Varanasi to Bodh Gaya - a first train ride

A week in Varanasi and it was time to leave. At least by the end of the week the street salesmen started to recognize me as an opportunity they had already worked and left me alone a bit and some walks around the city, away from the normal hot spots, helped to see Varanasi as it is. Although, a trip to the Durga Temple - one donation to get in and five donations to get out - was a rude reminder of just how thoroughly and persistently Indians work tourists. Feb 27 and I finally left, getting my first train ride in India. Boy is that confusing! Schedules are in Hindi, as most signs at the train station (unlike commercial areas where English and Hindi are heavily intermixed), platforms are not well marked, if at all, and schedules merely suggest a time when you should start waiting for your train and listening to the announcements for when and on what platform your train might arrive. But, once we were off in the countryside, the passing view was a new introduction to India: open green fields of small farms, trees and rolling peace drew me in. This quiet is an India I want to see.