Hi all.

Yes another blog already! Thought id write one today as i dont know when we will next have time.

We arrived safely in Calcutta last wednesday but it was a long process. First off, the whole of West Bengal was on strike (apart from planes). We arranged with the hotel for a taxi to collect us at 6:30am to take us to the airport, however at 4:30am there was a knock on our room door saying the taxi driver would not drive after 6am and we had to leave now! Now! we had only just woken up! We comprimised by leaving at 5:30am and had a rather scary and very fast drive to the airport. I actually felt glad that we had made it in one piece! Unfortunatly i had forgotten to take my malaria tablet with food and spent the next hour and a bit in the ladies feeling like i was about to be sick. A lovely indian lady (who happened to have been studying in Coventry, UK for 4 months during which she was really very homesick, and had only got back to India 3 weeks earlier) sat with me for a little while chatting. After several hours it was finally time to board our plane and after a 50minute flight we arrived in Calcutta to rain. I didnt expect that as the bbc weather had predicted clear sunshine and temperatures of 34C for the whole week. Not that it mattered tho, as due to the strike only a handful of taxis were running. We eventually got a pre-paid taxi after 3 hours queueing along with an American girl called Candy. She was VERY talkative.

Arrived at the hotel only to discover our room had several rather unwelcome guests i.e. very large cockroaches. Needless to say we hastened to swap hotels and now find ourselves in a rather posh, clean, and thankfully coackroach-free hotal for only another Rs150 a night between us. Bargin!

We aimed to spend a morning arranging flights and a sunderbans trip, but this being India (and not to mention our Lonely Planet map not being to scale and rather confusing) it took us the best part of a day and a lost temper on my part. Mind you, if you were waiting for over an hour just to be seen to arrange your sunderbans trip and then you had to visit another desk to arrange your permit where you needed help from the man 'supposedly' serving you to complete the form but he instead insisted on answering every phone in the place and ignoring you, i think you too may get a bit annoyed. Luckily he stopped and helped us once i had raised my voice enough for the whole office to hear me! With that finally arranged we managed to book onward flights from Calcutta to Chennai (7th Nov) and Chennai to Trivandrum (17th Nov).

In the evening we went for a belated (finally a word i know the meaning of that jon doesnt - yay!) birthday meal for Jon to a restaurant owned by Sourav Ganguly; ex-indian cricket captain. Food was good but rather expensive at 15 uk pounds for two 3-course meals!! Most of our meals cost less then 5pounds between us!!

On friday we visited the India museum which was quite interesting in parts although i bored easily at other rooms such as the fossil room where everything looked just like lumps of stone to me as i couldnt actually see any of the fossils in them! but the zoology room was great with elephant and whale skeletons and a small selection of pickledfetuses of abnormal goats (one with 8 legs), a cat with one head and 2 bodies, and a human baby with a third leg! There was also a room about the different minority tribes in India which i really enjoyed.

Saturday and Sunday we spent on board a boat in the Sunderbans, which is the largest mangrove forest in the world. It was brilliant! So peaceful and relaxing and a much needed break from the chaos of indian cities. Met some really interesting people on board. There was a lady who works for Doctors Without Borders (an medical aid group), an Australian lecturer from Melborne who seems to have visited every country in the world, an Engligh guy from Linconshire who as been travelling around asia since July, and a German lady who has been living in Bangalore for 3months. They were all lovely and really helped to make the trip enjoyable. During the trip we stopped off at 3 different watch towers, but unfortunatly we didnt see any tigers. We did however see several different birds, some spotted dear, a few fish, and hundreds upon hundreds of mangrove trees! Jon and i shared a small ensuite cabin with three friendly but very quiet Indians. And we had some very good indian food of which we could eat as much as we wanted - a fact i made full use of! All in all i would definatly reccomend that anyone heading to Calcutta visit the West Bengal tourist office and book a sunderban trip.

Today, we had a rather lazy morning and after eventually reaching the Victoria Memorial and St Pauls Cathederal only to realise that the VM is shut on a monday and the cathederal shut between 12 noon and 3m. It was 12 noon at the time. So instead we visited a shopping centre which had caught our attention as the only shops there were Next, Body Shop, Sports World, and Marks & Spensers!! Even worse they were all selling at english prices! no wonder i only saw 3 other shoppers in there.

Well anyway that brings you up to now which is us sittting in an internet cafe writting this to you. I would have also added some photos except that i forgot to bring the connecting cable so you will have to wait a bit longer. I hope you are all well and having a great time doing whatever you are doing,

Fran xxx