Further Wanderings

Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) proved to be just the tonic I needed to wash the unpleasantness of our earlier Indian experiences right away. Which might strike some as odd, given its reputation as a miserable, squalid sort of place.

There WERE a lot more beggars in Kolkata than in… well than in just about anywhere else we’d been, but there were also lots of friendly Kolkatans who were just pleased to see us, as well as many fewer touts for hotels, souvenier shops, etc.

Sudder Street, Kolkata’s tourist hub isn’t nearly as (over/under) developed as Delhi’s Paharganj, but even though it was pouring rain when we arrived (we were, by then, well and truly into south Asia’s monsoon season) finding a decent hotel wasn’t particularly difficult.

A Kolkata Street Scene

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As with last time I entered India from Nepal, I figured we’d make an easy start of it by visiting the hill station of Darjeeling. And as with last time, things didn’t go perfectly for us there.

We crossed the border and managed the local bus to the city of Siliguri easily enough, but soon after it got more troublesome. It was raining as we took the jeep up the bumpy, winding road to Darjeeling, and continued raining for almost all of our time there.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, or the Toy Train as it’s more fondly known

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My return to India snapped me right back into the differences between that country and Pakistan. I had to bargain for several minutes for the rickshaw ride back to the bus stop, and fend off several taxi drivers at ... [Continue reading this entry]

The train trip from Varanasi to Agra was actually fairly boring. For once there were many other tourists on the train (this trip was the only one of my five train journeys in India where I saw even ONE ... [Continue reading this entry]

My first train trip in India began in pleasant fashion. I climbed aboard the Capital Express (all of the major trains in India [and there are hundreds of them] have names) at New Jalpaiguri Station and found my seat. ... [Continue reading this entry]

I crossed the border from Karkhabitta Nepal to Panatanki India at about 4:15 in the afternoon, and while there wasn't any major physical boundary (just a medium sized river, smaller than several I'd crossed in Nepal) it was quickly clear ... [Continue reading this entry]