Calcutta

Like Chennai, Calcutta is just a transit point for me rather than a destination I was really excited about, even thought it is one of the worlds largest cities. But I do have a few cool things to seek out and keep me busy while I am here waiting for visas. This is the India Coffee Workers Co-Operative Society Coffee House, it was a former meeting place for Calcutta's Communists. Socialists and Communists are still quite active in Calcutta, but this coffee house is now just a cool place to hang out.






There are two hotels I wanted to try in Calcutta, both just off Sudder Street which is the backpackers ghetto. They are very popular and it's hard to get a room unless you show up when other people are checking out. The Paragon has the nice Communist flags on the outside and I think might be run by Shia Muslims. It's nice for meeting other travellers, and after meeting absolutely no one in Sri Lanka this place is like heaven. The Modern Lodge is another place I saw on TV. It took me three days to get a room here so now I'm actually booked into both hotels at the same time (at $6 a night what difference does it make?) So now I walk back and forth between the two to get stuff (like I said I have time to kill here :) I will pick the best one tomorrow and check out of the other one.



After only eating vegetarian on my last trip to India I ate meat for the first time here yesterday. And of course it was from a street vendor! Then in the evening I went to a restaurant and had some of this beef concoction which I felt really good about because they hadn't even finished cooking it when I showed up. It was piping hot and delicious. I'm still on my feet today so I guess they were both clean too.

SpiceJet!

Chennai to Calcutta