Blogs from West Bengal, India, Asia - page 76

From Varanasi we took the train to Kolkata (Calcutta). We stayed in the Super Guest House, thinking it was the one as mentioned in the 'Lonely Planet'. Turns out there are 3 Super Guest Houses in the same area (and ours wasn't the one in the guidebook)! It pays to get mentioned in the 'Lonely Planet'! Sudder Street, where we stayed is a veritable soap opera of comedic proportions - Greasy-haired backpackers; professional beggars with babies as accessories; street-wise NGO ex-pats; good, cheap eateries (the best of which is the Zurich Restaurant); old colonial hotel madames (a la Fairlawn Hotel); leech-like hotel touts; bell-ringing rickshaw wallahs; big yellow Ambassador taxi cabs; people washing themselves and their clothes at the water standpipe; sellers of hand-made flutes; and troupes of drummers advertising the latest line in fashion shoes! ... read more

this is my fifth day in Kolkata, and I want to say that I am used to the city but everyday something shocks me. The temperature is nice...it is humid, but not as hot as Bangkok. The food is awesome and I am having such a fun time trying to different stuff! From the lassis and pomengrate juice to pakoras sold on the sidewalk in little bags made from newspaper. On a typical walk down the street I can see people bathing near a tube well, an entire slab of cow hanging in front of a butcher's stall, a guy selling bananas or other fried yummies, five Dick Tracy style taxis zooming by me (and about 2 inches away from pasting me to the floor), a man running down the street pulling a carriage with ... read more

After Dargeeling I took the worst bus ride of my life to Calcutta. The bus was tanking long quite poor roads at 60km/h and rattling so hard it caused my head to bang against a screw on the side of the bus. Arriving in Calcutta was a relief, and I bumped into two scottish girls from Galashiels Textiles College in Scotland and we stayed at the Red Salvation Army Guest House - which was a great place to meet people and relax. I went to see the second day of the test match there between India and the West Indies, which was fun, not too many wickets went down but the atmosphere when Sachin Tendulkar came on to bowl was a high point, he is such the darling of India.... read more

I left Nepal by local buses through to Darjeeling back in India. It was a long bus ride from Katmandu to the border, but there were no problems. It was hard to find the Nepalese border post - I walked past it a couple of times and saw a Canadian girl doing the same - walking back and forth along the road. Eventually we found it and checked out of Nepal before getting to the Indian border and waiting patiently for the official to write out our entry in triplicate into the various journals in the office. We met some nice monks from Bangladesh on Pilgramage and they were heading into Nepal - in their bright orange robes and shaved heads. The Canadian and I caught a Jeep to Siliguri from the border and then another ... read more

India survival guide: 1. pack earplugs and plenty of patience 2. don't look anyone in the eyes 3. get used to being the center of attention 4. revealing your knees (women) is unacceptable but hacking/spitting, picking your nose and yelling outside a hotel room at dawn is okay. We're really outsiders here but like the time we confronted the guy on the bus to Colva who hit his girlfriend, I became personally interested. I needed to help someone look at what it is they're doing and understand why it pisses me off. We're on the train to Darjeeling, near Calcutta. There's a family of five near us, in two seats of course. While I was reading, I picked up some disharmony. I looked up and Mike said, "He just hit his wife." She's being absolutely silent. ... read more