Blogs from West Bengal, India, Asia - page 74

Hello All, This is my first entry in awhile, so there is a lot to tell. We have spent time in Kolkata, Bihar and are now relaxing in Puri. Kolkata... It is such a rich city with tons to see and experience. We are lucky because we have family there that we can spend time with and eat with. I have decided that a large part of this trip is going to be about the food. I love to shop, but I don't have unlimited amounts of space to lug stuff back. Don't get me wrong, there has been some shopping, but not nearly as much as I would like. We did some of the touristy things here like the Victoria Memorial, the Ghats, New Market, Chowringhee- but the real pleasure has been from the food ... read more

One final quick blog from me leaving india to say i've had an absolutly amazing and eye opening time, i think claire is going to fill you in on what we did maybe or if not i'll fill in in thailand. very quickly we went mumbai - watched cricket, had western pizza (comfort food), saw lots more dirt, chatted to not many travellers - get the feeling we are quite rare in doing what we've done as not many people seem to be that side of india orientated. tarin to calcutta - very long and full of multiple vegi currys for every meal. shared most of it with a nicve family with a very loud baby but it was ok. lots of fun card games and learning of gin rumi for claire. calcutta - so much ... read more

OK, this is the whole story in a nutshell. After some interesting cups of tea and lively conversation, "James" spent five hundred dollars on carpets said to be from Kashmir that, in other carpet makers opinion's, cost about six dollars each. That was the nutshell version. What follows now is the full version. AND ENDS UP THE CARPETS ARE FANTASTIC IN THE BEDROOM in the cottage, just like the old fellow predicted, and feel silky and soft to the toes and feet. So here goes the rest of the story. So we were in this hotel called "The Taj". All the hotels on the Carolyn Myss tour seemed to called the Taj. I had just had the worst meal of my life in India and I told the front desk so. Or maybe only think ... read more

Hey Everybody, Just sitting here at an internet store in Kolkata. It's super slow... The letters show up about a second after I type them. We took a bike rickshaw to come here. I feel like India wasn't fit for people my size ;-) The seat sure as hell wasn't big enough for 2 people. Who knows, maybe i'm just a lot fatter than I think I am. I'm also about a foot taller than anyone else i've seen here. We're staying with my aunt and uncle here. They seem to think that the only reason I'm here is to eat. They just keep feeding me sweets all day. If this keeps up, I might balloon up to 300 lbs by the time i get back. Of course, then I could wear a mumu... The traffic ... read more

One last tale from Mussoorie before we continue. David's love affair with the local monkey population came to an abrupt end days before leaving when one wayward monkey hurled a half eaten mango at him. Worse still was that he (David not the monkey) was wearing a sparkly new white shirt bought only the day before. At first David thought a man who had just thrown a banana skin on the road was the culprit but the man quickly pointed skyward and, laughing, just said "monkey". We believed him and walked off, with one of us covered in old manky mango pulp. So..onwards...to Calcutta Hardcore travelers that we are, we have just spent 7 days in a super luxurious room in one of India's finest hotels. Costing little more than a travel inn, the Oberoi Grand ... read more