Relief to get out of that heat. There's temperatures in the thirty's outside. Thankfully there is air conditioning here. Which is much much better. This is quite nice. This is going to be home for a week. Better get use to it. Reasonably soft beds. There's actually three beds in each cabin. Four cabins and two bathrooms in each carriage. So there should be plenty of space really. I can't be bothered to unpack just yet but I'll explore the rest of the train I think ...Wow this is great...
Hello.
Namastey.
Namastey. What is your name?
My name is Pavitran Vitel.
Pavitran. I'm Anna.
I'm in charge of the bar.
You're in charge of the bar. That's a very important job.
Thank you madam.
Could I order a gin and tonic?
Certainly madam.
Just how big is the train?
Very big. It's very long. We have 14 saloons. We have four cabins in each carriage. That means that means 400 metres long train.
It seems to me more like a mobile luxury hotel.
We have bar and 24 hour service system. This is our first class train because we're treating Maharaj as Maharaja.
Like being queen for a week.
Yes you are queen for train. No doubt.
Well I've wanted to come to India for a long time because my mother was born in India and my grand parents lived in India. So this is the first time I'm coming to your country and I'm really looking forward to this week.
The train only runs on steam for the first few hours and then it's diesel power or the rest of the journey. With the first port of call being Tutoga in Ragistan. Over 600 km and hopefully a good nights sleep away.
Oh, six o'clock. Didn't get much sleep last night. It's not so much the fact that you're travelling all night, it's more the noise of the engine. I suppose it takes a couple of nights to get use to that. It looks like we are nearly in at Chichuga which is phase one excursion. Apparently if you're not ready at 6:30 then you miss the excursion. So I better go and get changed.
印度 是甘地的誕生地
它擁有9億人口(97年統計數字)
下星期
我將從它的首都新德里出發
到其26個邦中的兩個邦旅行
由於大部分農村地區沒有機場
或好的公路
所以遊覽印度最好的方式
是乘火車觀光
我將乘坐"東方號"豪華列車
在7天內穿越拉賈斯坦邦和
古吉拉特邦 行程2500公里
從德里發出的特別列車
每週有一列
躲開熱浪真的很舒服
外面的溫度高達30度
多虧這裡有空調
這下可好多了
裏面佈置得相當不錯
這將成為我們一週內的旅途之家了
最好還是適應一下這裡的環境
床舖相當柔軟舒適
每個包間實際上有3個鋪位
每節車廂有4個包間和2個盥洗室
空間是真夠寬敞的
我想我不用著急打開行李
還是先到火車的其他地方去看看
這太棒了
你好 你好(印度語)
你叫什麼名字
我叫帕維特恩 維特爾
我叫安娜
我負責這個酒吧
你負責這個酒吧
這可是個非常重要的工作 謝謝
我可以要份杜松子酒嗎
當然可以
這列火車有多大
非常大 列車很長
實際上有14節豪華車廂
每節車廂有4個包間
列車有400米長
在我看來
這更像是一家移動的豪華酒店
我們車裏有酒吧
而且提供24小時服務
這是我們的頭等列車
我們對待它的客人
就像對待邦主一樣
我要過一星期女王一樣的生活了
是的 毫無疑問
你就是列車上的女王
我早就想來印度了
因為我母親生在印度
我的祖父母過去住在印度
這是我第一次到你們國家來
我一直期待著這個星期
火車只在最初的幾個小時內
靠蒸汽作動力
在接下來的旅程中
就得靠柴油機車了
停靠的第一站是
拉賈斯坦邦的Tutoga車站
在長達600公里的行程中
希望能睡個好覺
6點了
昨晚睡得不太好
這並不是因為整夜都在旅行
而是因為發動機發出的噪聲
我想再過幾個晚上就適應了
看來我們快到Chichuga了
這是我們的第一個遊旅觀光點
顯然 如果在6:30前不做好準備的話
你就會錯過這次觀光機會
所以我最好去換上衣服
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