MIAMI to KOLKATA, INDIA
Wed – Fri, Mar 23-25, 2016
Belinda and I took off Miami on Wednesday about 9:00pm on Qatar Airlines. After a 13-1/2 hour flight from to Doha, Qatar followed by another 4+ hour flight to Kolkata, India, we finally arrived at our hotel, the Obiroi Grand Hotel in Kolkata at about 2:30am (yes as morning) on Friday, March 25th. This is the start of our very exotic trip to “incredible” India and the Dragon Kingdom of Bhutan.
We arranged our trip through Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT), which specializes in small group (no more than 16 travelers) to interesting destinations around the world. Our itinerary, called the Heart of India, focuses on some of the major historic areas of India. Including Delhi, Jaipur, a tiger preserve, the Taj Mahal, Varanasi, and more. We also, booked a pre-trip to Bhutan, as we figured that this was a unique opportunity to visit this far away corner of the Himalayan Mountains.
After about 4-5 hours of sleep, we yawned our way down to breakfast. The Obiroi Grand is a beautiful hotel, hearkening back to the days when the British Empire ruled India and its multitude of Rajas. The grounds of the hotel were beautiful, the staff extremely courteous and attentive, and the breakfast was excellent. We would stay here again in a heartbeat.
Today is basically a recovery day, before we fly on to Bhutan, but did include a half day of seeing some of the sights of Kolkata.
After a late breakfast, we met our three other traveling companions for the Bhutan portion of our trip and our local guide Pardu, who gave a brief orientation of the day. The afternoon was dedicated to exploring some of the history and sites of Kolkata, located in the state of West Bengal. Kolkata (originally called Calcutta by the British) was started by the British East India Company the 1690s and eventually became the capital of British rule in India, until it was moved to Delhi in 1911. Because of this, Kolkata is probably the most British of Indian cities, and many of the grand monuments in the city are still maintained by Great Britain.
In our whirlwind tour, we visited such sites as the Victoria Memorial, a huge building and museum surrounded by a beautiful park.
Next we took a stroll along the banks of the Ganges River, which is the major waterway running through the city. The city developed a very nice walkway along the river for people to enjoy. While the Ganges is considered a holy river by the Hindus, however the centers of worship are located far to the east in Varanasi, which we will visit at the end of our trip.
Speaking of the Hindu religion, India is majority Hindu, and one can see the influence everywhere. Our exploration did include a walk down a street where the artisans who created the idols of Hindu gods created there wares. The shops were not that busy, as there weren’t any festivals going on. The shops and streets included many remnants of the myriad of colored dyes, straw forms which are the base of the idols and clay castings.
We also visited the Church of St. John, originally a cathedral, it was one of the first public buildings erected by the East India Company after Kolkata became the effective capital of British India. This church is the final resting place of many of the important British dignitaries in India, including Job Charnock, the representative of the British East Indian Company who established Calcutta.
Lastly we planned to visit the “Mother House” the home of the Missionaries of Charity, set up by Mother Teresa, as well as the place where she is buried. Unfortunately it was unusually closed for viewing so we went down the street to the actual orphanage run by the order. There we were able to spend time visiting an playing with the children at the orphanage. Overall, we are glad that the plans changed, as the children really tugged at our heart and it we had a really cool time with them.
Back to the hotel for an early dinner, because we need to leave very early for our flight to Bhutan.
