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Air Asia flight Bangkok to Kolkata
It was full but there was only three non-Asians abord.BANGKOK-KOLKATA-VARANASI-KHAJURAHO
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Well its visa-run-time again. This together with
Songkran celebrations coming up in Chiang Mai and a cheap Air Asia promotion to Kolkata, (Callcutta to us old-timers) bekoned a short jaunt to India. Air Asia can offer cheap flights but then they nickel and dime you with the extras (like check-in baggage / water). I brought only the allowable 7 kg carry-on and a laptop.
The first time I went to India was on my way home from a year round-the-world sabattical in 1980.
"Sabbatical" is a much better way of saying, "after a year of goofing off". And that time I also used Kolkata as a gateway to India.
I've been there a few times since, the last time was in 2004 (pre-Travel Blog) when I made a trip to visit Bangladesh and Sikkim via India. Then, you could use a multiple entry Indian visa to go in and out of India as you wished. Now, a six month visa requires that when you leave India you must wait 2 months before re-entering with it. Ouch!
On Easter
Monday April Pre-Paid Taxi from Airport
The three of us shared this taxi to the city centre.
To be fair, this was the most dilapidated taxi in Kolkata, I'm sure. 9, 2012 I flew from Bangkok to Kolkata. I know India is one of the fastest growing economies (along with the other BRIC countries) so I was curious to see if the modernization of India had spread from Bangalore north to Kolkata which until recently was a socialist state. It hadn't ... at all.
The A320 from Bangkok was full but there was only myself and two other non-Asians on the plane. At the baggage pickup I suggested we get a fixed-price taxi for 240 rupees ($5) to take us the 17 km to the city centre. The ride didn't show much promise of modernization. My final destination of Sudder Street confirmed it. However there were a couple of moderate hotels at less than $20 per night that had air con and were clean. Unfortunately I took my time and they filled up quickly. I ended up at a cheap backpackers that later I recognized as a place I had stayed at long ago. The Paragon Hotel. Cheap and not especially recommended.
The Sudder Street area has lots of backpackers some long-term but you are starting to see older retired people doing their round-the-world life-time-dream adventure. You need passport
id to use the popular internet cafe nearby ... security.
The cheap places house the long term budget travellers but anyone that ventures into one is easily accepted. It occured to me that I've elevated from true budget to moderate budget and that maybe I'd be out of place. But all I got was, "Hey, I know you from someplace?"
Tuesday: I spent the next couple of days in a better hotel. In my one evening at the old backpackers guest house (see photo) I met some interesting people as opposed to the less hard core backpackers who stay at these new type of hotels . I guess I'm included in that "less hard core backpacker group" myself, nowadays.
The funkier the guest house the friendlier the guests.
Kolkata has families living on the streets among the garbage. Nobody seems to pickup the trash and dirt. The best they will do is brush it to the side. I'm sure most of the garbage has just been moved from place to place for years. Yet when it comes to a slight millimetre tear along the crease of their filthy paper money that has been in circulation way too
Paragon Hotel terrace
First night in Kolkata on Sudder Street long, they can be picky. I bough a 27 rupee cola and gave the clerk a 50 rupee note. He held it up to show me the miniscule tear and indicated that this was not acceptable. I showed him a 100 rupee note. 'One hundred rupee ($2) note ! 'Don't you have anything smaller? He'd already rang up the sale on the cash register. Now, I'm miffed. "Do you want the money or not!" I'm about to walk out so he takes the torn 50 rupee note rather than have to call management over to cancel the sale. India is one little irritant after another. As one person put it, "they are always in your face".
I was curious if McDonald's and KFC offered an escape to the west. In Thailand and Philippines these places are cheerful, well lighted, clean with good washrooms. However they have a definite Indian quality in Kolkata. The McD's has a sign "No Pork, No Beef". It offers chicken, fish and veggie burgers.
It's not the rainy season but the last four evenings saw torrential rains and the newspaper reported slight snowfall north of Darjeerling.
Wednesday: I took a city bus to
Guest House
My room is first on the left.
It opens directly onto the terrace. Classy. Howrah Train Station with plans to get a sleeper for Varanasi. Indian railways provide a Foreign Tourist Office so foreigners can buy train tickets without the chaos which the general public is subjected. Finding the office can take time. From Howrah I was directed to leave the train station and take a boat across the river to Fairlie Place. There are a number of boats and each has its own ticket kiosk. I found the one for Fairlee and asked before getting on the boat if this was the Fairlee Boat. "Yes." But what they didn't say was that it was going in the opposite direction. Up river I asked if this was the Fairlee stop. " No! You have to get off here and walk back."??? It was the first stop. Finally someone explains that Fairlee is the opposite direction. I get on another boat then change to the right boat. The Foreign Ticket Office is quite efficient. They automatically gave me a 30%!s(MISSING)enior discount so the 12 hour overnight train ride is cheaper than a guest house. Note: Foreigners can also buy train tickets online (www.irctc.co.in as well as other sites).
Thursday: This evening I take
Ferry Boat
Crossing the Hooghly River from Howrah Train Station to Eastern Rail Foreign Ticket Service. the overnight 12 hour train to the holy city of Varanasi. Looking at the food storage methods in this heat makes it easy to understand why vegetarianism is popular. Also, see the photo of them chopping up the ice and you'll understand why most tourists insist on "no ice".
Varanasi: Most Tuk-Tuk drivers don't make their money from the ride to the city from the train station. I shared a tuk-tuk to the river area with two Chinese girls on an Indian adventure. The tuk-tuk wants to take you to a hotel where they'll get a commission
which is tacked on to your bill. The bicycle-rickshaws can be better choice for this reason. One of the oldest guest houses on the river bank is run by a Japanese lady who came here 35 years ago. It has WiFi but caters to Asians. Japanese backpackers used to be the dominant Asian group but now it's the Koreans. The Japanese loved India because they could break with conformity and dye their hair red if they wanted. The Koreans are looking for a place to bum-out after all the pressure at home for acedemic success. There are a few restaurants that cater
to foreigner tastes. You find them eventually.
Some insight: An Indian, Santos, who works at a Guest House, 24/7 makes 6,000 rupees ($120) per month. He sleeps in the lobby. He speaks Japanese (although now Koreans outnumber them in Varanasi). His
successful friend works with computers in Delhi and makes five times that.
It's easier to buy ganja here than alcohol. A cold beer would be oh, so fine!
The Ganges River is sacred and even though the bacteria coliform count is off the charts, pilgrims swim, brush their teeth and pay all sorts of respect to the river. At two places along the river, creamations take place 24 hours a day. Holy men, babies, lepers don't need to be purified by fire before their remains are tossed in the river. They are tied to a block and sunk whole.
Pilgrims come from all over India. It was strange to see a group of travelling Sikhs who wanted to pose with the strange looking people...me and a Dutch girl I was talking to. There were lots of photos together in various group poses.
After a few days it was time for my ultimate goal,
Khajuraho. Another 12 hour overnight train ride. I'd intended to go there in previous trips to India but it was a difficult journey before. Now they have a train station.
Khajuraho is famous for the sexually explicit carvings in the temples which are interpreted in the Kuma Sutra.
It's off-season now but there was a group tour taking place unfortunately all in Italian so we couldn't benefit from the guides description. It was funny to see the old Italian mamas covering their mouths laughing at the carvings explicit sexual poses.
There was a M.P. Tourism Fok Dance show that evening which was short and amateurish. Probably it would be better to spend your time and money on the sound and light show which plays at the same time.
The trains here only go Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I had to catch a plane next week, so I booked a sleeper to Varanasi, spent the night there then booked another sleeper to Kolkata. The sleeper cars have lots of people who sneak on as soon as the conductor passes through the car. They are noisy and will try and squeeze in any space available. I had to
literally kick some fellow off who was trying to weasle a space in the middle of the night on my berth.
Leaving India: My plane didn't leave from Kolkata to Bangkok until the afternoon so I decided to take the local bus to the airport. . It was difficult to get on an airport bus from Esplanade Bus Station, foreigners are meant to take a taxi, so I took the local bus to the banking area, BBG Bag, where I had seen buses going to the airport. I caught a bus at 9am and got dropped off at 9:45 then walked 15 minutes to the International Airport. There were only three planes leaving. Two to Bangladesh and one to Bangkok. What a dumpy airport.
Generally, the difference in quality of life, (transport, infranstructure and general irritation factor) between Thailand and that part of India is like night and day (
day being Thailand).
Hindu religion hopes to seek deliverance from the cycle of reincarnation. You can't blame them. This may offend some people but it's only one persons opinion and I'm probably not of the same demographic profile as most travellers. India should definitely be
Hotel has a regal looking facade
My room is second from left. The high banks are necessary because of the annual monsoon floods. experienced.
That area of India hasn't changed much in the years I've been going there ... but I have. I probably have seen the last of Kolkata.
India isn't so much a holiday as it is an adventure.
For spectacular traffice scene see
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x67gvj_intersection-in-india_news Why ruin it with traffic lights?
Scroll down to see all 20 photos and click on any photo to enlarge. Make sure you've seen all four videos.
NOTES: On the televison smoking, drinking, shooting is pixelated out in Thailand. (It actually draws attention to the bottle of whiskey, etc.) In India when a movie scene shows someone smoking a notice crosses the screen saying, "Smoking causes cancer. Smoking Kills"
It's surprising the number of overweight people. One full length advertising program promotes "Easy Slim Tea".
No workouts. Reduces fat. Best way to control weight is this Chinese herbal tea. Another surprising commercial is a body anti-perspirant for athletic men. "No sweat, no oil
and it makes your skin look fairer"...ie whiter!
The banking area had a protest sign which caught my eye. "Stop
Room with a View
View from hotel to left, without annoying monkeys. Out Sourcing Bank Jobs!".
NEWS ITEMS from Indian newspapers:
The Nation April 7, 2012 (Kolkata): In Hyderbad, a father killed his two young daughters as he worried that their dowry would totally wipe out his savings.
The upper reachings of Darjeeling got snow fall on Thursday midnight while the town was covered with hail stones Friday morning.
The Metro, April 11, 2012: In crime prone port area the phone connections to the police station have remained disconnected for more than 2 weeks. Finally it was restored after bosses became aware of the problem at a police conference. Police officers at the station said the phone lines are not our responsibility. This is in a crime prone area in the second largest city of India.
The Telegraph April 23, 2012 (Mumbai): A teacher was acquitted of raping a 16 year old girl. They said the complaint was lodged only because the teacher refused to help the victim who became pregnant.
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Alex
non-member comment
Hi John
Hi John I am very glad to see you traveling and I am jaleous a little bit as I am at home for too long. Hope soon to go on next trip Alex