Kolkata!

I am in Kolkata now for a little vacation within a vacation. I booked my flight last week to India, but I hadn't been able to book my train, I couldn't figure out how to until the day of my flight. By the time i\I had figure out where I could book online, they were sold out. But I thought I would still try the train station to see if there were any available.

I landed in Kolkata and got a taxi to Howrah train station. However , after being in Dhaka I had exchanged all my US dollars already so I did not have any more. One of my friends gave me $10 US though so I had a little, but I needed to find an ATM. This was harder than I thought it would be, it seems like most ATMs here close at 4pm, and by that time it was about 5 or 6 pm.

Once I had money I went to try and get an overnight ticket to Varanasi, but with no luck. So now I was in Kolkata, with no hotel, no train, no ones phone number and I didn't even know anyone here (even If I had a number, my phone was dead, and it does not work in India apparently). My parents had scanned and emailed me a couple pages from an Indian guide book, so I knew that Sudder street had a bunch of backpacker hotels for really cheap. So I got another taxi from Howrah to Sudder street. My taxi driver wouldn't actually go on the street because apparently it was closed.

I wandered around and eventually stopped to look at my map and ask directions. This really nice lady came up and asked where I was trying to go, I told her one of the hotel names from the pages my parents had sent me. She had to go into the store behind me to buy something but her friend stayed with me until she was back. Then she lead me around to the hotel and gave me her number so if I needed anything I could contact her. The Bengali hospitality extends into India it seems!

From there I got a bed in a dorm room for 100 rs per night with a fan and a locker for my bags. Then I headed around the corner to a pub and had a nice cold beer and watch part of the South Africa-Mexico game. I got talking to one guy from Bangladesh, when an English guy who had been on my flight walked into the pub! So we ate and had a couple drinks there and agreed to meet again the next day to go around Kolkata together.

So now I have a couple days in Kolkata, Saturday till Monday and then I fly out Tuesday morning!

Cheers,
Mike