Matheran - eventually, my saving grace!!!

Train was delayed in Aurangabad for well over 2 hrs so didnt leave there until 1am! Not fun waiting in a Indian Waiting room, which was meant to be for people in the higher class train passengers however it was gross and there was loads of bugs about!!
This time we were in 2AC, I was just about to drop off to sleep and within minutes my curtain flew open and the Indian train conductor is standing over me wanting our ticket which freaked me out a bit. Got off to sleep though and woke up at 8am so didnt really bother me, I was just glad that didnt wake up needing the toilet - couldnt have faced the Indian toilet in the middle of the night (to be fair they are some of the better ones on the train).


Due to the train being really late it meant that we only just made our connecting train in Mumbai (with about 30 secs to spare, however we couldnt find our correct seats - we knew it was only a passenger train and there was no 2 or 3AC so we knew it would be seated so just jumped on the nearest carriage as a bloke with a little boy said it would be okay to get on there. BIG MISTAKE.

Initially the carriage looked okay, there was only a few people on it including the man holding a boy - he seemed friendly - we then looked down beneath out seats and realised that people we sleeping underneath - started to feel a little bit uncomfortable but it was okay. The train stopped at the next station and then loads more people jumped on, it became very packed and people were staring at us. The man with the boy started to babble to us but as it was in Hindi we ignored it. He then started demanding money - Andrew told him no in Hindi but he kept on asking - Andrew repeated no in a firm way, I think that some of the other passengers told him to leave is alone so he left eventually - was a bit scared at this point. The girl sitting opposite told us that we were in the wrong carriage and that it is unsuitable for us here and that we should be in the reserved carriage which is further up - we still had over a hour to get to our destination so I said to Andrew that I was getting off at the next stop and would either wait for another train (which actually you cant do as you have to book a day in advance regardless) or try and find our proper seats before we took off again. Suddenly I felt a hand nudging me from under the seat - I just couldn't stay in that carriage any longer - felt super uncomfortable. Luckily we had enough time to get to our booked seats and a nice Indian group helped us, got approached by a beggar again asking for money but just ignored them and they went away.
Sorry if I sound hard hearted but you have to just ignore them otherwise you would end up with no money and it gets a bit annoying after a while as it is constant - people begging for money, people not asking but telling you to give them money, people demanding a tip - all just because you are a foreign tourist!!

Arrived in Neral Station. As Matheran is up in the 1000m up in the mountains, you have to get a taxi up a very windy road to the Matheran station and then take another mode of transport to get to the town. Matheran has banned all automobiles - there are no cars, no auto rickshaws - the only way to get up to Matheran town is by horse, cart pulled by people or a by foot with a porter carrying your bags. There is a train to take you to Matheran itself however in the monsoon season it is not operational.
When we arrived at the station Andrew arranged for what we thought was horse drawn cart to take us up - the bloke took us to it and it turned out it was just two horses!! For those of you who dont know, I am allergic to horses (fur in general) and can't go anywhere near them or by people who have touched horses (as Kirsty Owens will tell you)!!! So we had to politely decline and we got a single rickshaw to take me up with all the lugguage and Andrew would walk. It is way up hill so you can imagine it was fun going up on wooden cart pulled/pushed by 2 indian men for about 40 mins - they are so fit they must do it 100 times a day!! Andrew did help though then it got steep and he was dripping with some serious sweat by the time we got to the top.
We have taken the Rough Guide to India with us - ideally we wanted to stay in Lords Central Hotel but we couldnt get through by the telephone we booked another hotel on their recommendation. Hotel looked okay on arrival - we were due to be in a A/C Deluxe room.. OMG what a complete shit hole, nevermind the Aurangabad hotel being bad this was disgusting, it had blood splatter across the room from people squashing mosquitos, a serious damp smell which permanantly filled your lungs, appalling A/C which just circulated dust - I could not even envisage staying her for 4 days. I couldnt get my breath due to the change in altitude, I had to sleep in Andrews silk sleeping bag as I didnt want to touch the sheets. I just cant explain how horrible it was - I kicked up a bit of a fuss and stated that I really wanted to change hotels - we went to look for Lords Central and arrange to go back the next day to view their rooms, although immediately I felt comfortable when I was there. I had a really bad nights sleep and couldnt wait for it to be the next day. Being in India seemed to be going all wrong and I had started to hate it, even after only being there a week. I didnt want to go home, I just wanted to leave the country and go somewhere I liked that wasnt filthy with rude people!

The next morning came and before Andrew had even woken (I am normally the last to get up) I was showered and changed and ready to go and view the rooms at Lords Central Hotel.
As we were on a budget I just asked to see the regular room as there was no way I could persuade Andrew to stretch to the 5000 rupees per night for the valley view. However the bloke was open to doing a deal (years in purchasing must have paid off - I have become a right cheeky bitch when asking for things!!) so I didnt even bother looking at regular room and got a valley view for 3000 rupees with all food included. It looked beautiful, even if it was a bit cloudy, I knew that Andrew would be really happy with the view and also the fact that it had a pool so just got it regardless. Checked out of the nasty hotel and went to stay in Lords Central overlooking the valley - on a clear day I have read that you can see Mumbai, which is about 1.5 hours away (although unfortunetly this was not possible during our stay - v. cloudy).


All we have done for the last 3 days is:-
* drink beer (dont do wine, cider or martini in India so have had to start drinking Beer with sprite, quite nice actually especially when it is boiling hot),
* eat lovely food (mixture of Indian and Continental - which after not really eating for a week was good
* played scrabble in the day
* played gin rummy in the evening
* learnt how to play chess on the huge board in the garden
* even thrown in a game of badminton

You dont get stared at in Matheran, the people are very friendly, there is not too many people up there and there most importantly there is no motorised transport, so no beeping of horns - it was very peaceful, it was great. I am so glad we changed hotels otherwise I would have hated it which would have been a shame. Me and Andrew have realised that we don't need to stay in the best hotel or the cheapest hotel just for the sake of it, it just needs to be clean and comfortable and we are happy.

I have even ended up with a bit of a tan after being in Matheran, got quite burnt - you didnt realise it hitting you as it felt cool up there. First the sun was in, then it was out - Andrew was forever having his t-shirt on, then having to take it off as it was too hot - he ended up with the back the colour of a lobster!!!




Um... I didn't quite make the 5.30 sunrise walk which Andrew arranged for us (nb: he locked me in the room, said he would be gone for about a hour then turned up 4.5 hours later!! I started freaking out as I as stuck in the room and got a bit claustrophobic). He said that the walk was great though walking through a Indian forest in the pitch dark freaked him out a little as his overactive imagination was seeing leopards and tigers around every bend.

I have had a lovely time - very chilled and relaxed now and Matheran had showed me that India can be special and it restored my faith a bit as I was that close to making Andrew rearrange all of our plans and change country.
I think that you have to allow some time for re-adjustment. I will hold lovely memories of this place and would definitely go back in the future, hopefully you will be able to see how lovely it is from the photos.

I was interested to see how I would feel going back to everyday India... The next part of the trip was to go and chill out in Goa and I was really looking forward to see what Goa has to offer...

p.s. I have forgotten to mention how brillant Andrew has been so far in the trip - for the first week I didn't carry my bag as it was way too heavy (I told him at the time to let me have one on rollers!! - which I have seen people travelling with so it wasnt such a stupid idea after all). He had carried both his and mine bags in the hot weather everywhere, which equalled about 40kg (told him it would be a good workout for his guns!! LOL). He has looked after me when I have been poorly, getting me anything I needed and donated his pillow case and silk sleeping bag - all to make sure I am as comfortable as possible and make the trip easier for me. He is definetly on too many good boyfriend points at the mo!! Surely he must do something to mess it up soon.. hehe. xx































One of many deserted mansions in the forests around the town.














Hillside Flowers















Horses on the main drag- Matheran . Note for kirsty: all horses are well fed and look happy.
















Andrew and Momhi - The hotel owner, a really nice guy who could talk for India.Andrew is not happy with this photo as said he was having a fat day!






























Sunrise view from our room. Not a bad way to wake up!
To be continued....














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