Introduction
Long before the British muscled in and made India the jewel in the crown of their empire, Bengal was the jewel in India’s crown. At a crossroads on the Silk Route, immensely fertile and the home to still-unsurpassed weaving prowess, the province grew to be the richest the world had ever known.
Bengal's textiles, foodstuffs and commodities were highly coveted, its extraordinarily refined cuisines, fabled art, music, dance, literature and architecture exported and emulated throughout the region. Today, with Kolkata at its heart, what is now West Bengal is still the cultural and intellectual heart of India.
Assam, is at the heart of the Seven Sister States, a remote and still largely undeveloped area to the North and East of historical Bengal, and cut through by the mighty Brahmaputra River, It is a land known for its untouched raw beauty, swirling in mysterious and sometimes infamous tales of transgression, tantric magic, ritual and superstition.
It is at once an area rich in tribal traditions, with vast tracts of abundant wilderness and wildlife, one of the world’s storied tea growing lands, and home of the most exquisite textiles, including Muga, the incredibly rare Assamese gold silk.
It is through these two deeply contrasting cultures that our soil to soul journey takes us.
Nights 1-3 - Kolkata - multifaceted and multicultural hub
Our tour begins in Kolkata, based at the luxuriously refined Glenburn Penthouse, with a fabulous welcome dinner, worthy of the most glamorous Bollywood parties.
The next day, we start early to walk along the banks of Kolkata’s great artery, the Hooghly to .witness the city at its best time - as it comes alive. We delve through multicultural streets, pick our way through food markets and discover Bengal’s outrageously good sweets.
For lunch we have a "culinary happening" at one of the city's most iconic art cafés, then we spend the afternoon exploring the history to the present day of Bengal's fabled textiles. After a bit of well earned R&R, we dine at an art dealer friend’s heritage apartment and get an understanding of how the fabled Bengali Renaissance has evolved into today’s vibrant art scene.
Bengalis are total foodies and our next day is given over to exploring several of the city's best known genres. We start shopping for ingredients with longtime resident and Glenburn Penthouse chef, Shaun Kenworthy, at his local market, returning to his home to learn hands on three classic take-home recipes..
After a lunch showcasing Chinese food, probably the city's favourite imported cuisines, we work up a bit of an appetite with a guided walk, piecing together stories of some of the key figures and events in the city's tumultuous past.
We return to our penthouse for highballs, before heading out to mid century retro Anglo-Indian dinner at the perennially groovy Mocambo Restaurant.
Stay - Glenburn Penthouse
Nights 4-5 - Shantiniketan - cultural lodestone
Perhaps more than anywhere else on the subcontinent, Shantiniketan is an icon of India’s intellectual zeitgeist. Originally built as a non denominational Ashram by Debendranath Tagore, father of Nobel laureate and cultural giant Rabindranath Tagore, its World University, created in 1921, is a beacon of pan-Asian modernity, drawing on ancient, medieval and folk traditions from across the region.
If anything, the creative ferment is even greater now than when it was created. It seems that for anything truly ground breaking in India somehow the trail always leads back to Shanitniketan. Our time here, though short, is profound, and mostly spent doing what the locals do : eating local delicacies, discussing social issues, creating music, poetry, craft, going to parties, helping out. It's less of a place to visit, more of a place to absorb.
Shantiniketan is not a mainstream tourist destination, and so accommodation tends to be homespun and quaint, as befits the town's vibe.
Stay - Mitali Homestay
Nights 6-7 - Bari Kothi - heritage culinary palace
The following day we drive to Azimganj and Mushidabad, the old Mogul capital of the province whose economy alone in the 18th century accounted for over five percent of the world’s GDP. We stay on the banks of the Ganges, as the guests of brother and sister team Darshan & Lipika Dudhoria, pioneers of heritage tourism in Bengal, at their ancestral home, Bari Kothi Palace.
Our focus here is one of languid but theatrical splendour, a pleasing contrast to the frenetic city life we have been living. It is also hands on, as we take a journey from the fertile fields to the magnificence of the region’s very particular Sheherwali cuisine, with cooking classes, local handicraft making, farm and temple visits, a bit of yoga, a cruise on the river. Just the sort of things you do when you are a guest at a palace.
Stay - Bari Kothi Palace
Nights 8-9 - Balakhana - bucolic idyll
No real understanding of India is possible without staying at somebody's house, and the magnificent Balakhana House or Neelkuthi (from its origins as an indigo plantation) fits the bill perfectly. Still owned by the prominent land-owning Palchoudhuri family of Maheshganj it is now a homestay with classic Bengali home cooking, picnics, billiards and the regaling of fascinating tales of yore. We will keep our cultural and craft eye in with a visit to some of Bengal's magnificent terracotta temples and to one of the great modern advocates and designers of muslin.
Stay - Balakhana House
Night 10 - Travel day to Guwahati, Assam
Today we drive back to Kolkata airport for our flight up to Guwahati, the capital of Assam, and transfer to our hotel. Our evening will be spent with a traditional welcome, dinner and introduction to the region.
Stay - Vivanta Taj or Radisson Blu
Day and Night 11 - Textiles and Tantra
We explore the village of Sualkuchi for an in-depth look at the sericulture industry, from farming silk worms to the production of the finest textiles; we venture into the heart of the Tantric Kamakhya Temple Complex, and meet hereditary priest and Tantric scholar, Rajib Sarma whose work on reducing agricultural vulnerability through the promotion of heirloom and landrace crop varieties is particularly pertinent to our journey ; and we have an especially curated dinner from Assam's top chef, Atul Lahkar.
Stay - Vivanta Taj or Radisson Blu
Nights 12-13 - Postcard Tea Gardens
Today, we drive up the Brahmaputra valley, stopping in at eco warrior and agro-tourism guru, Samir Bordaloi's food forest headquarters to find out how he trains his green commandos. We then transfer to the Durrung Tea Estate where we stay at the newly opened luxury boutique brand, Postcard Hotels' first foray into the North East. Our two days here provide a deep immersion into the world of tea, from its cultivation through to its dégustation.
As the most drunk of any beverage in the world, tea -or chai - is a voyage into a fascinating cultural and culinary story. Aside from a visit to a Buddhist nunnery and a local Mishing tribal village - as you do - our time will be spent visiting the tea gardens, concocting tea based cocktails and having tea themed meals. Some of it will be hands on, some of it will be just relentlessly relaxing, a journey back in time.
Stay - Postcard Durrang
Days 14-15 - Wilderness
This morning we go down to the river, board a country boat and spend a few hours picnicking and looking for Gangetic dolphins on the surreally empty expanse of the Brahmaputra.
Our journey continues back in time to a world before human cultivation as we enter the UNESCO World Heritage Kaziranga National Park, one of the subcontinent’s major wildlife centres, a bird paradise and home to the world’s largest populations of the great Indian one-horned rhinoceros.
We stay at the delightfully serene and rustic chic hideaway, Diphlu Lodge, go on safari, understand conservation, foraging, rewilding and land use, sample some very rustic local dishes and drinks, and enjoy chef Gotam's enthusiastic embrace of tribal cuisines. Our Soil to Soul journey has returned to the earth.
Stay - Diphlu Lodge
Night 16 - Return to the City
On day 15, we fly out of the local Jorhat airport back to Kolkata. You will have the use of a car and be able to spend the afternoon shopping, visiting or just preparing in the spa for a final gala dinner and night at Glenburn Penthouse.
Stay- Glenburn Penthouse
16 Nights + 16 days of all inclusive immersive luxury travel
10th November - 26th November 2024
1st February - 17th February 2025
Cost - £9,850 per person in double/twin room
Single supplement £1,550
Tours include virtually everything - food, transport, alcoholic drinks (in group contexts), entrance fees, entertainment, guides, and the finest accommodation available in each destination.
Not included are flights to and from starting/finishing destination, raids on the mini-bar, pressies for those back home, personal items and gratuities.
All you have to do is get to the start rendez-vous and let your journey begin. We do the rest.
The itinerary overviews on this website are for general reference. The tourist scene, especially at some of the more out of the way places we visit, is evolving fast.
Dave's Tours reserves the right to modify its itineraries at any time, but this will only be done to improve guests' experiences and comfort. A certain unpredictability is also part of the fun!
Tours are subject to government guidelines and restrictions.
A reasonable level of fitness is required. Regrettably this tour is not suitable for wheelchair users.
Comprehensive travel and medical insurance is not included but is required for booking.
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