The Black Hole

Ok arrived in Calcutta safe and sound. Wow India, it is completely nuts. Prash emailed me yesterday and said he thought we'd probably be immune to all the craziness after 5 months in Asia. I thought so too, but no way. We arrived in Calcutta yesterday arvo and still all day today we were totally overwhelmed. Sensory overload.

After about an hour in the streets it's all I can handle and have to go back to the hostel to chill in the room for a bit and regather myself. The streets are insane, people EVERYWHERE doing every conceivable thing, plus cows, goats, dogs, crows, sheep all wandering aimlessly, ancient taxis hurtling through it all honking wildly and almost wiping us (and everyone else) out. Freaky.

It was really good to see Rae when we got in and she was damned happy to see us. She'd arrived at 5am after a long overnight flight from Vancouver to London to Calcutta in a broken seat that didn't recline, on a full flight. No sleep and she got in at 5am and spent the next few hours in a daze hunting for a hotel that did not look like the infamous black hole of Calcutta. When she did find one she spent the rest of the day fighting off the kid that worked there who knocked on the door every thirty seconds begging for a kiss and finally apologising by falling to the floor and lavishly smooching her feet!

Of course we've gorged ourselves on curry at every meal so far, it's so damn tasty and cheap. Not sure how long that love-affair will last, I'm sure by next week we'll be craving anything BUT a garlic naan...