Racing across the subcontinent

So off I set on an epic journey to see my Budapest-ian friend Csaba, who's been working his arse off in India for the past several months, most recently here in Raipur, interestingly the capital city of a new state called Chhattisghar (say or spell that 10 times quickly) and so far the only place in India where I've seen several new public rubbish bins on the sidewalks. Keep up the good work, Raipur!! It's more or less in the center-east of the country, and no easy feat to reach. In fact, this turned out to be tied as the longest continuous journey in the whole of my Asian trip--along with the initial Boulder-Ko Samet stretch, but weighing in at a measly little 1300 km's or so. Ohhh, to have a super highway in these sorts of times. Seemed like a funky idea at the time...

00 csaba m

But it was worth it to have an ultra-compact catch up session with him--we hadn't seen each other in over a year, but of course with good friends, distance and time don't really make a difference. And being pampered in my very own beautiful hotel room helped as well! When was the last time I had a bathtub, or a fruit bowl, or even large, fluffy, white towels?? Ahh, the simple pleasures--I must be getting extremely easy to please. Thank you, Csaba and Ericsson!!

01 fabulous staff@raipur rail station

We managed a 12-hour reunion before he had to fly out to Delhi the next morning and then back to Budapest--how was Aeroflot, Csaba?? Hope the wings stayed on! :) And for me, it was back on a train again, with a fantastic little pre-departure waiting time in the rail station police office. No, I didn't experience an Indian arrest, but several women officers approached me as I wandered down the platform and after the obligatory 'What is gyour good name? Which country? Are you travelling alone? How old are you? Are you married? Why not?' discussion, brought me in to the main police office to give me chai and chat with me until the train came. They and the station chief were so amazingly friendly and funny--they kept playing jokes and making fun of each other--and also exptremely helpful; as it was a last-minute ticket and I was on the waiting list, they sbsolutely assured me of getting a sleeping berth--by giving me a personal police escort down the platform to talk to the train's ticket officer when he jumped off as it pulled in--I can only imagine what that must have looked like! I'll be eternally grateful to them for their kindness and help--it may be worth going to Raipur only to meet these fine people.