ahhh, going back so many days now, where to begin...

ah yes, the train ride from varanasi. well it was an ordinary train ride, sleeping in the little blue fold down beds stacked 3 high per side, until i woke in the middle of the night to screaming, glass smashing and 3 small indian women sharing my bed with me (which is already too small for any normal western person, so you can only imagine how annoyed i when i discovered both legs had gone numb from the weight). everyone was silent as the screaming and smashing was going on from outside. appartenly, we later found out that the train had stopped at a major station and because the train was already so full, the ppl inside the train locked the doors so no one else could get in. this sparked rage and for the first time in india i was genuinely scared. the people taking up every tiny inch of space in the train aisles and on my bed were just scragglers - people who hadnt paid to get on, who were just on for the free ride. it happens alot. but its hard to control with the huge numbers of people doing it. anyway, after the rioting and window smashing etc we did actually get to Kolkata in one peice. lucky for paul he was on the upper berth, so no one could share his bed with him, in saying that the women only lay on my bed cos i was a woman, they didnt touch any of the mens beds. woe for being a women on a lower berth! never again :D

was so pleasantly surprised with Kolkata, or maybe i'm just getting used to india, but its so much greener and less polluted that i thought it would be. the backpacker area is so much cleaner and nicer than delhi. there are nice cheap restaurants that serve excellent food too. for the first few days we explored a bit, visited some temples and the huge park called the maidan. its so huge people actually graze their goats and horses on it, which keeps the grass short i spose. and the victoria memorial building is a little like the taj, sitting in the middle of it. not many rickshaws here, instead, yellow cabs litter the streets, and its a welcoming change to the poison fumes that the rickshaws let off. they also have human rickshaws here which i found a bit disturbing. a guy in bare feet pulls a cart with people on it, by bare foot! now that would make anyone appreciate their jobs a little i think.

after the 3rd day we decided tobookour tour to the sunderbands tiger reserve. because its xmas all the govt tours were booked so we tooka local guide called "mogli". it was just paul and i and mogs gfriend, and we made the trip to the reserve. train, walk, rickshaw, river crossing and motorbike later we finally made it to the little town deep in the forests of the sunderbands called goshaba. its one of the most beautiful peaceful, clean places i've ever seen. little dirt paths lead through the villages shaded by banana and palm trees, small families amble along with their goats in tow, ducks waddle along the pathways, rice paddies filled with workers wave as we passed, and small straw huts with perfect gardens and quaint bridges and paths every so often. the following day we headed into the reserve by boat to check out the scenery and see if we could spot a tiger or a croc or sommin. unfort we didnt spot a tiger, but we did spot a HUGE croc, deer, wild boar, some pretty birds and we did see some tiger paw prints (ooo0). the whole reserve and villages are obessesd with tigers and up until recently 200 locals a year were killed by tigers, leaving behind a score of widows. most of the men killed are honey collectors who go into the jungle to collect honey and sell it for income. they pray to the forests gods before they go in and wear a mask on the back of their heads (apparently tigers dont attack people who are watching them?). we met a few men in the village who had been attacked or knew someone who had been attacked. there are scores of stories about sightings, tigers coming into the villages and all this sort of stuff. the tigers are so rare (only 270 inthe reserve left) that theres a huge conservation programme going on. even if a tiger does wander into the village you're not allowed to kill it. its almost rather let it kill you than the other way around. anyway! the tour was good and we made our way through the mangrove forests and ate food on the boat. the following day it was back to kolkata, and as we drew away on our platform rickshaw the whole village gathered to say goodbye to use and we waved until they were out of site. it was touching. so poor and such simple lives, yet they're all so happy and so nice.

when we got back to kolkata we took a recommendation for a hotel from some english guys we met at sunderbands, and the room was 1000 times better than our last one. the standard of rooms in kolkata is LOW. and i mean crusty. so we were releived to find ahalf decent one. and what do you know, the english guys were staying next door so we've been hanging out with them a bit, having dinner and the likes. both of them are older guys and they've both been to india more than half a dozen times each, so they're a wealth of knowledge and convo is interesting. tony is going off on his own today and kev is staying on in kolkata for xmas. i invited him to spend xmas with us as he was on his own, and the more the merrier. speaking of which xmas is pretty big over here surprisingly. some of the decorations are pretty extravagant (albiet a bit cheesy), but theres xmas stuff everywhere and the local markets even sell fresh xmas cakes, so might have to grab one of those. an english run hotel down the road is putting on a xmas dinner with carols and a conjuror(?), so we will probably do that. our tour guide fromthe sunderbands insisted we had an indian xmas with him, partying and drinking (indian style), but we prob wont do that. he said hed pop into the hotel to tell us what the haps was, but havent seen him yet and its xmas eve.

other than that, we are both well and still enjoying the trip more than ever. we've spent heaps of time in kolkata so will start heading down the coast on boxing day. we meet pauls dad in chennai on the 12th jan, so we're both looking forward to that.

a final merry xmas and new years to everyone.

jules xox