Stop 18 - Kolkata, Last of India

Finally, the end...
is nigh. After nearly two months of the trip, I'm finally leaving our first country (for real this time), India. I had one night/two days in Kolkata first - it was a strange first stop to have on my own, as after getting an Uber to my hostel, White Pebble Hostel, I realised it was in the absolute middle of nowhere. There was construction sites all around, and other than the builders working away, not a soul to be seen. Not what I had expected from Kolkata, which I had heard was going to be very, very crowded.
It also didn't help that nobody was in the hostel to check me in, so I genuinely walked around an 8 storey building by myself for 10-20 minutes before I started calling out to see if anyone was there.

It wasn't the prettiest place in the world around my hostel, as you can see. Again feeling a bit lost on what to do, I went to a nearby mall to get some food - pretty dingy, and I was now worried that Kolkata was a construction site/ghost town, and I'd to spend two days twiddling my thumbs.
Thankfully, there was an Eco park nearby, which seemed to contrast greatly to the concrete jungle surrounding my hostel. It was actually pretty nice!

It even had an Eiffel Tower, so seems like my fortunes were changing! Why go to Paris, when you can just come to Kolkata?

I was beginning to even view the area around my hostel in a different light, though I still couldn't quite figure out why it was highly rated...

The next day, with staff members now actually at the reception desk, I asked my hostel for any advice on what to do - and I now figured out why my hostel was so quiet, and why it was highly rated. A ~20c 45 minute bus was recommended to the main sights in the town. My hostel was 45 mins outside the city, and thus way more comfortable than in the hectic hustle and bustle of Kolkata city centre. It all makes sense now!
I first headed to the Victoria Memorial Hall, which I was a little perplexed by. It was very apologetic towards the old British rule, which I was a bit surprised by, given Kolkata is the capital of West Bengal. I think there was two lines in the entire museum acknowledging the Bengal Famine of 1943. Nice building anyway.

I ventured further into the town, to see what else it had to offer. Realising I hadn't got it yet, and was recommended plenty of times, I picked up a sugar-cane juice for 25c on my walk:

Eden Gardens is a park, and cricket stadium in Kolkata. I had hoped to join in on a public cricket game on this trip but alas, no luck (not even sure I remember the rules). So thought maybe catching a glimpse of a game would do. No luck though, so after some further wandering, I decided for the rest of the evening to go to Sudder Street, the tourist-y area recommended by my hostel. I went on a little street food tour, as I doubt I'll be getting food this good this cheap again:

And with that, I hopped on a bus back to my hostel, to grab my stuff, and head off to the airport. A long journey to my next stop, Macau, awaited. India has been amazing - some things about it aren't perfect, but the vast, vast majority of things we've experienced here have been very positive. I think this photo sums up India quite well:

Sign says: Buses will not stop here - despite bus clearly stopping

It's a bit mad at times, but there's so much to love about the place. Hopefully I/we can recommend the other countries we visit on this trip as much!
Anyway, next stop - Macau. Going from Chennai/Kolkata to extravagant casinos should be quite the change. I'll hopefully be able to get my travels through China up soon, as my laptop/Chromebook is no longer shut out by the Chinese government.

Big love,

Stu

Currently Listening to:

Stop 17 - Chennai, Return to India

Back in India...

Thankfully, just about. The journey to the airport was far more stressful than was needed, but we landed in Chennai airport, and that's all that matters. Thankfully no hitches with Dani entering on her second visa either, so all went swimmingly post-flight.
We spent our last night together at 5* apart-hotel Citadines OMR, in Shogallangur, an area south of Chennai city centre. Mentioned on the "Finance/budget" blog post, this worked out to only be ~€33, and is something we probably didn't make enough use of in India. There's not many places where you can stay somewhere as nice as Citadines was, for that sort of money.

Unfortunately as we had got there in the evening time, and Dani was off to the airport again the very next morning, we weren't able to take full advantage of the above pictured rooftop infinity pool. We did, however, take full advantage of the breakfast:

Before getting back into a taxi for the reverse of the journey we'd made the evening before, and get Dani on her way to Goa, to start her yoga teacher training course:

So there it is, Dani is in Goa for the next 3.5 weeks, while Stu carries on with his own adventure. So at this point, it'll by myself (Stu), writing again. Dani hopes to be able to get a paragraph in covering her experience of the YTT course, but with no laptop it might be difficult, we'll wait and hope!
But yes, I again made the taxi trip back to the hotel, and made good use of the midday check-out time, fitting in a dip in the pool, and staying back in the lobby to print out my itinerary/documents for China, which are required to obtain your visa.

Once I'd felt it'd be awkward if I stayed any longer, I headed off to my hostel for the next two nights, Red Lollipop Hostel. It's based in central Chennai, and the journey there wasn't the most pleasant. Beggars, and tuk-tuk drivers quoting extortionate prices, is I suppose the positive thing that we missed out on by not staying at 5* hotels. I was swarmed with them though. And central Chennai itself was fairly rough around the edges too. Not off to a flying start on my lonesome.
The hostel was grand enough, nothing special either. The "walking tour" they brought us on that evening was even worse. A tour guide from the hostel brought us to one temple and two churches, and didn't explain much about either:

Before bringing us to a packed windy beach, and one of the worst bars I've ever been to, which before we got there had 100% male clientele sitting in pretty much darkness.

Party central in Chennai

So you can put it down that day one on my own wasn't the greatest experience I've had so far on this trip. I'd probably say the worst in all honesty, it was the first place that I felt hassled, a little bit unsafe, and really noticed the divide between the wealthy part and the poorer part.

It didn't leave me feeling too great about Chennai, so when waking up the next day it left me at a bit of a loss of what to do.
Old reliable - went to a cafe rated well on Google and the likes, The Brew Room, which gave me a bit of headspace to try and figure out what on Earth was going on with Chennai.

Here I cracked the code - my hostel was just in a very rough area. Cheers Hostelworld reviews (if backpacking here, stay at the lesser rated Zostel). There wasn't too much jumping out at me as a good way to spend my last day here, but one thing nearby was an American-style mall, which I wouldn't usually seek out - especially in India, where the wealth divide can be so visually apparent. They did however, have a bowling alley, so I made an exception.

As you can see, it is quite massive/luxurious, so again - very different to the part near my hostel. It wasn't the nicest way to spend my first days on my own, I did struggle a bit with appraising a few things in Chennai/Indian society, which I didn't have come up before. I did get 4 strikes in a row in my first game of bowling, so that was a slight positive, I suppose. I also bought a new phone, to add to my sense of unease about the wealth divide even more. Next stop is Kolkata, which I'd heard is worse. 

I'll try and update you on how I got on there, but taking on the Great Firewall of China (as you can see from Polarsteps, is where I currently am) on a Chromebook has proven very difficult, so being able to type large amounts won't be fun.

Happy (early) Paddy's Day to everyone at home!

Currently Listening to:

Stops 15 & 16 - Mirissa & Galle

The south coast...

is where our last two stops in Sri Lanka are. First up we're getting another bus, this time to Mirissa, where we're spending three nights at Boho Hostel. First impression is that it's one of the nicest/cutest hostels we've stayed at - the decor is cosy, rooms are comfy, owner friendly, and dog fluffy:

We settled in quickly, though the weather wasn't great for our first day, so we went to nearby Chinese restaurant Little Red House for something a bit different, and afterwards sheltered back at the hostel from the rain.

The weather continued on into the next afternoon, leaving us at a bit of a loss for things to do. The three Dutch girls again were lagging a day behind, but joined us just as the weather was getting a little better. There's a beach party on every night in Mirissa, at a different bar each evening - we decided why not see what it's like! So after a couple of cocktails at the hostel...

...we decided to set off to check it out. We don't have any photos of it, but to be fair, the less said about it the better. Dodgy music, dodgier crowd - we spent the night mainly playing card games, while also trying to help out a girl who had one too many, and was dangerously close to the sea. Not great.
The next day, however, was thankfully a massive uptick in fortunes. We had all decided to go to nearby town Weligama, which has a quieter beach that is famous as a surf destination. A top-notch 1.5 hour lesson and board rental for €10, we all joined up to take on the waves. Everyone was standing on the board at one point, so a successful day all round. The beach wasn't too shabby either:

That evening on Mirissa beach proved to be a slightly better evening than the night previous, as despite some stormy weather setting in again, we were able to take shelter from the rain at a nearby beach shack - and we were joined by this little dude:

Can't even

We loved the surfing/beach so much, that we decided to just jump on the local bus again the next morning, for a second day in a row in Weligama. There were a few tired (and very bruised) bodies, so apart from Karlijn being the brave one of the bunch, we all decided to take it a little easier and go bodyboarding for day two, which again proved to be a roaring success. We stayed on the beach all day, and took in our last Sri Lankan sunset, as this was our last night in Sri Lanka - we were due to be back at Colombo airport the next evening.

Given that we weren't quite ready to say goodbye to the girls, we decided to delay our arrival to our final destination, Galle. Rather than get there earlier on that day, we decided to stay and have dinner in Mirissa, before a later arrival time at our hostel (the bus only takes 1 hour). We went for something a little more classy, Zephyr, which was a little more expensive than the norm, but well worth it. Dani got the most unreal fish:

And it was a fitting place to have one of our nicest meals of the trip, with some of the nicest people we've met while travelling. Thanks so much to Karlijn, Marlot, and Shannon for making our trip to Sri Lanka so enjoyable, it was an absolute blast. Hopefully we'll be crossing paths again on this year, and if not, the Netherlands or Ireland for a reunion will be on the cards! 

Also not forgetting Clive (pictured above), who we bumped into many times along the way, too. Our teary-eyed goodbyes were had at the table, and once again at the hostel as the two of us grabbed our bags, and set off to Galle that night. We were staying just the one night, as time was constrained. Our flight back to India wasn't until the next evening, so a morning spent in Galle was planned for, with us getting back to Colombo airport by bus (hopefully in time). Our arrival in Galle could've gone better, as with our midnight arrival, the hostel was hard to find in the poor visibility. There were also three stray dogs that seemed to be keeping guard of the door, and given neither of us want rabies, actually getting to the door once it was found was another problem in itself.

We finally made it, and we're glad we did, as Galle is a lovely little town. There's a Dutch fort just on the coast, and definitely a feel of some European influence throughout the town - the paved, narrow roads are something we haven't seen yet on our travels.

Dani even managed to fit in buying some clothes in a little boutique store, before we stopped off at Isle of Gelato, to get some of the best ice-cream we've ever had:

This was all a bit rushed, though, as we knew we had to get the bus to Colombo at midday. There was supposed to be a direct bus to Negombo (airport), but apparently that only leaves once per day in the morning, so we had to take a couple of buses, which ended up delayed. We had also hoped to stop in our first hostel, as Dani had left her pair of glasses there, but no luck, as we had to make the call of leaving them there - as we noticed at Colombo bus station we had to rush to the airport ASAP. We made it to the airport an hour before our flight, and were greeted by the largest queue we've seen at an airport. Security thankfully ushered us through quickly, and we finally made it on to the plane 15 minutes before our departure time (it was thankfully delayed, as other people queuing in airport had to catch the flight).
An unfortunately stressful end to our time in Sri Lanka, however it doesn't tarnish our experience of the country whatsoever - we can see why so many people recommended it to us, and we would echo those recommendations 100%. It is an absolutely amazing place to visit, with lovely, helpful people, and a nice chilled out vibe in comparison to some of the more hectic places we've visited in India. We would've loved to have spent longer, but even in the time we did have we got a lot done, and pretty much loved every minute of it.

Having just about made it onto the plane, we're both headed back to India - to Chennai. It'll be our last stop together for a while, as Dani will be jetting off to Goa then to start her yoga teacher training course. We'll let you know what we make of it!

Big love, Dani & Stu.

Currently Listening to:

Stops 13 & 14 - Kandy & Ella

Sri Lankan trains...
Can fuck right off, too. The buses up to now have been great, but apparently this train journey from Kandy to Ella is a "must-do" - we'll get to that after quickly documenting our stop in Kandy.
We had just planned to spend the night in Kandy, mainly as a base to embark on the train ride of a lifetime. We arrived and refreshingly had a tuk-tuk driver that haggled his way down on the price, as we offered to pay 150rupees (75c), and he said no, 100 was enough (50c). We soon realised why he was so honest, as our hostel, 335 Holiday Homes, was a minute away, max. The hostel was lovely, not much of an atmosphere, but very new, very clean, and the owners very helpful - even making us a packed breakfast for our train journey the next morning.
We got up and out the door for 7a.m., following the "insider tip" of heading to the station before Kandy, called Peradeniya Road. A few blogs say this is the place to go, as you're more likely to get a seat on the train.

The calm before the storm

However, the blogs are lying. Maybe it's because it was a Sunday we left on, but the train was absolutely rammed, regardless of what station you got on. Too rammed, in Dani's case, as she wasn't able to even get on the train! Stu was pushed onto the train beforehand, so mild panic was setting in. Thankfully, the train goes to Kandy and then turns around, so Dani was able to jump on second time round. We were separated for the entire journey, but most importantly we made it. Stu even got a seat about 3 hours in. And Dani was able to sit at the train door, which allowed for the best views on the train. Was it worth it? Yes in some ways...but not without its drawbacks. The scenery is breath-taking, but comfort levels are at an all time low. If you're in Sri Lanka you're most likely going to do it, so just be prepared. That scenery though:

After finally getting off the train, we gathered ourselves, and headed to our next hostel Ella City Reach. Nice hostel, located just a minutes walk from the lovely little town of Ella. That evening, we were the last allowed in the queue for a highly recommended restaurant, Matey Hut. The restaurant only has about 6 tables, which explains the queue. The food was unreal, and rice and curry wasn't "finished" for once. Result!

Top of our to-do list in Ella was to go to the Nine Arch Bridge, so we set off the following morning to get a glimpse, and even managed to time it right to catch a train passing:

A storm was forecast for that afternoon, so we then took shelter in Chill, a cafe/bar in the town, and tried to catch up on some of this not-time-consuming-at-all blog:

We'd kept in touch with the three girls mentioned in the last post, Shannon, Karlijn, and Marlot, who had left us on the train to visit different towns along the route - and we were very quickly reunited, as they graced us with their presence at the cafe. We stayed late into the evening before going next door for a pizza (and 6 cocktails...) at 360 degrees:

Which was a lovely way to close out our last night in Ella. Not finished there though, as the next morning we fitted in one more activity on the list - walking/hiking to Little Adam's Peak.

A great way to spend the morning, and we returned to the hostel feeling re-energised, ready to take on another bus journey. This time we're heading down to the south coast, where we'll be finishing off our Sri Lankan visit, We've loved it so far, and Ella has been the highlight up to now.

Also, just to note, Shannon introduced us to Polarsteps, an app which Stuart has set up an account for, and is now embedded at the bottom of the blog. It's an app that tracks each stop you make on your travels, which should give a handy visual representation of the travels so far. You can see where we've visited by zooming out on the little map, so have a look. It also will give the game away as to how far behind we are on the blog posts, as it updates with your current location, so you can see where Stu's phone currently is. Oops. Does look cool though!

Right, that's it, on to the south coast.

Big love, Dani & Stu.

Currently Listening to: