Siesta Guest House (Block Cj-188) Sector 2 Kolkata (Calcutta)

... was crossing the river. It was swift, it was beautiful. It vanished into the forest of the Dakshinrai River in flash. But we were so over excited that only Dipak's camera clicked and rest of us just forgot to catch the moment.

We disembarked at Netadhopani and went to the watchtower through a passage protected by steel netting from tiger attack. We spent an hour on watchtower with forest guards. Some deer and a couple of wild bore visited the waterhole but again ...

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Trip profile: 05 days walking with full porterage. Altitude maximum 4950

mts. average 3500 mts. Duration 10 days.

Group: . Min 02, max. 12. Appropriate local staff.

Food: All meals included on trek, in Leh only breakfast.

Accommodation: 05 nights camping on trek & 04nights hotel in Leh. (All

twin sharing)

Grade: - Moderate.

COST: - euro 400/ PP.

Our Service Includes:

Airport transfers.
Calcutta, West Bengal, India partha.desarkar

We arrived in Kolkata, India at about 1:00 am and then got a bit of sleep (one group with no air conditioning). Everyone in the group felt quite a bit of culture shock, even those who have been to India before. It is like a different world here. Everything is really chaotic and noisy and there is trash everywhere. You have to be careful where you step here in India because you never know what you are stepping in. It is definitely survival of the fittest, and ...

Jeremy's mum and dad came through Kolkata in '76 and said not to go. We now understand why. Although we spent only 12 hours in this city, our expereince is worthy of a blog entry. Arrived after a flight from Chennai and headed to a hotel near the airport we had booked earlier, as we had read in the Bible (lonely planet) that transport strikes are extremely common and our flight to Bhutan left at 8am the following day. We arrived at our hotel to be ...

... Binodini, tells us about a woman in Gosaba who was recently taken seriously ill, very suddenly. She had to go to the hospital in the city and needed Rs. 30,000, immediately. (Hospitals will not treat you or even admit you without prepayment here). The woman wasn't even an SHG member. There was no time to make other financial arrangements. The family was going to have to sell their land, their only means of survival, for her to receive treatment. The SHG convened an ...

... Ahhh, India! The next day Maeve, Catriona and I head into the city in search of some tourist activities. We can't get into the zoo or the aquarium as it's too busy, and our driver doesn't know where Tagore's house is so we settle for the Kalighat temple and a boat trip. Boat trip is a little bit dull, but it fills in time. Kalighat temple is well worth it - although I'm unable to see Kali as so many people are pushing and shoving in ...

... introduce themselves to me. One even wanted to shake his chest, India-style, with me and I shook my chest too. But I don't want men touching me or any sort of gay come-on (which sometimes happens). So that's why I preferred the enthusiastic girls and the mellow Dad. I got a little taste of this Puja style celebrating in Mumbai last year and it feels similar to that. It is times like these that I feel more like a movie-star (rather than a zoo-animal or circus attraction ...

... and there is a museum of Mother Teresa's sayings and works. The pictures show her room at the Motherhouse. I donated some money to this work that Maryellen Kelley had given to me to give away as I chose. Near the Motherhouse is the Orphanage - which was closed, but I shot pictures of the outside. All this was a never to be forgotten experience.

... St. and the road was not a road, but one big construction mess (with men, women, and children digging, making bricks, and scattering it around to form layers of road). Once we got out of the cab to see this mess, and no sooner than we got our bags on, we got run over by 125 sheep. No joke. And we loved it. So, this is India. We found a place off of Sudder St which, although it was no jem, it was WAY better than many of ...

... she prefers to live. She took that image from Hawaii to India. Being the 'queen of the deck' she was going to Mayapur on family business- the selling of their home in the forest. She was taking the kids and the man Nakul called his father to Auroville. "I'm afraid the idea of Auroville is tainted because the government has stepped in. The school (in Mayapur) has been good for Nakul but I want him to experience something else. I mean, I chant Krishna sometimes but the ...