So today was Paddy's day and we got up early to pack, have breakfast and then checkout, but leaving our luggage behind in the hotel. Then we went off to the Mother Teresa mother house by taxi and visited both the kid's section and the tomb with her remains. It was a humbling experience and one, which gave you an idea of how bad things were in the old Kolkata.
Afterwards Claire wanted to get some rosary beads for her mum although a nun warned her off from going to the shop. So we went to the shop and there was yet another scam waiting outside the Mother House where "friendlies" had previously assisted us in finding the entrance - the same people went with us into the shop and asked us to donate to a mother a container of baby milk, which the souvenir owner had readily available behind the counter for Rs.850,- - having seen a lot of scams over the last few months this one was hard to swallow as they were using Mother Teresa and the mother house through "affiliation" to scam tourists and I actually got angry and told Claire not to give them anything but a bit of money to get rid of them and leave us alone, which she did.
So Claire got a few bits and bobs and we went back to the children's part of the Mother House and made our donation to them, made sure it went via a sister and got a receipt so that we were reasonably sure that the money went to the cause. Btw we were also disgusted to learn that within the house there had been numerous reports of money and shoes (so we had to keep them on) being stolen. Obviously no place is too sacred.
Anyway afterwards we got a cab back to NIPS service apartments, picked up our stuff and got another cab to ITC Sonar Bangla where we'll be staying for 3 nights.
Once we got there I went to the gym while Claire relaxed for a bit out by the pool. Then at around 17:00 we went for an early meal where I had the best curry - ever! Kosha Manghsho (Bengali Mutton preparation with rice and lucchi, the latter which were puffy/spongy things that we had never seen before). Even Claire had a taste and agreed to that! Claire had a surf'n turf with chicken and prawns. With it we had a Merlot red wine from the cheaper end of the wine menu, at a "cool" €50,-. The wine prices were pretty much Tesco price x10, which I verified by comparing a Lindeman Bin 65 at €80, which you can typically buy at around €10. Pricey - but at least meal made up for it on Paddy's ;-)
At 19:00 we went to the foyer to wait as the Dublin pub wasn't open - there there was live classical music played by violin by 4 Indian lads - they were pretty good so we spent about 20 min listening to them before finally heading off down to the pub.
There we met a brother&sister as well as a girl from Co. Tyrone, which were all travelling together, and had the craic with them until just after 22:00 when they decided to head off back to their hotel. At that point we were all well merry as Claire had been architecting and buying two rounds of Baby Guinness as that was the "closest" to Guinness that we would get. That and the big 75cl Kingfisher drafts that were pulled, as well as the cocktail (Long Island Iced Tea) before dinner and the red wine during :-)
While we were having the craic they told us that they also went to the mother house and were subjected to a much bigger scam in the same souvenir shop. A woman dressed as a nun was in the same shop and had a couple of things that she wanted to buy - she asked them if they would mind paying and as soon as they agreed she went off the rails with stuff to buy. The bill came to Rs.5.000,- ie. €80. They said that they couldn't pay but she said that they had promised to do so and they ended up paying and leaving in disgust.
There's no doubt in my mind that on both occasions merchandise would be returned to the shop and shop keeper and "nun"/"mother"/whatever would be sharing the loot - and undoubtedly she wasn't a nun in the first place!
Anyway after they left an American guy joined in and we spoke for a while before Claire had enough - I stayed up for another half hour or so before heading back up to the room - only to realise that I couldn't get in because Claire was unconscious. So, I ended up having to go down to reception to get them to cut me another card - and be accompanied up to the room by one of the employees and to show him my passport to ensure that I was who I said I was. Not an easy nor particularly pleasant feat when you're pretty pissed!
Afterwards Claire wanted to get some rosary beads for her mum although a nun warned her off from going to the shop. So we went to the shop and there was yet another scam waiting outside the Mother House where "friendlies" had previously assisted us in finding the entrance - the same people went with us into the shop and asked us to donate to a mother a container of baby milk, which the souvenir owner had readily available behind the counter for Rs.850,- - having seen a lot of scams over the last few months this one was hard to swallow as they were using Mother Teresa and the mother house through "affiliation" to scam tourists and I actually got angry and told Claire not to give them anything but a bit of money to get rid of them and leave us alone, which she did.
So Claire got a few bits and bobs and we went back to the children's part of the Mother House and made our donation to them, made sure it went via a sister and got a receipt so that we were reasonably sure that the money went to the cause. Btw we were also disgusted to learn that within the house there had been numerous reports of money and shoes (so we had to keep them on) being stolen. Obviously no place is too sacred.
Anyway afterwards we got a cab back to NIPS service apartments, picked up our stuff and got another cab to ITC Sonar Bangla where we'll be staying for 3 nights.
Once we got there I went to the gym while Claire relaxed for a bit out by the pool. Then at around 17:00 we went for an early meal where I had the best curry - ever! Kosha Manghsho (Bengali Mutton preparation with rice and lucchi, the latter which were puffy/spongy things that we had never seen before). Even Claire had a taste and agreed to that! Claire had a surf'n turf with chicken and prawns. With it we had a Merlot red wine from the cheaper end of the wine menu, at a "cool" €50,-. The wine prices were pretty much Tesco price x10, which I verified by comparing a Lindeman Bin 65 at €80, which you can typically buy at around €10. Pricey - but at least meal made up for it on Paddy's ;-)
At 19:00 we went to the foyer to wait as the Dublin pub wasn't open - there there was live classical music played by violin by 4 Indian lads - they were pretty good so we spent about 20 min listening to them before finally heading off down to the pub.
There we met a brother&sister as well as a girl from Co. Tyrone, which were all travelling together, and had the craic with them until just after 22:00 when they decided to head off back to their hotel. At that point we were all well merry as Claire had been architecting and buying two rounds of Baby Guinness as that was the "closest" to Guinness that we would get. That and the big 75cl Kingfisher drafts that were pulled, as well as the cocktail (Long Island Iced Tea) before dinner and the red wine during :-)
While we were having the craic they told us that they also went to the mother house and were subjected to a much bigger scam in the same souvenir shop. A woman dressed as a nun was in the same shop and had a couple of things that she wanted to buy - she asked them if they would mind paying and as soon as they agreed she went off the rails with stuff to buy. The bill came to Rs.5.000,- ie. €80. They said that they couldn't pay but she said that they had promised to do so and they ended up paying and leaving in disgust.
There's no doubt in my mind that on both occasions merchandise would be returned to the shop and shop keeper and "nun"/"mother"/whatever would be sharing the loot - and undoubtedly she wasn't a nun in the first place!
Anyway after they left an American guy joined in and we spoke for a while before Claire had enough - I stayed up for another half hour or so before heading back up to the room - only to realise that I couldn't get in because Claire was unconscious. So, I ended up having to go down to reception to get them to cut me another card - and be accompanied up to the room by one of the employees and to show him my passport to ensure that I was who I said I was. Not an easy nor particularly pleasant feat when you're pretty pissed!
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| The Dublin Pub for St. Patrick's day |
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| Three other Irish out celebrating - with us for a while in the Dublin |
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| ITC Sonar Bangla |
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| Pond behind ITC Sonar Bangla |
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| Mother Teresa's tomb |
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