A travel vlog by Kara and Nate documenting their journey from Agra to Jaipur via India Railway First Class AC. They experience a delayed (~45 minutes) five-hour train ride, luck into a private first-class compartment, show the compartment amenities (beds, door, western-style toilet), and comment on sanitation practices (toilet waste going onto the tracks). After arriving in Jaipur they take a cheap tuk-tuk to a spacious hotel, explore the Pink City (noting buildings were painted pink in 1876 to welcome Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales), try street food (dal pakora), enjoy coffee, visit a viewpoint over the Wind Palace, and attend a historic, ornate local cinema as a cultural experience.
Questions this video answers
About 45 minutes.
Approximately five hours.
They were painted pink in 1876 to welcome Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales; pink is described as a color of hospitality.
Chapters
We're once again up before the sun today and currently on our calmest but coldest tuk tuk ride of the whole trip.
So far. Today we are taking a train from Agra to Jaipur. We're both excited about this train because. Speed bump. Nope. Multiple speed bumps. It is going to be our first AC first class train. So far we've taken a third class AC train, a second class AC train. So today we're like covering the gamut of AC trains. I'm not sure if this is like a sleeper train or like a chair train.
Find out.
We have arrived at the train station to learn that our train is already 45 minutes delayed.
Hopefully that's it. We've also learned that these announcements never stop. They're very luck.
It's here.
Should I open it?
No. Why?
See if it's empty.
So everything's a little confusing right now. We are in a room that we have all to ourselves. The problem is these train tickets. Somebody else booked them for me and they didn't have seat numbers on them. And you're supposed to be able to like check those online but the system's down right now.
So we just got on the only first AC train that we saw and came in the only room that didn't have people in it and we just assumed it's ours.
Actually some guy that was selling food on the train put us in this room. I'm not sure if he works for the train or if he just like wanted us out of his way, but it works out. I hope we have this room all to ourselves.
It's huge. This would be so great on an overnight.
Yeah, this would have been really nice.
But it's only a five hour train.
Yep. Five hours.
Only like two hours delayed.
Pretty good. Not bad.
Okay, update. The first guy definitely didn't work for the train. A second guy who does, who is very nice confirmed that this is our room. This big place all to ourselves. It even has a clock. How is it? I'm gonna hang my coat up. And even though it's only a five hour train ride, I would love to take a nap because I'm feeling super sleepy. Probably because we haven't had coffee again today.
What is this life coming to? I'm just kidding. That was dramatic. So I'll do a quick little room tour.
Closet.
There's this huge bed and a second bed.
That comes down someh.
Not really sure how to do it. And we each got a pillow with what looks like a clean cover on top. Blanket. I think this is the Last person's sheets. I don't feel like these are clean. And all this space.
Wonder what these do. Oh, don't. Darkness.
What's that? There's a fan. Oh, look. You then have this thing that tells you when the bathrooms are occupied. Squatty Potty is currently free and the Western toilet's free. So the only bad thing we've learned about booking first class is that you're not guaranteed a room all to yourself. It's just kind of a crapshoot. So these rooms go every other room. There's four beds and two beds and four beds and two beds. The girl that walked in before us got stuck in a room with three other guys and then we ended up getting a room to ourself. And I think it's just pure luck. I don't think there's any way that you can like determine what you get. Well, we're in that for five hours. We're both still a bit sick.
Make ourselves at home.
Apparently in first class they even put your sheets on for you. Also, one other feature that we forgot to point out. There is a door.
That closes.
I just slept for about two hours and I woke up and really had to go to the bathroom. So I woke up and came down here and I expected the bathroom to be just like all the other ones and I walked in here so surprised. The floor isn't wet. It's a western style toilet and there's seat covers. How crazy is this? You don't even have to touch the toilet. Two rolls of toilet paper. It even kind of flushes.
A.
Okay, I have kind of a gross story to tell you. You might remember the very first train ride that we took here in India if you've been following our series. And I was just loving like hanging out the window of the train, watching the world go by. But the more I did that, the more I felt like these little drops of moisture getting on my face. And at first I didn't think too much about it and then it kind of weirded me out because I didn't know where it was coming.
So I'm not sure if you could tell exactly what was going on there. But basically anything that you put down into the toilet goes straight onto the tracks. And I have a really good feeling that as the train is passing the tracks, it's throwing up whatever is on the tracks.
So I just try not to think about it. That's why I haven't been hanging out the train as much the last two times. I think as long as the train's going slow. No moisture being thrown up. But if the train's going fast, don't hang your head out.
All right? Five hours later, we're in Jaipur.
We have met the world's nicest tuk tuk driver and he is taking us to our place for less than $2. So I'm feeling pretty good about this. This one. This is the coolest tuk tuk we've ridden in yet. Yeah, you can. You can't have other one in here.
I've only seen from the train station to our hotel, and I already love dry park and I have a cold, which says a lot.
The tuk tuk driver that brought us here was super nice. The guy at our hotel has been super nice. And this room that we're staying in is three, maybe four times bigger than the room that that we stayed in last night.
And.
We have a kettle in our room, which means you can bring me coffee in bed.
This is the first water kettle that we've had in our room since we got to India, like three weeks ago.
So we have a couple hours of daylight left and we're just going to go walk around and explore the city.
Jaipur is known as the Pink City because of so many pink buildings here. And it's because of 1876 to Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales came here on a tour and to welcome them, they painted so many buildings pink. It's supposed to be the color of hospitality. And most of the buildings are still pink. Today.
We are wandering down this massive market street. It goes on forever. And slowly making our way across town to a really good viewpoint of the Wind Palace.
So, as you know, we both been a little sick lately. You may have realized in our first India videos there was like all kinds of food. And in the past few, there's been a lack thereof. That's because it's not as much fun to eat when you have to go to the bathroom right after. We're both feeling a little bit better now. We're both a little hungry, and we just passed street food that we think we're ready to try. So for the best.
Is it veggie inside? Yes. How much?
So we've learned it's called doll pakora. I'm feeling pretty good about this because we're literally watching them put it into the boiling grease. I think it's just like a fried dough ball with a lot of spices in it. I see some fennel. That's about all I recognize.
Oh, yeah. It's like a slightly spicy Indian hush.
Puppy.
It's actually really delicious. Look how beautiful they are. Crispy and golden brown.
Hopefully we won't regret this.
We are once again having an impromptu meetup with the budgeters. They have found a really good viewpoint this time looking over the palace.
So not only have the budgeteers found this perfect spot to sit and hang out, but Lena has somehow found Italian espresso in the middle of drive by.
How did she eat it?
I don't know how she did it, but I have it and it's my first real coffee in weeks.
I feel like I'm in Italy.
Probably not the best idea for my stomach issues right now, but it is worth it.
That's why I didn't order one because.
I don't think we had to try that.
It's been such a fun and relaxing afternoon. The coffee is just what I needed to feel better.
So split up with a budgeteers, but we're actually meeting up with them again tonight because Patty has lived here before and he's said you can't come to India without experiencing an India cinema. Which is something that wasn't on our radar at all. But we decided why not?
So we're still not really sure why we're at an Indian movie theater. Patty's going to explain to us.
It's not that complicated. Basically, I was in Rajasthan, Jaipur on a previous trip a few years ago and I remember stumbling in here and it turns out that it's one of the biggest, most famous and most interesting cinemas in the whole of the India. And coming to India to watch a film is a really cheap and interesting local experience. The Bollywood movies. People start dancing. It's just an interesting and completely opposite experience too. Back home in the West. And I mean, look at this place.
It is beautiful.
It's crazy.
It's the most beautiful building we've been in in India.
Pretty sure, yeah. And $2 for a ticket and you can't for popcorn.
Yeah.
You can't go wrong.
You head it here, folks.
That was really good. It.
Really good spot to view the window.
Window. What is it?
This is how you know you're traveling in luxury. Oh, it's a little wet in there. Our own private trash can.
