Day 103 Wednesday 13 December, Gorakpur to Lucknow, India
After the experiences of hotel finding in Gorakpur we resolve to ring ahead and spend much of the drive to Lucknow trying various disconnected and unanswered numbers. However the drive is OK, the roads quite good, or will be as soon as the new dual carriage way they’re building along most of the route is complete. Parts of it are already being used if not complete, which is interesting as there are occasional missing bridges or trenches dug across it without any warning signs. However although the traffic isn’t particularly heavy and we make good progress the driving scene here is mad. There is no road sense, lane markings are used to show the dotted line you tear down, on dual carriage ways you can choose any lane, including those on the other side coming the other way, which makes it interesting when you pull out to pass a truck and come face to face with a tractor or even another truck. People wander across the road with no apparent interest in self preservation or any apparent idea what being hit at 100km/hr can do to ones marriage prospects or indeed to the front of a BMW. Headlights are used only on high beam and only when approaching another vehicle, mirrors are only for doing make up or as feeler gauges like cats whiskers.
Anyway unscathed we make it Lucknow by mid afternoon, but like Gorakpur we have no success finding a hotel, although we see plenty of the city whilst trying. Lucknow has about 2.5m people and is a bit nicer than the place we went to the previous day which we have all expunged from our memories. Finally one hotel manager suggests the Piccadilly which transpires is on the outskirts. By a prodigious feat of navigation thru the main market area and after being reprimanded by the local constabulary for going down a one way street the wrong way (they apparently do have some rules after all, although are lacking in signage) we find the Piccadilly, a brand new hotel with an extremely helpful manager. They are full but he finds us a suite which is ideal, ensures we are properly fed and I3 and I4 even have a swim. The contrast with the previous night couldn’t be more stark, it turns out to be a great hotel, very comfortable and swish, with a great Indian restaurant. It even has an LCD TV in the bathroom! Still there are people running around the lobby with submachine guns, apparently this is not uncommon in India although the chef tells us in the bar that Gorakpur’s hotels are all run by gangstas, hence the armed bodyguards.
Anyway unscathed we make it Lucknow by mid afternoon, but like Gorakpur we have no success finding a hotel, although we see plenty of the city whilst trying. Lucknow has about 2.5m people and is a bit nicer than the place we went to the previous day which we have all expunged from our memories. Finally one hotel manager suggests the Piccadilly which transpires is on the outskirts. By a prodigious feat of navigation thru the main market area and after being reprimanded by the local constabulary for going down a one way street the wrong way (they apparently do have some rules after all, although are lacking in signage) we find the Piccadilly, a brand new hotel with an extremely helpful manager. They are full but he finds us a suite which is ideal, ensures we are properly fed and I3 and I4 even have a swim. The contrast with the previous night couldn’t be more stark, it turns out to be a great hotel, very comfortable and swish, with a great Indian restaurant. It even has an LCD TV in the bathroom! Still there are people running around the lobby with submachine guns, apparently this is not uncommon in India although the chef tells us in the bar that Gorakpur’s hotels are all run by gangstas, hence the armed bodyguards.
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