Indians staring....a national sport

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10/17/09 Day 3 in Kolkata, India (Get me out of here)

Ok ok ok.... I am trying to be calm and cosmic and all that jazz but honestly get me the hell out of this city.

So we did it, it cost us a bit of money 900 rupees ( $18 ) to book a sleeper train to the small town of Puri South of Kolkata along the coast.

We spent the day in Kolkata by avoiding Kolkata... eating.... internet.... eating.... train station!

We were first class AC sleep compartment so basically its the best but lets just say its still India. You get to a point where you curse your bag for being so heavy and you've sweat all day making it wherever you've gone that you actually find trains a bit of a haven. We slept like babies even with the frequent stops of the train and the constant shouts of Chai! Coffee! at every station.

Twelve hours later we arrived at 7am in sunny Puri. We were whisked away in an auto rickshaw and found a little guest house close to the beach. We had breakfast a the Pink House (a great restaurant near the ocean) with a few other travelers we met and then enjoyed a nice cold bucket shower and a nap.

Puri is great...150,000 or so people is the most welcomed place at this point and there is the ocean! Not to mention bhang is legal here - hey I'm just mentioning....

We walked to the Jagannath Mandir temple for the Diwali celebration. With children setting off fireworks of all kinds (especially the ones that sound like a bomb just went off) we pretty much jumping out of our skin every 4 minutes or so. There was a mass of people for the celebration so we didn't make it all the way to the temple but we got to see an interesting celebration of music and torches.

I gotta say I love the cows...being that they are considered "Holy" in the Hindu religion they pretty much go wherever they damn well please here. In this particular setting they just plop somewhere among the masses of people and loud noises and it doesn't seem to faze them a bit - very impressive.

We made it back to our top floor room with a view of fireworks and the ocean and were glad we hadn't seen any street kids lose their limbs 😊 Puri is wonderful and its so relaxing to be here

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Comments

[Julie]

super fun
Lauren - sounds like you are having a super time - thanks for sharing with us! Love and miss you bunches.

[Dustin]

I want to be there with you. I should be studying right now, but reading this is far more interesting.

[Brian McCauley]

Wish I was there...
Puri sounds cool! Traveling is such an amazing experience and it sounds like you are experiencing so much of it, live it up Lolo! Your brother

[naynay56]

sounds like it is both fun and frustrating!!! Your pictures are so beautiful but hope to see you in some of them.... Soak it all up,this is such an amazing experience, so glad you are better. Can't wait to hear more!!!! I love and miss you so much, love your mommy......