Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
Saturday, September 20, 2014
There has been a taxi strike in Kolkata for a few days now so getting to the airport may have been a problem if it hadn't been for Ajay offering to help us out.
so at 6:30am we were back at Backpacker offices and a lovely lime green Ambassador car awaited to take us to the airport.
After all the usual rigmaroles of checking in were were off with Spice Airways. This particular plane was named Cayenne!
Now we were not 100% sure what would happen when we landed because when we first applied for our Indian visas back in England, Bryan’s visa got held up because he had put Port Blair (the capital of the Andaman Islands) on his visa application. The Indian visa service had queried it because we hadn’t sent in all the supporting application forms required to visit Port Blair as you need special permits to go there (in addition to your visa)
Waters are beautiful around the Andaman Islands
We had read a couple of reviews on the internet about it and although it was still a bit sketchy, it appears you can get the permits when you land. However knowing how India and Asia works, it is fair to say we were not completely convinced.
So now we were heading straight for the islands, still with no special paperwork in hand, winging it as usual.
Well we landed and our fears were thankfully unjustified as we were waved over to the immigration desk - even given a chair! We filled in al the documents and we were through and at our hotel within half an hour of landing.
Port Blair is as we have said, the main city in the Andaman Islands and it is very, very clean for an Indian city. Anju - you may have a competitor for India’s cleanest city here! Port Blair is also where we will get the ferry from to the other more beautiful islands. It is on the largest of all the islands of which there are about 200.
Some islands still have very ancient tribes living on them which do not have any contact with the outside world and still living as they have done for 1000s years. We have heard stories about how some have never eaten salt so they have toxic skin, some will kill people who wander into their territory and most have never seen white people and you are definitely not allowed to talk to them or photograph them. We don’t know how much is true but they are the reason for all the extra permits required. There are many rules about where we can go when we are here and we can only go to 13 of the islands to stay, a further 10 islands can be visited during daylight only and 1 we can visit by boat but we are not allowed to get off the boat there
Cellular jail
Everything else is off limits to protect the tribes.
Our first day we wandered down to the harbour side which again for India, was very clean and neat and tidy. People were using litter bins (why can’t they do that everywhere???) and all the grass was cut and the hedges trimmed. Lovely.
The MAIN downside of this city?
No Wifi
None anywhere so far. Bryan is tearing his hair out!!
So this was just a one night stopover before getting the ferry to Neil Island this time around but we had to come back through the port of Blair in order to get back to Kolkata for the return journey.
Again just a one night stop over but we met a great French couple in Havelock and they were on the ferry back too. They recommended our second hotel. At £10 a night it was still a bit pricey and all we got was a room with a bed and a bathroom and AC. Nowhere near as cute as our Havelock room but still it was clean and Oliver and Christa we were very grateful for the tip. Thank you and we hope you made it home safely too.
We took time out to visit the cellular jail which is Port Blair's main tourist attraction. It was built by the British to house people who resisted British rule and plotted to remove them. It actually looks quite nice now but it wasn't like that when it was a jail for sure.
So off to Kolkata again now, then Thailand tomorrow.
See you there
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