Travel Digha and Mandarmani between Sun, Sea and Sand

We will go to Digha by train in the morning. This is a relatively small coastal town 3 hours by train from Kolkata. At 6.30 am we are on the edge of the Howrah station which is a little crowded. We had previously booked the train and the hotel.

As usual with trains the first challenge is to find the coach. It is pretty tough to get there to and so was full accordingly. On the train, we accidentally landed in quite a luxury class. There was practically the whole trip with free food and the whole compartment was air conditioned. There are families with suitcases, and straw hats.

I managed not to take a single picture for the whole 3 hours, but to absorb everything in my mind going through the beautiful areas of West Bengal.

Digha is a popular vacation spot for the lower middle class in West Bengal, perhaps as a substitute for Goa, something that not everyone can afford. However, one must not imagine a cute coastal town, as one knows it perhaps from Europe or so. Shortly after 3:30 we arrived on the coastal town and our resort. After arriving in Digha, we got our room. Our room was very nice.

After a short break we then head to the beach! The dock is crowded! On the beach I saw horses for the first time. Digha has no history, Digha is not cultural. Finally New Digha to be precise is ugly, because Old Digha is much more better. It's not pretty from our point of view, but I would not say that Digha is ugly. This is very difficult to describe in words. As I have mentioned many times, one always notices here that the value of aesthetics here is much lower than we are used to.

There are hardly any places that are really pretty (which can also be partly due to the omnipresent garbage), where one likes to be easy. I really miss that here too. Nevertheless, Digha somehow spreads a holiday mood and we really enjoy our day there. The beach section on the spot unfortunately consists of concrete slabs and is completely in the hands of coffee and tea sellers and families.

As we walk a bit we find a spacious sandy beach, where we have a little peace. We walk on the beach and I really enjoyed being able to walk freely for a while, without being persuaded and gawked. For a snack I buy small cucumbers.

We even swim! The women go swimming only fully clothed. But we found a secluded corner and could really go swimming. That was really a great experience. We go in search of calm. It is therefore with pleasure that after two hours of walking, we find a small island separated from the bank by an arm of the sea.

We see the sunset and take more pictures. The sunset was really nice, with blood red sun and orange sky on the water, that had something. On the beach, it has become a bit cooler now. It was not really empty even in the evening. We headed for the hotel because the mosquitoes started a sneak attack on us as we sat on the dike wall to enjoy the sea for a while.

After about 45 minutes we were completely tried. So we are then back to the hotel and we have rest, but before that we have freshly cut coconut water, which again tasted very delicious. In the evening we went again for a few minutes to the sea. There was really high tide and still going on, but there it was too dark for photos.

At 8 is a huge party time. The result was modest. Well, but I tell myself, you have to have at least one experience like that. And of course we go to the rooftop to share some beer and local specialties!

On the menu I discover the Pomfret fish and imagine that these are special fries. There is a small, deep-fried flatfish so to speak, with skin and hair. Pomfret, tastes quite good. The hotel surprised us with a grilled cucumber tasting.

Day 2

I woke up at 5:40 am. We missed the sunrise and so have the other tourists, who have come specially for it, as it was cloudy in the morning. Still, it was very nice on the beach in the morning. The fishermen were standing by the water and selling or loading the catch from their nets, so that they could then be transported to the local and more distant markets.

I then took advantage of the opportunity and am a bit into the sea, but it was totally pleasant for the temperature, and not as unbelievably dirty as I would have thought, since I have seen worse. There was also very good waves, which I enjoyed a lot and was nice to see. A little further on the sea there were also beautiful fishing boats to see.

A few nice young gentlemen came on motorcycles and asked if we would not mind to go for a round on the beach and then we went off the beach along, partly in the water, partly over the wet sand. We drove to a place where a river runs into the sea and there was full of red crabs. The guy started digging one out to show it to me. After a little walk we go to the hotel, eat and then continue to the next beach.

We take the car and go on to Mandarmani. There was really high tide, which is why we could not go to the beach, but just enjoyed the sea a bit and took a bunch of pictures. We then head to Geonkhali through a wide main road leading to a ferry. The only hotel within 50 kilometers is on the other side of a huge river.

So we drive to the dock. The road is getting narrower. Twice we drove the place in search of the car ferry until a man offered to take us to the right ferry. That was not the worst but we have to go over the plank like a mutineer.

We wait for the ferry from Geonkhali to Gadiara. Gadiara lies at the confluence of two great rivers. One of them is the Hooghly, which flows through Calcutta. After all, it is a branch of the Ganges. We go back to the ferry, this time from Gadiara to Burul. We just cannot tell where a big boat can land here to lay out a plank. A steep, sloping wall divides land and water.

A staircase and a slippery ramp goes first steeply down to the water. When the ferry arrives, we have to climb over the rocky shore with bags to the jetty and hope not to injure ourselves or fall into the water. After all, the boat is larger. The boat people are super helpful and we see that mopeds have made it to the boat.

We have to go out for dinner. Our hotel does not offer room service like most hotels. A walk in the pleasant evening temperatures relaxes the muscles. We pass a construction site. The river bank is fixed with the help of a spectacular bamboo scaffolding.

We sit in a restaurant with good local flavor as the weather changes from one second to another. The sky darkens, it flashes and thunders and a strong wind sweeps through the street. We get a little taste of the coming rainy season. A very cool weekend is coming to an end.