Day 4: Kolkata to Raxaul

I take a taxi from my hotel in the Salt Lake district to downtown Kolkata,. I’m dropped off at Park Street, supposedly the most famous street in old Kolkata. It might be the rain that forces me to stay within a 1 km radius of Park Street (it’s monsoon season here in East India), but I’m not very much impressed by the city. The traffic is not as bad as I’d thought and the poverty here is not much worse than I’ve seen it in other places in South-East Asia.

Taking a taxi in Kolkata during monsoon season

I spend some time at a little Indian café, enjoying a nice Chai tea and make my way to a bookstore across the street. I have a little browse in the Lonely Planet for Kolkata, and find out there’s actually not much to see in this particular area… unfortunately, I will have to make my way to the train station in about 1 hour, so there’s no chance of going to another part of town. I buy the first book in Stieg Larson’s Millenium trilogy: “ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and settle down in a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant for some lunch. I have a delicious Chicken Marsala and some of the best Naan bread I’ve ever tasted!

I get in a taxi a about 2pm and ask the driver to take me to Howrah station. Howrah is Kolkata’s sister town on the other side of the river. It will take almost 45 minutes to cover the 10km from Park Street.

Howrah station, is the largest and busiest railway station in India. When I get there, I have about 1 hour left before my train to Raxaul departs. I enter the station and am greeted by, I estimate, 20.000 to 30.000 fellow travelers, all looking for their train. I walk around for about 20 minutes, checking out the station and buying some supplies for my 18-hour journey: four 1 liter bottles of water and 4 slices of Walnut-Dade cake. 

Girl in the streets of Kolkata, selling food

Once I start feeling too dehydrated I notice a sign for the 1^st class waiting room. Although I don’t have a 1^st class ticket, I manage to get in (the guy at the door seems a bit confused by the ticket I printed, and decides to just let me in). The waiting room is airconditioned, and it’s very nice to cool off a bit (it’s about 35 degrees in Kolkata today).

After 20 minutes, I make my way to the train, the 3021 Mithila express. I’m in coach A1 (one of two air-conditioned coaches), seat/berth 30. The train looks quite old, but everything seems to be in working order. My fellow passengers are not in the mood for a conversation, so I spend much of my time reading my Stieg Larson book. (I don’t have a window seat, so there are sadly no pictures of this train ride… (the sun goes down two hours into the trip anyways)

My bed is to the side of the train, top bunk. There’s no window to look out of, and the bed itself is rather small: 180 x 50 cm… As I sleep with both backpacks in my bed, the space becomes even more cramped. I manage to sleep for about 3 hours that night.

I’m awoken around 6am by local tea vendors making their round through the train, shouting “Chai!, Chai!” As most people stay in their beds until the train arrives at Raxaul, at 10am, there’s not much for me to do then read… before we get to the border with Nepal, I have finished all 550 pages of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

The train pulls into Raxaul station, the final destination of the Mithila Express at 10am in the morning, I get off and now need to find my way to the border with Nepal and somehow get to Kathmandu before nightfall.

Namaste from Nepal,
Steven

What’s on my ipod today? Miike Snow: Black and Blue

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

Train:    2639 km  (13.20%) -      54 hours     (49 km/h)

Taxi:         90 km  (00.45%) -      2.5 hours    (36 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: 04531 km (22.66%) -  0059 hours (76.8 km/h)

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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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