and then it got hot....


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April 9th 2009
Published: April 10th 2009
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so, we left the lovely nepal and headed for the literary and intellectual centre that is Kolkata. we found this to be an extremely friendly and easy city to spend time in. the food was amazing, we managed to eat plates of biryani and masala dosa (pancake with bean and chilli mixture) for 10rs (approx 20p) a plate, and enjoyed espresso cafe culture, even though it was 30 degrees.
from there we decided to take a tour of the Sunderbans tiger reserve which happens to be the largest mangrove forest in the world. it was a fascinating insight into one of the few places in the world that tigers seem to be thriving - 274 were known to be living there, and the numbers were rising. their existence however is very elusive due to the terrain, the park can only be entered by boat as it is mostly submerged by the rising and falling tide from the bay of Bengal. the tigers that live there have managed to adapt to this environment, they are able to drink brackish water, feed on crustations and are very strong swimmers. this is positive for the tigers, but has had an impact on the surrounding villages, mainly manifested in the large occurance of people being eaten. yes my friends, sunderbans is a reserve of MANEATERS, and no one really knows why. in the last year 28 people have been eaten. men who have entered the forest to collect honey, hunt and fish often wear masks on the backs of their heads as a tiger never attacks from the front, doesn't seem to stop 'em though, there are even stories of tigers jumping onto boats to attack men. they also enter the nearby villages, and one man we spoke to told us how a tiger entered his neighbours house and his wife ended up shutting it in the kitchen - pretty scary stuff.
needless to say, the bloody wily, adaptive tigers were too elusive for us and we didn't see them.

we travelled to chennai - a sweaty armpit of a city, where we met a lovely irish girl who turned slightly crazy when she got drunk, told me i was a witch who could heal people........eeeeeek.
didn't see her again. unfortunately.




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i call him the chicken mani call him the chicken man
i call him the chicken man

chickens on bicycle


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