After experiencing the chaos of Kolkata's downtown areas, I decided to spend some time in new and modern area of the city. New Town Kolkata has been under development for the last 10 - 15 years and is quite the contrast from the old town areas such as Esplanade and New Market.
In New Town every street is clean, buildings are new, roads and sidewalks are wide and free from obstruction. And it's peaceful. With far fewer people around, and no obstacles to dodge, it's a place where it's actually enjoyable to walk around.
And that's what I did, after checking into my suite at the Novotel. I went for a good old explore in the New Town, powered by my two strong legs.
Next to my hotel there was Axis Mall, with a big Spencer's supermarket, and an outdoor food court with all sorts of international foods. So I chose a very convenient place to stay.
I found somewhere on the map that looked interesting called Eco Park and decided to walk there. It was 4 km away, but it was a good opportunity to explore the area.
What I found was very quiet streets, small parks dotted around, some fancy condominiums and surprisingly, also some kind of slum areas. There's lots of spare land around, so I guess people have just informally built homes and communities on them. Still, those slums looked clean and peaceful, and the locals I spoke to there were friendly. I didn't feel unsafe at all.
When I go to the Eco Park, I received the bad news that it was closed on Mondays. I randomly had a 1 in 7 chance of turning up on the one day a week that it's closed. Bad luck. But as I was leaving I met two nice Hindu girls who were going to the big temple and invited me to go with them.
After checking out the very large Hindu temple complex and receiving a blessing, I took an electric rickshaw back down to Axis Mall and enjoyed some tasty chicken momos with cheese sauce, from the Wow Momo stall.
A portion of Momos is just a light snack, or an appetiser, so I still had plenty of room to enjoy a full meal at Keshariya Junction, which is a restaurant built in the style of a train. I chose a local chicken curry called Kessa and it was a delicious, which a very rich chickeny, tomatoey gravy. Served with fresh butter naan, straight out the tandoor, it was an amazing way to end my day of exploring Kolkata's fancy New Town area.
I had planned to end the day's adventure with dinner at Biswa Bangla Gate, the fancy UFO-shaped building that's an iconic symbol of New Town, but just like the Eco Park, it's also closed on Mondays.
So the vlog continues on a new day, where I finally boarded the UFO, enjoyed a delicious Bengali fish curry and burned off the calories at the Eco Park, where I was surprised to find replicas of the Seven Wonders of the World.
I'd definitely recommend to anyone visiting Kolkata to stay in the New Town area if they're looking for peacefulness and first world comfort.
0:00 Novotel Kolkata New Town
6:56 Hotel Suite Tour
16:44 New Town First Impressions
19:58 Axis Mall
23:40 Exploring New Town
33:58 Slum Area
46:10 Eco Park
50:50 Eiffel Tower
53:31 Hindu Temple
58:10 Wow Momos
1:06:43 Chicken Kassa (Bengali Food)
1:16:19 UFO Restaurant (Biswa Bangla Gate)
1:25:18 Fish Taka Tak (Bengali Fish Curry)
1:33:01 Kolkata's Eco Park
1:42:34 Seven Wonders of the World
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