Advice on 37 hour train ride

How about a 36 DAY bus ride? See this thread for that & more stories! Kolkata-London Bus service?

Actually, to be fair, it's nothing like taking long distance buses in the US--other than the bus part and not having a toilet on the bus!

About the original post--which is old now--I found that very long train rides in India (48 hrs being my longest) were excellent though exhausting. Kind of just get into it & feel very relaxed, most of the time.

I took a bus, slightly 'magic', in the early 80's from Delhi to Pokhara, five days. It rocked!; took a train from Shanghai to Urumqi, also five days, also rocked; both amazing, indelible experiences. And yes, I'd do 'em both again. Will agree with the Greyhound-thing though, took one from Chicago to LA . . . baaaaaaaaaaad.

Aaahh brings back old memories
A Trivandrum-Guwahati, the Dadar Guwahati or the Trivandrum Jammu Tawi is a gr8 trip
love trains anytime
if for pleasure nothing like a AC-2 TIER
cheers

It's funny, I avoid buses where I live like the plague and if I can and no matter what the expenses (fairly silly, as they still make for cheap and decent travel) if the ride is to last for over half a day or so. Done plenty of it in my time nonetheless, which might explain something.

In India and some other places, a 36-hr ride becomes like just another hop next door though, and if there's no choice anyway... Matter of perspective, isn't it.

On the train-
Bring: several large packets of parle g & hide and seek biscuits, a copy of Paul Theroux's The Great Railway Bazaar, and thick Socks.
Activities: Make friends and exchange food with family in same compartment traveling with seven children; argue with guy standing in train doorway and telling you smoking is not allowed everytime you can't stand it anymore and have to go for a break; write down all the hilarious conversations you had in the place you just left and laugh at them; forget there is a world outside the train; repeat.

AC, top bunk, wear your important papers like passport in a purse under your clothes and use your camera /electronics bag as a pillow or keep it in the bunk with you. A long train ride is a movable feast, different people get off an on all through the trip, different regional specialties offered by vendors in the aisles and on the platform, it's a great experience. I don't know what it is about the movement of a train, but I get my best sleep rocking away across the miles.

Oh, bus is certainly worse, because you have to sit up all the time!

but if you're going to do a train ride of this duration, do note that 2AC is much more comfortable, and you can sleep all the way!

So take a good book, a deck of cards, lots of snacks, postcards from home for show-&-tell, and have a great time!

A few years ago I took a Greyhound from New York to D.C. because I didn't want to drive and someone paid for it. It only took 5 hours, but I will never do it again. Pure uncomfortable boredom. Next time I'll take the train for double the money.

tell us more....who.... else was there with you?

singsub - who WAS there . . . it's been a few years . . . 26 actually . . . let's see, first of all the driver, Genghiz - little Nepali guy in purple overalls . . . BIG German shepherd . . . Englishwoman named Lily and her husband/boyfriend Nick, she was pregnant, looking for a place to have her baby . . . some other guy, in five days all I heard him say was "Boom Shiva" . . . and Bob Marley, lotta Bob Marley . . . bus was red, really RED, had a big mountain scene on it - Machapuchare I think . . . if any other details come to light, I'll pass 'em on . . .

er..thanks ... but i didnt really want to know as much about the who part as about the magic part. still thanks.

singsub, perhaps I can help regarding Darma's 'magic'. There used to be an overland bus,London to Delhi & Kathmandu called The Magic Bus.

Even other overland companies were sometimes referred to as taking the magic bus to India.

It was a magical journey. That's all there is to say about it. Thanks Darma for the details, I enjoyed them! I would, of course, since I did it 32 years ago!

the 'who' part WAS the Magic . . . at least as much magic as this forum (and decorum) allows

And camelgirl, thanks for clarifying the 'magic' for me . . .

Am sure you will have co-passengers who will be more than willing to interveiw / entertain you for 37 hours...

well........ i didnt knwo of this bus service.

but i did knwo that the who sang a song called the magic bus. i dont know if the name of the bus service influenced the name of the song or if it was the other way round.

when dharma bum said, it was slightly "magic", i thought he meant the ride was like the magic bus ride. i mean the song was about psychadelia and the sort of feeling drugs can induce in a person (like the feeling of riding a magic bus). so i asked dharmabum to tell us more.

the "who" in my post was not so much to know who else was there with him as it was an allusion to the band itself and let dharmabum know that i understood what he meant when he said the ride was "slightly magic"