We wake around first light as a few other passengers in the coach are stirring. There are people sleeping on the floor and stretched from seat to seat across the aisle. Our luggage is still safely chained to our seats where we left it. The train halts to wait for a southbound to pass. There is a chai stall on the platform so we down one with biscuits for our breakfast.
The inhabitants of the coach sort themslves out and we regain exclusive occupancy of our seating bay. We seem to be well up with the schedule and roll along steadily between stations. At one place an organised group rapidly hang sacks of vegeyables onto the outside of the train before boarding the Unreserved coaches. We get coriander outside our window, a pleasant change from the odour emanating from the toilet cubicle. A couple of stops later they jump off and remove all of the sacks. The final stretch passes amost without incident until a young lady comes to practise her English on R. We have been on the train for over 19 hours and she leaves it until ten minutes to go before speaking up. We get into Jabalpur only a few minutes late. D has had great fun, R is relieved to have survived.
Our hotel is quite close to the station but when an auto driver offers us a fare of 30 rupees we go for it. It is a two minute ride but saves getting lost. After a few minutes delay we are told that there is a room ready for us and that we can have a complimentary breakfast today as we will be leaving so early tomorrow. Our room is a good one with a balcony overlooking the pool. We have a quick sluice and get breakfast before going to recover some sleep.
By late lunchtime we have recovered enough to go for a beer and some pakoras and afterwards for an outing by car to Jabalpur's big attraction - The Marble Rocks. Our driver is a young man with minimal English and a horn affliction. The trip takes us out to a village on the side of a valley. The driver shows us where to go for the boat ride and runs after us to correct us after we miss the obvious stairs down towards the river. These are lined with statue and knick knack shops, but there is no pressure selling just a bit of half hearted "See my shop madam".
Down by the river there is a 20 seater rowing boat just ready to depart, cost Rs50 for half an hour's cruise up the Narmada River and back. There is a group of female engineering students on board and one falls into conversation with R. The two lads on the oars do a decent job as they row against the current. There are cliffs on either side and some of the strata is bleached quite white. Another crew member starts a commentary in Hindi complete with jokes that make the girl students laugh. When we get to the turn around point two bigger and stronger looking young men take over the oars for the downhill stretch. The commentary continues and all of the Indian passengers seem to think it was good as they hand over their money. We enjoyed a restful cruise in the sun and a bit of interesting scenery.
We climb back up to the car and assume that we have seen everything but no. First our driver suggests a kilometre walk to a viewpoint. It is hot and we had a hard night so we pass on this and he drives on to a car park where he is insistent that we must see something but is unable to explain what. He points us towards another alley of souvenir shops and we assume that he is getting a fee for throwing us to the lions. Nobody really tries to sell us anything and at the end of the alley there is an official looking sign in Hindi with an arrow. We follow this and are somewhat surprised when a cable car appears.
The sign says Rs 75 return so we cannot turn this down. There is no queue and as we board the car D is told where to sit for the best photos. We head out over some spectacular waterfalls, which we later learn are called the Dhuandhar Falls. Most of the rivers that we have seen so far have been rather dried up but there is enough water here for a fine mist to be thrown up, creating a rainbow effect. On the far side of the water is the mass of people who have walked to the viewpoint. Our side is much less crowded and we take a walk to get the best vantage point. The return 'flight' is equally exhilarating and we vote our driver a capital fellow for his persistence.
He is now satisfied that we have seen the essentials and we return to base. We are both tired and dine early. R is so shattered that she cannot even last through dinner. We are both sound asleep by 8 pm.
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