To and From Pune

We took a short trip to Pune, where MWV's India headquarters are. We ended up traveling by road to get there, but came back on the train. (My first ride on an Indian train.)

Evening light on mountains and rice paddies along NH8.

We left Mumbai at 5:30 AM -- well before sunrise, which is about 7:20 AM. Here the brightening sky backlights the profile of an interesting mountain/mesa.

A bit later, the sun rises as we ascend the Western Ghats.

The orange road is a 6-lane "expressway" from Mumbai to Pune, which replaced the old yellow road. It was painful enough going up the mountain behind trucks with three travel lanes. with trucks availing themselves of all three lanes.

We were in "3AC", so Lon went to the end of the car to get some fresh air and a good view.

Mumbai is on the other side of those mountains.

Fishing boats in Vasai Creek -- which also shows how dirty the window is. It's virtually impossible to keep things clean in India!

Baby hammock/sling. "3AC" means three-tiered bunks in an AC car. This hammock was hanging from the top bunk and in front of the middle bunk. During the day, the middle bunk swings down and becomes the seat back for the lower bunk, which becomes a bench seat. Six passengers in each open compartment, with another two-tier bunk along the outside wall on the other side of the aisle.
If you look carefully, you can see that the blanket has some initials on it: SWR for South Western Railway. Hmm … where I have seen those initials before?

Same arrangement, but this time with the two lower bunks in seat bench configuration. It looked like the family was returning from a wedding.