Kolkata

Chowringee is the backpacker heart land and we are smack in the middle of it in Sudder St. Any flea pit with a door they call a hotel room and charge 100 Rp per night. I arrived here with the two Polish girls (cant say there names let alone spell them) and Mike the American and we all had breakfast then went in search of a room.The girls picked one place not suitable then another same then Mike found one we all agreed was OK. There are heaps of steps cos it is on the sixth floor. In my room you cant stand too close to the sink cos the water comes straight out the bottom onto the floor, the toilet doesn't flush and there is no seat. The stains on the bed look like blood but could be anything and god only knows what the stains on all the walls are. This morning I was lying in bed listening to the rats chasing the pigeons around in the ceiling. Its a classy place for the area.

Banyan tree

Last night I went to Chandi Chowk ( big market near here) and took on the touts. Touts are people who grab you to "come buy in my shop" "just look" " very cheap prices" you know the drill. New Market is just there as well and the touts from there get you out in the street. So I go along with the ones in the street I agree their stuff is good quality and price good but I dont want to buy and in the end say NO. I take up their time. The market I say I was looking for a purple beret. After he understands what a beret is he finds one but not purple. I said " I just wanted to see not buy". I think he was a bit pissed off at me. India 1 John1. Dam right I'm keeping score, they started it.

my hotel room

This morning I went for a walk. My friend Danny gave me a pedometer so I wore it today it reads 38351. At 75cm per step I make that about 30 Km. Anyway I went for a walk cos westerday I had sorted what I wanted to see and marked them on a map and thought I knew where I was going. Well the map from the local tourist center is wrong, and the locals couldn't follow it either, but it was good enough to give me the sorta right directions. I went south to the Marble temple but I was too early. There were sooo many people sleeping rough on the street. At one point there was a big crowd of cabbies haveing their morning bath in the roadside drain. There was 'fresh' water bubbling up and they were all in their undies washing themselves and their cabs. They had slept in them as they do every night. Nothing like living close to work. I also went down some dodgy lanes where they were slaughtering goats. They had the goats going in one side and the butchers doing their thing the other side. Some of the old buildings in town are pretty spectacular or should I say would have been in their day. Most are not in the best condition now but still have some charm about them. I went down to the river to see the bridge. Howrah bridge is said to be the most used bridge in the world. They built another one but put a toll on it so the first is still the busiest. Further up river I went to the Queen Victoria Museum. That is a pretty impressive building but they want 150Rp to get in. I just walked past the guard he said "hello" so I said "hello" and kept walking. Then the cops came up and said "hello" I ignored them and kept walking. One of them caught up to me and said, in a strong Indian accent,"tickit tickit" I said I didn't understand "tickit tickit" and kept taking photo's. Its a trick I picked up at NJP railway station a couple of days ago.... Pretend you dont speak the lingo. I got the pics I wanted and they escorted me out. India 1 John 2. This afternoon I went to the Botanical Gardens. They claim to have a 250 y/o Banyan tree with the second largest canopy in the world. I thought it looked like lots of trees. The gardens looked to me 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.

queen vic

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 enjoyed it and I am going to Varanassi tomorrow on the sleeper train. Sleeper train is a bit of a misnomer cos you dont sleep much. Too many people selling stuff and the train is noisey etc. One interesting thing , the train toilet just drops straight down onto the track, so if you do a dump in the station when the train moves away everyone see's it. Nice. Varanassi tomorrow night and should be there for a few days. Gotta find a dobhi walla cos getting a bit stinky.

bangle shop

chickens going to market

goats ???

a bank

chickens going to market

a bank

another bank

Hooghly river

bathing at the ghats

Howrah bridge

another bank

another bank

statue with eagle on top

new Howrah bridge

Monument to someone

little monkey chained up

again

Queen Victoria Museum

again

again

again

again

statue

statue Indira Gandhi

old street

sign

banyan tree

botanic garden

again

the local bus i caught

local taxi (this is a good one)

Queen Vic