Hey Guys
We arrived in Calcutta this morning at 9am.Meant to be here at 4.30am but bloody delays.The Trains are mad here.Really when it pulls in and is still slightly moving the people are jumping on.No patience at all.Then when it does stop its impossible to find our carriage cos nothing is numbered or signposted.I really appreciate Irishrail and Dublin Bus more now.I thought id never say that.The train was lovely as it passed the holy Ganges and Moon shimmering in the background.We didnt want to chance taken a photo as we feared we may loose the camera.(anything that falls into that river would dissolve within seconds,its one of the most polluted in the world but to the Hindis its scared,they bath and brush their teeth in it, yuk, and the smell from it, the Liffey doesnt even come close to it, undescribable).However our end of our pleasent stay was a ruined when Tongies bag got stolen, passport,visas etc)and we had to go talk to the police at the station,who at the beginning were laughing at us it seemed and didnt care until Tongie told them that she lives here.They started to take it a bit more serious then.Anyway we pottered on and headed on the ferry to the mainland.Straight away Calcutta seems more organised then the capital Delhi.Here there are more pavements, signs, a clear road system. And the st we are stayin on Sudder st is no way as hectic as the Paraganj back packing place were we stayed in Delhi.We stay in the Salvation Army place.The communal area is cool,laid back but our room is right at the bottom and resembles something of a dungeon with not so secure doors.So we checked other places tonight, all very reasonable and will move to another one in the morning.(they also gave us a bible in our room, some light reading there instead of my lonely planet)Tomorrow we will explore more of this city with its 13million inhabitants and hopefully go to the orphanage were Kathleen and Tongie work.
We had a great time in Varanassi.More relaxed then Delhi.(This surprised Tongie and Kathleen,who thought it was a bit mad with the traffic etc.This place also had cows everywhere.We are so used to seeing them now.Kathleen(a co worker of Tongie from Cork was feeding the cow at the train station crisps, v funny)Yes u heard me right a cow at station,right beside us on the platform, not to mention a few monkeys too.Jumping from platform to platform.We stayed in a dorm room in one of the best places we ve stayed so far.Its called Yogi lodge, v chilled, full of travellers(all expressing mixed feelings of India,good and bad, and v cheap, which we love.55 rupees a night which is about 1euro 10 cent.
Its just what we needed after our ordeal in Aggressive Agra,the ever blowing horn on the bus.It was really trying our patience.We also met a lovely Polish couple on their honeymoon at the station.Which was a relief to get away from all the stares of the Indians.(to them they dont see staring as rude.Fair play to the Polish couple for coming here on their honeymoon.They too have mixed feelings about India.We all stayed in Yogi lodge together and had a great time especially at Ganges Fiji Restaurant where the food was the best Ive tasted in India.They also had live music.Laura u would love the Sitar.Varanassi has a bad reputation as being dangerous, lots of drugs here and we got a few warnings from the people at the lodge not to come in too late.So most nights we came back at 9 just in case. There are many side streets here so I say if u get lost here it can be frightening.But during the day the market was more relaxed then in Delhi and when u told people no they generally left u alone.We really felt like Indian Jones when we went to the Archaelogical museum in Sarnath.This was a real laid back buddhist sanctuary.(Buddha came here to preach his message).We also ventured out to the university which covers 18acres of land.V peacefull place with more temples.Its so nice to see greenery,in the cities its just roads. Anyway we got talking to a few Indian students who seemed generally interested in Ireland and our education system.They didnt seem to want anything else.Which was nice for a change.Before this the people we met all seem to have an a gender,where they want u to buy something etc.So the boys brought us to a student bar(not many here cos its a holy city,but trust the Irish to find one).We just had one beer.Hayward 5000 its called and its really strong.So one was enough.The boys wanted us to go see a Bollywood movie but we didnt have time.The bar was quite stylish with the usual drinks in it but cheaper than in Ireland.
I am going to sign off now as we are meeting the girls and they are going to show us the nightlife here, that they have been going on about for the last few days.It better be good.Hope u are all well and have recovered from our failure to reach the world cup. Really me and Tee were pissed off last thursday.Anyway email us or leave comments when u can. Great hearing from u all. Love Lids