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Published: February 27th 2014
Food Glorious Food
Our last day in Kolkata was a full day of sightseeing and eating. I woke at 6.30am and was wide awake. I must still be in Australia time which is about 5 hours ahead. At about 7.20am the man outside our door started playing his music. I heard Taylor stir and started giggling. 5 seconds later, she was awake and not amused, which made me laugh even harder! Lol
We decide to try Raj's Spanish cafe for breakfast but on the way there, we got distracted by a small mobile phone shop and decided to try get sim cards for our phones. It took ages to do and he had to photocopy our passports several times as well as us having to provide a passport photo. It cost about 1300rp all up including 3GB of data and 222rp of talk credit. Got ripped off but i just wanted it done. We then decided to just have breakfast at Blue Sky again as that was where we were meeting David for a third walking tour and we were now running late.. Yes, their tours are that great! We ordered up a huge breakfast, including
paratha (an Indian bread thing made from potato.... Like a big fried potato cake!), a banana honey pancake and a huge bowl of curd (yummy yoghurt) all washed down with chai! This breakfast cost me 220rp!
David turned up and we told him we needed an easy walk as my feet were pretty sore with blisters and I even had callouses forming. We took the metro to our first destination and as we were walking through the turnstiles to get off the metro, a guy behind Taylor in the line grabbed her on the ass. She quickly moved away from him and told me. I glared back at him but he just kept looking the other way pretending nothing had happened. We told David who was going to confront him but Taylor didn't want to make a scene so we told him to forget it.
Our first destination was a walk through a wholesale fruit market. Again it was all men and we got a lot of attention. At one point I noticed that all the men passing Taylor were looking down at her chest... I started laughing and said "do you happen to
have cleavage today?!". She was horrified to realize she did and quickly covered up lol From the fruit market we weaved our way down towards the River through a small spice market (smelt so good). Once we arrived at the river we sat to have a rest and ate some small sugary snacks we had bought along the way, then made our way through the famous Kolkata Flower Market. We crossed the Howrah Bridge. This bridge is said to have the largest amount of foot traffic of any bridge in the world with over a million people crossing it each day!
We then caught a ferry up the river,before winding our way through a small craft area of Kolkata where Goddess statues are made. We were lucky to be invited into one studio to have a look at some artists painting one of the larger statues. Beautiful work. By this stage I was feeling a little under the weather so we finished up by catching the metro back to the Sudder St area. We finally found Raj's cafe, where we had a small snack and drinks. We had an hour to kill before doing another walking tour, this time
with a different company. We walked to find a taxi to take us to the tour starting point. Our first attempt, the guy wanted 400rp! Taylor went to try negotiate but I spat it and walked away. I wasn't even entering into a negotiation with such a ridiculous starting price! Taylor reluctantly followed me and we then found a taxi for 130rp .. Still overcharged but reasonable considering that was less than $3!
Kolkata Street Food Walk is a small volunteer run organization that gives free tours of the city's street food. The guides are all passionate foodies and do it in their own time. You basically let them know what your dates are in town and they will give you a time they are free. You have to be flexible however they are great too and work around your schedule as best as they can. The tour runs for bout 2-3 hrs and you pay for your food along the way. Tipping is optional (but you'd be a fool not to!)
Our guide was Srot, a lovely lady who works as a Copyright fulltime, and she was a great guide. The different foods we tried were:
kachuri with pea potato curry, dhokla, rabri, gajar ka halwa, dahi vada, lassi (masala spiced), fish tandoori roll (using Bhedki freshwater fish), fish fry, egg devil, fuchaa, tikichat, jhalmuri and mishtidoi. We were so full by the end it was ridiculous! She wanted to keep going but we couldn't do it!
We then jumped into a taxi to head back to our guesthouse. We decided to stop at the mobile shop as our phones weren't yet up and running. When we got to our destination the taxi meter read 35rp. When I gave him a 50rp he started yelling "100 rupee 100 rupee". We attempted to argue the point but I gave up since 100rp is technically $2 and we left it at that.
When we got to the phone shop the guy explained he would dial a number and we had to give them our full name, fathers name and address in Kolkata. Taylor attempted it twice and couldn't understand what they were saying the other end. The guy gave up trying to connect hervphone, and tried mine instead. I couldn't really understand what they said but just said what I had to
and then they said "thank you very much" at the end and hung up. My phone was officially connected. The funniest part was when the mobile man told me that I had to do Taylor's phone for her as I spoke "better English" bahahahaha... I did as told and Taylor's phone was soon connected!
We headed back to the hotel to shower. After several attempts to get the shower right, Taylor realized that the cold water tap was not working. After nearly scalding herself she filled a bucket with hot water and attempted to salvage some cold water from another tap in the bathroom that had a dribble! I then got the leftover hot water in her bucket.. It was interesting using a small scoop to pour water over myself, soap up then pour more water over myself attempting to get all the soap off!
After checking out, we set off for the train station. It took us a few attempts to get a taxi that was willing to take us but we eventually found one. We arrived to the train station and it was a mass of people and cars.. It looked like
something out of a war zone! Once inside we made our way to our platform to wait for our first train of India! I had a small panic attack as I wasn't sure where we were supposed to be standing and I had heard horror stories of a mass rush for the train as it pulls up, but when the train arrived, all the carriages were marked and there was a list on the door of first class telling me my berth number! Too easy!
On reflection of Kolkata, it's been amazing... There are so many challenges negotiating your way through the streets of Kolkata but using David and Martyn from Kali Travel Home was the best decision we could have made. It was a great introduction to India and helped eased two scared, apprehensive women into our trips. No regrets!
There were so many "random" sights along our travels through the Kolkata streets... Goats and cows just randomly standing in the middle of city streets. There were a lot of stray dogs and even more dog poo on the sidewalks. We officially missed stepping in any the whole 3 days - a miracle!
The people of Kolkata were just lovely and always ready to offer a smile or hello.. The children adorable with their obsession of wanting you to take their photo. The city is so photogenic and the noise of honking horns deafening. The assault on your senses from every direction was both energizing and exhausting. We left Kolkata with awesome memories and an excitement for what lay ahead... Next stop, Darjeeling!
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bertN
non-member comment
Street food
Glad you did not suffer any intestinal discomfort after eating all those street food.