travel

Kolkata (Calcutta)

Longest platform in the world 1072.5m - Kharagpur first stop out of Howrah Station. Spent a couple of days wandering around Kolkata, did not really have a plan of action – just went where the local people did, given it was a weekend.

When I arrived at Sunflowers guesthouse from Sealdah station at 6am, it was all locked up. Pigeon photos at sunrise off the roof while I waited, thinking over the last 12 hours on the train, helmeted, soldiers in full combat uniform, flak jackets & AK47s as food is served on TV-dinner-style plates in sleeper class, the hustle & bustle mixed with the normally private sounds of sleep fully orchestrated as 70 people share the same carriage to the same destination.

First I needed to get my flight back to SL changed from 21/01 to 02/02 and a repair carried out on my telephoto lens. Given the next 17hr train journey was to visit the national parks of Pench & Kanha to spot tigers, telephoto lens a must.

Ticket took 4hrs to sort between SL Air head office in Delhi and their agents in Kolkata; the lens took an hour at the Nikon service agents but only because once they saw I was using a D3 they insisted on a clean, firmware upgrade plus a call to Delhi letting them know I was there and was there anything else they could do?! Service par excellence and lens fixed, all for no cost.

Just meandered really, up towards the Hooghly River, lots of food & chai stalls to stop at, clay cups restore the traditional chai memories I have, I sample the array of foods and then move on a bar in Sudder street “backpackers’ alley” for a cold Black Label beer on the way back to my guesthouse.

Sunday wandered over to the Victoria Memorial, across a park area called The Maiden. The cricket is deadly – as you walk through the parks, games are being played on every blade of grass, the ‘boundaries’ even overlap there are so many. From the air it would look like the crushed version of the Olympic circles, you don’t know which batsman the ball comes off as he slogs for a six but the ball whistles past, either from him or off a fielder’s rocket throw towards the wicket. Walkers are forced to either dance about, trying to miss the projectiles, or face the firing squad as ball fly at you from every direction – as bad as being on the street having to thread your way across the Russian roulette of Kolkata’s traffic.

Victoria Memorial’s gates had horse and carriages sitting outside, monkeys with their handlers ready to dance, thousands of people and queues the length of the longest platform in the world! Reminded me of trips to Buckingham Palace as a very young child with my parents. Ah, nostalgia. I walked around the memorial then headed back for another Black Label.

Cities are cities, but over the other cities in India I have seen this trip Kolkata ‘feels’ the best. Busy, hectic, populous – reminded me of the cities I saw on my last trip to India 18 years ago; Delhi, Bombay, they have changed so much, Kolkata still has the India feel about it not so westernised as the others. Even found clay chai cups in use.

After a short diversion back to the UK I have missed out a huge section of travel by getting a flight; Chennai – London – Mumbai via Dubai, original plan was 30hr train ride to get to Sasan Gir & the Asiatic Lions. Mumbai much closer, 1.30min flight & 5 hr taxi.

Flew the largest passenger plane from London to Dubai, the Airbus A380, fantastic machine, huge, 399 seats in cattle class another 150 upper deck posh travel, bar, showers & suites!! I was told it could carry 600 if configured solely for cattle class, the iconic 747 “Jumbo Jet” 380 passengers, this plane is huge, spacious & very comfortable, and I had a superb seat, 81K all the legroom I could have wanted.

Flying at 30,000ft in a clear sky you see some fascinating wonders of nature, snow capped mountains, vast red dusty deserts, oceans coloured by sediments; even with clouds the formations and weather systems are beautiful.

Mumbai, traffic in from airport….horrendous! However the rest of my excursions into the centre of Mumbai surprised me at how little traffic there actually is, Chennai was quiet, Mumbai quieter. The area around the “Taj Hotel” are closed to the public after the atrocious terrorist attacks last month, Gateway to India, covered as it is cleaned and/or restored. Makes for easy walking tour as I wander around. Not that many western faces around either saw a few in Cafe Leopold.

I am staying 3km north of the central point of “Gateway of India” in the Crawford Market area, 2* (According to Lastminute.com) hotel, ‘New Bengal Hotel’ Not bad for £15 B&B with A/c, smallest room I have ever been in outside of London! The area itself is a tide of people going about their daily lives, food choice aplenty.

A number of things have surprised me; travelled the last 19yrs with a ‘Lonely Planet’ guide, great for getting you into the right place with a certain amount of confidence. Travel guides have never really been known for accuracy given they can only be researched months before you get to use the information, it even warns you that “things change” that taken my September 2008 copy has been as much as 400% out on hotel prices in Chennai & Mumbai, worth double checking in the internet before booking.

Ah the internet again, yep booked plane to UK over the internet, booked this hotel over the internet, got the details on 747/A380 over the internet, tried to book train to Sasan Gir over the internet (all wait listed), booked the flight I am taking tomorrow to Rajkot, nearest airport, over the internet, tried to book hotel but all full or outside of my budget; LP to the rescue, once I got the correct dialling code, I actually phoned a ‘guesthouse’ arranged a weeks accommodation, taxi from Rajkot, (150km £30), all confirmed by SMS; wonders of modern technology.

Booking ahead mobile phones and the internet are not what I am used to or remember, this no doubt will be a recurring theme as I move across India, Lions, Tigers, Rhino are my goals but I have planned very little, I know where I want to go and will get there to see what happens, well that was the past, today it is I know where I want to go and will get there, let’s see what I can book over the internet? Not sure yet if this will add or take away from the “Travelling” experience, less to the unexpected, less frustrating interaction with touts & taxi drivers “my brother/uncle/mother/friend/wife/parole officer has a place, I take you there, if you not like I no charge”. I am skipping all that with a simple retort “Its OK already booked a place” over the internet!?

Sasan Gir tomorrow the beginning of the “Claws, Fangs & Horn” tour, (Lions, Tigers & Rhino) really looking forward to spending Christmas searching for the last wild Asiatic Lions, sad that they are the last, they are the Lion that the Christians were thrown too, that Russell Crowe fought, that roamed all over Europe in days gone by, their ancestors that is, these guys have never been out of Sasan Gir, perhaps I should introduce them to the internet and a good travel guide!?

Happy Christmas

Steve

Sunday quietness, walked to Anna Samadhi for beach & markets, “where you going” rocket throws of cricket balls the next India team, picture happy girl outside ‘paradise’.

Easy walking, Mumbai horrific terrorist news. Chennai monsoon floods. Pick up from airport in ambassador driving manic, friendly & helpful shops, looking for sim bb.

Backpacker?! Pah, not as I remember it, I’m older, wiser, lazier, better at delegation and a totally different attitude to getting where I want. Asia is a trial of getting the lowest price for the expenditure of the most energy, or at least that’s how I remember the first trip (and only other trip) to India; 30 minutes negotiation with the taxi driver, who will tell you the state of his & and his family’s financial affairs, price of fuel, health of his cattle, falling value of the country’s currency. 30 minutes to save 50p, a small amount but in the backpackers club, paying too much means those to follow in your path will pay extra because you did not stick at it for another hour plus you will be ridiculed by the ‘proper backpackers’ for paying so much when they got the £1.30 trip for 20p so even the extra hour would not have got you in the top 10 of negotiators!

But a whole new world has evolved since I first travelled around India in 1990, back then we used ‘post restrante’ leaving family & friends with a list of places with approximate dates that I would be visiting, building huge excitement in myself as to what would be waiting, now I use email, even a blackberry!

Phones? I had arranged that once a month I would phone, reverse charge, Mum & Dad, assuring them of my good health, sensible travelling and brief details of where & what I had seen. Now I text or even call from my Blackberry or ‘reserve’ basic Nokia; yes I even have a reserve phone ‘just in case!?’

So backpacking, Steve Jones 2008 style- Email guesthouses to book room, arrange taxi to collect from airport, spend 2 days trying to get a connection sorted for my Blackberry. Transport and accommodation used to be the hardest, not now, taxi, classic Indian Ambassador Car with very ‘raj’ looking driver. Room reserved & ready for my occupation on arrival, shown 2 standards, I went for the larger, brighter option, pricier too. Getting a sim card no issue, getting a ‘Blackberry@ connection equalled all the previous frustrations, having me trek all around Chennai, following possible contracts with advise from all the main suppliers agents, all wrong, foreigners can not have a contract in their own name.

Oh well same frustrations for different reasons.

Day 1 Sunday

Taxi airport- Paradise Guesthouse, Triplicane. 560inr

Paradise Guesthouse. 500Inr per night

Sim connection with data – 575Inr

Rickshaw travel in pursuit of the Blackberry grail – 650Inr

Seen much of Chennai in pursuit of the grail, also to buy a new LP India as left the one I had planned & dotted with notes of what & where I will be doing & going and had been carrying around with me for the last 3 months, left it on my bed in Sri Lanka! Should have told me it was the little things that were going to cause the hassles but of course, they are all of my own making, hey know a lot about Indian views on Blackberry’s (Govt no like them?) Indian communication, Indian auto rickshaw drivers, driving habits, & saw Chennai.