Claire and Morten Travel Blog in India 2012

Thursday, 22 March 2012

21/03/2012

After a few broken hours of sleep I got up in the train at 8:00 and arranged my berth as a seating area. I went on to read for a bit until Claire got down from her bunk above. Then we sat and talked for a bit until the train arrived just before 10:00, about an hour late.
We got out and went outside of the station where there were literally 100's of jeeps - one of the local jeep-wallahs quickly intercepted us and gave us two seats for Rs.200,- each, which turned out to be somewhat above the going rate for our fellow Indian travelers by about Rs.50,- per person - but hey, pointless to take it personal as that will ruin your trip. We spent an additional hour there while waiting for him to hoard sufficient passengers and goods into the jeep - before we took off.
The trip was a bit of a nuisance - on the one hand the jeep was full to the brim with people and on the other there were a few stops where more people were fitted in and more goods were exchanged. Then there was the mad driving and loud music - we ended up having 2 different drivers, with a swap underway at yet another store, and on both occasions I had to ask them to turn down the volume of their crap music - not that it helped much as about 15 minutes later the volume would magically make its way back up to the original level. After about 3.5 hours of this we were ready to slit our wrists and were very thankful of being dropped off in the wrong end of town to where our hotel was. But never mind, a quick trot with (for me) 30+kg of backpacks uphill and up countless stairs to take shortcuts from windy roads for more than 20 minutes with Claire behind me and we were at our hotel, albeit knackered ;-) Yes, we could have taken a cab but precious few people could speak English and neither of us were in a mood for any bullshit or haggling with the locals ;-)
Arriving at our hotel and climbing even more stairs there, we finally ended up at reception in the Dekeling Hotel only to be told that they had "accidentally" sold our top-floor deluxe room and so had no availability on that location - but offered us an "upgrade" with a suite in Dekeling Resorts, about 20 min. walk from the hotel and so slightly out of the way of the centre.
Never mind, we put on our brave faces after a number of inquisitive questions about our requested room to which we really didn't receive any satisfactory answers. At least they in the end offered to pay for the cab to the other location.
About 15 minutes later a cab brought us to Dekeling Resorts and our initial reaction was that of being slightly impressed. We got a separate living room to our bedroom and both rooms featured fireplaces. So we took it. At around 15:00 we then went exploring town for something to eat as we had had nothing to eat at this point - we were recommended two Tibetan restaurants Kunga and Devekales - we chose the former and were well impressed by the food. We had deep fried Momo's (dumplings), fried Wai-Wai (special type of noodles to the region), Chow Meing, and a very nice soup, which name currently eludes me. It was a feast for kings - and in fairness to them, they did warn us that maybe the order was too much for us, there was such an incredible amount of food on the table of which we did consume 3/4 and brought the remaining Momo's back to our room in a doggie bag/box.
Afterwards we went to see Chowrasta and then decided it was time to go back to the room and relax for the remainder of the day.
Initial thoughts about Darjeeling is that it's just as commercial as all other areas of India and not really as nice as we had expected. Also, the pollution from countless Diesel engines (mostly jeeps) is nearly suffocating here as there is so much traffic more than 2000 meters up.
When we were back in the room I set-up the laptop and connected it to the television. We started watching some Dexter and Warehouse 13 when suddenly there was a lot of commotion of newly arriving guests our side of the Resorts. Unfortunately the tourists ended up on top of us on the next floor and they were very(!!!) noisy, moving furniture around and walking in what sounded like clogs - the fact that it's all a wooden building didn't really help as sound travels easily. They kept being incredibly noisy up until after 23:00 and with lack of sleep from last night I was getting rather annoyed towards the end. But thankfully they finally made it to bed and I could finally fall asleep just after midnight.

Our cozy fire place with laptop hooked up to TV

20/03/2012

Today was checkout day for us as we're heading off to Darjeeling. We got up at around 8:30 and after some initial packing and showers we went down for breakfast buffet in the hotel.
Afterwards we returned to the room and finished packing and relaxed up until 11:30 when we went down to checkout and where a major surprise in the form of a gastronomical bill awaited us after Paddy's day - no I'm not telling how much, suffice to say it was eye watering and I really hope that you, Claire, enjoyed it!!! :-)
After partially recovering from our shock we walked across to Science City, just 100m down the road, and spent nearly 4 hours there on the exhibitions, Amazon movie in the dome and a short 10 min 3D movie in a small cinema about an African river system.
We must say that we were disappointed about Science City, it would have been impressive if not for the poor maintenance of the place - a lot of stuff and displays didn't work and the place could do with a coat of paint. It's as if visitor projections were well off targets and now the place is being maintained at less than minimum- for instance there were no birds and huge gaping holes in the fences of the aviaries- a real pity!
We returned to the hotel just before 16:00 and sat in the foyer for half an hour before going into the 24 hour restaurant for a last meal, which we ate slowly to kill time :-)
Then we returned to the foyer where we spent the remaining time before heading off to the train station at 20:30.
As it turned out there were allegedly small riots in Kolkata because a muslim man had been hurt in traffic and it turned ugly between muslims and hindus, which resulted in one of the main roads into town (the one we were supposed to take to get to Sealdah station) being closed. So no yellow cabs were around in the area of the hotel and we ended up having to book one from the hotel, which was rather pricey at Rs.1.200,- for a 7 km. drive. But never mind, we got to the station at 21:30, 1 1/2 hours before the train was due to leave, put our luggage down next to the RPF (Rail Protection Force?) just in case - Claire was sitting on the luggage while I was standing up for an hour before the train platform was announced. We made our way down to the platform and waited a few more minutes before the train arrived and then boarded.
It turned out that we shared the coupe with a young'ish and an old man and they weren't very talkative, which suited us just fine. After all it was 23:00 before the train left and we just wanted to sleep.
So Claire went off to sleep while I played a bit of music with my headset on and tried to fall asleep - but sleep was broken due to the bumpiness and both of the guys snoring in unison - so I ended up sleeping were little overnight.

Science City entrance in Kolkata

Monday, 19 March 2012

19/03/2012

We had originally planned on going to Science City today but I decided that it would be smarter that we postpone it until tomorrow - as we have to check out tomorrow and then spend a lot of time before our train departs from Sealdah Railway Station down the road to Darjeeling at 22:55. So it would make sense to check out at 12:00 and then spend 8-9 hours there then - and instead relax and use hotel facilities today.
So that's what we did.
First we had breakfast and then we went up to the room where we watched a couple of episodes of Dexter. Then I went for a workout, involving a 70 min. relatively slow trot as I still wasn't feeling great on my second day hangover after Paddy's. I showered and returned to the room at around 15:00 and spotted Claire at the pool on the way. So I returned to the pool and we spent a couple of hours there - although it was quite cloudy and the sun hardly there, it was still 30+C. We also had a nice swim before going up to the room again where we got ready for food.
We went down to the 24 hour restaurant where Claire had my curry from the other day - I had a seafood chowder and a Mutton Burger, which came with chips and a bit of salad, as well as a very hot mustard.
Afterwards we returned to the room and chilled out until suddenly outside, 6 floors down, a seemingly major Bollywood premiere promo kicked off on the lawn of the hotel. They had been preparing a podium and chairs, buffet etc for a couple of days over the weekend. There were light shows and large screens showing "Warrior" logos in flames etc flying around. There were probably about 200 people there and we did consider gate crashing if not for the fact that we were too tired. After a couple of hours at around 23:00 it was over and we stopped watching Dexter and finally went to bed.

18/03/2012

Today was a complete write-off on my part - I only ever got up and out of the room to go for breakfast at around 10:00 - other than that I was generally hungover and not feeling fantastic, so stayed in bed until well after 15:00 before stirring again. Claire had had a trip down to the pool at that point.
Then we started watching some TV and ended up putting on Michael Palin's Himalaya (part of a Daily Telegraph newspaper Sunday edition that I got years ago - just never got around to watching it until now), which we had brought with us in order to prepare for Darjeeling. It was a fantastic program and we thoroughly enjoyed it because it was showing both the Himalayas and getting down and dirty with locals, politics and Maoists/Nepalese/Tibetans and their coexistence issues.
We ordered in room service in the form of pizza, chips and some Indian rolls that Claire had spotted on the menu - nice to just chill and do nothing on a hangover day like today ;-)
Afterwards we watched some Dexter and Warehouse 13 before heading off to sleep again.

17/03/2012

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!

The Dublin Pub for St. Patrick's day

Three other Irish out celebrating - with us for a while in the Dublin

ITC Sonar Bangla

Pond behind ITC Sonar Bangla

Mother Teresa's tomb

Friday, 16 March 2012

16/03/2012

This morning we got up really early, just after 6:00 as we needed to be in city center at around 8:00 for our tourist bus, which would take us around a lot of the tourist sites of Kolkata. We had breakfast at 7:00 due to a misunderstanding by the staff as they had breakfast ready for 6:45 when we had asked for 7:15 ;-) They had arranged for a cab to arrive at 7:30 for us but it didn't arrive until 7:40 with one of the hotel employees.
We got in and asked the driver to take us to BBD Bag - but he turned out to be a complete arsehole and started off in the opposite direction out of Salt Lake City and then down towards Science City, which of course I picked up on immediately after starting to know the area - and verified with Google Maps.
So we started giving out to him but he claimed to have no English - we were on the clock as well as boarding was at 8:00. At some point he finally realised that he was in trouble as we had uncovered his scam and suddenly took the most direct route after actually passing by Science City, which was miles out! In the meantime we also rang the government operator on the phone to let them know that we would be late and they said that as long as we arrived by 8:30 we would be OK - we finally arrived at 8:25 and then had a row with the driver over the payment on the meter as he wanted more. We ended up throwing a bit extra money in and said we would notify hotel management, then ran off to catch our bus. That's by far the worst cab/rickshaw driver we have experienced so far.
Anyway, after calming down a bit, we were on our way out to see Kolkata - and we really were impressed. The highlights were undoubtedly the Jain Temple, St. Paul's Cathedral, Town Hall and the Victoria Memorial, which appears as a mix between a Taj Mahal and Capitol Hill.
After a long day of sitting in a bus like good little strapped-in tourists with our own bossy Mrs. Cruella Deville as acting tourist guide, we finally landed at the Victoria Memorial where we had a walk around the park outside and had a quick run-through of the inside, then we went outside and hired - what turned out to be - the death cab from hell to take us to Salt Lake City Centre mall. Had this been our first cab driver in India then we would have surely not lasted, having suffered multiple heart palpations and ultimate heart failure from sheer fear!
However we arrived in one piece and quickly ran into a shop where we provianted plenty of beer in the form of Black Label (8%) and Tuborg in order to take the "edge" off our frenzy after the cab ride, as well as some snacks. Then we walked back to our apartment, arranged breakfast and checkout time tomorrow - and then went up to our room to relax and slushed, while trying to forget our mad journey through Kolkata.
One thing about Kolkata though: I will repeat yesterday's initial assessment of the place - it really is awesome (to quote our fellow Americans) and should definitely be on anyone's top 10 list over cities to visit on planet Earth!

Kolkata - Town Hall

St. Paul's Cathedaral

Victoria Memorial - incidentally finished 20 years after queen Victoria died

Backside of the Victoria Memorial

Garden outside taken from inside the Victoria Memorial

For those who care, this was today's itinerary in Kolkata with the Government run bus & tourist service

Thursday, 15 March 2012

15/03/2012

Today was a looong day of sightseeing. We knew there was lots to do and see over the next couple of days so we got up early at 7:00, showered and got ready for breakfast at 8:00 as agreed with the guys in the apartment complex. However, as we came down there was no breakfast started and they said that they wouldn't be ready until 8:30. So we decided not to bother and instead walked out and got a cab - a bit of a nuisance really as breakfast was included in the room - but never mind...
We quickly found a cab driver and were on our way to Kumartuli, which is the northern part of town where they create lots of terracotta and also sorts of colourful figures. We had a quick look around there before walking southwards towards the Howrah bridge, through streets filled with little shacks where peopled lived and had their shops - it was poor but didn't really look anything as bad as what we expected for Kolkata. Arriving at the bridge we got up unto it and were immediately advised that no photography was allowed - not sure why, the metal construct could hardly be of any military or significant value to spy the "next great design" from. We do find that a lot in India - a kind of meaningless paranoia about photography for things that noone really would be interested in in the first place - in fact, I strongly suspect that it has the exact opposite effect on human psyche to many; after all if you're told that there's something you cannot do or see then you will "crave" doing or seeing it. At least that's often how it works for me, if for no other reason than being obstructive and staring authority in the face - something, I'm sure will get me in trouble one day ;-)
Anyway, from there we walked down to BBD Bag and Dalhousie Square; the former named after the three people trying to assassinate the latter in the Writer's House next to the square. On the way we also got a couple of pictures of impressive buildings.
Then we walked further south on BBD Bag, saw the Esplanade and literally stumbled on the government-run Tourism Centre. There we booked an A/C bus trip around town for tomorrow - there's simply sooo much to see in Kalkota - it is by far(!) the most tourism-site-littered city we have come across in India. We have a tourist map, WikiTravel and the Lonely Planet to back our claim - all are packed full with stuff to see and do here - and we only got 3 full days to do it in before we head off to ITC Sonar Bangla to celebrate Paddy's day and relax in style!
Afterwards we finally found a Barrista where I had my first ever Caffe-Chai Latte (effectively a Chai Latte with an espresso shot) while Claire was more conservative and got a Chai Latte; both with cream on top - much to her loss as the one with espresso was fantastic! We also had a couple of sandwiches and a tomato soup to keep us going for the day - after all we had had nothing to eat until now.
Then we went to the Indian Museum, which plenty of people had strongly recommended that we see. And we must admit that it was definitely worth a couple of hours of our time! There was a lot of art (pictures, statues etc) and then there was the animal section with stuffed tigers, leopards, hippopotamus etc; there were huge skeletons of dinosaurs and even whales hanging from the ceiling - I even spotted a skeleton of a huge pre-historic Irish deer, much to Claire's delight of course. It was really impressive stuff - even for someone who hardly ever frequents a museum out of fear of boredom!
We then intended to go off to Mother Teresa's Mother House and were on our way down Park Street when we came across yet another Coffee house and we sat down for a couple of coffees - there I quickly did some research on the Mother House and was glad that I did! It turns out that the place is closed on Thursdays - the only day of the week! Crap! So, a backup plan had to be thought up and after a bit of further research while poring over the countless sights in our guidebooks and maps, while cross referencing them with the bus trip tomorrow, we decided to go and see the Botanical Gardens there. So after completing our coffees we quickly found a cab and were on our way there.
We were glad that we did - go there - it was very beautiful and very quiet too, with the sounds of loads of exotic birds (that we couldn't see in the trees - I wonder if they were real or just loud speakers?! ;-) We also saw the very famous Banyan tree there, which really was impressive given the 1.08sq.km. it inhabits - all from the same centre tree, which is now long gone after rot got it!
I decided to head to the (most filthy ever!) loo for a quick trinkle and on my way back out I heard something make a sound next to me - and when I looked down I literally jumped! Not a foot away from my leg was a green/yellow snake passing in under the concrete that I was walking on - unfortunately I did not have the presence of mind to grab the camera and take a picture before it was gone - but what a shock! Jez!
Afterwards we trotted around for another hour before reaching the exit where we got another cab and were on our way to the "City Centre" shopping mall, which turned out to be only 650m from our apartment - handy, that! ;-) There we had a look around and found the food area where we had some quick Indo-Chinese to eat. Afterwards Claire went shopping for clothes for Paddy's day with me dragging behind her - sigh...
However, I turned out to be the finder and chooser (and payer) of her top for Paddy's day - a really funky hippie-top that suits her really well.
Then at 19:00 we finally had enough after nearly 11 hours on our feet and walked back to the apartment.
There we asked them to make easy continental breakfast for 7:15 (I think we'll be lucky if this happens!) and to order a cab for us for 7:30 in the morning - as we need to be in at the tourism office by 8:00.
Afterwards we got up to the room and chilled out.
First impressions of Kolkata are that it is far from what you would have expected with all the "stories" you hear from people. Sure there is poverty and undoubtedly plenty of human (and animal) suffering - but the (mostly) central parts we have seen have actually been quite impressive - and it is actually very green and leafy - not at all what we initially expected when coming here. Well worth a visit - perhaps the best major city in India to visit? The jury is still out until we have experienced Delhi.