Transiting at Patna en route to Varanasi from New Jaipalguri was a depressing and awful experience. The train from New Jaipalguri to Patna arrived at around 3am, and hence the entire city of Patna was closed when we walked out of the train station. We tried to find a place to crash for what is left of the night, but our search for a hotel was in vain. All the hotels did not have 24 hour concierge, and the one that did did not have spare rooms. We ended up depositing our luggage with the hotel, after which we wandered the empty streets like lost kids, waiting for dawn to arrive.

When the sun rose, the city still continues to sleep. We thought that the shops will be opened at around 9am at the latest, but we were horribly wrong. It turned out that they had variable opening hours, and most of them opened after 11am.

This city sucks, and it knows it. The city emanates a menacing vibe and its inhabitants look like they will rob/kill you at any moment. Almost no one speaks English, and the tourist booth at the railway station is unmanned. The train station itself is a sprawling mess, and there are people sleeping on every inch of floor.

The roads were not really roads, since there was mud all over and pot holes were abundant. We had to tip toe on planks that stretched over muddy water when walking along the streets, only to have our legs covered with mud water after vehicles drive over mud puddles pass us. Our feet were covered with grime when we reached the train platform.

It does not help that it was raining too and people were slooshing through mud and dirty water at the station.



Oh, did I also mention that the train was horrendously late? The train itself was littered with peanut shells and other assorted debris, mixed with muddy rain water and feet gunk from previous passengers. The roof of our cabin was leaking, and hence we could not sleep on our own assigned bunks for the night.

The distinct lack of photos for this part of our trip is a reflection of our general mood. In fact, the most amusing and interesting thing we saw in this city was this:


"Mother give birth. Teacher give worth." Haha. This was taken at a pseudo supermarket that hawked an incongruous range of products from imitation Ray-Bans to rotting vegetables. And we had to wait hours before we could even enter the supermarket since everything in this city opens after 11am.

This photo just about sums up our entire Patna experience.


I was soaking wet, dirty, and suffering from a lack of sleep. The newspaper we bought was used to cover us from the rain, and hence I had to read a soaked copy of the newspaper. I had to stand up to read it because there were no seats at the platforms and the floor was absolutely wet. At the point of taking this picture, we were yet to realise that we will wait a few hours for our late train at another platform which was not announced till much later.

The tour agent at our current hotel in Varanasi gave us a "I wouldn't stay a minute in this city" look when we told him that we came from Patna. How right he was. Future backpackers, be forewarned.