Blogs from West Bengal, India, Asia

We've been in India two weeks and already had our fair share of ups and downs. It started on a big high when we arrived in Kolkata late in the afternoon and headed directly to the famous Eden Gardens to attempt to buy tickets for the soldout IPL game that evening. It appears scalping tickets is definately illegal, so it took us about an hour to do our first dodgy transaction in India. Tickets secured we got into Eden Gardens to see the game between Kolkata and Pune. Pune's captain was local Kolkata hero Sourav Ganguly, so the crowd was deeply divided. How anyone can like the extremely arrogant Ganguly is beyond me (Tom clearly talking here), so we were certainly cheering for the home team, who got home in a tight finish. Our second day ... read more

BANGKOK-KOLKATA-VARANASI-KHAJURAHO Well its visa-run-time again. This together with Songkran celebrations coming up in Chiang Mai and a cheap Air Asia promotion to Kolkata, (Callcutta to us old-timers) bekoned a short jaunt to India. Air Asia can offer cheap flights but then they nickel and dimes you with the extras (like check-in baggage / water). I brought only the allowable 7 kg carry-on and a laptop. The first time I went to India was on my way home from a year round-the-world sabattical in 1980. "Sabbatical" is a much better way of saying, "after a year of goofing off". And that time I also used Kolkata as a gateway to India. I've been there a few times since, the last time was in 2004 (pre-Travel Blog) when I made a trip to visit Bangladesh... read more

The rickshaw traveled around 1,600 km across three different Indian states to get to Calcutta (or Kolkota) on April 19. The traffic in Calcutta reminded us of why we were avoiding big cities, and was as bad as what we had experienced in Bangalore and Hyderabad. After having driven through almost 3,000 km through tough roads, cities and terrain, our rickshaw was not in the state to continue for the final 3 days that would ensure we reached Bombay in time for our flight to Australia. While we regretted stopping a little short of our target, we were glad that we were able to participate and experience the mayhem of Indian roads including both surprising acts of kindess and support from strangers as well as the craziness of people behind the wheel. Also, thanks to support ... read more

After too short of a stay in Kalimpong, we are on to Lava and Kolakham. We hire a jeep to take us there. Any vehicle could make it from Kalimpong to Lava, but the road from Lava to Kolakham is very steep & rough. It is worth it! We are staying in one of 2 guest houses in town. Kolakham is a small village on the edge of the Neora Valley National Park. We arrive just before a storm blows in. The power is out at our Guest House due to the storm. We take this as a clue that we should rest up, from the extremely unnatural act of flying half way around the world. One of the few cash paying jobs in this village is cooking for the guest house. People take turns & ... read more

I'm sorry to all readers for how long it's been since I've made a blog. First my internet ran out because it was the end of the month, then when I tried to recharge the modem I had another difficulty. It should be working now but I'm in Darjeelign now so I'm just using an internet cafe' which I pay 50 cents for 1 hours use. Where to start ... I have already visited the other teachers' placements in Ghum, Darjeeling and Takdah which are all amazing in their own ways. The six girls in Takdah, placed at 2 schools and a buddhist college seem to be enjoying themselves so much which was so great to see when I visited. Takdah is a beautiful place surrounded by Pine forest and tea plantations. The School and buddhist ... read more