And so the Journey Begins

Heading to India, the first stop is Montreal and as we leave the plane we are greeted by an agent from Qutar Air. Turns out numerous people leaving Calgary are headed to Doha. A place I had never heard of until we booked this trip. But there she is waiting to escort all of us to the Qutar Air Gates. This is service; first we have to check in. Our passports and flights are verified and we receive new boarding passes that will take us all the way to Kolkata. A 5 hour wait in Montreal and then 12 flight and we are in Doha. As we leave the plane the heat of the air almost stops us in our tracks. We hurry to the waiting bus to get back into an air conditioned space. I don't think I have ever experienced this type of heat. Doha airport is nothing less than spectacular! Pristine, modern and rich, but we only have an hour so a quick look around and we are back boarding the plane to Kolkata. It is 3:30 in the morning when we step off the plane in Kolkata. The airport reminds me of a Greyhound bus station. Old and dingy but at least it isn't quite as hot as Doha. Mind you it is 3:30 in the morning. Now to find a taxi that will take us to the train station. Randy finds the pre-paid taxi booth gets our tickets and in his excitement that we had actually figured this part out pays the agent and walks away without his change.Oh well part of the experience. Now the taxi ride is the first real adventure of the trip. The next 1/2 hour we navigate through town with the horn a blaring as we pass, pedlars pushing their wares thru town, cars, trucks and even buses. Everyone gets out of our way. I only yelled in fear a few times, mostly under my breathe. We both wondered if he had actually been a taxi driver for participants of the Amazing Race as speed was definitely is friend. The train station is a swarm of activity, as people hustle to get their tickets and find the right track for their train. Just like on Amazing Race, our ticket counter doesn't open until 5:00am. It is currently 4:30 am so we hunker down and wait, along with the growing line-up of travellers. Although there is also a group of men sleeping in the middle of the area. Are they in line? What happens at 5?. Eventually the ticket counter opens and Randy slowly, and not too pushy although that seems to be the actions of most,works his way to the front of the line. Tickets in hand we are off to find track 23. Now the great thing is that we have reserved seats on the Coach car. Otherwise we would be pushing like cattle into the regular coaches in hope of getting a seat, near an open window. However in the chair coach we have fans, somewhat padded seats and an array of pedlars selling food, beverages and entertainment. While we may have been hungry we settled with almonds and water from home. Just a little nervous and not sure where we were going we settled in for an 8 hour train ride. Sleeping off and on as we checked the name of each small town we stopped at on the express train to Jharsaguda. Express was surely just a figure of speech. Finally we arrive at the final destination for the first part of our trip. A taxi was easy to find. I am thinking we had tourist written all over our foreheads as the driver rushed to assist. Turns out we could have walked to the hotel as quick as the drive took as it was only minutes away, but at least the driver knew where he was going. Medhout Hotel would be our home for the next two days. At first they tried to talk us into a suite for a whole $58 a night but we really didn't need that much space so we opted for the regular room at $30 a night. What I learned upon viewing each room was the suites are probably a star 3 while the regular a star 2?..lol. Should we go back and upgrade? No we decided to stay put. Clean towels and shower curtains are highly over rated, however we did finally get towels and I think they were clean, although very worn out. It is 6pm and we were ready for bed. Forcing ourselves to sleep through the night would hopefully help us get adjusted to the time change. 11.5 hour ahead of Calgary. A good but somewhat restless sleep I wondered what the heck we are doing. Who travels 1/2 around the world, makes their way to a town where they know no one and plans to get up and go to work for a company they have only read about? I am somewhat unnerved to say the least? Yes but we will be fine. A quick cool shower, apparently hot water and toilet paper are a rare commodity. Mind you the cool shower felt good but it would have been nice to have a little more water. The sprinkle coming out of the shower head was a bit sparse. Time for breakfast and a walk about town. Ordering breakfast when you don't speak the language can be somewhat challenging so it was a good thing they were serving buffet. I settled for a piece of toast, a fried egg that was delivered to our plates, I think they were worried I wasn't eating enough, and an orange pop. The pop took a bit longer as they had to find the key to unlock the cooler. Interesting.. the two young men waiting on us tried very hard to make sure we were happy. So far so good. Walking up and down main street is interesting. Pedlars line both sides of the street in small kiosk,and stare as we walk by. In the meantime I am staring at the cows that wonder aimlessly down the street like they own the place. Then again maybe they do. Later today we will meet up with our hosts for a tour of the town. He is concerned we aren't staying in a better hotel so will include a recommendation and viewing of alternatives, in addition to visiting the premises of his company. I think I will check out the flow of hot water in the shower and quality of the towels. We will see....