Day 80 - When India says, "Hold my Lassi"
The hotel had no breakfast included and that suited us just fine as we were keen to catch up on sleep, and anyway, 30mins after waking up, coffee and sandwiches (spicy, of course) rocked up, along with another cake 😏.
Eventually, just before the checkout at 12 we set out to find some bike boxes. We walked to the first shop, asking at places with big boxes on the way and being told "not possible" a lot when asking for a box big enough for a bike. When we asked the hotel it was "no problem" until the staff returned with a wine box and we explained that was wildly too small, then it was "not possible". We half expected, given the hotel's initial postive "yeh fine" attitude that a man would indeed turn up in the Indian style with what you need, but apparently that only happena within known criteria. So we were a little nervous on arrival to the first bike shop that we wouldn't get a big enough box. We observed on the wall that this city was cleaner and calmer than the Indian average, but somehow a lot smellier!
So we arrived at the first bike shop and enquire about boxes. We follow the chap into his back room, and find, a cow?! Yes. There was a COW in the bike shop 😆. That's new India, that's new!
Said cow was pushed out, literally pushed out, with a "sorry, this happens all of the time" dismissive wave and revealed the bike boxes it had been lying on! They were very small and battered, but we were relieved to have something in the bank as we continued the hunt. On the tuk-tuk back from the second shop (no boxes) we spot a big Decathlon sign, and divert our ride to check there before going for the small boxes.
Now I'd been saying India was one of the few countries I didn't really like on this tour. It was super cool to visit don't get me wrong, but I don't plan on going back. I think India heard this and said (since they don't drink beer) "hold my lassi", i.e. "Watch this!" because this is where, having learnt the Indian system, it did some truly beautiful things!
We walked into Decathlon and it was like being teleported to Europe. Such a contrast from outside. To our delight they had stacks and stacks of bike boxes in perfect condition. We were about to take them back to the hotel and try and pack them in middle of the building site until it occured to me to ask to pack them there. "Yeh sure". We grabbed some snacks from food stalls in a shopping centre and returned shortly with the bikes, at which point the staff not only produced bubble wrap and those tape applicators, but insisted that the mechanic and his assistant would pack the bikes for us!!! I was hesitant at first but they really insisted and really knew their business (obviously). So in record time we had the bikes packed up in record protection and they wouldn't even let us help clear up, nor accept a tip nor charge! Incredible thanks guys!
The stressful job done, we enjoyed trying the various food stands - they had potato faces in the shopping centre before starting to head to the airport. Here India shined again. We approached the security guard, who happily knocked on a tuk tuk with his stick, negotiated the price with the driver to stop us getting ripped off and told him to go and help us fetch the boxes!
A short while later we were at the airport checking in, relaxing with the difficult bit done. "You have your visa madame?" Your whatnow sorry?! We looked at each other. We had totally and completely forgotten to check that. Totally forgotten. The British passport is visa free, the kiwi one is not... After some short research we found that there was a visa on arrival, we showed them the official site, there was some discussion, and then we were checked in. Phew. Except not phew. We realised in the hurry on a borrowed phone hot-spot (no free WiFi we could use) that Emma had been looking at an unofficial website and the situation was more complex. In short, you apply for a e-visa 5 days in advance or pay a 3rd party company to sort out a visa on arrival. Okay, we thought, Emma can pay the emergency fee. Except no, because the 3rd party can only arrange that during government hours. Why not catch the first internal flight in India and then catch a flight a day later we hear you ask? Because our Indian visas expired in 3 hours with no possibility of extending them so we had to leave tonight. We borrowed another hotspot to get a eSIM so we could at least research and then got on the plane to Kolkata.
We talked through all of the options on the flight and came up with a plan, Emma would go to Bangkok, get an emergency visa and follow the next day, and I would continue as normal.
And here again India blew us away. We were flying with the Indian budget airline Indigo. At the transfer desk the staff were immediately on it, and a short walk, a wait and a few staff later they had sorted everything out. In the continuing series of problems both bikes were on Emma's ticket, and we had three luggage tags for two pieces of luggage. You couldn't have designed a more complicated situation and most fancy airlines would have struggled. Here, after 10mins, both bikes were on my ticket (you're only ever allowed to fly with one) and Emma's non-refundable ticket had been changed to Bangkok...and they charged us nothing?! Nothing at all! Incredible!
The flight was supposed to be the relaxing bit after the stressful bike packing, nonetheless I finally made it to our nice hotel in Hanoi at 5:30am and got a couple of exhausted hours sleep before breakfast! Meanwhile Emma was asleep on a bench in Bangkok airport's no-man's land!!!
Food spend today: 39.76 euros
Tea consumption: 2