Day 120 (Sat 4 Nov) - Kolkata
Finally pulled into Kolkata at about 6 in the morning.
Got a taxi straight to our hotel, the Galaxy off Sudder Street in Chowringhee.
The hotel is pretty basic to say the least; it reminded us of our horrible stay in Mumbai. Still it was cheap(ish) so will do.
Both were absolutely cream crackered so slept until about 2ish. Feeling a little peckish by now so went off to the Hotel Lindsay that boasted a rooftop restaurant.
Unfortunately the rooftop was closed so we had to make do with the indoor restaurant. This place was quite cosy having only 8 tables, 3 of which including us that were being used. The numbers are important because there must have been at least 10 waiters all hovering round the top end of the room.
Despite the large number of waiters it took ages for our order to be taken. Then a long delay when a chap we hadn't seen before appeared and said that they didn't have Kingfisher so would a Black Label do? Yes it would do. The food arrived but the beer didn't. The food was finished and the plates taken away. Still no beer. The bill came and surprise, surprise there was a bottle of beer on the it! Explained to the waiter that a bill normally means paying for what you have ordered and if ordered item does not appear, it seems a bit thick to put it on the bill. After another long delay the beer duly arrived.
This has been a very common theme in India. Loads of people employed doing absolutely nothing. 10 waiters where 2 would have sufficed, the service was pitifully slow and then they cock up the beer.
We decided that we didn't like the Hotel Galaxy and would try and find nicer lodgings. Unfortunately every other place seemed to be booked.
Went back to the hotel where Jo had a sleep whilst Sarb went to the nearby Fairlawn Hotel for a drink. Sarb met some local Kolkatan gents. Noticing that it was getting late Sarb went back to the hotel Galaxy to wake Jo up. Once woken we decided to go back to the Fairlawn where we met up with our friends again.
They were pretty scathing about Kolkata; saying that up until very recently the locals referred to it as the Dead City as there was absolutely nothing happening here; no investment, no central government involvement, the local government basically playing games at being Communist and a general pall of stagnation hovering over the city. However they did say that things were beginning to change.
Headed back to our hotel for a good nights kip.
Got a taxi straight to our hotel, the Galaxy off Sudder Street in Chowringhee.
The hotel is pretty basic to say the least; it reminded us of our horrible stay in Mumbai. Still it was cheap(ish) so will do.
Both were absolutely cream crackered so slept until about 2ish. Feeling a little peckish by now so went off to the Hotel Lindsay that boasted a rooftop restaurant.
Unfortunately the rooftop was closed so we had to make do with the indoor restaurant. This place was quite cosy having only 8 tables, 3 of which including us that were being used. The numbers are important because there must have been at least 10 waiters all hovering round the top end of the room.
Despite the large number of waiters it took ages for our order to be taken. Then a long delay when a chap we hadn't seen before appeared and said that they didn't have Kingfisher so would a Black Label do? Yes it would do. The food arrived but the beer didn't. The food was finished and the plates taken away. Still no beer. The bill came and surprise, surprise there was a bottle of beer on the it! Explained to the waiter that a bill normally means paying for what you have ordered and if ordered item does not appear, it seems a bit thick to put it on the bill. After another long delay the beer duly arrived.
This has been a very common theme in India. Loads of people employed doing absolutely nothing. 10 waiters where 2 would have sufficed, the service was pitifully slow and then they cock up the beer.
We decided that we didn't like the Hotel Galaxy and would try and find nicer lodgings. Unfortunately every other place seemed to be booked.
Went back to the hotel where Jo had a sleep whilst Sarb went to the nearby Fairlawn Hotel for a drink. Sarb met some local Kolkatan gents. Noticing that it was getting late Sarb went back to the hotel Galaxy to wake Jo up. Once woken we decided to go back to the Fairlawn where we met up with our friends again.
They were pretty scathing about Kolkata; saying that up until very recently the locals referred to it as the Dead City as there was absolutely nothing happening here; no investment, no central government involvement, the local government basically playing games at being Communist and a general pall of stagnation hovering over the city. However they did say that things were beginning to change.
Headed back to our hotel for a good nights kip.
posted by Jo and Sarb at
11/04/2006 07:54:00 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home