Yesterday was a long day. I ended up only getting about an hour or two of sleep, being too stressed about missing my train to actually rest. I finally got out of bed around 0530, showered, and finished putting everything in my bag. I was out of the hotel by 0615, walking to Victoria Terminus to catch my 0645 train.

My worry about finding the right train turned out to be for naught, as a large board showed the departures and the tracks were easy to find. I ended up walking most of the length of the train to get to my car. I had arrived about 20 minutes early an the car was mostly empty. I put my (far too heavy) bad on the rack above my seat and settled in for the trip.

The windows were tinted copper to keep the car cool (it was an air conditioned car), and there was an electrical outlet for almost every row of seats! I was surprised to see that. The windows were nice from an energy efficiency standpoint, but made taking pictures difficult due to the color change and the dimming.

The train ride was interesting, with lots of varied terrain. We of course started in Mumbai, which showed a unique combination of nice buildings & skyscrapers, intermixed with slums. Our first stop on the line was further North in Mumbai, and the influx of passengers here practically filled the car.

There were often people walking along the tracks, particularly near the slums. As we turned towards the East, the terrain became more agricultural. There were lots of rice paddys along the way, with small villages or even single houses nearby. A few house-sized stacks of bricks were passed as well. Presumably these were in the process of drying (although I’m not sure how that happens in the Monsoon season, so perhaps they are stacked for another reason).

The nicest scenery of the trip was when we climbed over a mountain pass. We went through many tunnels in the mountain on the way though. Between the tunnels there were often gorgeous waterfalls and cascades falling through rocky ravines in lush green hillsides.

I enjoyed the train ride. It is a nice way to see the countryside while still making decent time. You can see an interesting snapshot of lives along the way too. I saw a man tending cows, another who looked like he was thrashing wheat. But you only see that two second view of that person’s life.

After a little over three hours, the train reached the town of Pune. It is a decently large town (1 million people). The whole train exited at this point and the platform was crowded with people. I worked my way out of the station with the crowd. Almost immediately I was approached by a rickshaw driver trying to give me a ride. However, transportation had already been arranged by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), so I declined.

I found the driver and he took me through town to the NCRA. I arrived around 1030, but it felt like late afternoon as I’d been up for so long. I checked in and got my room. Then met with a student here to prepare for my observations. I am looking forward to getting to the telescope and doing some observing!

The rest of the pictures from the train ride are available here: Mumbai – Pune Train on flickr

Related posts:

1. Mumbai: Day 1
2. Mumbai: Day 2 – Elephanta Island & Caves
3. Traffic in Pune

And speaking of planes, I took a train from Amsterdam to Leiden and concluded (not for the first time and probably not for the last time), that trains are a much more civilized way to travel. It’s nice to go somewhere and not be shoe-horned in with 300 other people. But, trains aren’t as fast and in the US, they’re never on time. So I guess the price of losing civility is gaining time at your destination (if you even get there at all on Amtrak!).

But before I ramble too much, I’m going to go for a run and start the day by exploring town. My hope as the week goes on is to post some things about the conference here, but most likely, all I’ll have time to do is tweet on occasion. If you’re interested in the program it is available here: Program Powerful Radio Galaxies: Triggering and Feedback.

Related posts:

1. Leiden to Hoogeveen
2. Leiden Photo Essay
3. Galaxies 09 Conference Wrap-Up