India: Kolkata

Kolkata 17/04-21/04

After spending another two days in Delhi, we were very happy to say our final goodbyes to the place. We took an overnight train to Kolkata where we met Ed's Dad Nick! As we are poor little backpackers Nick was very kindly treating us for the next ten days which was FANTASTIC!!! Goodbye hostels and hello hotels that actually serve breakfast and other fancy things! Nick has a keen interest in colonial history and we stayed in the perfect place to feed his curiosity. The hotel was called The Fairlawn and it was owned by a woman called Violet Smith who is 92 and her daughter. I was  desperate to know Violet's secret because she was in fantastic shape for 92! Every morning she'd come down and read her newspapers and greet all the guests. The hotel was filled to the brim with photos and trinkets of the Smith family history.

The Fairlawn Hotel

Violet and Nick

Photos galore!

We were pleasantly surprised by Kolkata. From our experience in Delhi and Kolkata's reputation for having a very high level of poverty, we'd been a little apprehensive about how difficult it would be. However, even though we stayed in the key tourist area- Sudder St., we found very little hassling and it was great just to be an onlooker to the hustle and bustle of the city. Once again it had a very different vibe from other places we had visited. It felt rather more tropical with lots of palm trees along the streets, a stark contrast from the desert cities of Rajasthan! The only slight negative was that it was starting to get seriously hot! It was reaching near 40'C every day along with very high humidity.
We had an action packed 5 days in Kolkata. One day we had a guided tour around some of the key sites. Our guide was great and knew an extensive amount about pretty much everything! Ed and Nick questioned him on all topics; Indian history, Pakistani history, Bangladeshi History, I think they even asked him about bontany at one point! Ed and Nick together create one inquisitive team which was great for me as I could just sit back and soak up all the information! We visited the Botanical Gardens which had seen slightly better days! It didn't have any flowers but it did have the worlds biggest tree! It seems like it was somewhat neglected after the British left. Walking through a huge fruit market was also great fun. We watched a banana auction taking place. A man held up the banana lot and the farmers sat on high stools whilst the men below bidded for them. One thing I did notice was that I was the only woman in the entire market!! It wasn't a problem but I did feel rather a lot of eyes following me as I walked through! Our final stop with our guide was the Queen Victoria Memorial otherwise known as 'The Taj of the Raj'. It was an interesting combination of The Taj Mahal and St. Pauls Cathedral. There was a great museum there about the history of Kolkata, the East India Company & the Raj.

The world's biggest tree!

The slightly 'neglected' feel of the Botanical Gardens!

The lively fruit market

Banana auction

The Victoria Memorial 

Father & Son

On the other days we visited many other places including the National Museum and BBD Bagh which was the city centre of British Culcutta and remains the central district for West Bengal. We also took a trip to South Park Cemetery which reminded me of something from Indiana Jones, as the tombs were set within winding trees and small pathways. There were about 860 tombs in total  mostly all British from the East India Company. Some of them were very elaborate but sadly the average age of those buried was around 30 years old.

General Post Office- BBD Bagh

Kolkata Mint- BBD Bagh

Scottish Presbyterian Church BBD Bagh

The Writer's Building- BBD Bagh

The Old Viceroy's House, now home to the Governor of West Bengal

South Park Cemetary

A main highlight of our stay in Kolkata was going to see an IPL (Indian Premier League) Cricket match! We watched Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Chenai Super Kings. The Indian captain Dhoni plays for Chenai so it was really cool to see him in action along with other huge names of cricket. We had a little bit of drama just before the match as I'd brought my SLR camera along with me to take some photos but was told on entering the stadium that cameras were prohibited! This meant that we would have to walk all the way back to our hotel to drop the camera back which would take about 30 minutes! Ed took one for the team and ran back to the hotel. When he returned to the stadium I've literally never seen him so sweaty! We didn't let our little set back spoil the game although we couldn't help noticing that everyone around us took sooo many photos on their smart phones (grrrrrrr)! The entire stadium was absolutely full and for Nick & Ed who are avid cricket fans I think it was great for them to see the Indians going absolutely crazy for cricket! The mood was entirely infectious and we were all cheering for KKR!

The food during our stay in Kolkata was fab! The Bengali cuisine is quite unique, famous for it's sweets and fish curries. One restaurant we went to called Kastori served Bangladeshi food which had won several awards from the Times of India. I can see why as it was probably the most delicious meal I had in India! The waiter brought out a tray of dishes (no menu!) and you selected the ones you wanted! We also discovered a tasty dessert called Mishti Doi which is similar to lemon curd. Nick became well known at a local sweet shop where he regularly went to get Jalebis. They even offered him a Chai one morning whilst he waited for the sweets to be made!

N

Mishti Doi- promise it tastes better than it looks!

Nick buying a street Chai