Our first order of business was getting some real food. Despite only a single day on the train, it was apparent that food was going to be an issue. We were generally provided meals on the train which usually consisted of lukewarm meat on the bone swimming in curry, with rice and chappatis. Repeat twice a day for the next fourteen days.
Anyway, we found a nearby hotel and grabbed some decent food, despite some language challenges. One of the interesting things about India is that every state speaks a completely different language. So even the Indian officers have trouble communicating from state to state. Jeff's sponsor officer Vikas hung out with us and tried to smooth over the language gap...this usually consisted of him repeating what we had just said in English to the waiters in slower English.
Chris (Singapore), Mohammed (Egypt), and I wait for food.
Vikas negotiates a tuk-tuk for us while Ali (Oman) looks on.
After lunch, I joined back up with some of my Indian friends to go watch the Hindi movie Ghajini which had just been released. This was the second Hindi movie I'd seen in as many months. Ghajini is actually a remake of the Hollywood movie Momento...just add singing and dancing and remove the reverse storyline. Not as good as the original, but entertaining nonetheless.
Although Vijayawada gave us a nice break from the train, we still had twelve hours on the rails before reaching our first official stop. Sleeping on the train was a unique experience as well. I've slept on trains in Europe, and generally the rocking of the train is great for putting me to sleep. This sleeping experience wasn't quite as nice. The sleeping berths were just a tad short for me and my feet tended to hang out into the aisle just enough to get jostled every time someone walked past. The Indian officers usually didn't go to sleep until about midnight, and then everyone was woken up at 5 am to the sound of the tea-walla walking up and down the aisle serving bed-tea. I would try to ignore this, but it's hard to stay asleep when everyone around you is getting up to have their morning tea. I still don't understand how they keep those hours.
Anyway, our first official stop on the IDT was at the naval port of Vishakapatnam, also known as Vizag. The foreign officers were split off from the rest of the group and taken to see a simulation center, which turned out to be pretty uninteresting. We had all hoped to get to see some of the ships in the port. As luck would have it, INS Ranvir was docked right near our bus, so we acted like we knew what we were doing and just walked up into the ship. The sailors on board were happy to give us a quick tour, though it almost caused us to miss our bus to the next stop.
Although Vijayawada gave us a nice break from the train, we still had twelve hours on the rails before reaching our first official stop. Sleeping on the train was a unique experience as well. I've slept on trains in Europe, and generally the rocking of the train is great for putting me to sleep. This sleeping experience wasn't quite as nice. The sleeping berths were just a tad short for me and my feet tended to hang out into the aisle just enough to get jostled every time someone walked past. The Indian officers usually didn't go to sleep until about midnight, and then everyone was woken up at 5 am to the sound of the tea-walla walking up and down the aisle serving bed-tea. I would try to ignore this, but it's hard to stay asleep when everyone around you is getting up to have their morning tea. I still don't understand how they keep those hours.
Anyway, our first official stop on the IDT was at the naval port of Vishakapatnam, also known as Vizag. The foreign officers were split off from the rest of the group and taken to see a simulation center, which turned out to be pretty uninteresting. We had all hoped to get to see some of the ships in the port. As luck would have it, INS Ranvir was docked right near our bus, so we acted like we knew what we were doing and just walked up into the ship. The sailors on board were happy to give us a quick tour, though it almost caused us to miss our bus to the next stop.
Left: On the forecastle of INS Ranvir
Right: Zaw Oo (Myanmar), Tim (UK), Jose (Chile), Jeff, Dung (Vietnam), Jerome (Lesotho), and I in front of INS Ranvir. Ruslan (Ukraine) and Amin (Afghanistan) in front.
Right: Zaw Oo (Myanmar), Tim (UK), Jose (Chile), Jeff, Dung (Vietnam), Jerome (Lesotho), and I in front of INS Ranvir. Ruslan (Ukraine) and Amin (Afghanistan) in front.
Once we caught back up to the bus, we were taken to another part of the port where our next mode of transportation was located. We were to spend one overnight traveling on an Indian landing ship which would take us to next stop. We grabbed our bags and boarded our respective ships; in my case, the INS Kesari.
Mohammed and I board the ship.
With Amin and Chris on the INS Kesari.
While on-board the INS Kesari we got to watch various naval demonstration at sea, and enjoyed the sun and the breeze while sitting on the helo deck. I had been a bit worried about conditions on the ship, but it was all quite pleasant. That evening we watched a movie (in Hindi) and had the best meal of the trip so far.
Our sister ship, the INS Magar.
With Manpreet looking out on the sea.
On the helo deck. Back row - Ashish (Nepal), Ali, Mohammed and me. Front row - Jerome, Chris, Lanka (Sri Lanka), Ruslan and Amin.
The next morning we gathered up our bags and made our way down the scramble nets and into the ship's landing craft. These small boats then took us to the coast where we met our buses for the next stop of the trip, Gopalpur.
Left: Fun with scramble nets
Right: On-board the landing craft
Local villagers watch us coming into port.
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