I’m sure we’ll work our way through these –

You Can’t Curry Love – Diana Ross
Brothers in Naans – Dire Straits
Saag Aloo – Black Lace
Dansaak Queen – Abba
Tikka chance on me – Abba
Tandoori Deliver – Adam and the Ants
Poppadum Preach – Madonna
Tears on my Pillau – Kyli
Bhuna round the world (and I can’t find my Bhaji) – Lisa Stansfield

 

Day 1 overnight into Day 2 (Bexleyheath to Delhi – Saturday 17th March & Sunday 18th March)

The weather forecast/warning from yesterday evening was correct, the ‘beast from the east’ had arrived albeit in a slightly lesser form than 2 weeks ago. It was snowing quite heavily with a cold strong easterly wind blowing when we woke this morning. This was really unusual when you consider that yuesterday was a sunny blue sky typical Spring like day.
Nevertheless, today was the day, we were off to India, a country we had been wanting to experience first hand for quite some time.
This holiday began with a smooth short, 2 stop bus ride down the road to Bexleyheath Station, next on TfL overground to Victoria Station and finally aboard the Underground to Heathrow Terminal 4 changing only once at Baron’s Court, our preferred route when travelling via London Heathrow. The journey took 1h 45mins and, as usual, cost nothing, our Freedom Passes ‘taking the strain.’
We checked in and waited for our travelling companions for this trip, Lyn and Sue who arrived about 10 minutes later by coach from Winchester. They then both checked in although on this occasion quite strangely, Sue’s bag had to be taken to an alternative desk as the check in staff said that her straps were too long for the normal conveyor to cope with – um, not too sure about that!!!
Passport control and security checks complete we headed for Costa coffee and a well deserved drink. Our flight scheduled for departure at 8.40pm was due to be called at 7.10pm so we strolled around and browsed the shops, expensive or what? Thankfully, the time seemed to pass surprisingly quickly and we soon found ourselves at Gate 2 ready to board our flight. It seemed to take ages for everyone to be seated and for the passengers’ cabin luggage to be stowed but eventually we were ready with safety briefing over and mumbled introductions by the captain duly provided.
We were running some 35 mins late but at 9.15pm we took off heading towards the East and we settled down for the anticipated 9h journey to Delhi. Our route today, flying for the most part at 35,000 feet, took us in a long sweeping easterly downwardcurve over The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, overflying Volgograd in Russia, crossing the Caspian Sea, above Turkmenistan, directly overhead Kabul in Afghanistan, over Pakistan and eventually to land in New Delhi some 6 hours 30mins ahead of local London time.

After around 1h 30mins we were served a glass of white wine, because rather unfortunately, our favourite tipple, G & T, apparently now one of the world’s most favourite drinks was for some reason inexplicably unavailable. No sooner was our drink drunk then dinner appeared ( the first of many curries to be sure), little time was given to its consumption and half eaten/empty trays were regathered by the cabin crew. Fairly typical of this flight, we had to ask for a soft drink and then to cap it all whilst some people were given coffee or tea, that did not happen in the vicinity of our block of seats – not very satisfactory I think you’ll agree. This flight did not live up to our previous expectations. As people nodded off, chatted, watched films, strolled around and did those things typical of a longish flight, time passed slowly.
Just over an hour before landing the lights came up and breakfast was served with, I am pleased to say, a cup of good tasting tea but the inclusion of a blueberry muffin seemed rather a strange thing to be presented with so early in the morning.
We landed at 10.30am local time which meant a flight time of 7h 45mins not bad when you think where we were now.

n.b. India is 13 times larger than the U.K.

After passing through passport/e visa control we picked up our luggage and made our way into the arrivals area where as per usual we were met by an Explore rep who asked us to wait a few minutes before summoning our mini cab which took us through the hectic Delhi traffic to the area of Karol Bagh where we were dropped off at our hotel, Hotel Good Times or as we quickly renamed it Hotel Seen Better Times.

Our tour leader, Abhay introduced himself to the 4 of us and gave us a few pieces of information regarding our group and when and where we should meet for a 6pm briefing. He also organised our rooms and told us that if we’d like to go for a walk then it might be worthwhile visiting the nearby market. After a short and very welcomed snooze we met in the lobby and after exiting the hotel doors immersed ourselves into the mayhem of New Delhi.

n.b. Population of India – 1,349,806,358

There are simply no rules for road users save for; got for it with a lot of impatient hooting thrown in for good measure. Abhay later advised us that the rules of the road are, would you believe it, simple advisory rules and not mandatory! Pedestrians including us crossed roads at their peril as cars, buses, vans, tuc tucs, scooters, mopeds, bicycles and lorries all jostled for position. What surprised us most of all is that, unlike back at home, no one seemed to lose their cool, get angry, swear or exchange rude signs, they just accepted the inevitability of the situation.

n.b. Ratio of 5 cars per km of road in India compared with 77 cars per km of road in U.K.

The market, according to the guide book one of the biggest in Asia, sold everything from ties to motorbikes, babies clothes to fresh fruit. Of course, we were, as expected, continually pestered and engaged in conversation by complete strangers but found that a firm ‘no thank you’ often did the trick. Our route took us circuitously back to our hotel where we made a cup of tea and after a chat walked down to the hotel dining room to be introduced to the other members of our group totalling 9 in all, 7 Brits and 2 Kiwis.
At 7 pm we again met in the hotel lobby to venture forth and find somewhere suitable for our evening meal. We strolled to the metro station and for a measly 20 rupees travelled the 3 stops on a surprisingly clean and cool train, the ladies using the women only first carriage, to Connaught Place, a rather up market palatial Crescent of modern looking buildings housing numerous high quality shops and restaurants and packed with people out with their families on this warm Sunday evening. Street sellers abounded here but we enjoyed looking around whilst dodging the crowds which came at us from all angles. The 4 of us decided to eat in an Indian restaurant called Manakchand Celebrators, a well decorated busy place where we were the only westerners sitting at a table. The food was astoundingly good and our selection of dishes washed down with 2 beers apiece came to the grand total of 3716 rupees (approx £37) it was worth every rupee.

n.b. 100 rupees = 90p

Our eventual journey back to the hotel turned out to be interesting to say the least. We decided to take an auto rickshaw often commonly miscalled a tuc tuc and boy was it fun, Lyn sat on one cheek only in the front beside our driver, we sat in the back and it was only then I noticed the pair of crutches tucked down beside our driver. We bounced, dodged, beeped, turned and twisted our way back to the vicinity of our hotel before the driver had to stop and ask for more accurate directions. Eventually he pulled up in front of the hotel and as I paid him the 200 rupees agreed upon at the start of this journey he showed me that he only had one leg, a left one – what a driver and what an end to a great day, more power to your crutch in both senses of the meaning.

Day 2 ( Monday 19th March – in Delhi both Old and New)

We woke at 7am and after breakfast decided we would venture out on our own and visit India Gate, an arch similar to both Marble Arch and the Arc de Triomphe. We hailed 2 auto rickshaws, that was easy, they are available everywhere, to be known henceforth as ARs, and after agreeing a price were immediately, once again, immersed in the early morning Delhi congestion of humanity. The journey took about 20 minutes and we were dropped off very close to this iconic location commemorating the 17,000 1st World War Indian dead. It was busy here and unusually locals asked to have our photograph taken alongside them. Although being frequently pestered by AR drivers, we decided to walk through parkland alongside shallow rectangular lakes, being cleaned at the time to the Parliament building.

n.b. India is the world’s largest democracy

We saw, along the way, many cheeky palm squirrels, pairs of bright yellow billed mynah birds and the ubiquitous black kites which seemed to be everywhere here in Dehli and enjoyed the stroll. When we arrived at the Parliament Building we noticed a very high level of security and numerous TV vans, we had been told by a stranger that today was World Congress Day and that the Indian Prime Minister would be present, we never saw him!

Next and as time was tight, we decided to make a fleeting visit to the Red Fort even though we knew this would be closed on Monday. It was a very impressive building with high walls, turrets and imposing gates. The great variety of buildings and architectural styles in this country is something we have already experienced and are certainly looking forward to as we travel around.

It was now getting late and we had to get back to the hotel by 11.30am so rather foolishly we agreed a price and all 4 of us together grabbed an AR to carry us back to the hotel. This proved to be the first of many very memorable journeys; it was extremely squashed and the traffic seemed to have gotten worse than ever, so much so that at one stage we even found ourselves with other vehicles going the wrong way up what appeared to be a crude type of dual carriageway, we later discovered that this was commonplace in India and not just confined to cities either. We crossed patches of extremely rough road surface and entered roundabouts without a care in the world. The strange thing was, this traffic madness seemed to work, all with a soundtrack provided by a thousand car horns of numerous different tones. Needless to say, our driver really didn’t have much of a clue about where he was going but with the help of local advice, google maps on his mobile and, believe it or not, our guidance, we somehow managed to get back to our hotel, if a little late.
The rest of the group had thank goodness been patient and we grabbed our belongings from our rooms, dropped our luggage in the lobby and were off again. We walked to the metro where, as I’ve previously mentioned, interestingly enough, the first carriage on any train is always reserved only for women, we paid for our travel tokens (rather like a milk token in appearance), changed after 3 stops and again after another 3 stops and we had arrived in Old Delhi, a place where would you believe it was even more busy than we had already experienced. We duly followed Abhay this way and that, crossed roads which at first glance seemed an impossible task and eventually arrived at the foot of numerous stone steps leading up to the entrance of the Jama Masjid mosque. Just as we set foot on the first step the muezzin called the faithful to prayer and the gates were shut to visitors!!!

Plan B was immediately put into action, what could be more relaxing than a bicycle rickshaw ride? ANYTHING! This is hard to describe, you have to be there to believe it but here goes – 2 people at a time (us) climbed onto a bench seat behind the peddler with a shade covering us from the hot sun. The peddler pushed the 3 wheeled steel contraption and climbed aboard the saddle (I use the term loosely). The scrawny yet muscular peddler peddled us, using a fixed wheel, into the mayhem whilst talking/shouting continuously as he somehow miraculously and successfully avoided other road users and pedestrians.

We went down roads which on the face of it appeared to be simply shop lined alleys only fit for people on foot who came at us from every conceivable angle, our peddler only coming to a complete stop when he bumped his front wheel into the rickshaw stopped in front of him. Eventually we came to a complete stop due to good old ‘Old Delhi Grid Lock.’ was he deterred? No way, he decided to push the last few metres and we were back at our starting point, thank goodness.
Surprise, surprise, the mosque was now open for visitors so we duly/ obliged paying 300 rupees for the pleasure of taking a camera into the complex. We were barefoot and the stones burned our soles so we tried hard to keep either to the narrow strips of matting or marble floor areas. It was crowded here with worshippers washing in the central pool, sitting around chatting and others praying.

Most people were simply sitting in the shade or walking around looking at the building, grand on the outside but sadly, bare and dull on the inside. We didn’t stay too long, neither of us are great believers so we were soon outside sat on the stone steps drinking a very welcomed ice cold drink. We fought our way back through the crowds to the station and retraced our earlier steps to the hotel. Having had nothing to eat since breakfast our next foray was to the bakers located unfortunately in the bazaar area of Karol Bagh. A few of us followed Abhay through the busy streets to Raffles Bakery, a remarkably calm and clean establishment amongst a sea of confusion. I selected some vegetarian sandwiches and patties and apple pies for dessert as there was to be no suitable food on the train either for dinner nor breakfast the following morning. We walked the 10 minutes back to the hotel for a well deserved rest and something to eat and drink.
At around 5.30pm we, along with our luggage, were picked up in front of the hotel and were on our way to Old Delhi Station. After being dropped off we headed through security accompanied by a lot of pushing, shoving and impatience and walked to platform 7 where we eventually climbed aboard our allotted carriage into our booked seats/beds for the overnight journey to Udaipur. After snacking upon what I had earlier bought in the bakery and sorting out our ‘bedding’ for the night we decided it was time to go to bed. Maggie made her lower bunk bed by dropping the 2 seats together and I climbed up to the top bunk, a bit like the luggage rack on our trains. As time slowly passed the 8 men in the 4 bed area opposite began to get louder and louder until I politely asked them to be quiet. Curtains drawn, a long night began in a hot, cramped and uncomfortable space.

Day 3 (Tuesday 20th March in Udaipur)

After sleeping in fits and starts as the train slowed and sped up and stopped at various stations along the route the chai man woke us up with his calling (chai, chai, chai, tea, tea) at around 6.30am. Finally we arrived at Udaipur Station at about 7.40am. We climbed off the train and carried our luggage through the concourse where we only had to wait a little while for a convoy of ARs to take us to our hotel, The Tiger, on the shores of the lake, (if you’ve seen it, the lake which featured heavily in the James Bond Movie, Octopussy).
We were immediately whisked off to the the roof terrace for our breakfast. The views from here were spectacular in all directions, the architecture certainly has to be seen to be believed.

Following breakfast we were shown to our rooms where we first showered and then rested until 11 am when we again met in the lobby for an orientation tour. This place was full of shop lined alleys packed with ARs and mopeds/motorcycles going every which way, you couldn’t walk anywhere without someone beeping to warn you that they are approaching even though you obviously soon become aware of their presence. We were shown good places to eat and also the central area of tourist ‘trash,’ Abhay’s words not mine. We then walked up a quieter and wider road and into the palace through the gates all what we could see in front and around us originally built in the 16th Century and now used as a museum, a hotel and the local King’s residence, all magnificent. The façade helping to hide the fact that behind was a hill meaning the rooms in this building lay to the side rather than it having any sort of depth. Next we followed the shoreline and were shown the window from which Roger Moore, as James Bond, escaped from by sliding down the drapes before we eventually made our way back to another set of palace gates. We strolled back to our hotel via an artists’ studio where we were shown a selection of fine artwork on wood, paper, canvas, mother of pearl and camel bone for which this area is famed and before leaving some of the ladies had a miniature elephant or peacock or camel etc painted on one of their nails with the brushes used, made either from camel’s eyelashes or hair from squirrel’s tails! Fine work indeed.

We went out again in the afternoon to visit the palace museum which proved to be vast, spread throughout the palace buildings and accessed by numerous sets of steep steps.

Whilst attempting to return to our hotel via the main square we unwittingly became rather fully involved in a huge festival with dancers, musicians, floats, people dressed as Hindu Deities, you name it……

n.b. 80% of Indians are Hindu

We sat and watched, along with hundreds of others, for ages, I particularly remember the float which would not fit under the street banner arch which then had to be hastily manhandled and lifted up by a group of men, the young girl dressed as a goddess who was close to fainting whilst attempting to stand on a type of sedan chair, the horses with their warrior riders, the man covered from head to toe in blue body paint to look like Vishnu, the seriously overloud pop music float and the 2 very young children dressed as a maharajah and and maharani, all very colourful, energetic and good humoured. As they passed, people smiled and waved at us and seemed pleased for us to be involved.

It was a full on affair so we found a good vantage point on some steps as it soon became obvious that we would not be able to leave the area even if we had wanted to, there were simply too many people crammed into such a tight space and they seemed to keep coming.

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Eventually after many groups had passed by the procession came to a finish and along with thousands of others we followed the end of it down the road in the direction of our hotel which coincidentally also led to the Ghats (steps leading to the water’s edge) where the women were going to bathe to complete their celebrations and bring good luck to their husbands. After a slow, noisy, hustle bustle, push and shove walk we dived off to the left to seek the sanctuary of our hotel. Everybody was good natured and appreciated us taking part as onlookers with numerous waving and thumbs up at any opportunity. What a privilege to have experienced this delightful festival at first hand.
When everything had pretty much died down in the town we went out for dinner sitting in a roof top restaurant where we were the only table and the views of the illuminated palace and Jagdish temple were fantastic.

As we ate and drank, we watched the fireworks marking the end of today’s festivities and then spent quite some time talking to the manager about Indian culture and Hindu religion, all of which was very interesting.

We once again made our way back to the hotel and were in bed by 10.30pm.

Day 4 (Wednesday 21st March in Udaipur)

The day started particularly early for me, something hadn’t agreed with me, I had an upset stomach so decided to pass on breakfast and the morning’s activities. I just lay in bed sleeping and trying to feel better. Maggie, Lyn and Sue chose to take the boat ride around the islands in the lake and pass by the ghats and up to the bridge. They said it was really good and that they did not have to queue as they were on the first boat of the day.
Maggie returned to the hotel at around 12.35pm and because I was feeling better and after she’d had a rest we decided to venture out to visit the Jagdish Temple. Of course we ran the gauntlet of the ‘I’m not a guide,’ etc. which is to be expected when either simply walking along the street or visiting anywhere regarded as ‘special.’ The stone temple, tower shaped, which was reached by a steep stone staircase was adorned all over with intricate carvings of animals and people and there was singing taking place inside nearer the altar.

Next we decided to return to the art gallery we had visited yesterday so we could buy a piece of art work. Not only did we do this but we bought 4 pictures, 3 miniatures of Moghul men and a sepia Elephant painting all done on mother of pearl, they weren’t cheap and will look good when framed and hanged on a wall at home.

This short afternoon foray was sufficient for me so we returned to our hotel for a rest.
At around 5pm we could hear the festival drummers signalling the start of today’s procession and at about 7pm we wandered down to the ghat and along with the rest of the crowd watched the dancing and other performances on show. Particularly intriguing and unusual was the bicycle wheel balancer/juggler.

After half an hour or so we sought the peaceful sanctuary of the Eidlewess bakery for a cup of tea. From here we ambled up to the centre of town and bought some bananas for tomorrow’s breakfast.
After packing our cases ready for our early departure tomorrow we decided to have an early night. Everything here seems to happen early.

Day 5 (Thursday 22nd March – Udaipur to Pushkar via Ajemir)

Today was the earliest start yet so thank goodness I was feeling better. Our alarms went off in pure syncronicity at 4am, yes 4am for a 5.15am departure from the hotel. Our bags duly collected they were placed aboard our AR and we were driven through the unervingly quiet early morning streets of Udaipur. What a difference 12hours can make to the ability to get somewhere in a hurry. Avoiding most of the potholes, a dog sitting in the middle of the road and a few 2 wheeled early risers, after about 15 min we arrived at the station. Our train was already waiting at the platform so we found our coach C2, climbed aboard and located our pre booked seats. The carriage was quite spacious with rows of seats split 3 and 2, half the coach facing one way and the other half facing the other way. The carriage was pretty full by the time the train pulled away from the platform at 6am on the dot. As we gathered speed, people settled down for the anticipated 5h 30min journey to Ajmer. We stopped along the way to drop off and pick up passengers and found that those few empty seats had now been filled. The Chai man, cleaners and guard made their anticipated entries into the carriage at regular intervals whilst we enjoyed the view or chatted or caught up on sleep. Upon arrival at one Station just imagine our surprise when we unexpectedly reversed out and spent the rest of the journey now seemingly going backwards. At 11.30am we arrived at our destination and the carriage disgorged itself of almost all its passengers, everyone pushing and shoving as it did so. The car park and surrounding area was organised chaos with all forms of transport vying for the quickest and best routes in and out of this mayhem. We had 2 cars (4WD) waiting for us and no sooner had we loaded up than we joined in the merry dance. It was all hooting, going for gaps that weren’t there and ignoring virtually every other road user. We drove through the town where we stopped for a while as Abhay unsuccessfully attempted to buy some bus tickets then we were on our way proper, on the road passing everyone in sundry, the 5 vehicle overtaking manoeuvres being all the more exciting when completed on blind bends, how we haven’t seen an accident yet I just don’t know.
Upon arriving in the town of Pushkar we appeared to drive through a very poor area almost full of building works which seemed to have come to a grinding halt so you can imagine our surprise when we pulled up at the front of our very pleasant gated hotel, The Master Paradise, a large modern and welcoming building.

After handing in our passports we were given our keys. Our room was very pleasant and we looked forward to spending 2 nights here. We had a quick snack lunch before all meeting up with Abhay for our orientation walk. We were warned that this would be a slightly longer walk and that if anyone preferred to use an AR they could do so, no one took him up on his offer. We were glad we hadn’t because this place was colourful, very different from what we had already seen and certainly interesting in numerous ways, most of which were odd. We walked past some camels, through the town, past an Ashram, we dodged numerous cows, gawped at numerous pierced hippie types and eventually arrived at one of the ghats surrounding the city lake all the time with the smell of marijuana/weed serenading our nostrils. A priest then helped us deliver some offerings via a rather long winded and very wordy ceremony until we said or thanks and goodbyes and retraced our steps to the sunset viewing point where we sat down in one of the many restaurants from which to watch the sunset. We drank some soft drinks, no alcohol in this town, chose some pizzas for our meal and relaxed to watch the much awaited sunset. To the sound of a drummer the sun finally obliged setting at 6.46 pm.

We paid our bill in rupees as you would expect and when the drummer asked for a donation we paid him in leftover slices of pizza and then, in the dark, wandered back to the hotel. We tucked ourselves into bed for a much anticipated good night’s sleep.

Day 6 (Friday 23rd March in Pushkar)

What a day, it all started with yet another 4am alarm as today began with first, a short AR ride to the foot of a steep hill upon which stood the Savitri Temple, preceded by 910 unusually steep steps which led to the aforementioned temple.

We climbed each and every single one of them just to view the sunset. Was it worth it, pretty much so, maybe a score of 7 out of 10. The sun duly rose at around 6.30am but wasn’t really that spectacular as the ridge over which it rose was quite smooth and uninteresting, on the other hand, the view of our stepped route below us was much more impressive.

We stayed for a while watching the Black Faced Langurs playing on the cable car wires and Red Vented Bulbuls and Babblers hopping around in the undergrowth. Then, as we began our descent, the cable car started up and the pain on the knees and leg muscles began. We were soon back in the car park and riding back to the Hotel, this time via the back road around the lake, for a well earned and delicious breakfast, tea, pancakes, breaded Pakora (a battered and fried cold curry sandwich?????) and toast.
After a few hours rest we decided to head back into town running the gauntlet of beggars, street sellers and the like, dodging camel carts, random cows, barrows carrying all manner of goods and, of course, the interminable cars, mopeds and ARs.

It was very hot so we stopped for a welcome cold drink nb in this town there is neither alcohol nor meat for sale or consumption. We walked on still further and on a corner was an interesting stall selling, amongst a myriad of other things, some interesting metal objects. I was looking at a bindi powder pot and the stall holder was instantly on to me. The bartering began and after some good humoured haggling I got him to move from 2500rps to 1200rps. It was good fun and for a moment we seemed to enjoy the whole exchange. By the way, a Kumkuma pot, as it is called, holds the various coloured powders used in making the forehead bindi mark. After a purchase, cold drinks were once more required so we climbed the steep steps, they’re all steep around here, to the roof top terrace at the Out Of The Blue Restaurant.

Mags and I each had a plate of chips and a refreshing freshly squeezed lime and soda. We then strolled slowly back to the hotel taking photos and enjoying the scenery whilst still being pestered all the way by the vendors and beggars and dodging the constant stream of crazy modes of transport.

The afternoon was complete following a pot of tea for 2.
We spent a while just relaxing in the late afternoon sunshine and enjoying the cooler air of the hotel’s central courtyard. Finally we agreed to revisit the same restaurant as last night but this time 6 of us went and we were going to choose the set Indian Thali menu. By 8.30pm we were sat down together with drinks in hand enjoying the fusion of reggae and Indian music and waiting for our meal. When it came it did so in a series of small bowls on a large silver platter. There were all manner of things, some we recognised like the rice and yogurt mix, the lentils and the vegetable curry, others we were not so sure about like the 2 golf ball sized shiny, hard and crisp dumplings which needed to be crushed before eating and the very sweet ball which looked like brown sugar. Still, it was nice and we finished the plates between us. After paying the bill we walked back to the hotel for one of our latest bedtimes yet.

Day 7 (Saturday 24th March Pushkar to Jaipur)

We had a bit of a lay in this morning followed by a leisurely breakfast and the last of our packing. We put the luggage outside our door by 8.45am for a 9am departure which we managed to achieve.
We retraced our steps to Ajemir but this time to the bus station, an interesting place full of buses in vastly different states of repair and cleanliness and with people and vehicles constantly entering and exiting the area all serenaded by a few ticket sellers repeatedly calling out bus destinations in their unusual sing songs ways. At 12.30pm our bus arrived and we were impressed, it looked like a bus that we were used to seeing back home, large, luggage compartments at the sides, A/C and reclining seats, what a bonus to be travelling on this compared to what the majority of locals were using. All boarded and we were soon on an Indian motorway going in the direction of Jaipur just around 100 miles away. The motorway was similar to ours back home with 3 or 4 lanes either side of a central barrier but that was where the similarities ended. Not only was our driver the riskiest we had yet encountered, it seemed that all the other road users had a laissez faire attitude to any sort of Highway Code or set of agreed rules, it appeared that anything was acceptable, lane swapping at the last minute was commonplace, driving and cycling against oncoming traffic was expected, pedestrians crossing the motorway or walking beside the central barrier or along the edge of the inside lane was as frequently seen as cows crossing or simply standing in various lanes, women travelling on the roof of a minibus just blew our minds and overloaded lorries spread across 2 lanes was quite a sight to see. At one stage we even created another hard shoulder on the bare earth inside the hard shoulder to undertake a group of vehicles, all this atrocious road use being accompanied by extravagant sounding of the horn of which our driver was one of the worst culprits. There, I’ve tried to describe it but you have to be there to see it to believe it! After about 2h 30mins we arrived with most of the other motorway madmen in Jaipur, the Rose City and now as the roads became narrower hundreds of ARs and even more motorbikes joined in the mix. It was bedlam, you didn’t know which way to look first, I don’t know how it works but somehow it does and it’s certainly not helped by uniformed men at some of the major junctions standing and blowing their whistles, they were quite simply ignored by the road users but still continued with their mock control of the traffic.
The coach finally dropped us off at the ‘coach station’ and a series of ARs took us the final part of the journey to our hotel, the Bissau Palace Hotel off a noisy, narrow, dirty street seemingly not too far away from the centre of the city.
After being allocated our rooms and depositing our luggage we went for lunch.
Now let me tell you about this hotel, one of the most ornately decorated I have ever seen. It defines itself as ‘Jaipur’s Oldest Heritage Hotel.’

It was festooned with decorative murals of times gone by, each room had numerous mirrors of various shapes and sizes and the ceilings and walls were covered with friezes and golden tiles, a real feast for the eyes. The furniture was well used and very traditional with the seat and bed coverings made of highly decorated tapestry type material which has faded over the years. There were many rooms off the grand entrance lobby and rooms around the sides of the building. There was a small bungalow set in gardens of flowers, bushes and pomegranate trees at the front (Doon & Diane stayed here) around which ran the drive – this hotel a serene oasis far removed from the noise and confusion occurring in the streets just beyond.
After lunch we made our first foray into Jaipur proper and headed directly by AR to the Palace of the Winds, a multi windowed façade looking out onto the main thoroughfare and in days gone by a place where women would hide behind to view the world from the safety of a window.

Following this we walked through one of the many gates into an area near the City Palace but before visiting this we decided to explore the Observatory and all its wondrous time measuring instruments, a place reputed for housing, although this was an open sky area, the world’s largest sun dial. Each and every one of the dials was accurate to a fraction of time and was explained to us albeit rather hastily by our guide.

Finally we paid to visit The City Palace, a typically ornate Indian affair with towers, walls, turrets and gates all magnificently decorated with paintings, carvings and gilt work matching perfectly with the red coloured walls for which this city is famed. The museum housed many interesting artefacts but after a while one can become rather blasé about these sorts of things. We were invited to have our photo taken with the uniformed guards and, yes you guessed it, they requested money for this, no way did I pay!

In the evening we went into town to eat, however, pre dinner and as an aperitif we paid a preliminary visit to see first how block printing on fabric was done and next to watch some carpet weaving, both very interesting and for us very costly; a £750 hand made Rajasthan carpet to be shipped home and just before exiting the workshops through yet another shop, a £30 silk pashmina. Dinner was taken next door at the end of a scruffy dark alley where we entered a heritage restaurant called the Surabhi, previously a King’s Audience room. It was very grand and we were well looked after by the waiters whilst Roma musicians played and a woman danced. We particularly liked the drummer’s Superdry Camo T shirt (authentic – I think not!)

The food was excellent but there were no other people around so ambience and atmosphere were sorely lacking. Auto Rickshaws transported us back to the hotel through the now dark but still congested streets of Jaipur.

Day 8 (Sunday 25th March in Jaipur)

Today was a later start than usual with breakfast at 8am. At 9am we set off for our morning visit to the Amber Fort, so called because of its colour, about half an hour by auto rickshaw away from the hotel. As we approached and looked up at the fort which sat high on the ridge line we let out a collective wow!

 

This building was mightily impressive and covered a huge area. The crowds here were just as large as we had become used to but we battled through and began the climb to the gates first on a stone gently sloping path and then on stone steps all well worn over time and as we did so we passed a holy man chanting and prostrating himself inch by inch up to the main gates. We paid for our tickets had them stamped, hole punched, torn and then checked again (Indian Beurocracy) and entered the complex. Inside was truly amazing and held the King’s Audience Hall and both the Summer and Winter Palaces. The architecture was stunning with dedicated cooler, shaded and sunnier, warm rooms and courtyards, numerous steps and corridors and gardens. We explored these areas in awe and marvelled at the feat of building, such a stunning place. As we looked over the walls of the fort we could see, higher up, the Tiger Fort and numerous other high walls atop the surrounding ridges. It would have taken ages to have attempted to do justice to this site so instead we agreed to look around for an hour or so and then meet up at the main entrance which is what we did.
We climbed aboard our ARs and were driven back into town but not before stopping to see the Lake Palace where the bird life was interesting.

Our next stop was at a gem factory and shop where we had a short introduction to the processes required to produce beautiful precious and semi precious jewellery. Needless to say we all bought a variety of items, all at very good prices.
From here we had a choice to either return to the hotel or visit a sweet shop and have lunch, we chose the former. We spent the afternoon relaxing in armchairs in the foyer.
Our dinner tonight was a group one and slightly earlier than normal at a newly opened restaurant called The Golden Peacock. The menu was wide and varied, we sat on the roof and the food was excellent.
Upon returning to the hotel some of us went to the roof terrace to take a look at Jaipur at night. We went to bed fairly early because tomorrow we would be getting up quite early.

Day 9 (Monday 26th March – Jaipur to Agra)

Another early alarm call, we showered, finished packing and collected our boxed breakfast on our way out of the door thence to Jaipur Junction by AR to catch the train to Agra some 5 hours away. Today our group was spread throughout the carriage, we sat with Doon and Diane. At around 6.30am the train slowly pulled away from the crowded platform and began to gather speed. Along the way it paused mid stations and stopped at others for passengers to board and alight. The scenery was much the same; flat dry, arid fields gasping for water but still managing to grow a reasonable amount of what appeared to be wheat, liberally scattered small trees, rocky outcrops now and again rising up above the fields, goats, wild peacocks, monkeys and cows and, of course, tremendous amounts of discarded plastic bottles and plastic bags mixed with the general detritus of everyday living here in India, it was not what you might call picturesque.
After a lot of chatting and a significant amount of sleeping by those who shall remain nameless, we pulled in to Agra station with its busy platforms. The walk to the exit where we met our ARs with our heavy bags was quite a way and took in 2 long flights of stairs. The ARs formed their convoy and conveyed us through the mele into the centre of Agra to our hotel. Our driver was particularly flamboyant at one stage crossing to the bare earth area on the opposite side of the road so as to avoid the traffic jam and passing through street cafes, shop fronts, garage forecourts all against oncoming traffic before again barging his way across the road to join the correct side once more, exciting if dangerous stuff.
Our hotel The Panna Paradise was well worn with dirty walls, no hot water, leaking pipes etc but at least the sheets appeared clean!!!!
Next we decided to go for lunch up the road a bit and on the other side of, always an interesting obstacle to cross, the road. Lunch at the aptly named ’Taj Mahal’ was good Indian food accompanied by a cold drink.
At 3pm we ventured out. Our first stop was Agra Fort, a splendid red sandstone and white marble construction now predominantly housing soldiers of the Indian Army. We paid our entrance fee and were given our tickets but as in all Indian attractions that wasn’t the end of it, we next had to have our tickets checked, clipped, torn, re-checked and then passed through security after which the ticket was once again checked; all labour intensive stuff and quite unnecessary really. The fort had many of the features that were now becoming more familiar to us like the Public and Private Audience Halls, the King’s State Rooms, Gardens and cooling water courses but more importantly for us was it gave us our first if rather distant glimpse of what Agra is most famed for, The Taj Mahal.

Next we were driven, again amidst chaos, to the Little Taj and it’s Mausoleum, an altogether less busy place with highly decorated carvings, wooden filigree screens and wall paintings all set ideally alongside the banks of the Yamuna river.

Finally we were driven from the city through what looked like to all intent a film set of streets that appeared to be set back in the Medieval Period, all sorts of animals, unrefined crude building styles, old rickety machinery and everything dusty brown to the entrance of the gardens behind the Taj Mahal, the less attractive side. However, the view from here was simply stunning from whichever angle you chose to stand and stare. This building is breathtakingly beautiful. An instantly recognisable structure, a one off design, a photographer’s delight and most definitely the jewel of India.

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We stayed until the sun had set at 6.40pm and then along with all the other visitors were shooed away for the night. The ride back to the hotel was as bizarre as we had become used to and after a quick freshen up we crossed the road and went for dinner in a young happening place directly opposite the hotel ’The Grey House’. It was great, pizza and beer.
Goodnight.

Day 10 (Tuesday 27th March in Agra then to Allahabad)

Similar to how we had viewed the Taj Mahal from the northern bank of the river at sunset yesterday, our plan today was to enter the gardens on the southern side of the river to be there to watch the sunrise over the Taj Mahal. We were some of the very first visitors to arrive and this meant fewer people to have to push through, in fact we entered quite slowly and calmly as the doors opened at around 6am. We didn’t have to walk far before we could view in all its grandeur this impressive building as it appeared first framed in the archway through which we walked. Then……….

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We were up close and perfectly positioned for beautiful photographs of this amazing place, this ‘Crown Palace,’ built to remember the love shown by one man to one woman, a mausoleum now forced to be asymmetrical in shape as the body of Shah Jahan lay alongside his 3rd and favourite wife, Muntaz, of Persian decent, who died at a young age whilst in childbirth, giving birth to their 14th child. A magnificent structure, all curves, no sharp edges, female in form flanked by 2 red sandstone buildings, on the left a mosque and to the right a replica, perfect symmetry. The carved marble with inlaid onyx shone and the water reflected its grandeur. Built in the 1600s, taking 22 years to fully complete, supported upon 81 wells holding wooden foundations which could rise and fall should there be an earthquake and with 4 tall minarets leaning 2 degrees outwards from the vertical, should they fall, they would do so away from the main building. Such design, such architecture a true one off world renowned building. I’m sorry about all the waxing lyrical but it can’t be helped when seeing such breathtaking beauty.
We returned to our hotel and came back down to Earth with a bump. Breakfast was surprisingly good but the tea and coffee was dreadful and virtually undrinkable. After breakfast we completed our packing and rested for a while as we knew we would have a long day ahead of us.
Our next visit, made in the afternoon, began with a one and a half hour drive out of Agra and into the countryside to an abandoned city built in the 1500s by Akbar the Great and eventually abandoned due to a lack of water supply. Before we arrived we stopped at a roadside restaurant for a very pleasant lunch buffet.
Fatehpur Sikri covered an enormous area. The red sandstone buildings were some of the best designed and most intricately decorated we had yet seen with open areas and cool shaded corridors supported by many pillars. These numerous rooms appeared to be randomly scattered around courtyards and each courtyard led to another and another. Where I had expected to see ruined crumbling buildings was one of the most intact sights we had come across, I am so pleased that we did not miss this special place. After walking around on this very sunny hot afternoon, it was 38 degrees, we eventually found ourselves at an exit near the mosque. As we strolled towards this imposing multi towered building we were of course accosted by numerous street sellers, one of who was very persistent. His chess set was for sale at 2500 rps and to try to get rid of him I offered a measly 200 rps. He kept on and on dropping in price and as we were walking back he again appeared. I informed him that now my price had dropped to 150 rps. Finally just before leaving and as a complete surprise to me he dropped the price to 200rps, I felt obliged to buy. As a final twist, Lyndsey bought one too. She owes me, I did all the hard bargaining!
We drove back to Agra through the busy streets enjoying looking at the countryside, the people and passing through the interesting markets which appeared to have everything on sale from the freshest fruit and vegetables to bicycle parts to wedding decorations and beyond.
Upon arrival at the hotel, we freshened up in the room which had been allocated and then dropped in to the Mocha Drinks Bar a few doors along and had a beer and some cheesy chips.
At 8pm the ARs arrived to take us the 15mins to Agra Cannta station where from platform 3 we would be taking our overnight sleeper to Allahabad.
At around 9.3pm, slightly later than timetabled, we boarded the carriage found our beds in the dark, crowded and bed linen strewn carriage and climbed, being the operative word, into our bunks for the night. It was cool and place of calmness amongst the confusion.

Day 11 (Wednesday 28th March Allahabad)

We arrived at Allahabad around 5.45am and our driver was there to meet us at the station as we exited the concourse. This was a very dusty and polluted place, the air was thick enough to cut with a knife, not a place in which you would like to spend any time. We climbed aboard the minibus and were transferred to a very pleasant hotel where 3 rooms had been allocated for our use. We split ourselves into 3 groups and showered and changed our clothes. At 7am we had breakfast and awaited our transfer to the boats we would be using over the next 2 days.
We drove through busy towns and villages and then along country lanes and tracks through small hamlets which transported us back through into feudal times. The fields were well farmed and tall chimneys used as brick kilns were liberally scattered around.

Unfortunately for Julie this was when she discovered that her passport had been lost.

Eventually, after driving over a final short distance of very rough ground, we arrived at Batoli Ghat beside the depleted river Ganges. The banks were sandy where in the monsoon they would be filled with water and cars now drove over this dry riverbed upon a well used track used as a short cut.

We transferred to 3 boats and after our bags had been loaded were rowed into the main current of the holy river. The wind picked up and the sail was hoisted, it billowed with the wind and we were moving more quickly now. As we floated by there was a cremation happening on the bank side and the golden cloth was being removed from the pyre. There was a calmness about this place, perhaps the most relaxed part of our journeying to date.
The birdlife was very good here, storks, ruddy shell ducks, herons, pied kingfishers, kites, skimmers and even more that we could not identify then we spotted Ganges River Dolphins breaking the surface, not the usual species, these had long snouts and were like no others we had previously seen. We eventually became becalmed so once again the rows were put into their row locks and one man began to row. He was joined by the other man and together they rowed towards a pontoon road bridge being used by all sorts of vehicles. This lay immediately in front of a new concrete bridge which was under construction.

The men accurately manoeuvred the boat between 2 of the pontoons. The left bank at this point became very white and sandy looking and in the distance the horizon was misty grey and polluted. Dirty smoke hung or drifted up from numerous fires set in a village on the left bank as we moved towards the right bank and the boats were secured by grappling hooks into the fine sand. The trip had been 15 miles long and had lasted 4h 30min.

The 2 man tents were erected, with the help of some of our group (the boat crews didn’t seem to have much of a clue, and as the sun set and by the light of the moon we were served our dinner whilst serenaded by piped music, the sound of various noisy machines and the shouting, singing, calling and chatting of people from the town on the opposite bank. We were the only ones there save for a solitary frog we spotted hopping across the sand and quite a way from the water’s edge.

At around 10pm we adjourned to our tents to attempt a good night’s sleep.

Day 12 (Thursday 29th March Floating down the Ganges to Varanasi)

And what a good night’s sleep it was. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out like a light and with the exception of the occasional loud noises coming from the town across the river and mainly from the temple loudspeakers and feeling very cold at around 4am I slept well.
We woke fully around sunrise and after sorting ourselves out in the tent went for a cup of tea and egg and toast sitting in deck chairs in the cool, quiet and calm of the early morning.
We then slithered down the bank through the soft, dry, almost talc like sand to climb aboard our boat for the second half of our journey which would take us to Varanasi.
Once again we spotted a wide variety of bird life both on the banks and flying overhead. People were fishing, either setting or hauling in their nets as others watched on. The sail was put up when the wind blew otherwise we simply drifted in the current, we floated serenely down the Ganges as it slowly appeared to become wider. Abhay had planned a visit to a school in a remote village on the right bank and as we stepped off the boat we were met by a group of teenage boys at the bottom of a steep set of steps which led up to a group of buildings. They informed us that the school was closed for a holiday but that we would still be welcomed to walk around the village which we did. There were a variety of buildings for both people and livestock, some surprisingly modern others distinctly original but all clean and quite free of rubbish. We saw yellow lentils drying, cow dung (bio fuel) drying, old machinery, a modern tractor and I noticed a White Breasted Kingfisher. Yes the lads followed us all through the village, yes they were taking photographs of us and yes they were noisy BUT, they had never before had white people visit their village.

We clambered back aboard and were off again. At lunchtime we went through the same routine as yesterday, tying the boats together as the cooking boat came alongside. Hands were washed and hot, freshly cooked food passed across from one boat to another, all delicious. Lunch over we separated and continued on the last part of our drift journey. We saw some blue bulls, water buffalo and more busy fishermen until finally we set foot back on dry land, and after some boisterous interaction concerning payment and tips, scrambled up the bank, paid our money to the crew and waited for our ARs to appear. They did, 4 of them, it was quite a squeeze. We soon hit the traffic and after the calmness of the last 2 days on the river, congestion or what!
This city, Varanasi, was almost full to capacity with vehicles of every sort, we often came close to total gridlock caused in no small part at the junctions where police directed the traffic in a hapless way. Bicycles seemed to carry everything here from iron girders to wide screen TVs to put you up beds: large white cars (the predominant colour here) had the loudest horns and seemed to take precedence and trump all other modes of transport. Eventually and after a lot of beeping of horns, avoiding cows, unanticipated slow speed swerves and going for gaps that weren’t really there we arrived at our hotel, Hotel New Temple Town. This was a large hotel but not at all clean!
In the late afternoon we met in the lobby and travelled by AR to old Varanasi and then walked around 1km through narrow streets teeming with people who were aiming for the same destination as us. In this holiest of places and on the banks of the most sacred of rivers, the Ganges, we were going to experience what, for some people would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, a prayer ceremony presided over by 7 young monks.
There were already a lot of people at Dasashwamedh Ghat when we arrived and more kept on coming. We found our seats on one of the terraces and settled down to watch the ritual from this good vantage point.

We were not disappointed at what we experienced, the chanting, singing, prayer and reverence from the priests with flames, incense and peacock feather fans playing an important role in the ceremony all completed amidst the throngs of people watching from both the land on on boats surrounded by floating candles in the surprisingly clean river. Yes, to some they did appear a bit like a well rehearsed boy band but………..

We stayed for 1h 30mins and then before the festivities had finally come to an end and attempting to beat the ‘rush,’ along with many of the thousands gathered decided to walk back to our ARs. Needless to say we were pestered all the way by people wanting money, first, insistent priests wanting to mark our foreheads then street vendors selling flowers and all sorts of plastic Hindu stuff and beggars with bowls on the steps and then we had to run the gauntlet of, all be they very colourful, the stall holders in the narrow lanes.

After 20mins of pushing and shoving we met up with our AR drivers and were driven back to our hotel.
For our meal tonight we walked 2 doors down to a neighbouring hotel for Indian food and it was delicious.
Oh for a real bed after spending the last 2 nights on a train and in a tent………………

Day 13 (Thursday 30th March in Varanasi)

This morning we decided to have a well earned lie in and late breakfast, breakfast was therefore a cold affair.
At around 11am, yes I know, the hottest part of the day, tell me about it, we gathered in the lobby and took 4 ARs out of town to visit one of the most holy places in the Buddhist religion, Sarnath, where The Buddha gave his first teaching and therefore an interesting contrast to Hindu Varanasi.
First we went to a Thai Buddhist temple with its gardens and ponds with bright purple water lilies and huge frogs. The temple itself was quite different in style and housed a beautiful golden Buddha. Did you know that the Buddha images and statues we recognise today are based upon real monks of the time like the fat laughing Buddha etc? There were also lovely statues in the garden.

Next we visited the ruins of an ancient Buddhist place of learning like a university, a place where Buddha gave his first sermon. This place was later destroyed as people were trying to remove Buddhism from the land. These ruins covered a large area and had as their focal point an enormous stupa, the Dhamekh Stupa made of stone and brick.

Finally we visited a Sri Lankan Buddhist temple, the Mulagandhakuti Vihara with its fine wall paintings telling the story of Siddharta and housing a golden Buddha.

Of course, as expected, we removed our shoes before entering this sacred place but my feet could hardly bear the heat of the ground, it was 39degrees.
Outside the temple and nearby was a tree supposedly grown from the original Bo tree or tree of knowledge under which Siddharta became the Buddha or Enlightened one.
These 3 places appeared more serene and calming than other places of worship that we had previously visited and we all seemed to enjoy the spiritual experience.
The journey back to the hotel took us again through the frantic traffic that we were slowly becoming more used to.
Upon our arrival we visited the clothing shop next door to the hotel where Sue bought a scarf and Maggie and Lyndsey each bought a pair of trousers, all cheap purchases.
We spent the afternoon having a drink in the bar next door but one and relaxing in our rooms and come 7pm we were ready for a meal. Initially we were going to walk up the road but as soon as we walked out into the road a dust storm began and we were soon being blown backwards and covered in leaves and dust, you could hardly see because of the cloud of dust moving down the street. We therefore took sanctuary in the hotel lobby and after 10mins it had died down enough for us to walk two doors further down for our evening meal at the hotel in which we had eaten yesterday. The food was faultless and we had a great evening chatting with Abhay.
9.30pm saw us tucked up in bed for an early rise tomorrow.

Day 14 (Friday 31st March in Varanasi)

As promised the day began early with a 4am alarm to make sure that by 5.15am we were on ARs bound for the Ghats on the side of the Ganges, we were going to see early prayers and bathing rituals performed by Hindu devotees. Once again we had to push our way through the crowds all heading for the ghats to find our boat amongst the tens of boats lined up against the bank side. We were jostled and hustled by beggars, people pretending to shake hands so they could provide us with an early morning arm massage for money and sellers of all kinds of goods from trinkets to candle offerings whilst at the same time making sure to avoid the ‘land mines’ or cow dung in the streets.
We made our way down the stone steps and across some other boats before finding a seat in our boat rowed by one single oarsman.

The view of the Ghats and Varanasi from the river was special indeed and something not to be missed by any visitor.

As the sun rose on the opposite bank, the scene before our eyes changed colour from dusty browns to oranges and reds and these, complemented with the colours of saris, holy robes and brightly coloured boats and buildings made for an unforgettable sight. We were rowed both ways, first downstream to view the cremation Ghats with their funeral pyres and boatloads and stacks of wood then upstream to watch people as they bathed and the doby wallas doing their washing, it was amazing.

We spent about an hour on the boat which finally returned us to the steps from where we had started.
We then had some free time to explore the area and as usual we were immediately pounced upon for money.

We had a look around the Main Street leading to the Ghat before meeting up with our group and returning to the hotel for breakfast.
After breakfast we spent time relaxing until we had to check out at 12 noon when we left our luggage and went a few doors along the road for a light lunch.
At 2pm we met up in the lobby and were taken to the Muslim area of Varanasi to learn about silk weaving. First we saw how intricate patterns were copied by hand onto punch cards which would later be put into either mechanical or hand looms. This job was completed using a hammer and punch, the cards then being strung together in the correct order. We then moved a few doors along in the maze of alleyways to where there were mechanical looms. The chitter-chatter of these machines was deafening and for the men who worked them it must have been a really bad environment in which to operate with no ear defenders to help, however, the work went on, bright colours were blended together, some with gold thread and the resulting cloth was beautiful.

Our next stop in yet another narrow alley was to see the back side of the cloth being cut and tidied by hand. This was happening in a Muslim household, a small building occupied by a large family. The accurate work done by this woman was astounding given the available light and equipment. After this we went to see a hand loom with all its intricate controls, vertical and horizontal threads and bobbins. Nobody was operating this, I wondered if it was in use or just for show?
Finally we entered the upstairs room of the shop attached to the business. There was no ‘hard sell’ and we were shown a range of bed linen from each grade of silk, all highly patterned and very colourful then shawls, wall hangings, scarves and Ghandi blankets. The prices were very good when compared with the U.K. so we bought 2 scarves, 1 for Kerry and the other for Maggie. Others in our group bought a range of things on offer.
We ARd it back to the hotel and whiled away the time waiting to eventually travel to the station to catch the train which seemed forever to be running later and later.
At around 11.15pm we finally left for the station…………….

Day 15 (Sunday 1st April Varanasi to Kolkata)

…………….the train was delayed and did not arrive until 2am which meant that we were all growing impatient and becoming rather tired of waiting. We’d certainly outstayed our welcome in the hotel lobby and had to leave for the station.
It was busy with people waiting for trains to all sorts of destinations. Trains arrived at various platforms but ours did not. Everyone was getting just a wee bit fractious and tired after all we had been up since 4am.
At last, our train pulled in some 6 hours later than scheduled. The reason given for this delay; the Hindu/Muslim riots in cities along the route before Varanasi. We climbed aboard, sorted out what we would need for the night and tried to settle down in our allotted bunks. It was hot, a tight squeeze and not the most comfortable night’s sleep I’ve ever experienced but I managed to doze on and off until around 8.45am. The train stopped at various stations along the way and slowed and sped up at various points so I clambered down from my top bunk and spent some time chatting. We passed through a variety of landscapes from barren to green and lush past rice fields and lakes. Eventually after some 12 hours and 780 miles as the train slowed to snail pace we began to make our arrival into Kolkata where initially the people seemed to be living cheek to jowel alongside the railway lines. Everything was going on here from clothes washing, to welding iron girders without eye protection, to men sitting on the bare earth playing cards, people sitting on the rails chatting, women cooking in the open, semi naked children playing and more besides and the dwellings, I can’t call them houses, were dilapidated and run down and way past any sort of recovery. There were piles of plastic waste, dirty and covered in dust and filth and random cows, dogs and goats mooched around in all this mess trying to find some morsel or crumb to eat (most food waste in India used to be thrown out and eaten by the animals in the street but nowadays the food in often placed in plastic bags before being discarded this then means that it cannot be eaten by the animals, hence many are undernourished and thin).
Finally we pulled in to Kolkata City Station, the train came to a complete halt, it was the end of the line and we alighted.
After some fairly boisterous discussions between Abhay and our group of taxi drivers we were all loaded and off through the Sunday morning traffic in Kolkata. The car we were in was a wreck of a thing. It was a yellow taxi 1960 styled ‘classic’ car which had certainly seen much better days, even so, Abhay had to ask the driver to slow down, the exuberance of youth was certainly showing. After 20 minutes travelling through streets littered with all sorts of things and passing through some very obviously poor areas where buildings were collapsing and rivers were flowing with rubbish, we arrived at our hotel ‘The Globe International’, don’t be fooled by the name. Our room was cleaner than anticipated and the bed looked inviting enough so I had a short doze.
At 4pm we met with Lyn and Sue and went by taxi, this time in a much more sedate manner, to visit the Victoria Memorial in the centre of Kolkata. Some people say that this building is the second most beautiful in India after the Taj Mahal and I would not disagree after seeing it. There were crowds of Indians visiting the area and its gardens, lawns and lakes and to our great surprise many wanted to have a photo or selfie alongside us, the only white skinned people around.

Following our stroll we took another taxi back to the hotel and just in time for the heavens opened and a violent thunderstorm took place. We freshened up and in the hotel restaurant had our final dinner together where we took the opportunity to say thanks to Abhay and presented him with a tip from all of us. We said our cheerios to most of our fellow travellers as tomorrow we would be up earlier than them to catch our flights home.

Day 16 (Monday 2nd April – The journey home, Kolkata to Mumbai to Heathrow to Bexleyheath)

We were the first to leave today along with Julie who was travelling to Delhi to sort out her passport and exit visa.
We woke obscenely early at 2.30am as we would be transferring by minibus to the airport some 35km away. Abhay, bless him, got up to see us safely picked up.
The journey through the quiet streets was relaxed and peaceful, undoubtedly the calm before the storm.
Kolkata airport was very modern and we had a bit of a problem as we hadn’t managed to print off our boarding passes and security here was tight so we weren’t allowed entry. As a result we were taken by our escort to the Jet Air desk where they helped us out, no problem.
After baggage security where my bag had to be unpacked and my headtorch transferred to hand luggage, we checked in and handed over our hold luggage. Another security scan of cabin luggage where my mosquito pen was identified and had to be shown to security and we were in the departure lounge. We spent some time here browsing the shops and then walked to the Gate. Our aircraft for this 2h 20min journey was quite small a 3 and 3 seats in a row cabin. We had breakfast soon after take off and before we knew it we were landing at Mumbai.
We exited the aircraft, followed the signs for International Transfer, passed through security, problems again with the mosquito pen identified as a lighter, next passport check and we were in the departure lounge. Again, as we had time to kill, we looked around the shops and made a variety of purchases. Our flight was called and we walked to the Gate and boarded the aircraft. This flight took 9h 30mins and was full. The food and service was poor and quite disappointing, at least the films were good and we did see Mount Ararat as we passed overhead Eastern Turkey on our route home.
Upon landing at Heathrow we passed through passport control very quickly and then waited awhile to collect our luggage.
We walked through customs and said our goodbyes to Lyn and Sue who exited to catch their early coach and we walked to the underground station. Our trip was quick but we just missed, by 1 minute, our mainline train to Bexleyheath.
Jane picked us up at the station and we were safely indoors by 9.25pm.

 

N.B. The Rug arrived on April 11th and looks wonderful in our lounge.