Day 3: Bangkok to Kolkata by plane

I finally board my Kingfisher flight IT0022 to Kolkata at 00.30am. Looks like I’m the only tourist on the flight. We leave promptly and the flight is nice and smooth, I have seat 1A so have some extra legroom. It will take about 2 hours to get to Kolkata. I talk a bit with the guy sitting next to me, he’s about my age and is returning to India from a business conference in Bangkok. He’s a ‘business coach’ which apparently is something like a strategy consultant for startups and SME’s, so we have something to talk about.

Get into Kolkata International Airport at 3am in the Morning, Thai time, last night. Am completely exhausted. Immigration is a breeze, an my backpack is one of the first to hit the luggage belt. For a city this big (xxx million), the airport is really small and very old. I adjust my watch to Kolkata time (GMT +5.5, we’re 1.5 hours behind Bangkok) and walk outside to find the stand for the pre-paid taxis closed at 8pm.  Guess I’ll be grossly overpaying for my taxi…

I Am directed to the domestic terminal, as I’ve been told there’s an ATM there, as well as a pre-paid taxi counter that’s still open. After a 5 minute walk, I find the ATM is there, the taxi counter is not. I get enough cash to make it to Raxaul tomorrow and ask one of the armed guards outside the terminal where I can get a reliable taxi. He thinks for a second or two and then calls out to one of his friends across the street. The guy has an actual official taxi, and after showing him the address and a little bit or bargaining I get in his car.

The drive to the hotel is not more than 20 minutes and I arrive there at 2.15am Kolkata time. I register and go straight up to my room. The room (306 on the third floor, not much of a view) itself is pretty decent and clean, it has two single beds and a working air-conditioning unit. I fall asleep at 2.30.

I wake up at 7am as the room service guy knocks on the wrong door. The breakfast he’s carrying is for 307. Now that I’m awake (I asked for a 8am wakeup call anyway), I decide to take a shower, get dressed and go explore Kolkata a bit before I catch my 15.45 intercity express train to Raxaul on the border with Nepal. Before I leave, I quickly run down to the reception desk to get a 77 rupee internet card and upload this update to my blog.

I was too exhausted to take any photo’s at the airport (Bangkok or Kolkata) last night, my next post will have more pics…

I’m off to explore Kolkata, next update will come from Kathmandu, Nepal!

Phir milenge from West-Bengal, India!

Steven

What’s on my ipod today? Seven days in sunny June by Jamiroquai

Journey totals: distance (%) - time (km/h)

Train:    1946 km  (09.73%) -      36 hours    (54 km/h)

Taxi:         60 km  (00.30%) -         1 hours    (67 km/h)

Ferry:          2 km  (00.01%) -     0.5 hours      (4 km/h)

Car:             0 km  (00.00%) -        0 hours      (0 km/h)

Plane:    1800 km  (09.00%) -        0 hours      (0 km/h)

Total: 03808 km (19.04%) -  0039 hours (96.4 km/h)

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