Oh Kolkata!

We made it. No bombs, no accidents, no unusual events or unexpected things happened on our trip from Bodhgaya to Kolkata. We left the hotel by a great funky, private car to drive to Gaya - our least favorite town in the world this week. Why does driving at 60 km an hour feel like hurtling? My leg was so tired from braking as we did the trip and Geordie says his eyes were closed most of the time. Of course compared to the speed of a bicycle we were hurtling and the trucks are limited to 40 km an hour - honest!

In Gaya we had 12 hours before our train, so we got a hotel room - a different hotel this time. It was called the Hotel Akash and was little different from the other one we took except a little further away from the Hindu temple (which didn't make any noise anyway). The generators were going full tilt of course - turns out that the state of Bihar is one of the poorest in the country and the electricity grid is very poor. The town of Gaya is actually suffering because they get electricity only about four hours a day and two of those are in the middle of the night. Factories are closing down, throwing people out of work because they cannot run their generators enough to support the required power needs.

Bihar is a Dalit state - Dalits are the untouchables and they are definitely the lowest on the totem pole. As well as being poor, they are also the lowest caste of course, and they get very little support from central government - hence the major problems.

Gaya was redeemed by one thing though - we found a hotel with a really good restaurant - the rooms were too expensive for Geordie but the food was cheap. They even had half orders of everything so we didn't waste it. Everything was delicious and the maitre d' (yes, there was sort of one, he was the manager) was very proud of the food he was serving. He gave us very personal attention since we were the only guests. I worried for a bit that our little bill was going to be all they made that evening, but another group came in later, so I felt better.

We left for the train station at 4 in the morning (train scheduled for 4:30), and had to wake the guys at the front desk to unlock the gate for us. They did it graciously and waved goodbye. The train station was full of people - it felt like a homeless shelter, there were so many people wrapped in blankets lying on the floor asleep. We felt a little nervous on the platform while we waited for the train, since we were being eyed by several guys who did not look too trustworthy. We had had experience with a gang of guys who were attempting to steal things while we were on our tour, so we know to keep a close eye and hand on everything. Two of the guys who had been eyeing us got onto a stopped train, and got off again two minutes later, and took off across the tracks in the darkness. We couldn't tell if they had more after they got off than when they got on.

The train was only an hour late - not bad, since we met a guy who told us his train was scheduled for 11:30 pm and had not yet arrived at 5:00 am. We got on and snuggled down pretty quickly although I only got about two hours sleep, Geordie less. The trip was over six hours and included breakfast and a free newspaper, so that was a bonus. In the news was an article about India testing a surface to air missile - it was named the Akash - same as our hotel the night before!

As I said, we had no troubles but during the morning we did go through one station which was all aflutter with Maoist or communist banners and flags. Maybe they were in the neighbourhood of the problems. The train did not stop at the station, either deliberately or inadvertently. We arrived an hour late too, and had to work our way through a mob of taxi touts to get to the prepaid taxi service which was no doubt cheaper than we would have been able to negotiate on our own. The taxi got us through town to the backpacker area pretty efficiently - I have a feeling that's because it's Sunday today.

We went to a hotel recommended in Lonely Planet as a mid-range hotel, which sounded good. I sent Geordie off to check out a room, and after he went back the second time to see if it had a bathroom, we took it. He was tired and wanted to go to the bathroom which explains why he took the place which was just a little over the level of our Gaya hotels. No matter. We did a walk around in the afternoon, and found another hotel which is a lot better (and three times as much money of course) but it will be worth it, not to have to look at the dirty walls and we won't have to avoid taking a shower. The hotel even has a lift - now that's class.

We move tomorrow, although for a minute it sounded like a good idea to just add the price of today's room to the bill and just get out right away, but our economic side took over. Can't waste good money. That done we went off exploring and found the first cup of coffee that was not made from a jar since we arrived in the country. All those flash hotels we have been staying in on the tour offer instant coffee with lots of hot milk (the redeeming feature), so getting a caffe americano was a real treat even if it was strong enough to put hair on our chests. Then we even found a nice bookstore, called the Oxford of all things, and had a good look around - I'll probably go back tomorrow and have a good long look and maybe even buy something - had to leave because the bathroom was calling.

So here we are, three nights in Kolkata and then we head for the beach in South India. As we said, we are skipping Chennai - flying there and taking a taxi directly to the beach town which is called Mamallapuram - if you want to search it in your atlas. It's actually got ruins, so if you do a google search you will find very interesting pictures of the things in the area. We are going to spend 8 days there, and will be celebrating Christmas there too. (I wonder what that will be like in Hindu India? This is not the Christian area after all.)

Now to look for a nice place for dinner. Geordie says he's hungry and there's a really nice looking place called the Zurich in the area which is rated highly for backpackers in the Lonely Planet Bible. (It did look very nice - clean even!, although it doesn't have any Swiss food - Indian, Continental, Thai, and Chinese. Maybe a little Italian. And definitely Banana Pancakes!!