Kolkata, India Travel Blogs

Tea, politics and a step back in time...
Apr 8, 2008 (19 photos)

... onto the back. We headed off to Siliguri then NJP train station where I was due to pick up my overnight train to Kolkata at 20:00.   Arrived with minimal complication, and even though the weather had been slowly heating up as we headed down ...

Culture Shock, India Style
Dec 22, 2003

... this mindset by another traveller on the plane, Greg, who we decided to share a cab with to the main travelers hub in Kolkata, Sudder Street. He was meeting woman at the airport who had arranged a train ticket for him to meet with his girlfriend in Delhi ...

Brief
Oct 15, 2008 (56 photos)

... update the name.  As we're all aware, East Bengal is now known as Bangladesh!!   Tomorrow we're off for a quick taster of the cooler lands of Bhutan in the Himalayas.  But don't worry Kolkata, we'll be back in a week to say goodbye. 

Bangladesh to India...On a cycle rickshaw
May 1, 2008

... For eight days, a fellow volunteer and myself peddled a Bangladehi "vhan" across a third of southern Bangladesh, and into India to our final destination, Calcutta. We purchased a vhan which is a three wheeled cycle with a wooden flatbed commonly used in ...

Are we ready?
Apr 2, 2006 (27 photos)

... , maybe more)!! It was disappointing but thankfully it was only 20 rupees. That was it basically. Our time in India was up. Freeda and Laurent were leaving Kolkata as well but still had some time in India whilst Davo and I would be on a bus in the ...

Bangladesh to India...On a cycle rickshaw
May 1, 2008 (10 photos)

... For eight days, a fellow volunteer and myself peddled a Bangladeshi "vhan" across a third of southern Bangladesh, and into India to our final destination, Calcutta. We purchased a vhan which is a three wheeled cycle with a wooden flatbed commonly used in ...

Send in the clowns....
Oct 25, 2007 (21 photos)

... ! The whirlwind tour of India continues! We left Sri Lanka soaked through as the pouring rain continued. Before flying back to India we managed to spark a mini security alert - we arrived nice and early for our 2am flight (us, early... unbelievable I ...

Welcome to Kolkata!
Mar 16, 2008 (8 photos)

... ) and wandered around a bit of the lobby and grounds before setting off into the rush and bustle of the streets of Kolkata.  Was approached by multitudes of store owners, beggers and touts wanting my business...I was polite then firm and able to ...

24 hours of HELL and a birthday!
Nov 9, 2005 (8 photos)

... modern art gallery, and finished up at Victoria Memorial which has a great display inside of the complete history of Kolkata (british to present). the memorial sits amongst beutiful gardens, which are unusually well kept for india. the memorial it self ...

Oh my golly gosh!
Dec 4, 2005 (7 photos)

... safe to get around here. I'm travelling with a Kiwi girl, Amy from Taupo Bay, and we've both remarked on how comfortable Kolkata feels. The food is fantastic, and I am rapidly becoming a chai junkie. Very milky, very sweet, and always boiling hot, with ...

Kolkata - The Bakshi family - Part 2
Dec 6, 2008 (10 photos)

... off via a private helicopter to his luxury hotel.  One does ask the question of why Maradonna has visited India, let alone Kolkata, in a nation dominated by cricket and very few recognised football stadiums?!?!  Still, it didn't stop the city ...

dropping anchor
Nov 22, 2007 (8 photos)

... the muslim minority in west bengal. the relationship between muslims and hindus has been known to become strained in various parts of india but here in west bengal the situation has the weight of partition hanging over it as well. bengal was sliced in half ...

Can Someone Point Us To The Black Hole Please..
Nov 29, 2006 (12 photos)

... and find the black hole. To say it (the city)wasn't what we were expecting is an understatement. I guess when anyone thinks of Kolkata they think; City of Joy, Mother Teresa, Slums and Lepers. Well it ain't like that no more apart from plenty of guys ...

Culture and stomach shock
Mar 1, 2006 (7 photos)

... BBD Bagh and the Writer's building, Eden Gardens, the old town hall, some Hooghly Ghats and Fort William. Everyone had told me India was disgusting, but from what I saw on my first day I would put it well ahead of Bangladesh in terms of cleanliness and ...

Black hole? You can say that again...
Jan 24, 2005 (2 photos)

Some say that when you look beneath the noisy, dirty and poverty stricken exterior of Kolkata you will discover that it's reputation as one of the worst cities on Earth is undeserved. Maybe we didn't stay for long enough but I personally hope that the ...

lessons learned
Nov 6, 2006 (7 photos)

... I am sitting in an internet cafe down a dark alley and up a set of steps that would make a Bronx crack den seem posh. Kolkata has barely seen any renovations since the British were kicked out of the country over 50 years ago. This city will all of its ...

superstar
Nov 4, 2006 (15 photos)

... . While loading our bags we met a fellow traveler who wanted to join us in our journey through the vehicle choked streets of Kolkata to Sudder St. The afternoon sun beat down on the pavement and metal as we sat tucked into our ancient yellow cab. ...

Being SICK in Kolkata
Nov 26, 2006 (5 photos)

Kolkata was AMAZING ... a must see for any India visitor. The city is quite congested ... and the situation of the poor is hard to witness especially amongst all the richie rich upper class (caste) persons being trucked around in their private cars. I ...

Namaste everyone from calcutta (spelt ...
Jan 22, 2003 (5 photos)

Namaste everyone from Calcutta (spelt KolKata here), India's friendliest city! We made it safe and sound here on Sunday morning and it seems like the 2-1/2 hour flight from Bangkok took us to yet another distant planet. Things are so different here and ...

Welcome to India
Feb 26, 2005 (3 photos)

... to grab their goodies - quite a sight at 2 am. We were already apprehensive about what to expect in India after hearing so much. When we arrived in Kolkata at 2:30 am the sites and smells (stench) were beyond what we had ever imagined. Each (crumbling ...

Kolkata...what a great City!
May 10, 2008 (1 photos)

After yet another night-train this time in AC 3-tier, we arrived in Kolkata. The capital of West Bengal was surprisingly clean and nice and we found it much more attractive than Delhi. A great city full of energy and charm. We recommend: - Sunflower ...

Finally, it's Goodbye
Apr 6, 2006 (25 photos)

... hand them in, they closed the doors early. We tried to complain, but our words fell on deaf ears !!! So we had a walk around Kolkata instead. It was quite a clean place, hardly any dogs, no cows, loads of goats and not to many beggars. But I was still ...

Commie Kolkata
Oct 15, 2008 (50 photos)

... the longest running democratically elected communist state in the world !!! And now back to the story.   Kolkata   Yes we are both here, back in India for the fourth time. Actually, it was good to be back, this time without the after effects ...

Oh, Calcutta!
Jun 13, 2003 (15 photos)

... so the monument was rather odd. I should have pointed out to him that without it and the surrounding gardens Calcutta (now renamed Kolkata) would be more of a dump than otherwise. As this place was the capital of British India until the 1930s there are ...

An Indian Epilogue
Feb 24, 2003

... me he had bought a pair of Pepe jeans, a T-shirt, a Nike tracksuit top, and a Nike hat! We then visited the Kolkata Planetarium for their English showing at 1:30pm. Its worth doing at only 20 Rupees each, though the Indian chap spoke in broken English, ...

Mother Teresa and Rickshaws
Jun 6, 2009 (22 photos)

... it was just as hot as the rest of  India (either that or I was use to it) and the people were much friendly than India’s other mega cities.  It was cleaner than most and getting around was a cinch!    One of the main things I have ...

India baby!
Dec 2, 2007 (19 photos)

... nbsp;     After getting our rooms sorted, me Koot Priscilla and Joao went walking around the streets of Kolkata; checking out the good which they seem to be selling all over the streets here, literally just setting up stall along ...

come swim in the sea of humanity
Dec 6, 2004 (10 photos)

... of the cab and said thank you. That was a lot easier then I thought it would be! An initial impression of Kolkata (and India) is hard to give. Since I arrived just after sunset, the city was covered with a thick haze of pollution. Buildings everywhere ...

Goodness gracious me!
Jul 26, 2003

... glimpse of India. It was like going back in time with all the Morris Minor style cars around. Calcutta (or Kolkata as it now called to distance India from the British rule)was our biggest culture shock yet! There were so many cars, people, cattle, dogs ...

Back to Calcutta
Jan 26, 2004

... the airport after our dusty drive, but none was available. It fact, we were to learn to our chagrin that Republic Day in India is a "dry day"; no alcohol can be served in the entire country all day. I had heard of dry counties before, but never entirely ...