The Park Calcutta Kolkata (Calcutta)

So after 12 hours of flying and 7 hours of waiting I arrived late Saturday night, the driver was their waiting to pick me and take me to a temporary homestay while mine were away. We weaved through crazy traffic, cars constantly beeping and swerving to avoid cows in the middle of the road. When I got to the homestay a wave of 'oh my god, what am i doing here hit me' but i settled in and the next day met some other ...

... traditional villages add a sense of the otherworldly to our

journey through Ladakh & Zanskar.

We finish the trek with spectacular mountainous views of the

Himalayas. Your Jeep / Bus awaits to drive you to Srinagar via Suru

valley. You can see the change of Himalayan ranges on way to

Srinagar, from the rugged ranges to the beautiful green mountains.

This is one of the hardest treks because of great number of ups and

Calcutta, West Bengal, India partha.desarkar

... admiration from most of the world in a Hindu city. (I wonder how she is considerered by the local high castes..) From the religious sites I visited throughout the country (and there are many!) ,it is the only one where they did not ask for donations.. Great country with affirmed and interesting culture. On the way to the airport, I saw a guy with "only the strongest survive" on his t-shirt. Quite symbolic, huh!

... thing was the music. One day an Indian band came in playing music I recognised from a wedding procession and everyone got up dancing. One night we had three guitars going, a tabla, a sitar and a flute, but almost every night there was singing along to the guitar. I witnessed two original songs composed and improvised on the spot. On that roof I met a guy who was studying lizards in the Kolcata museum and had been payed to do it. A guy who was going to work in canada ...

... oh yes....a fourth pile for leaving behind for Charity. Noor will take it to the Mother Theresa house here in Kolkata. Funny how much stuff has grown along the way. Our big bag is full with cotton clothing for the warm weather ahead. The smaller fold up duffle seems full of the cold weather clothing - and we are shipping several bags home. Today is Saturday, the day of the big party at Neil & Tashi's. Neil is our ...

... I turn around an old crippled man needed another ten. Not to give, you would be a stronger man than me Dunger Din. This is India its Sunday sports; ------------ anyone like cricket? ----- Well that ended that. One night we ordered a bus to go to the mountains, Terri, me and another foreigner told to leave the bus as not enough room for the Indians, another bus will pick us up. That was not the story; at about 11pm waiting an hour for this imaginary bus we saw a ...

... flow as more and more people joins. Muscles move and heart thumps with the beats produced by massive amplifiers. It is hard to define such feelings one experiences at these places. An appropriate term would be like expressing oneself or maybe living life to its full. 17th October, 2007, Durga Puja began today. Simon wanted to see every aspect of this grand festival. So we went to see Kala bou (banana plant wife of Ganesh, the elephant God) being taken for bath ...

... It was truly inspiring, her commitment and dedication to the causes she believed in. She suffered greatly, as its not an easy task to continually be faced with such pain and suffering, yet she persisted. On her tomb it is written "Peace begins with a smile." I believe that. I believe that the solutions start with love. I've always been interested in development work, yet often frustrated with the results, which although well-intended, often do more ...

... there were tons of onlookers who instigated or broke up the affair, and some slaps and fisticuffs were exchanged on occasion. Fortunately, I was safe from inside my little prison window, and just watched and waited for the ruckus to die down so I could get some sleep. Traffic: In the Lonely Planet, they tend to give you advice on Dangers and Annoyances in a certain city or state or whatever. You know life is going to be interesting when the biggest ...

... like weed infested scrub with a  heap of rubbish thrown about. It would be good if they used the entrance fee to look after the place.I took the local bus back to the hotel, well close to the hotel, that was fun. To be honest I have found Kolkata a bit underwhelming. For a city of 15 mil people I foung the traffic easy to negotiate and there are not heaps of people about. The city is OK but I expected it to be a lot faster and more people. Any way I have ...