Feb 5, 2007 - Kolkata

Hello again, We have paused for a couple of days in Kolkata to enjoy a bit of modern living. We've only been here two days but as usual every day brings a new adventure. When we first arrived we went to the Lonely Planet recommended hotel and were disappointed to find out that it was filthy and full of cockroaches. Exhausted from yet another train journey we then had to traipse around for an hour to find a better room. We eventually found an acceptable room although this mysterious hot water is still eluding us. In the evening we went to...

Jan 23, 2007 - Sunderban Tiger Reserve, India (UNESCO World Heritage Site)

"Wives of men who work in the Sunderban live as widows until their husbands return to the village" explained the side-bar in our Lonely Planet guidebook. Perhaps an interesting fact, but to us, it was an ominous warning about the risks of entering a wilderness area notorious for its frequent attacks by man-eating tigers. With this bit of data tucked into the back of our minds, we boarded the bus with thirteen other people and headed out of Kolkata. Our plan was to spend two days and one night on the edge of the vast delta that drains, among...

Jan 20, 2007 - Kolkata, India

We trudged through the much more noticeably clean train station, found a taxi, and proceeded to our much desired hotel room. Like every other city we had visited in India, Kolkata's streets were overflowing with humanity, machinery, livestock, and filth. Horns blared while ripe odours alternated between inviting (incense or freshly-cooked food) and nauseating (you figure-it-out)! A marked difference, however, was the number of extremely poor people living on the streets. Grimy, cupped hands poked through our open windows at almost every...

Dec 31, 2006 - Darjeeling

Darjeeling is a hill station town in the Himalayas. It is really charming with a bell tower in the center of town and cute cafes and stalls selling Tibetian goods and hats and pashminas. I was there for New Year's and I went to this pub called "Joey's" and there were a bunch of other travelers there, which was fun. I had momos for the first time. They are from Tibet and kind of like Chinese dumplings. They are so good and are usually served with this spicy sauce. I am also loving the tea or chai. They boil the milk with the tea leaves and...

Dec 27, 2006 - Kolkata

First Impressions of India: (First hour) 1. Indian men sporting the sweater vest and mustasche 2. Ambassador taxis 3. Huge bus wreck on the way into town from the airport - I later read that 2 people were killed because the bus drivers were racing each other and that is how they ended up crashing. 4. Tons of traffic and air pollution - when you blow your nose at the end of the day, it is just black... 5. Unbelievably beautiful women in saries 6. Cows and dogs in the streets 7. Slums, people living on the streets, urinating on the street I...

Dec 22, 2006 - Calcutta

Calcutta was a quick stop. I only spent two days and one night there, and having a contracted a cold and sore throat on the night train from Varanasi, wasn't much interested in sightseeing or otherwise exerting myself. I spent most of my time there hanging out in the neighborhood of my hotel, eating and trying to rest. I finally saw the much-advertised Bollywood blockbuster, "Dhoom: 2," the sequal to the 2004 hit "Dhoom," starring Indian megastars Hrithik Roshan and the very sexy Aishwarya Rai. I figured facing the music, literally, might...

Dec 11, 2006 - Return to Calcutta

It was after lunchtime when I made it back to the guesthouse in Calcutta. I went and got some lunch and did some shopping for a few last minute things. Later I went thru my backpack to rearrange stuff and I had left a bag in storage with the guesthouse with stuff that I want to mail so I organized stuff for posting. I also have a TV in my room so I watched some Telly.

Dec 5, 2006 - Kolkata - Day 1

Our train left NJP (the connection from Darjeeling to Kolkata) at 8pm-ish. There are four classes of tickets that you can choose when purchasing on the massive India rail system: The most expensive is 1st class AC - this is a private cabin with two berths (beds) anda door. Usually this class is reserved for heads of state or the really rich. The next most expensive is 2nd class AC - this is cabin contains 4 berths (an upper and lower bed) on both walls. There is a reading light perfectly placed next to your pillow to allow for reading...

Nov 29, 2006 - Goeche La Trek

Wow, what an amazing trek.... something that takes your breath away - literally. We're just back from 9 days of trekking, out from Yoksum, Sikkim, to the 5000m summit of Goeche La which sits under the shadow of Kangchenjunga - the world's 3rd highest mountain. It sort of all started with the chance meeting of 2 Canadians, Dana and Jeff, who we met as we were leaving for the dawn spectical at Tiger Hill in Dargeeling. As we crept out of our room at 4 in the morning, 3 rooms down we spotted a couple quietly exiting their room, apparently with...

Nov 28, 2006 - Kolkatta

So we braced ourselves getting off the train knowing we were back in crazy land again and sure enough we got bombarded with taxi drivers as soon as we got off the platform. We found a taxi driver to drop us at Sudder Street, the backpacker haunt and that's where the search began. Accommodation here is crappy and expensive so Donna and Christine found a corner and sat with the bags while Ian and I took off and went into every guesthouse up and down the street, the cleaner ones were full and the ones with availability were dingy, didn't have...

Nov 27, 2006 - Darjeeling

Darjeeling, like other "hill stations" was built by the colonizing British so they could have a cool climate to escape to when the Indian summer became unbearably hot. In order to reach this beautiful "hill station" they built a "toy train". This toy train is one of (if not the only) train of its kind that is still operational. This is also the main reason that I wanted to visit Darjeeling. The train takes more than 9 hours and in the winter it arrives well into the night. By comparison, a "shared jeep" taxi takes 2.5-3 hours and is more...

Nov 26, 2006 - Little Buddha and a Big night out

This morning after breakfast we headed back to the monastery to meet Rimpochee and his family. They were so welcoming and they told us the story of his birth and how they knew he was such a special child. We took some photos and went to see the temple on the grounds of the monastery and then watched as Simon and Sajit played cricket with the monks. It was just a fantastic afternoon until Carol announced she was considering coming to The Andamans with me. I told her I doubted she'd get an affordable ticket at this stage. Donna was having a...