First impressions:
Not as bad as expected. Maybe I was expecting the worst as everyone was saying it would be so much more busy than Varanassi and so much bigger. But actually, Although I recognise its a large city, I've only seen a small manageable part. (Sudder St where my hotel is and Park St.)
The night train here was more comfortable than expected. I was in 2A which means that there are 2 bunk beds rather than 3A where you have 3 bunks on top of one another. But there were more people than my last journey. Mostly men... it's like India is hiding all the women. There were some school girls who I chatted to for a bit - and who bizarrely asked for my autograph, I did tell them I wasn't famous. I even managed to get some sleep. And the train food was awesome!
Getting a taxi was easy as there's hundreds of yellow taxi's lined up like it New York or something. I should have taken a photo really - I'll try and remember when I leave. I got in a blue taxi simply because it was the first man who approached me. He had to stop on the bridge to sort something out under the boot of his car but other than that it was ok.
I hunted around for a hotel which had a room with bathroom at a reasonable price. A lot of them were asking Rs650 which is like almost 8 pounds a night. Which is cheap but more than I wanted to pay. I found room at the hotel Plaza which was Rs400 (5 pounds a night). Yeah there's no TV, no air con (there is a fan), no natural light, no shower (a bucket and jug and a tap) but it serves it's purpose.. wait - I hope! I intend only to sleep there. I'm just going to pray there aren't bed bugs. I did see what look like small leaches living on the floor in the bathroom where all the toilet water is leaking out... The room is a good size though, and has a double bed... ooooo. I did have to ask them to change the sheets as soon as I arrived though. I'm sure it'll all be fine. Only 25 days here.
I went walkabout. Couldn't find any Terry Pratchett books in the numerous bookshops. :-( Saw a Macdonalds - which looked REALLY posh! And saw a Dominoes pizza -reminded me of the gentlemen from uni... I was tempted to take a picture, but didn't. Found a place to eat. It was in the lonely planet and was delicious. It reminded me of Snoobies' mothers' restaurant. It was quite posh. Quite a bit more expensive than other places I've been eating too... I shall have to find some reliable looking street stalls... I also found a bengali sweet shop - so naturally had to try some of what tasted like a sweet milky mushy blob. They were most tasty. I might have to go back actually - I've eaten them all now. I also found a coffee place (only instant though, so I didn't bother) that sold stuff made by children who had been taken off of the street and were being taught skills. I was drawn to it cos it was like a project founded by Don Bosco - who I know very little about but remembered he had something to do with the Selisians and Mr Mark went to Selisian college so I went in to buy some biccies and a book for drawing in.
That's about all I've done today. I intend to visit the nuns on Monday... Maybe I'll go to church on Sunday! How exciting - My first mass in like 3 months or so. I've also realised that after this week, I think it'll be the longest amount of time I've ever not seen the parents for... Uni had hols like every 3 months or so, and whenever I've gone off I always seem to come back after 3 months. And I usually speak to mother on the phone regularly. I intend to buy a small laptop at some point and then I'll skype home. And anyone else who wants to be skyped. Within reason.
Sweetie time.
Not as bad as expected. Maybe I was expecting the worst as everyone was saying it would be so much more busy than Varanassi and so much bigger. But actually, Although I recognise its a large city, I've only seen a small manageable part. (Sudder St where my hotel is and Park St.)
The night train here was more comfortable than expected. I was in 2A which means that there are 2 bunk beds rather than 3A where you have 3 bunks on top of one another. But there were more people than my last journey. Mostly men... it's like India is hiding all the women. There were some school girls who I chatted to for a bit - and who bizarrely asked for my autograph, I did tell them I wasn't famous. I even managed to get some sleep. And the train food was awesome!
Getting a taxi was easy as there's hundreds of yellow taxi's lined up like it New York or something. I should have taken a photo really - I'll try and remember when I leave. I got in a blue taxi simply because it was the first man who approached me. He had to stop on the bridge to sort something out under the boot of his car but other than that it was ok.
I hunted around for a hotel which had a room with bathroom at a reasonable price. A lot of them were asking Rs650 which is like almost 8 pounds a night. Which is cheap but more than I wanted to pay. I found room at the hotel Plaza which was Rs400 (5 pounds a night). Yeah there's no TV, no air con (there is a fan), no natural light, no shower (a bucket and jug and a tap) but it serves it's purpose.. wait - I hope! I intend only to sleep there. I'm just going to pray there aren't bed bugs. I did see what look like small leaches living on the floor in the bathroom where all the toilet water is leaking out... The room is a good size though, and has a double bed... ooooo. I did have to ask them to change the sheets as soon as I arrived though. I'm sure it'll all be fine. Only 25 days here.
I went walkabout. Couldn't find any Terry Pratchett books in the numerous bookshops. :-( Saw a Macdonalds - which looked REALLY posh! And saw a Dominoes pizza -reminded me of the gentlemen from uni... I was tempted to take a picture, but didn't. Found a place to eat. It was in the lonely planet and was delicious. It reminded me of Snoobies' mothers' restaurant. It was quite posh. Quite a bit more expensive than other places I've been eating too... I shall have to find some reliable looking street stalls... I also found a bengali sweet shop - so naturally had to try some of what tasted like a sweet milky mushy blob. They were most tasty. I might have to go back actually - I've eaten them all now. I also found a coffee place (only instant though, so I didn't bother) that sold stuff made by children who had been taken off of the street and were being taught skills. I was drawn to it cos it was like a project founded by Don Bosco - who I know very little about but remembered he had something to do with the Selisians and Mr Mark went to Selisian college so I went in to buy some biccies and a book for drawing in.
That's about all I've done today. I intend to visit the nuns on Monday... Maybe I'll go to church on Sunday! How exciting - My first mass in like 3 months or so. I've also realised that after this week, I think it'll be the longest amount of time I've ever not seen the parents for... Uni had hols like every 3 months or so, and whenever I've gone off I always seem to come back after 3 months. And I usually speak to mother on the phone regularly. I intend to buy a small laptop at some point and then I'll skype home. And anyone else who wants to be skyped. Within reason.
Sweetie time.
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