After several flights and some very fun explorations through Thailand, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, we were thrilled to finally make it to India!

As long as I have been travelling, I have always wanted to visit India. I have long heard that India is the “final frontier” of backpacking, as it can be much more difficult to travel there due to the large population, vast landmass, language barriers, and differences in culture and practices from the Western world. While many parts of navigating this country were a challenge, it was also incredible. I’m excited to share our travels there with you over my next few posts!

If you’d like to read about our travels on this journey prior to arriving in India, the link to my previous blog post outlining our most previous step of the journey can be found here.

Day 18: Arrival and First Impressions

In the early hours of the 18th day of our adventure, we landed at the airport in Kolkata, India. After getting our visas sorted and getting our bearings at the airport, we were able to grab a carshare taxi ride (the company most used for car sharing in India is called Ola) to our hotel.

The streets of Kolkata were quiet on our first drive through the city, and we were relieved to have a smooth trip to our hotel for check-in. The driver was fast, and there were some people out and about, but it was probably the most peaceful city moment we had the entire trip.

After a nice sleep recovering from our early morning arrival, we headed into town to see what was around and get our SIM cards organized.

George wanted to take the metro into town, which was a spectacle in itself, being jam-packed with more people than it could carry. I was delighted to be pulled into the women’s-only section of the train as soon as we got on by some helpful women on the train, which immediately helped me feel much more relaxed and a little less squished.

We started our day with breakfast at one of Kolkata’s famous bookstores, called Oxford’s, in the Park Street neighbourhood. Kolkata is known in India for the quality of its educational institutions, and the many bookshops are one of its complementary features.

After breakfast, we quickly learned that getting a SIM card was more difficult than anticipated in India because the law requires that you need a local to vouch for you before you can register for one. This is accomplished by providing an OTP (one-time passcode) at SIM activation. We originally assumed we’d be able to get a SIM at the airport, but were unfortunately mistaken. After trying our luck at some official phone shops, we found a man running a side-of-the-road operation and got one SIM card. Even after getting the first SIM card, the cell phone companies wouldn’t help us, so we ended up finding a second guy to get our second SIM organized.

We had a delicious lunch at a Punjabi restaurant, where I had my first Thali of the trip. I love Thalis as they offer a tasting plate of available curries, as well as rice and some sort of bread. I love that it lets you try a little of everything in small amounts, and always includes something that’s new!

We spent the afternoon finishing our explorations of the Park Street neighbourhood before going home to de-sweat before dinner. Our first dinner in India brought us to a Mughal restaurant, where we enjoyed delicious biryani, kadai curry, and garlic naan.

Day 19: Exploring Kolkata’s Cultural Gems

Our second and final day in Kolkata took us to some more sightseeing spots around the city. We started the day at Maidan Park, where we walked around the grounds and tried not to sweat too much.

Our second stop was the Indian Museum, which we thought looked interesting and also hoped would have air conditioning. This museum, while lacking A/C in most rooms, was actually really fascinating. I had done some research before we visited and found certain exhibits I wanted to focus on, so I spent my time seeking those out. Highlights of the museum included seeing a real Egyptian mummy (no photos allowed though, unfortunately), as well as an extensive opium collection.

After the museum, we continued our walk around the city to the Mother Teresa Monument followed by the Mother House, where Mother Teresa lived a lot of her life. Her tomb is also located on site. Having grown up going to Catholic school, I knew a lot about her and I was intrigued to see where she lived and worked. It was a beautiful yet simple building, and seeing and learning about where she lived was quite moving, especially with the context of the slums that she chose to live in for much of her life.

We spent the rest of our day packing and getting ready, as we were set to catch a night train to Varanasi that evening. I’ll share more about our train journey experience in my next post.

Kolkata was a really cool city, and a great introduction to India. Reflecting on the city now that I’ve spent 5 weeks in India, the best part about it was how authentic it was – you could really see how people lived.

We felt like we were the only foreign tourists there, which initially was a strange feeling but we came to appreciate as it meant that everyone let us be, and there were no tourist traps to fall into. I don’t know if I’d put Kolkata on my “must see” recommendation list for an adventure through India, but if you have a chance to pass through, then it’s an amazing opportunity to get a glimpse of authentic India.

Next stop: Varanasi!
In my next post, I’ll be sharing about our train journey and experiences in the holy city of Varanasi.

As always, thanks for reading!