Blogs from West Bengal, India, Asia - page 72

I discovered this morning that the wall-to-wall curtains in my room don't conceal wall-to-wall windows but in fact hide a wall-to-wall wall, with just a small opaque window above the A/C unit to let in some light. After breakfast, I found the cheapest Internet so far in India (a mere Rs 15 per hour). First port of call for the day was the Victoria Memorial, a large and imposing structure in white marble, set in groomed grounds on the east side of the Maidan. It was built at the beginning of the last century to commemorate Queen Victoria's death. Inside, there is now a museum containing exhibits and information about the development of Calcutta as a city, as well as Bengali cultural highlights. Though the architecture of the building contains both European and Moghul influences, it ... read more

OK ....Varanasi was much better than expected...thank goodness....made two new friends ...a man from South Africa and a woman from Varanasi. Also, I have brought with me the affliction that the driver in Agra warned about .... although I stilll question as to how the varanasi-vengence would dare to come my way....in all my years of travel and eating everything anywhere this is the first time. I must confess I have gone the way of emodium only because of the prospect of continued long train rides and upperbunk reservations (not my choice). Who knew all the trains would be full, that it was winter vacation for the kids and that the man we hired to reserve our seats could do no better. He has prbably done very well just getting us on a train. A woman ... read more

Geo: 28.5713, 75.4743After our impromptu detour through the Moslem village in the Shekhawati desert, we continued our semi-planned itinerary and took the train to the "Blue City" of Jodhpur, so named because the color signified the residence of a Brahmin - a high ranking class in India's caste system. Founded in 1459 by Rao Jodha, Jodhpur grew rich by its proximity to the Silk Road where opium, dates, silk, etc. were taken by camel train westward from Central Asia to the Middle East and Europe. Our own journey ended at the Saji Sanwri guesthouse - a 250 year-old haveli which was buried in the a labyrinth of twisty one-camel-wide streets. Four stories tall with a rooftop garden that has a fabulous view of the the magnificent fort of Mehrangarh, one could feel the history of the ... read more

Am busy, busy, busy again... Staying about 35min walk from Sudder Street (where all tourists are). I am actually staying in the house where Mother Teresa stayed on her first visit to Calcutta. Just moved in there today (Thursday) as a girl from UK is going home tonight and she told me about it. It's much cheaper and it's with an Indian family which is cool. I have to walk through their sitting room to my room but it's great that I have use of that and the kitchen too. May as well live with them for a true experience! 2 French guys in same house. Anyway, up until now I have been experiencing the 'true' India which I couldn't enjoy the last time due to sweating constantly and always running for shade, aswell as working ... read more

Unfortunately it was too late to reserve a seat on today's Toy Train up to Darjeeling, so I was told the best thing to do would be to buy a second class ticket and then attempt to upgrade on the train. Since I didn't fancy the prospect of potentially having to spend the entire 6-9 hour journey jammed into second class, I decided to give it a miss and get a shared Jeep instead. The shared Jeeps wait around until they are completely full, which meant a 30 minute wait until we departed. This required cramming into the seats 4 foreigners, 2 burly Nepalis, 2 chubby Indians, and 2 people of the size that the Jeep was originally designed for. One of the Nepali guys, on seeing my discomfort in the seat I'd been allocated, generously ... read more