My 2 days in Kolkata

I guess I underestimate the internet sometimes.  Haha.  I had an eventful day today, in which I'm sure I logged more than 6 kilometers of walking (I'm pretty sure I'm underestimating), so I decided to spend my evening in a chill way, checkin' my mail and eatin' some pastries.  (Rock.)

The past two days have been pretty awesome.  I like Kolkata. 

Whenever I was on the bus in Bangalore, I kept thinking, "I don't really like traveling in India all that much.  I love Rishi Valley a lot, but I don't think I like India otherwise."  This is a surprising and shitty and pretty terrible thing to think, considering I live here.  But, now, sitting at this internet cafe off of Sudder Street in the cool Kolkata evening, I reconsider.  I do like India.  It's diverse and scary and crowded and a complete sensory overload, but it is also fully fantastic.  I am loving it.  Maybe not all the time, but I am.  So...that's good. :)

Yesterday, I got in and checked into my hostel.  I'm staying in a dorm of this hostel, and I gotta say, it's pretty neat.  I thought this might be a challenge, to be a lonesome chick traveling, but so far it has been safe and private and comfortable.  (The only other girl in the dorm, from Korea, did say she saw a "rat".  But then she said it was tiny and cute and called it "Micky Mouse".  Either way, the beds are high off the floor and all my stuff in in my under-bed lock-box, safe from rodent teeth.  Win.)

After a shower and unpacking a bit, I tried to take a cab to Tagore's house.  I kind of failed.  The cab took me to Calcutta University (it's still spelled that way for some reason), which is in the same area, but not in front of the museum.  I wandered around a lot and checked out the sights, but failed to find the actual house/museum. No matter.  After that, I got a call from Nafisa and met up with the girls in front of the Victoria Museum. 

Nafisa and Jess did a fantastic job showing me around.  They are so awesome!  We took a crazy cab ride over the two bridges crossing from Kolkata into Howrah and back, briefly checked out BBD Bagh and Park Street, and chilled for a while at the Park Street Cemetery, which is home to a bunch of dead Brits.  The place has a crazy vibe to it - I really enjoyed it (even though I am not a fan of cemeteries in the least).  Then, we went back to Jess's and Nafisa's for a much needed nap (right after Nafisa and I chowed on some quality Chinese food).  Post-nap, we had dinner at an awesome Indian restaurant, which had a Bollywood theme.  (Win.)  The food was delicious.  The company was also great.  Jess and Nafisa have some fantastic friends, and everyone was super nice and hilarious.  :)

I came back to crash at the hostel.  Today, I woke up and explored Kolkata by foot and metro.  I walked to the Park Street Metro Stop, getting an omelet on the way.  It was delicious.  I met this crazy Brit, who talked about education and Russian literature.  Then, I took the metro (which was designed by the Soviets and has the looks to prove it) down one stop to walk around the Maidan.  The Maidan is to Kolkata as Central Park is to New York.  It was a pretty great time, and I got to see a lot of statues (among them of Indira Ghandi), the Birla Planetarium, various museum and movie complexes, and generally a bunch of south Kolkata landmarks.  After checking out the areas around Victoria Memorial, I hailed a cab to Gorky Sedan to check out the Russian Cultural Center.  (Fun fact: Kolkata has a bunch of yellow cabs riding around that you could hail.  In other Indian cities, I've only seen this type of thing with rickshaws.  For example, in Bangalore, if you want a cab, you have to call it and then wait for it.  But you can hail a rickshaw at any corner.  In Kolkata, on the other hand, the cab is everywhere, and a rickshaw functions as a shared transport - 5 people per rickshaw - with specific pre-determined routes.  Crazy stuff! :))  There was a sweet street sign on Gorky Terrace, but, unfortunately, the Russki center disappointed, as it's library was "under construction" and I wasn't even allowed to pee, as the man was like, "Um...inside...uh...no.".  I could've returned from 4pm to 9pm to watch some Russian television, but decided against it. :)

After Gorky, I walked to the metro stop (I got a little lost on the way, but that was cool, too) to head to the BBD Bagh area, which is the administrative area of town with a bunch of super old super British buildings.  I got to see the famous Writer's building, a bunch of banks (beautiful architecture!) the High Court, and some general mayhem.  There were a bunch of working peeps in suits and the like eating lunch at various chop stalls along the road.  It was an awesome opportunity for people watching.  I enjoyed it.  :)  I got really hungry when looking for the metro stop by Gorky Sadan, so when I was wandering the surrounds of BBD Bagh, I was SUPER hungry.  But I couldn't find any place to sit!  So, I got some street chow mein and made peace with that.  It was delicious.  I also got some pastries (the West Bengalis are way into baking and pastries -- love it). 

Then, I headed to the Armenian Church, which was in the midst of a crazy crazy crazy market (which I'm proud to say, I navigated with only little frustration).  Apparently, there's a pretty sizable Armenian community here, and they have their own church. Cool stuff.  After this, my plan was to go to the flower market or to go to Park Street and chill out at the Oxford Book Store, but I suddenly felt extremely exhausted, so I headed back to my hostel for an afternoon nap.  Now, I got a bunch of pastries for dinner, and am exploring Sudder Street.  I'm going to take it easy tonight, shower, re-pack, read some books (I bought White Tiger and The World Is Flat at this little bookstore right by my hostel) and hit the hay early, so I can get up at 6 or so to head to the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve.  Should be pretty awesome!  :-D

Nafisa is feeling a bit under the weather (get better, homegirl) and Jess is entertaining a woman from the UNDP for work, so I think I'll let them rest and chill out.  I hope to see them on the 3rd, when we'll be swinging by through town (24 hours for me, 2.5 days for Charlie and Anya).  It was so awesome to see the girls, and also see Kolkata with peeps that live here and own the city.  Yayyy.


Thus far, the adventure has been pretty great.  I'm psyched.  Sunderbans tomorrow early morning for two days, and then meeting up with Charlie, Behzad, and Nicole, and Anya on Christmas.  Can't. Wait.  Awesome. Overload.  w00t.  w00t.


Happy holidays to all!  And happy birthday to my awesome awesome awesome sister-in-law.  I wish you great things this year! :)