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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 是甘地的诞生地
它拥有9亿人口(97年统计数字)
下星期
我将从它的首都新德里出发
到其26个邦中的两个邦旅行
由于大部分农村地区没有机场
或好的公路
所以游览印度最好的方式
是乘火车观光
我将乘坐"东方号"豪华列车
在7天内穿越拉贾斯坦邦和
古吉拉特邦 行程2500公里
从德里发出的特别列车
每周有一列
躲开热浪真的很舒服
外面的温度高达30度
多亏这里有空调
这下可好多了
里面布置得相当不错
这将成为我们一周内的旅途之家了
最好还是适应一下这里的环境
床铺相当柔软舒适
每个包间实际上有3个铺位
每节车厢有4个包间和2个盥洗室
空间是真够宽敞的
我想我不用着急打开行李
还是先到火车的其他地方去看看
这太棒了
你好 你好(印度语)
你叫什么名字
我叫帕维特恩·维特尔
我叫安娜
我负责这个酒吧
你负责这个酒吧
这可是个非常重要的工作 谢谢
我可以要份杜松子酒吗
当然可以
这列火车有多大
非常大 列车很长
实际上有14节豪华车厢
每节车厢有4个包间
列车有400米长
在我看来
这更像是一家移动的豪华酒店
我们车里有酒吧
而且提供24小时服务
这是我们的头等列车
我们对待它的客人
就像对待邦主一样
我要过一星期女王一样的生活了
是的 毫无疑问
你就是列车上的女王
我早就想来印度了
因为我母亲生在印度
我的祖父母过去住在印度
这是我第一次到你们国家来
我一直期待着这个星期
火车只在最初的几个小时内
靠蒸汽作动力
在接下来的旅程中
就得靠柴油机车了
停靠的第一站是
拉贾斯坦邦的Tutoga车站
在长达600公里的行程中
希望能睡个好觉
6点了
昨晚睡得不太好
这并不是因为整夜都在旅行
而是因为发动机发出的噪声
我想再过几个晚上就适应了
看来我们快到Chichuga了
这是我们的第一个游旅观光点
显然 如果在6:30前不做好准备的话
你就会错过这次观光机会
所以我最好去换上衣服
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