My Second Trip to Digha

Journey Date - 04 07 2015 – A Saturday

To get energized from the daily office-home-office life we set a trip to Digha. This was my second trip to Digha and this time it was with my colleagues. We booked Tamralipta Exp from Howrah to reach Digha, we wanted to enjoy the beautiful cloudy weather in the month of July but we were unlucky to get some hot and humid days during our trip.

Saturday crowd deboarded from the train 

In the morning we packed bread-butter toast with double egg omelettes or omelets for our breakfast (a preparation from beaten eggs), we could easily get these food items from the outside vendors in Howrah station complex preparing morning breakfasts, it was cheap, healthy and quick. This did save us from preparing fresh breakfast in the dawn. Cost was Rs 25 per breakfast.

Spacious and neat & clean Digha Rail Station

In the train you will also get lemon tea, normal milk tea, Bengal Grams (mixed with oil, onions, masala and cucumber), Ghugni (a preparation of Grams with gravy topped with onions, chilies, masala and a bit of tamarind sauce), masala puffed rice(Jhalmuri) and masala cucumber. My suggestion will be to not to take any of these as it may upset your stomach, though they are having mouthwatering taste yet they are unhygienically prepared. You will also get cold drink 600 ml pet bottles, chow and bread toast from IRCTC staffs but are not that tasty and illogically priced.

On arriving Digha we had to hurry for the reservation as we had planned to come back on Sunday, while doing this we learned that the new Tatkal system for reserving general seats starts at 11 am and closes down by 11:30 am. Another story is you cannot just make a first come first serve basis line, you have to get a serial number from the station master and in that order chance will be given. While doing bookings do not forget to attach a xeroxed copy of an identity proof with the reservation slip, it has to be of someone whose name is in that booking slip.  I do not know whether this is a system for all the trains / all the stations or particularly for Digha next day Tatkal bookings. Unlucky we were and we could not get confirmed tickets.

This time we saw that no van/rickshawas/cars/jeeps were allowed inside the station complex and this was a very good step by the authority, outside there were plenty of cars, motor driven vans and cycle vans. As we booked hotel Sea Hawk which was in Old Digha we had to book a mini jeep, the Mahindra Gio took Rs 15 per head.

The location of the hotel Sea Hawk is very near to Old Digha main sea beach, just crossing the area from where a road goes to the main beach area and where the bazar is located you will find the main road has taken a left turn and as you are turning left there is a road on the right which will lead you to the hotel.

Sea Hawk has a good parking space where lots of cars can be parked, a family hotel and an old property, the hotel has 3 offices in Kolkata through which bookings can be done and there is no online facility to book the hotel. 3 locations are Kalindi Housing bus stop, Russel Street and Old Court House Street / Dalhousie area in Kolkata. The booking procedure is very old fashioned in nature, only one personnel has been appointed in each of these 3 offices and they take the phone calls as well as do the bookings, this activity delays the booking procedure.

They will take the entire amount with taxes and this bill needs to be shown at the time of checking in. We booked a 7 seater dormitory Non AC which was priced at Rs 1950. By Digha’s and the hotel’s standards the room was highly overpriced. The hotel staffs are rude and they care a fig for the customers’ requests. While checking in we asked the name of the personnel who was looking after our check-in formalities and we were answered that service is more important and name is not.

The hotel has just 4 rooms (2 rooms on the second floor and 2 rooms on the 1^st floor)  which are actually sea facing and other rooms are not directly sea facing though the hotel claims it to be so and charges high rates from the patrons. The room was okay for accommodating 7 heads but the bed capacity is actually for 6 people, on asking their answer was that one needs to adjust on a sofa that is placed in the room. The room was badly lit with some CFL connections, small fans were there but please do not select the room in the warm seasons as it was tremendously stuffy. There were two bathrooms. The room had a small TV which is better if you don’t put it on as you will be highly irritated seeing its condition. There is a balcony with railings where you can give your clothes to dry, the room is not all taken care of and the chairs in the room were shabby looking, there was a table on which you can keep your belongings, bed linens were dirty and the cushioning of the bed was not okay. There is only one charging point and for two one needs to unplug the TV connection.  Only one window so you will have to huff and puff for air. The bathrooms are fitted with commode in one and Indian system lavatory system in the other, both the bathrooms have a basin and a shower and a tap, water will gush out of the taps but basins are not clean and so the water. There is a mirror in the room which is stained and a small wardrobe.

On the first day just after coming to the room we were hungry and we went to the restaurant to have our lunch, we ordered pulses, rice, rotis(chapatis), chicken bharta, mutton curry and chicken kasa. Each and every dish was substandard and I got awe struck seeing the food standard of the hotel and I also got wondered seeing that the hotel receives good number of requests for room food delivery, the hotel just robs patrons providing bad quality food as there are no nearby hotels for lunch and dinner. For lunch report to the restaurant before2: 30 pm as it closes down after that time. Post lunch we went to the sea beach to take the bath and we got a pleasant weather as the sky got suddenly overcast and it rained, taking bath while raining added a difference experience altogether. There is an open shower in the hotel and all who bath in the sea are supposed to take a bath for cleaning up after coming to hotel from beach.

The Sea Hawk hotel also claims that they have their own beach and this is a serious wrong information, actually the concretized beach road which starts from New Digha extends to and ends in an area which is just outside the perimeter of Sea Hawk hotel campus, there is a back gate of the hotel exiting through which will give you direct access to that beach road, it is not allowed to take bath in the beach area which is right in front of the hotel.

The hotel has also got 2 cottages out of which only one cottage is worth booking, this is in the lawn of the hotel and directly faces the sea, but the cottage which is positioned near the main building is a complete wastage of money if booked.

One development in Digha is a wonderful park is under construction and there are some royal chairs that have been placed in the park from where you can sit, relax and enjoy the sea, sunny days will create problems as there is no shade but cloudy season is really romantic, this park is in Old Digha and very near to Sea Hawk hotel, within walking distance, there is also a watch tower which has been erected and the 3^rd floor of the tower is at a good height from the ground and you can take a wonderful 360 degree view of Digha, how this park will get maintained is something only time will tell us.

The watch tower

Taken from the watch tower, located in the park (upcoming) in Old Digha

Royal Seating Arrangement inside the upcoming park in Old Digha

There is a beach area on the left hand side of Sea Hawk hotel, you need to exit through the back gate and then move towards the left side, the concretized road will cease and lead you to a beach which is open and very wide, perfect for playing football and other games, and during low tides one can go much deep into the sea as the water level here becomes very less, here is the place from where you can see Shankarpur resort, no need to have binoculars, also white waves in the distance on the Shankarpur beach.

Commutation from Sea Hawk hotel to Digha main market will cost Rs 10 per head. In the evening we went to the Digha local market for buying fresh fish, it is best if you buy fish from the market and make them fry from some local shop. In the market you will always get fresh fish, on Saturdays and Sundays they are priced high as the shop owners know the demand will peak, so bargain and get at right price,  we bought Prawns at Rs 300 a kilo, Pomfret fish- a note on buying Pomfret from Digha market, don’t get fooled by seeing super sized Pomfrets as they may not be original Pomfrets and Chinese ones, we did the same mistake by buying Chinese Pomfrets but one thing I should admit is that taste wise you can hardly find any difference. Pomfrets were Rs 550 a kilo. We also bought Hilsa, try to identify fresh ones and we selected a fish which was Rs 700 a kilo. We wanted to fry them and so we bought 1 kilo mustard oil and gave it to a hotel very near to Sea Hawk for frying, we did this as we wanted our fish to be fried with fresh oil. It enhances the taste as well as a healthier option.

The Silver Queen- Hilsa

Pomfrets

Prawns fresh from the Sea

In the night time when we returned to hotel we ordered food at 8pm and then ultimately the food got delivered from the hotel restaurant at 10:30 pm, so this is how they serve their customers, there are phone numbers or intercoms to connect to restaurants and reception but no one was there to take the call or provide the service. The hotel has got a large campus which is the only plus point that I noticed and there is a lawn cum park for children to play, there is a small temple inside the park. There are seats where you can relax.

Post dinner it was 11:30 pm and we wanted to take the night experience of the beach, we all left our mobile phones and money bags at the hotel as beach area at night is not all safe, you can feel the strong breeze standing on the elevated boundary that has been constructed along the concretized road, you can also feel the raw earth, the beauty of the dark earth, its something which is beyond description and an indescribable beauty, if it’s a moonlit night then you can feel how romantic it becomes or if its a cloudy night then you can feel and see the sparks of lightning ripping the sky and falling at the end of the horizon, it something which is superb and enigmatic. Chairs placed in the park being constructed will give you a different fun but remember not to be on those chairs for a long time as the chairs are made up of iron and it can catch the lightning strikes, also don’t be outside in a night where thunderstorms are there as it can be disastrous.

Night time experience was horrible in that room and in the evening we got to know that there is a hotel in the name of Artland just beside Sea Hawk which has 3 bedded AC rooms at just Rs 1000 a night. There is another hotel which gives beautiful sea viewing experience in the same locality where Sea Hawk is located, the name of the hotel is and it has got many rooms facing the sea and the garden under construction and each room is fitted with a separate balcony which is just amazing, this is a much better choice than selecting Sea Hawk.

Sunday 05^th July- We woke up from bed and for breakfast we went to the makeshift shops just outside the back gate of the hotel, we ordered bread butter toast with egg preparations and we really enjoyed the food as it was an experience of having food sitting on the benches placed on the boulders from where we could see the morning sea and fishermen catching fish and also feel the cool breeze.

After breakfast we left the hotel to catch the bus that we booked on the previous day, we chose bus as we could not get train reservation the previous day, our bus was at 8:15 am and that was an AC bus by Jackson Travels which charged just Rs 200 per head, interestingly the same bus service charges Rs 350 for journeys made after 9:00 am. The bus was good with push back seats but unlike Volvo here once if you recline your seat the passenger seated at the back will be uncomfortable or that passenger also needs to recline his seat. Seats are well cushioned but the arrangement is 3 on the left hand and 2 on the right hand and taking the full capacity into consideration , you will feel a bit stuffy, the AC was okay and did not fail and could keep the temperature in control. No emergency exit, and narrow passage but has luggage spaces on the roof as well as inside the body where passengers can keep large bags and luggage. Seating will be a bit uncomfortable in the seats as the space is not that sufficient.

Digha – Kolkata route is notorious for bus accidents and we were a bit scared as this bus too sped heavily and till the time the single road continued we could not sleep , there is a point from where the road becomes one way and then the journey becomes smooth, like every bus it gave a halt at Kolaghat for 15 mins and the bus did not stop at that famous dhaba but at some other location near to that dhaba, here you can buy snacks and tiffin or you can have lunch, there is a problem with the route of these buses and it is that these buses will take the Howrah town route and so it covers Howrah town which remains jampacked and due to narrow roads it takes much longer time or say 30 mins extra in reaching Esplanade than other buses. But, I would say that at Rs 200 it was a very good deal. We reached Esplanade at 1pm and thus our short trip to Digha ended on a sweet note.

Trip to Digha

This is not a Digha guide but I have shared how I made the tour, I went there to set myself free for some days and I toured to places of my interest and which suited my budget, so there are many spots in Digha which I skipped inspite of knowing them. You will get a fair idea about a tour to Digha, so start reading and enjoy the story. 

Right Side Of Old Digha Sea Beach

 Year 2014, month of November, we planned a short trip to Digha, ticket and hotel availability not being a problem we could easily get our bookings confirmed both in the hotel and the train. We booked our train tickets online through the IRCTC portal and one ticket cost was Rs 100 (including the reservation and the superfast charges) add to this the service and the payment gateway charges. It was a two day tour and we boarded the 12857 Howrah Digha Tamralipta Exp. The train covers 190 kms approx to reach Digha station (named as Digha Flag station). The train journey started at 06:40 am and the train reached Digha at 10:20 am (instead of its scheduled arrival time at 10:00 am), the train does not run that fast and completes the journey in 3.5 hrs.

Old Digha Sea Beach

A Friday--We got down at Digha station, we walked up to the exit/entry point of the station and we saw many van-rickshaws and rickshaws standing to ferry passengers to the hotels. As there are scores of hotels in Digha so you can also ask the van-rickshaw/rickshaw peddlers to find a hotel for you, or after reaching Old or New Digha you can also find hotels according to your own budget this goes well if you visit Digha without booking a hotel. But on Saturdays and Sundays Digha becomes a much crowded place and hotel finding on the day itself might prove a difficult stuff. Digha station is more or less equidistant from both Old/New Digha, but it is more close to New Digha. We got an Alto car which took us to the hotel and the driver charged Rs 50 for the 5-7 minutes drive. We reached our hotel in New Digha around 11 am.

Udaipur Sea Beach

 Around 1pm we went out to see the beach (New Digha) and we were happy to find that the beach was a 2 minutes walk from the hotel. The beach was full of tourists and everyone was enjoying the beautiful weather of November and the waves, on the way to the beach you will find many shops, one shop was selling mouth-watering chutney of wood apple (Kodbel:Bengali), you will find option to ride a horse on the beach, and a series of shops along the concretized path that runs from New Digha beach to Old Digha beach. If you want to walk and enjoy the sea its better to walk along the concretized path that will take you to Old Digha rather than following the beach to reach Old Digha as at times there are some danger zones (water or rocky surfaces) otherwise take a rickshaw/vanrickshaw/bus/car to reach Old Digha from New Digha by the main road.

Fried Fish Shop at New Digha Sea Beach

Fried Fish at a Stall in New Digha

 While coming back to the hotel from the beach you can discover plenty of food stalls, the owner of each shop will yell at the highest level to get your patronage. But, here finding the right one is just a luck on the first visit to Digha and a matter of memory on the subsequent ones. We found one such where we got our lunch at a very reasonable rate and it was a place where the food was tasty. We had veg thalis where each thali was priced at Rs 60 and it had a dal item, aloo-fry/bhaja, rice and 2 veg dishes. The quantity was sufficient to satisfy our hunger pangs. Post lunch we came back to the hotel and took a nap.

Crabs from Sea to be Fried at a Store In Udaipur Sea Beach

 In the evening time we toured the local New Digha market which sells a variety of things, specially articles made up of shells and wood. There are many shops from where you can buy small sculptors, wooden and glass made toys, bags & hats and articles for home decoration. Ear-rings and hair clips & barrettes are widely available. Talking about food items - there are some really good dry food items that are worth buying and you can bring them back to your hometown as these items can be preserved for several days, items include varieties of 'gojas' and chikkies (gur badam in Bengali).

Chandaneshwar Temple in Orissa

 Another special attraction in Digha is fried fish and crabs. In the evening and in the night time you will get to see local sellers to set shops where fried fish and crab pieces are being served. In the beaches the crowd starts to become thicker after 5.30pm and again it gradually disappears after 7.30pm. During this period these sellers do brisk business, the beach of the Old Digha stays more crowded in the night time as there are a number of eateries which serve varieties of food items. My suggestion will be to not to try these fried fishes as most of the fishes are sea fishes and crabs and they will not suit your normal stomach operation moreover the fishes are stale and of very old stock in most of the times. So, right from the pan it may seem tasty and delicious but after that chances are very high that you will be down with your stomach problems.

Talsari Beach

 At night we had chapatis and tarka daal from the shop where we did our lunch, the tarka taste was excellent and was in much demand. Everything was priced reasonably. Post dinner we came back to our hotel before peeping the New Digha sea beach for 5 minutes just to get the glimpse of sea at night time. The beach at this time ( 9.30pm) is dead with no one on the shore so better if you see it from the concrete pavement and do not dare to go to the sea, even if you are with your friends and families.

Sea Waves at Old Digha Sea Beach

 After a superb sleep we started the next day--A Saturday-

On Saturday we went to Old Digha after having our breakfast and we went to the beach of Old Digha where we saw some chairs placed on the beach, now these chairs belonged to a shop which was selling coconut water, a seat and enjoyment is only guaranteed if you have a coconut from the shop, the coconuts are overpriced, the premium is obvious given that under the sun and on the beach you are getting the taste of coconut. One thing we noticed that the crowd in this beach was more enthusiastic in nature and many people were taking the sea bath, one precaution is that don’t mess with the waves in this beach as they are wilder than the waves that we saw in New Digha sea beach. Old Digha does also have a newly built concretized beach which is an added attraction.

Udaipur Sea Beach

 Old Digha is also having some bars, a number of restaurants and several food stalls. A full-fledged bazaar or market we could discover from where you can buy phone recharges and other important stuffs. There are three ATMs (SBI, Axis & HDFC) which come very handy as there are many shops which will not take cards in Digha. There is a bus terminus in Old Digha which is very near to the sea beach; you will find several shops selling the afternoon food, so food is not at all a problem here.

Toys at a Stall in New Digha Market

Hats at a Stall in New Digha Market

 In the afternoon we came back to New Digha following the main road and taking a van rickshaw which took Rs 10 per head. The road that directly connects the main road with the New Digha beach touching the bazaar has got many food outlets that sell meals and each and every shop started shouting at the highest pitch to get the customer. One suggestion here will be to not to take the fish/mutton/chicken/crab thalis as the quantity and quality is highly compromised. We took a veg thali which was overpriced and tasted too ordinary. You can have good food from some selected restaurants of some hotels or some selected road side shops.

After lunch we came to our hotel and took a quick nap to set out for Digha sightseeing and we hired the same Alto car that dropped us to the hotel from the railway station on the first day, the driver was an Oriya and very well mannered. At first we crossed the Bengal border, before crossing the Bengal border there is an area where you can see plenty of cashew trees, here you can get down from the car and have a visit. Just after crossing the Orissa border we stopped by a temple of Shiva where photography is strictly prohibited and I still do not know as to why it does not have a mention anywhere on net but it is an ancient structure which is worth a visit. Then we went to Chandaneswar temple, here one needs to keep one’s shoes outside the temple and enter the temple campus which is having a large area. Beware of touts as they will try to convince you hard to pay a cash offering citing foolish reasons. You can offer puja here but to me the temple is very simple in its structural foundation but heard that it is very popular and famous to devotees. For car parking the authority will charge you Rs 10.

Sun Rays on Sea at Old Digha Sea Beach

 After visiting the temple we went to see the Talsari beach which is located in the Orissa state, from the beach you can have a view of the numerous palm trees lined along the beach which is a beautiful sight, remember that here you will be charged for parking your car which is again a nominal Rs 10. The car is parked in front of a concrete structure where you can stand and take the view of the entire stretch of the beach, no need to get on the beach as it is a bit difficult work, there will be bikers who against some charges will take you to places where one can find red crabs and a meeting point of two rivers, also they will take you to a place where fishermen practise fishing. But we did not try any of these owing to many reasons like safety, biking on the extreme points of the beach and the day was waning.

After Talsari we came to Udaipur beach, to me it is the most beautiful beach of all the beaches that I had paid a visit. Udaipur beach is also famous as many film shootings have also been done here, the place is serene and you will have a good sight of the sea, with an area where you will see palm trees to line up beautifully along the beach, one more attraction is the empty boats which are parked on the shore which aids in taking some really beautiful snaps and profile pictures for social sites. One can find some shops on the way to beach and shops selling fried crabs and fishes.

We completed our part of sightseeing around 6pm and then we relaxed in the New Digha beach, post relaxation we bought some articles for giving to our near and dear ones and did dinner from the shop where we frequented each time we thought of lunch and dinner.

After dinner we came back to the hotel and took a good night’s sleep, the next morning was all about packing up bags to get ready for coming back to Kolkata, at 9:30 am we left the hotel, here’s a small tip- never ask the hotel authority to call a car as in our time it charged Rs 250 for that 5 minutes’ drive to the railway station, take a van rickshaw which is easily available on road and it will charge you not more than Rs 50.

Next day was a Sunday and our train was at 10:35 am –this is the same Tamralipta Exp that comes from Kolkata, takes rest for 30 mins and again starts the return journey.

And, thus we ended a beautiful trip to Digha, I really enjoyed the trip

We booked Hotel Rajeet in New Digha which is located very near to the sea beach

Hotel Rajeet near New Digha Sea Beach

 About Hotel Rajeet

We booked the hotel on 28th November 14 and exited on 30th November 14. The moment we reached the hotel all the hotel staffs near the reception area greeted us and the formalities were quickly completed. The security staffs were very cooperative and they took all the luggage from the car and took it to the allotted room.

Room Condition
We booked a Non A/C Standard room. I must mention that the room was well lit and spacious and it was very clean.

Amenities in the room
The room had good storage shelves, a large mirror, a hard plastic made tea table, 2 hard plastic made chairs and there was 1 pair of drinking water glasses, one ashtray and one electronic liquid mosquito repellant. In this room you will have 2 charging points, one worked but the other did not and we had to disconnect the repellant to charge the phone. Yes, there were no mosquitoes. The bed was large and two can very comfortably and three can comfortably fit in. We were 3 and one extra pillow and one extra mattress got provided. The hotel charged extra Rs 200 for accommodating 3 members in a room for 2. You will also get a copy of a daily newspaper delivered right at your doorstep free of cost.  (mostly available newspapers are TOI, Telegraph or ABP)

Bathroom
The bathroom was also good and with a washbasin, commode, a shower and a tap. Water and electric were available 24/7 and the hotel had a generator back-up for all the connections and the management was quick in starting its operation as we experienced 2 power cuts. The water flow in the washbasin tap and the normal bathroom tap was fine but the flow in shower was a bit improper. The bathroom had one shampoo sachet and one small soap.

Cleaning
The room was cleaned the next day as a part of daily cleaning formalities and it was broomed and water mopped, also the bed sheet was changed and the bathroom was also cleaned properly the next day.

Food
We ordered Chicken Hot and Sour soup and the preparation was so so. Restaurant charges a bit to the north. A good part is that all the rooms come with a complimentary breakfast and tea/coffee, we had 3 options and tasted both the 3. We had aloo paratha, bread-sugar-butter, puri, potato-curry, and you will be given a choice of egg, we had omelettes. The breakfast was good in taste and filling and the egg preparation was also very good. To get the complimentary breakfast you need to call the restaurant boys over phone and ask to get the breakfast delivered, the call should be done before 10am and after 7 am.

Complimentary Breakfast at Hotel Rajeet, New Digha

 From none of its balcony you can view beach but beach is very near to this hotel and it is a 2 minute walk.

I would strongly recommend this hotel for couples and families. I have given a detailed description as I was highly satisfied and found it value for money. In short it is clean and a statement in itself.

Room Tip: Even the non AC Standard rooms are very good but no rooms in the hotel will offer you a beach view. 

Other attractions that I did not cover as I did not pay a visit to these places like, Junput-Mandarmoni-Tajpur-Shankarpur-Marine aquarium-Park-Science Centre-you can visit these places too.

If you visit all, you have to hurry through the 2-3 day tour, I do not term this as a holiday but an exercise and 3 days are more than sufficient in Digha and you will feel bore after viewing so many number of beaches, one just slightly different from the other.