INDIA!!!!

28/02/2010

I met some Canadians when having a drink yesterday, one of which owned an internet café on Lampootree where he said I could use the internet there for free, and so I did. I needed to get some info on Kalkata before I arrived there and as always check my facebook, im sure Liberty is going to de-friend me at some point but whatever.

Anyway I caught the bus to the airport where I met a Mexican guy named Victor, he also was headed to kalkata and he had some sound advice on where to go and what to see. I was waiting at the check in desk where a girl tugged my arm, it was Kashka (a Polish girl I met in Ton Sai), she also was boarding the same flight. The three of us wondered around the airport and waited in the lengthy line at the border control, no wonder they say be there 3 hours before your flight. Kashka had a bit of difficulty with her visa as for as I could as she was in front and was taken away by some officials. As I eventually passed the passport control I found out Kashka had muffed up her visa dates, overstaying her visa by 24 days, as I mentioned recently the fine for over staying your visa for one is 500 baht, 12000 baht!!!! ($400)… she had a little difficulty scrounging the funds I helped her out giving her 5000 baht and Victor 1000, she held together incredibly well but if I was in this situation I would be in tears, balling my eyes out… but that’s me.

Anyways she was unbelievably grateful for our generosity and to get out of Thailand before the fine increased. We shared a few jokes about her and I getting married because of the money (long story), waited a while and boarded the plane.

The plane was roasting, the weather outside was suppose to be 42 degrees and inside the plane even hotter… it was ridiculous but nothing the staff could do, thankfully when the flight eventually took off the plane cooled dramatically to a point where it was freezing, this is how you get ill.

I was also starving when we boarded but unexpectedly whilst in the air the flight attendants provided us with a samosa, sandwich, cake, tea and coffee… always happy to get free food, but as always I managed to get my greedy hands on another samosa by sweet talking the flight attendants.

We arrived in Kalkata at sun down where the three of us got into a taxi and headed to the main backpacker area called Sudder Street, along the way I saw the place was a pig sty, rubbish everywhere but according to the others kalkata is a much cleaner city than all the others… I suppose im in for a bit of a treat.

We finally managed to find a guesthouse where Kashka and I shared a room for Rs 250 ($6) and Victor was staying with a friend he knew in the city. We went out for a bit of a wonder and found a cheap place to eat, the price of the currys, rice and chiattis for all 3 of us had came to Rs 70 just under $2… Im going to like it here, its so cheap.

We were all tired and headed for bed… I wanted to fill in this journal but my laptop power cord had been damaged and I needed to fix it. Using just tools that I had with me including my serrated 8 inch kitchen knife I managed to solder the wires and fix them in place with duct tape Wilam had given me back in Bangkok, how resourceful.