India – Calcutta to
Delhi –
February, 2016
My second G Adventure trip
started in Calcutta so I took a taxi from Delhi to the airport only
to find that the flight had been delayed two hours!!! Air India gave us a coupon for a
complimentary lunch at a very nice restaurant so while waiting for my flight I
enjoyed dal, paneer, chicken curry and Indian bread. Took a prepaid taxi to “Central” where I was
staying but the driver, and later myself(!!!), had a very hard time finding
it. Luckily J who runs the “hotel” was
always available by phone so I eventually arrived.
Nice large room on the 7th
floor, quiet with AC and hot water. Even
though it was almost 10 p.m. I was a bit hungry and wanted to stretch my legs
so J suggested I walk around the corner to the Forum as it was safe to walk
alone at night. Found the Forum and had
a nice Bengali meal, i.e. coconut chickpea dal, luchi (puffed bread) and little
potatoes with spicy sauce at Oh! Calcutta.
In the morning I took a
walk and had breakfast at Piccadilly Circus
bakery nearby, i.e. delicious coffee and a brownie. Took a taxi to the Marble Palace but it was
closed for a private tour until later so I walked to the Howrah suspension
bridge which is 705 m long and was built during WWII. Also visited the colorful Mlik Ghat flower
market nearby. Walked back to the Marble Palace
but it was still closed so I gave up on seeing it and instead visited the Kaliglat Temple,
an ancient Kali temple, rebuilt in 1809 and Calcutta’s holiest spot for Hindus and
possibly the source of its name. It is a
lovely temple with floral and peacock motif tiles that look more Victorian than
Indian. During festivals goats are
sacrificed there…After much searching I found Bhojohari Manna mentioned in
Lonely Planet as the top Bengal restaurant in Calcutta.
I certainly couldn’t miss that!
There was a long line but I finally got seated in this very cute
restaurant with delicious food. Had
chickpea dal, this time it had fresh coconut slivers in it, Luchi and a stuffed
potato dish served with a spicy mint sauce – realllyy tasty. Walked around a bit but the city is so
confusing I couldn’t find my way so just took the metro back to Central,
calling J along the way to get directions!!!
Next day was Valentine’s
Day so was lucky to get a reservation at Peshawri in the ITC Sonor. I had a reservation for the night before but
arrived too late so thanks to J was able to reserve for the following
night. Enjoyed a prix fixe dinner
similar to Bukhara in Delhi, i.e. stuffed potatoes, tandoori chicken thighs
(very tender and delicious), rolled lamb, garlic naan, chicken with tikka
masala and peppers, dal and Indian ice cream.
The food was really so much better than in Delhi.
Walked around the gardens
of the Victoria Monument in the morning which were
lovely and very well kept. They cover
an area of 64 acres and everything seemed to be in bloom. Visited St.
John’s church built in 1787. Quite British looking inside and out ringed
by columns and housing rattan chairs inside.
Walked along the Ganges to Millenium
Park which was rather
uneventful. Lunch at Zaranji near the Indian Museum
was delicious, i.e. kofta navar (dumplings with a really nice sauce), dal and
tandoori roti plus some candied mango chutney which went well with
everything. Wanted to visit the Ashutosh
Museum of Indian Art but couldn’t find it so just gave up. Took a taxi to Hotel Lytton where our G
Adventure would start with a meeting at 6 p.m.
Am delighted to have Dushyant
again as my guide and it was fun to see him again! Walked to the new market and had a kati roll,
Bengal’s trademark fast food. It’s a paratha roti filled with sliced
onions, chili and a stuffing, i.e. mine was cheese and potato.
In the morning had
delicious coffee and chocolate brownie at Flury’s, a very cute little coffee
shop nearby. Walked over to the Oberoi
where many years ago my ex husband and I had dined!!!
We visited Mother Teresa’s
Motherhouse where she lived most of her life and saw the little room where she
slept from 1953 – 1997. She won the Nobel
prize for peace in the 1970’s and dedicated her life to helping the poor,
especially the lepers.
Visited the Victoria memorial and
went inside to see the paintings, etc.
It was designed to commemorate Queen Victoria’s 1901 diamond jubilee but the
construction wasn’t completed until 1921, i.e. almost 20 years after her
death. In front there is a bronze statue
of her on her throne. Took a ferry ride
down the Ganges to the Hawrah Bridge and then had lunch on Sudder Street at a
little Bengal café, i.e. luchi, vegetable and potato dishes – all very
nice. Had some time to wander around a
bit in the new market before catching the overnight train to Kalimpong.
Arrived at 6:30 a.m. at
the train station and still needed to take
a 3 hour bus ride to get
to Kalimpong. Stopped for parantha
stuffed with potatoes and coffee for breakfast.
Checked into our hotel and then visited the Cactus gardens and a nearby
church. Had vegetarian noodles for lunch
at Gompu’s restaurant and then drove to the Durpin Gompa monastery consecrated
by the Dalai Lama in 1976. It is perched
atop a hill and very beautiful inside.
Listened to the monks “praying”, i.e. reciting words, blowing horns and
clinging cymbals. Dinner at a little
restaurant across from the hotel was vegetable curry, naan and roti bread. Food was really good.
In the morning we headed
to Sikkim, a state in East
India in the Himalyan foot hills bordering Tibet,
Nepal and Bhutan. It requires a permit to enter but is easy to
obtain. While our guide got our permits
we had potato stuffed paranthas and coffee for breakfast. Drove to Gangtok, the capital, and visited
Rumtek Gompa considered one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most venerable institutions
and currently the home-in-exile of Buddhism’s Kagyu (black hat) sect. Meant to replace the Tsurphu monastery in Tibet, the main
monastery building was constructed between 1961 and 1966. The giant throne within awaits the crowning
of the (disputed) 17th karmapa, who currently resides in
Dharamasala. Shared a Nepalese thali
with one of the traverlers, i.e. dal, rice, vegetables, cracker bread, curd and
beans and then checked into our hotel.
Very cold up in the mountains.
As we are a bit far from
town had dinner at our hotel (Maplewood),
i.e. spicy vegetables, cumin potato dish and naan bread. Indian breakfast at the hotel was delicious,
i.e. fried eggs, dry rice dish, potato parantha and hot tea. Very foggy day so couldn’t see much from the
Ganesh Tok viewpoint. Visited Hanuman
Tok and the Enchey Gompa containing beautiful murals of tantric deities. The monastery founder was apparently famous
for his levitational skills and was a flying monk some have said!!! Stopped at the Himalyan Zoological
Park to see some unique
animals, i.e. red pandas, snow leopards and clouded leopards in a forest like
atmosphere. Lots of hiking up and down
hills to get to the animals which was lovely.
Stopped for some Tibetan
momas, i.e. stuffed dumplings and then on to the lingdum gompa, the most
picturesque of Gangtok’s monasteries, flower gardens and the Namgyal Institute
of Tibetology housed in a traditional Tibetan-style mansion with a wonderful
collection of artifacts related to Vajrayana Buddhism and Tibetan culture, i.e.
Tantric ritual objects, thopa (bowl made from a human skull), thangkas (Tibetan
cloth paintings), etc.
Took a gondola over the
city and into the center of town. Had
some free time to wander around before meeting for dinner at A Taste of Tibet
for some Tibetan vegetarian noodles and masala papadam.
In the morning we drove to
Darjeeling, stopping
for vegetable noodles on the way.
Visited the Tibetan Refugee center which houses 600 aged, orphans, etc.
and is also a clinic, gompa and craft workshop.
Had mutton, spinach paneer and naan at Glenary’s for dinner.
Sunrise at Tiger Hill and then breakfast at a little café. Visited the Happy Valley Tea Estate which
began in 1854. The estate was not
functioning this time of year but we had a tour nevertheless and tried some of their
tea which is organic and quite nice.
Visited the Mahakal Temple situated on top of a hill,
walking through beautiful prayer flags on the way up. Afterwards we visited the Japanese Peace
Pagoda, a gleaming white building and one of the more than 70 pagodas built
around the world by the Japanese Buddhist organization. In the pagoda were murals carved out of rock
depicting scenes in Buddha’s life.
Had some free time so
stopped at the Himalayan coffee shop for chocolate cashew cake and delicious
coffee before wandering around town. Met
at 3 p.m. to go to the train station where we took the toy train which made its
first journey along its two foot wide tracks in September 1881. Stopped first in Ghum where we visited the
railway museum and then in Kurseong and back to Darjeeling.
Unlike the Shimla train, this one ran within feet of local storefronts.
Had dinner at Shangri-law
restaurant, i.e. stuffed potatoes w/sauce, fish curry, dal and butter
naan.
Nice uphill walk to the Hindu
temple we visited yesterday and took a leisurely walk around and back down to
have coffee and walnut brownie for breakfast at the Himalayan Café. Wandered around the city until 4 p.m. when we
took taxis to the train station.
Unfortunately!!! There was a strike and people were sitting on the
tracks so we had to wait in the train station for 13 hours (!!!) until the
train finally arrived at 5:00 a.m.. A
few of us played cards for several hours which helped the time go by. I had picked up some cookies at Himalyan Café
so had those for dinner. Finally arrived
at Mugal Sarai at 6:30 p.m. and then had to take a bus to Varanasi.
Most of us slept for several hours on the train and they did serve some nice
vegetable curry, rice and dal for lunch.
Beautiful scenery along the way – a part of India I hadn’t seen before. Had a nice dinner at our hotel in Varanasi, i.e. spinach
dumplings, some cashew curry, cornmeal misti roti and regular naan.
Up early and headed down
the Ganges on a boat to watch the
sunrise. Many people were already
bathing and taking their holy dips. Also
saw some bodies on the stairs wrapped up and waiting to be cremated. Lit some candles and sent them out with good
wishes on lily pads into the Ganges….
I stayed in town while
everyone else returned to the hotel and spent a couple hours immersing myself
in Varanasi, i.e. watching people get their
heads shaved, bathing in the Ganges, etc. Tuk Tuk back to the hotel for vegetable
jalfrezi and garlic naan and then went to a carpet “mansion” with our guide and
a traveler looking to buy. Interesting
to see the beauty of the carpets but they were even too expensive for him.
Later in the evening we
took a boat across the Ganges and Dushyant and
one of our lady travelers took a “holy dip”.
Ferry back to the other side and a fun walk through the narrow streets
and alleys ending at the blue lassi where we all had fruit lassis with fresh
shredded fruit on top sitting on the terrace.
Mine was papaya and pineapple and delicious! Took our boat out in front of the Dashshwamedh
ghat decorated with Hindu statues and
watched the evening ceremony of lights, singing, etc. Saw 13 piles of bodies burning as we floated
down the river…
Stopped at a Nepalese home
for a “cooking class” which was not really a cooking class. The daughter made some momos (stuffed
dumplings) and we all stuffed a couple to learn the technique. The dad made some vegetable soup with noodles
and we had those for dinner. A really
nice day…
Early morning train to Lucknow. Checked into the hotel, had a quick lunch of
dal and naan and took tuk tuks to the Residency, a large collection of gardens
and ruins built in 1800 and served as the residence for the British resident
guard who was a representative in the court of the Nawan. In 1857 it witnessed the siege of lucknow, a prolonged
battle lasting 147 days. Dinner at a Moghul
restaurant where we shared some mutton kebabs, dumplings, soft thin roti and
some vegetable biryani which was quite nice.
In the morning after
breakfast went to Bara Imambara, constructed in 1785, a year of a devastating
famine, to provide employment for people in the region for almost a
decade. The entrance is accessed
through two enormous gateways leading into a beautiful courtyard. On one side is the beautiful Badshahi mosque
and on the other is a large bowli (stepwell with running water). The main imambara consists of a large vaulted
center chamber containing the tomb of Asaf-ud-daula. Walked up to the top of the central hall and
into the three dimensional labyrinth, a network of narrow passageways that wind
up to the upper floors. Very impressive.
Had lunch at a little café
with marginal Indian food which was rather disappointing as that was my last
meal in India…Shared
stuffed potatoes, butter chicken, misti roti and naan. Caught the late afternoon train to Delhi and had a samosa
for dinner. Arrived about 10:30 p.m. and
took a quick shower at the hotel before taking a taxi to the airport. My flight left on time at 3:30 a.m. What a great trip – can’t believe it’s already
over…