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French tourist in India left traumatised by 46-hour train journey: 'I want to go home'
Victor Blaho, a French YouTuber, shares his uncomfortable experience of a 46-hour train journey across India, marked by noise, dirt, and discomfort.
A French YouTuber has issued a warning to all international travellers in India - do not attempt a long distance train journey in the country. Victor Blaho’s warning came from personal experience, after he undertook a 46-hour train journey that he says left him “broken.”
In a YouTube video documenting the journey - which took him from Mumbai to Varanasi, from Varanasi to Agra, and from Agra to Delhi - Blaho shared a glimpse of his ordeal. Sitting in several railway classes across different trains - from sleeper to third AC - he experienced the best and worst of Indian Railways. Unfortunately, the bad outweighed the good for the French YouTuber, who was left with an unfavourable impression of Indian trains by the end of his journey.
The lack of cleanliness
In his video, documenting three train journeys, Victor Blaho spoke first about the chaos that is life in India. The train coaches he showed were jam-packed with travellers and noisy.
During one journey, the French YouTuber spotted a rat on the floor, followed a short while later by a cockroach. He was visibly disturbed by the sightings.
Blaho also showed trash lying on the floor of one train. “It’s very dirty, it smells,” he was seen telling the camera.
During another part of his 46-hour train journey, he was unable to sleep because of the constant noise. “Between the mice, the bugs, the people talking loudly, people walking back and forth, I am not sleeping here tonight.
“I mean I can’t lay down. I saw a bug here. I’m not going to put my head here,” he said in his YouTube video titled “DO NOT Attempt a 46H Train Journey in India – It BROKE ME!”
Frenchman's despair
Blaho’s video shows him being approached by Indians eager for a chat or a picture with him. One man even made the Frenchman talk to his girlfriend over a video call, before informing him that he has one girlfriend in Mumbai and another in Delhi.
The man then accompanied Blaho back to their neighbouring seats in the train and continued talking, making him speak over video calls to other people.
“It’s been three weeks in India. I want to go home now… I need peace, I need quiet, I need a clean bed,” the Frenchman filmed himself saying when he was finally able to shake off his fellow traveller.
In an Instagram post shared three days ago, Blaho wrote: “46 hours on the lowest train classes across India… my main emotions? Despair & borderline insanity.”
“No, I don’t enjoy suffering—learn from my mistakes: if you’ve got the budget, book the highest class possible,” he added.
