I stayed for around 15 days in Tripura.
Checked in to Ginger hotel , after an arduous journey. Yes, arduous because I had spent the last night in Shillong ( Laitumkrah, more about Shillong & Cherrapunji later!) and came straight to Guwahati airport for the Agartala flight.
Ginger Agartala is the nearest hotel in the direction of city from the airport. Ginger hotels are famous, or should I say, infamous for the seriousness with which the "budget hotel" terminology is practiced.
Rooms are clean but you need to carry all your luggage, complete self service. Also, you need to give clear instructions to the staff about the way they treat laundry - I had holes in my cotton-wear made by the laundry people just for the sake of putting an identification tag!
Surprisingly, I found the city to have rectangular, artificial ponds at many places. One such pond is visible in the photo above. At the time of my visit, the water didn't stink but it was not a pretty sight either!
The markets are open till 9PM. I remember searching for soldering paste in the market at night & eventually finding it !
I spent around 3 days in the city & later moved to Teliamura, a village. If you are a strict vegetarian, then visits to interior Tripura are not recommended. The reason is that there are only 3 options for lunch - chicken-rice , meat-rice, fish-rice. A spoon may be arranged for you but all locals happily eat these 3 combinations with bare hands - it's fun to eat with bare hands, without any cutlery, sometimes!
Ok, don't ask where I stayed in Teliamura. I had to travel 43km back to Agartala for a proper bath.
But that was in 2012. Maybe conditions are better now!
Next was Udaipur. No I didn't travel all the way to Rajasthan. A certain Udaipur exists as a small town in Tripura also. Fortunately my hotel was slightly better than the lodge in Tilliamura and I had the pleasure of admiring village greenery & poultry.
There is also a temple which is revered by locals.
Further visits were to Santirbazaar & Kumarghat had a rural flavor as well, Kumarghat being the farthest from Agartala.
Rubber trees grow well in Santirbazaar and I got to see the process of extracting sap from the trees for the first time there. An average rubber farm here generates INR 40-50k monthly.
These were not consecutive trips. I went back to Agartala everytime before traveling to a new destination. Lastly, came the Kumarghat visit.
It so happened that after reaching Kumarghat I got a call from Ginger Agartala that I had not checked out ! . Also, I had no plans of staying further in Tripura. I just had to run from Kumarghat directly to Agartala airport to catch the Guwahati flight.
Thankfully, with the help of an able hotel manager, I was able to get out of this on the call itself & didn't have to stop at the hotel to make payments.
Also, Ginger provided cars for all the travel mentioned above.
Checked in to Ginger hotel , after an arduous journey. Yes, arduous because I had spent the last night in Shillong ( Laitumkrah, more about Shillong & Cherrapunji later!) and came straight to Guwahati airport for the Agartala flight.
Ginger Agartala is the nearest hotel in the direction of city from the airport. Ginger hotels are famous, or should I say, infamous for the seriousness with which the "budget hotel" terminology is practiced.
 |
| My room at Ginger Agartala |
Rooms are clean but you need to carry all your luggage, complete self service. Also, you need to give clear instructions to the staff about the way they treat laundry - I had holes in my cotton-wear made by the laundry people just for the sake of putting an identification tag!
 |
| View from my room at Ginger Agartala |
Surprisingly, I found the city to have rectangular, artificial ponds at many places. One such pond is visible in the photo above. At the time of my visit, the water didn't stink but it was not a pretty sight either!
The markets are open till 9PM. I remember searching for soldering paste in the market at night & eventually finding it !
I spent around 3 days in the city & later moved to Teliamura, a village. If you are a strict vegetarian, then visits to interior Tripura are not recommended. The reason is that there are only 3 options for lunch - chicken-rice , meat-rice, fish-rice. A spoon may be arranged for you but all locals happily eat these 3 combinations with bare hands - it's fun to eat with bare hands, without any cutlery, sometimes!
Ok, don't ask where I stayed in Teliamura. I had to travel 43km back to Agartala for a proper bath.
But that was in 2012. Maybe conditions are better now!
Next was Udaipur. No I didn't travel all the way to Rajasthan. A certain Udaipur exists as a small town in Tripura also. Fortunately my hotel was slightly better than the lodge in Tilliamura and I had the pleasure of admiring village greenery & poultry.
There is also a temple which is revered by locals.
Further visits were to Santirbazaar & Kumarghat had a rural flavor as well, Kumarghat being the farthest from Agartala.
Rubber trees grow well in Santirbazaar and I got to see the process of extracting sap from the trees for the first time there. An average rubber farm here generates INR 40-50k monthly.
 |
| Rubber being collected in a bowl at Santirbazaar |
These were not consecutive trips. I went back to Agartala everytime before traveling to a new destination. Lastly, came the Kumarghat visit.
It so happened that after reaching Kumarghat I got a call from Ginger Agartala that I had not checked out ! . Also, I had no plans of staying further in Tripura. I just had to run from Kumarghat directly to Agartala airport to catch the Guwahati flight.
Thankfully, with the help of an able hotel manager, I was able to get out of this on the call itself & didn't have to stop at the hotel to make payments.
Also, Ginger provided cars for all the travel mentioned above.
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