Advertisement
Published: June 22nd 2008
'I love my India'. We see this written everywhere and start to wonder to ourselves... will we love OUR India? Will this country captivate us like others we know or horrify us into never coming back? This is our story, this is OUR India. Our initial plans for entering India involved an overland journey from China, through Nepal and the Himalayas, but due to the pregnancy and the recommendation that pregnant ladies should stay below 3000m we changed plans and connecting in Bangkok from Hong Kong we jumped feet first into India’s second largest city, Kolkata.
Kolkata Once leaving the airport we hooked up with a guy we got chatting to on the flight and jumped in a taxi, the ubiquitous
Hindustan Ambassador. While we travelled to Sudder street, Kolkata's equivalent of Khao San Road in Bangkok, we had time to soak in our surroundings, noticing the changes from South East Asia, it's definitely rougher round the edges, dirtier and infinitely more colourful with the swirling sari's adorned by all the ladies attracting your attention everywhere you look. It was fascinating; I started to like it already.
We found a guest house, which although not expensive, wasn't as
cheap as I was expecting, we did opt for a room with TV, AC and all the mod-cons but it ended up costing the same as an equivalent room in South East Asia, so it's not 'dirt-cheap' like I was led to believe.
After freshening up we took a wander around the local area to see what was about and grab some food but quickly learned that Sudder Street is a bit of a shit hole. The road was all churned up being 'repaired' and there were beggars everywhere which makes sense considering the higher concentration of tourists, I hoped the rest of the city wasn't going to be as bad. We met back up with Adam, the guy we got chatting to on the flight and found a small restaurant to order our first truly Indian meal, and all opted for the vegetable thali, a selection of dishes, giving us a good taste of what's to come. Afterwards we navigated our way back through the street to our guest house ending our first day in India...
The next day we set out to explore a bit more of the surrounding area, our plan was just to wander
around with no real destination, but to generally head towards the Maidan, a large grassy park area, used largely to play cricket, and graze goats and horses. It didn't take us long to come across a cricket match that was winding down and after watching for a bit, we were invited by one of the team captains back to the club house for some
Masala chai (Indian tea) and a chat, largely about British and Indian politics. Faye, being female was completely ignored during the conversation which didn't bother her too much as she's knows very little about politics but I was surprised by how much it annoyed me. She's not invisible, she's right there and she IS a person, god-dammit!
After the chai and chat we walked through the park towards the Victoria Memorial which was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's 1901 diamond jubilee. The building was closed, but for four rupees we were allowed to enter the gardens. They were immaculately litter free, so we spent the rest of the afternoon, enjoying some peace, not surrounded by a thousand tiny foil packets from all the chewing tobacco blowing around us... Afterwards we made our way to a tiny restaurant
where we pigged out on more Indian food which came to the princely sum of 78 rupees (<£1), which made me realise that although the accommodation isn't significantly cheaper than the rest of our Asian travels, the food certainly is. Good times!!!
Our plan from Kolkata was to visit the
Sunderbans National Park, with the hope of spotting some Royal Bengal Tigers, so the following day we made our way over to the
Sundarbans Tiger Camp office to book a tour but found out the next available tour wasn't leaving for three days which left us some time to kick about and relax for a bit.
And relax we did, we spent those three days pretty much wandering around soaking up our Indian experience, like watching goats get herded down main streets in the city and trying to master the infamous 'head-wobble'... am I saying yes, no or maybe? We also made a point of picking up a copy of the Times of India every day for a very reasonable 2 rupees (~2.5p) to try and educate ourselves on what's going on in the country, just in case we get asked our opinion on anything while in conversation. During those days we
also worked our way through many of the surrounding restaurants sampling some incredible Bengali and Indian food, all of which is so reasonably priced you can just go crazy and order whatever sounds good.
Sunderbans Tiger Camp It was an early start to make our way to the pick up point in Kolkata for the bus journey down to Gothkhali and from there we jumped on a boat for the two and a half hour journey to the Sunderbans Tiger Camp. The rest of the group on the tour was almost entirely made up of ex pat Indians returning for a holiday with only two other western tourists on board.
The boat trip was pretty uneventful as we made our way through the mangroves, but it was pretty interesting to see the local women wading up to their waists through all the mud and water in their beautiful sari's collecting prawn seed.
Once at the camp we were shown to our 'tent', it was a big, fairly sturdy construction, with cooling fans in the ceiling and a brick built bathroom with shower attached, it was basic but a lot better than we were expecting. It
was also full of mosquitoes so the first thing I did was spend some time getting them better acquainted with the palm of my hand... Splat!
After having some time to freshen up we were shown to the dining room where a buffet was presented and after filling up, we made our way back to the boat for the short journey down the river to the Sajnekhali Tiger Project Area which had some more information about the area and a watch tower looking out over all the mangroves. We managed to spot some wild deer and boar but sadly no tigers. Afterwards we took the boat back to the camp where we were shown some traditional folk dance around the camp bonfire before dinner was served, another buffet of various Indian dishes.
The following day we were woken at 6am and given a pot of chai and curry crackers to enjoy in the little seating area outside our tent, then at 7am we boarded the boat again for a cruise to another watchtower. We set off into the delta keeping our eyes peeled for any tigers and were served breakfast on the boat, arriving at the watchtower around
9.30. The watchtower was much the same as the previous day with very little action and afterwards we made our way back through the waterways to the camp, forever keeping an eye out just in case a big stripy cat decided to stick its head out of the bushes. I say we, but I was the one doing the watching at this point as Faye had promptly fell asleep. This wasn't that uncommon on the boat as I think by this point everyone was getting a bit bored. Once back at the camp we had lunch followed by an excursion to a local village but Faye wasn't feeling too well, probably due to the pregnancy, so we decided to skip it, instead relaxing in our tent trying to catch up on some more sleep.
In the evening we sat around the bonfire again and watched a documentary on a big screen about the 'Man-Eaters of the Sunderbans', which was, as the title suggests all about how the tigers here have a taste for blood and often attack villagers who stray too far into the mangroves fishing. Afterwards we were shown to a theatre and watched a local theatre production
which tells the story of the tiger gods and their protection of the local people as they go about fishing and honey collecting. It was all in Bengali, so we didn't really understand any of it and it was also pretty long, which meant we didn't sit down for dinner till 9.30 by which point we were starving... thankfully Indian food was still hitting all the right spots.
Our final day was an even earlier start, as before we left back for Kolkata we were going to go to another watch tower in the morning. It was much the same as the previous two days, although we did see a lot more birds and some monkeys this time round. While watching the deer wading around in the shallows from the watchtower I kept fantasising about a massive tiger pouncing out from the bushes and taking one down but of course this never happened, I'd be happy with just seeing a stripy tail sticking out of the bushes, but nothing, nada, zip.
Afterwards we made our way back to the camp, packed up our stuff and then jumped back on the boat for the start of our journey to
Kolkata. We continued to watch intently until we left the mangroves just in case, but still no tigers were to be seen. We couldn't help but be a little disappointed but that's the nature of wildlife I suppose, it's unpredictable and can't be relied upon to put on a show on demand, we'll just have to try again another time, in a different park.
Once back in Kolkata, we booked an overnight train to New Jalpaiguri, the closest station to Darjeeling, our next destination, and spent the rest of our time in the city catching up on emails and chilling out. Our journey to the station was pretty uneventful, although we did cross what is said to be the busiest bridge in the world.
Howrah Station in Kolkata is massive, and it took us a while to figure out where our train would be departing from, but once we did, we could sit down on our packs and start watching the various comings and goings around the station. It's a pretty busy station so there was always something to see, someone to watch, this was sometimes delightful and sometimes not so, but interesting nonetheless.
Once our train arrived we
found our 3AC carriage which is an air conditioned carriage with 3 bunks in rows and sat with an Indian family who were already on board. It didn't take long to get the usual discussions out of the way, and then their attention was drawn away by all the usual tat sellers walking up and down the train touting their wares. This family were interested in everything that went past, and bought something off pretty much everyone. Some of it was complete rubbish, but their eyes just lit up as it went past, money and goods were exchanged, and then it was stashed under their seat. The great thing was, whenever any food was purchased it was instantly offered to us, so we got a good taster of both Indian hospitality and some amazing snacks. We also drank endless amounts of chai, as every time a chai wallah walked past with his giant tea pot I couldn't help but buy some, it's so much sweeter than the tea I'm used to, but boy do I love it.
Darjeeling Once we arrived at New Jalpaiguri we jumped in the back of a Jeep and made the three hour journey
up to the hill station of Darjeeling. The journey wasn't too bad to start with, but once we started climbing the mountains all the switchbacks coupled with morning sickness left Faye looking very green and puking into a plastic bag for the remainder of the journey. The Jeep dropped us off in the middle of town in a busy bus/Jeep station and the traffic and pollution just made Faye's sickness even worse so we got the hell away from it as fast as possible. We checked into the
first place we got to without trying anywhere else, as we just couldn't be bothered and Faye really needed to lie down, and although not cheap at 900 rupees a night the place was really nice. It was Tibetan furnished, had all the mod cons and a pretty good restaurant. The one thing it didn't have though is any kind of heating, and it was bloody freezing, not what we've been used to at all.
We ended up spending five full days in Darjeeling and like the rest of India it's pretty dirty, full of stray dogs and there's litter everywhere. I think at first we were a bit disappointed as we'd
been told it was really nice but after a while we realised it
does have a certain charm that really made us love it. There's a real mix of people ethnically due to it's proximity to Nepal and Tibet which was great as we had to scrap our plans to visit these two places so at least we could get a taster. Also this mix meant the shopping was amazing, and the first thing we bought was a pair of beautiful Tibetan Yak wool blankets to try and keep us warm, after that we couldn't stop buying stuff, and bought various bits and bobs that'll look great in our house when we get home. We also stocked up on bags and bags of tea, after going for a tasting and choosing our favourites.
Some of the more memorable things we did while in Darjeeling were visit Observatory hill, taking in the temple surrounded by fluttering prayer flags and marauding monkeys, the
Himalayan Zoological Park showing the native wildlife of the area and the
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute which has provided training for many of India's leading mountaineers and contains the Everest Museum which shows the history of various attempts on the mountain.
We
also took the
'Toy Train' a world heritage listed site, one of the few hill railways left operating in India and a must for anyone visiting.
We finished off most days at Glenary's café and restaurant sipping tea, eating cake, chilling out and loving life. It has to be one of the most memorable café’s on the trip so far as the food and atmosphere were amazing, also if the skies were clear it would have some incredible views... sadly the clouds never really cleared the whole time we were there so we never got to see
Khangchendzonga, the worlds third highest peak, which is supposed to spectacular from Darjeeling.
While we were in the town, a large scale protest erupted in neighbouring Tibet with a resulting crackdown by the Chinese government, this affected the town quite strongly due to its large Tibetan community so there were several marches demanding Tibetan independence, it was very interesting and only reminded us the brutal history of the people we were around.
As is always the case when you find somewhere you love the time flew by, and due to a shortage of time we scrapped our plans of taking the
Himalayan Black Bear
Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Parktrain all the way to Delhi and opted instead for a short flight. The flight left from Bagdogra which is near Siliguri, back down the mountains, so we had to jump back into a Jeep and brave the switchbacks again but thankfully it wasn't as bad heading down.
Next stop New Delhi, the nation’s capital...
Lasting impressions of India so far... Darjeeling - We love this town. Our first impressions weren't good, but once we spent a little time exploring we quickly fell for its charm. Glenary's Café definitely helped.
The food - Indian food is delicious, enough said.
The infamous Indian head wobble - Am I saying yes, no, maybe... who knows? Certainly not us!
Chai - I'm not a coffee drinker so I'm always going to prefer tea, but I seriously love this stuff, it's hot, sweet, delicately spiced and hits the spot every time.
Friendly locals - we can't walk very far without being bombarded with questions about our lives and intentions in India. If we leave the main tourist areas, all are genuine too and not just an excuse to sell us something. Everyone speaks perfect English too, which makes conversing a breeze.
Moustaches - Almost every man here sports one, why? I love facial fur, I have glorious
mutton chops but I still don't get it. Is it to advertise their masculinity?
Litter - Indians care very little for their environment, as there are piles of rubbish everywhere, which is a shame as some areas could be really beautiful without these eyesores.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.108s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 8; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0342s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
muskaan
non-member comment
'beautiful
India is a very beautiful country I like India