This transit started with the border town of Birgang between Nepal and India. The town itself hasn't much to offer, but thanks to the moto "the friends of the friends of my friends are my friends" it turned out to be an unexpectedly good experience. We were welcome at 4.30 am by Sunny, who's a friend of Sandeep, himself being a friend of Sujit. Here we are together in our hotel enjoying a beer and some great local food.
Our new friends even gave us a lift through the busy border on their motorbikes.
Here I am changing our left over 2,000 Nepalese Ruppies (20€)
Farewells at Raxaul's train station, just on the other side of the border
We finally reached our final destination in India before moving to South East Asia: Calcutta. You generally would not want to arrive to a place on a sunday or bank holiday because the streets are empty, but that's particularly what you actually WOULD want in India. We spent 24 hours in this city with an unexpected relaxed and human atmosphere which made our stay really enjoyable. The wide streets and colonial building give it a really European Flair.
When you walk the streets you could almost tell you're in London!
... and it feels even more British with the Colonial Buildings like this church...
... Or with this Victoria Memorial and huge parcs.
(Calcuta used to be the Capital of British India)
Of course, you need to add a little cheesy touch to be reminded you're in India.
On the other hand, we still see these man-drawn tuk-tuk. Some of them carry complete families. Apparently, it's one of the only transportation mean which can be used when the streets are flooded during the monsoon.
This last place in India was really good, and we wish we actually had more time to see it, but with a booked plane, we have to move on to our next destination: Singapore. Before reaching there, we have one night in super-modern Bangkok airport where we enjoy great Thai food, fresh juices and foot massage, the first time since our trip!
David
Our new friends even gave us a lift through the busy border on their motorbikes.
Here I am changing our left over 2,000 Nepalese Ruppies (20€)with a good rate negotiated by our local friends
Farewells at Raxaul's train station, just on the other side of the borderComing back to India after having spent 6 weeks here is a bit like returning home, and a ride on the train is definitely so much better than local buses. We are taking a train for 3 hours to the next junction not knowing if we will get a connection since we are on waiting list.... Being wait-listed on Indian trains is a completely common thing, though quite risky if you have connecting planes... On 3 other connections we had book before, we were wait-listed but each time we got in. This time we booked 6 weeks before the train and were on waitlist positions 9 and 10. 12 hours before our train ride, we had only shifted to positions 5 and 6...
Some street kids on the platform on our way.
Nobody usually pays much attention to them and
seeing their picture taken was definitely a great game (for them and for me)!
So we arrived at the junction town called "Muzafarpur": to give a short description, Delhi compared to it would be like a sunday pick-nick in the Swiss Alps.... This place is pretty much the worst you could picture in a town, more overpopulated, dirtier, louder and and and... Anyway, since 6 hours before our train ride, we were still waitlisted, we decided to improvise and book a last minute plane to Kolkalta from the next town, only 90 km from our position. The only good thing about Muzafarpur, is that it's not in the Lonely planet (no wonder...), so people have never seen tourists (or so it seems) and are very genuine: so after 2 old men realised a tuk-tuk driver wanted to ripp us off, they decided to accompany us on foot to the bus station. All this, obviously, without a word of english...And it took us 2 hours to reach 2 km out of town in the worst traffic jam.
Yet we did make it to Patna, where we had booked our plane ticket for the next morning. Patna is a state capital, so it's pretty decent, except for one thing: hotels don't except foreigners!!! Apparently it's because of the local "bureaucracy" it is too complicated to register foreigners... ridiculous. Obviously, they don't tell you they don't want to see you, they just say "full house" (when they obviously are not full). So here we are wandering the empty streets at around 11pm, knowing that we will have to get up at 5am anyway. Here's a picture of the first hotel which "accepts" foreigners. But it looked more like a prison. So we ended up paying 50 USD for a reasonable place (which would usually more rather cost around 15 USD...)
Some street kids on the platform on our way.Nobody usually pays much attention to them and
seeing their picture taken was definitely a great game (for them and for me)!
So we arrived at the junction town called "Muzafarpur": to give a short description, Delhi compared to it would be like a sunday pick-nick in the Swiss Alps.... This place is pretty much the worst you could picture in a town, more overpopulated, dirtier, louder and and and... Anyway, since 6 hours before our train ride, we were still waitlisted, we decided to improvise and book a last minute plane to Kolkalta from the next town, only 90 km from our position. The only good thing about Muzafarpur, is that it's not in the Lonely planet (no wonder...), so people have never seen tourists (or so it seems) and are very genuine: so after 2 old men realised a tuk-tuk driver wanted to ripp us off, they decided to accompany us on foot to the bus station. All this, obviously, without a word of english...And it took us 2 hours to reach 2 km out of town in the worst traffic jam.
Yet we did make it to Patna, where we had booked our plane ticket for the next morning. Patna is a state capital, so it's pretty decent, except for one thing: hotels don't except foreigners!!! Apparently it's because of the local "bureaucracy" it is too complicated to register foreigners... ridiculous. Obviously, they don't tell you they don't want to see you, they just say "full house" (when they obviously are not full). So here we are wandering the empty streets at around 11pm, knowing that we will have to get up at 5am anyway. Here's a picture of the first hotel which "accepts" foreigners. But it looked more like a prison. So we ended up paying 50 USD for a reasonable place (which would usually more rather cost around 15 USD...)
We finally reached our final destination in India before moving to South East Asia: Calcutta. You generally would not want to arrive to a place on a sunday or bank holiday because the streets are empty, but that's particularly what you actually WOULD want in India. We spent 24 hours in this city with an unexpected relaxed and human atmosphere which made our stay really enjoyable. The wide streets and colonial building give it a really European Flair.
When you walk the streets you could almost tell you're in London!
... and it feels even more British with the Colonial Buildings like this church...... Or with this Victoria Memorial and huge parcs.(Calcuta used to be the Capital of British India)
Of course, you need to add a little cheesy touch to be reminded you're in India.
On the other hand, we still see these man-drawn tuk-tuk. Some of them carry complete families. Apparently, it's one of the only transportation mean which can be used when the streets are flooded during the monsoon.This last place in India was really good, and we wish we actually had more time to see it, but with a booked plane, we have to move on to our next destination: Singapore. Before reaching there, we have one night in super-modern Bangkok airport where we enjoy great Thai food, fresh juices and foot massage, the first time since our trip!
David
Felicitaciones, de nuevo, Caro y David, que maravillosa exoeriencia. Que rico que la comparten con nosotros.
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