Hello India!

Trip Start Oct 13, 2005

Trip End Jul 28, 2006

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Flag of India Kolkata, India
Monday, February 13, 2006

So the 3 of us (Reba, Patrick and I) took a little visit to India. We didn't go too far inland and stayed in the Bengal area. Where did we go? I'll give you a hint- City of Joy. Got it? If not I went to Kolkata (aka Calcutta). We took a bus for 14 hours. It would have been less but the border crossing was absolutly ridiculous! Where was our passports? They would be taken away for no good reason and then reappear again. Then on the B'desh side they gave us a lot of trouble, we were very close in bribing but then we were able to argue our way out. But then we were in India and everything changed- for the good that is!

Kolkata is wonderful! We obviously really needed a break because everything we experienced was awesome! We did a couple of touristy things of course. We walked the grounds of Victoria Memorial. Impressive white marble. Went to Missionaries of Charity aka the Mother House

Creativity

. We almost didn't make it because the building is so plain and no big signs saying "this is where Mother Teresa worked and is buried!" I am sure its the way she wanted it: unnoticed. There is a small museum inside that has all of Mother Teresa's belongings from her Bible to her worn sandals. There are also quotes and a history of her life. It was very inspiring and it made me want to cry. She put herself last and loved with her whole body and soul. Why can't I do that? Also I wish every country had a Mother Teresa, especially B'desh!

Birla temple was an amazingly large white Hindu temple. It was awesome and free!!!! Went to St. Paul's Cathedral (I felt a deja vue of being in France and Germany again!) which dates back to the 1800s. It was a Sunday so we listened to the service. But I was way to destracted by the millions of birds that were chirping, I could barely hear the Priest. Walked through a flower market, and when they say there are flowers boy do they mean it! It was a long ally of flowers and congested with people yelling "Come sista, flowers for you!" We also enjoyed a Hindi movie! Funnest part was they had an intermission! Hello! I thought the movie had ended and I thought to myself "that was the dumbest way to end a movie!" But then I clued in and realized it was just the intermission. Silly me.

We also ate and ate and ate

Mobile Shop

. The highlight was not eating rice for 4 days! That is the biggest record ever! I usually have rice 2 times a day! We went to some fantastic restaurants like Oasis (I highly recommend Oasis even though it is a little pricy, the food makes up for it). And the 3 of us have all declared our love for Indian food! Seriously it is amazing! And lastly we went to the markets and walked around aimlessly for bargins and entertaining shops.

Now for some random things we saw in India:
1. Clay cups (used for tea) are a one time use only.
2. Chipmunks climbing palm trees
3. The Air-conditioned mall that was not anything but air-conditioned
4. Mother Teresa Salt n Pepper shakers
5. A fight involving about 50 people all armed with bamboo sticks with weird objects on them like tires and buckets
6. 3 Transvestites, one of them dressed up as the lady from the Flinstones!

I had a great time in India and in March I will be visiting again, this time to Darjeeling and Delhi!
PS- I will try to add some more pictures later! So I will keep you posted on that!