Blogs from West Bengal, India, Asia

On Monday morning I left the hotel at 7.30am, three hours before my scheduled flight to Bagdogra. Hotel Victerrace was only 17klm from the airport but the taxi ride took almost 45 minutes, which I had anticipated. I would prefer to sit at the airport, rather than the hotel, at least then I know I'm not running late. The taxi fare was 400 rupees ($7.30) compared to the 750 rupees ($13.70) quoted by the hotel for the use of their vehicle and driver. Kolkata Airport has a brand new terminal which was opened earlier this year. It's a huge open space devoid of any decoration to soften it's clinical features. There are snack kiosks but no table settings to eat from, and the usual array of expensive stores for last minute shopping. I was the only ... read more

Nous avons quitte les petits états du Nord-est qui sont tellement différents du reste de l'Inde: en nourriture (moins épicée), en typologie (tibétains- népalais- birmanais), en religion (la plupart bouddhistes, Nagaland chrétien et seulement Manipur hindou), en coutumes (c'est beaucoup plus propre, les gens jettent moins de détritus dans les rues, il y a beaucoup de poubelles et les trottoirs sont paves et bien entretenus, pas de mendiants et de rabatteurs) et en climat (il faisait une belle température dans les derniers 3 états, nous avons eu froid seulement au Sikkim).Nous sommes revenus a Kolkata, la vraie Inde: une vraie fourmilière, bruyante, assourdissante, sale, pleine de mendiants et de rabatteurs, brûlante de chaleur humide, mais fascinante en même temps. On l'aime bien. Nous sommes retournés au marché de fruits en vrac (tellement spécial), nous avons... read more

So it’s off on the travelling trail again after our 3 weeks (what seems like a holiday period) with Satish & his family. He even refused to take any contribution from us for the Ajanta & Ellora trip – just as well we had made some contribution to the petrol and food. He says it was a gift from Kaka – anyway to both of them and his family a heartfelt thanks for a fun experience. We say goodbye to Satish at Pune station …. The train leaves 5 mins late for our 33 hour journey (aboard the Azad-Hind Express). Anupam doesn’t quite make it to see us off as he is stuck in Lectures at Uni so how Satish got home we are not sure as he was hoping for a lift on Anupam’s bike. ... read more

We pretty much got stuck in Varanasi, wih its post Kumbh Mela crowds. The more we were getting sick of people, the less likely we we're going to go Allahabad to see all the madness. We still got some taste of it when we couldn't get any train tickets to Bodh Gaya, place of Buddha enlightenment and again during the last day in Varanasi when we wanted to catch out train to Kolkata but because of the Kumbh Mela crowds, all the roads were closed, not many tuk-tuks available and the train station overpacked. Our last day in Varanasi was very enjoyable though, went for a lovely walk along Ganga. It was super warm day and we saw a cow munching on plastic bags (which is exactly what I said should happen as it would be ... read more