Andamans and Calcutta

It took me about 6 hours over three days, but I have finally posted some photos up!

We have been in Calcutta for the past 4 days. I was a bit nervous going from the Andaman Islands where it was super relaxed to the craziness of Calcutta, but I have surprisingly enjoyed my stay here! First off, the street food is so good! The streets are lined with street stalls selling every kind of Indian food you can think of. I have particularly the paneer rolls, grilled veg and egg sandwiches, and the fresh mango juice. Oh and of course the endless cups of chai served in clay pots which you conveniently throw away on the street after. We were lucky enough to find a really nice, clean guest house which we have found out we got a stellar deal on! Calcutta is much like you would imagine it, dirty, poverty-stricken and bustling with people, cars, pull-rickshaws and of course dogs, goats, cows and chickens. However, there are the richer parts of town where there are fancy malls, brand-name western stores and expensive gated communities.

We ended up spending almost three weeks on the Andaman Islands. I had an amazing time on them and was very sad when the day came to leave. It was like having a vacation from a vacation, so I really couldn’t complain about leaving when I did not have to return to work or to school, but just to more traveling!

It was so nice to have Carly come and stay with us as well! The two of us ended up spending my last few days on a smaller, less touristy island, Neil Island. There, we rented bikes and discovered the island and its beaches everyday. I also spent a day scuba diving! My two dives were definitely the best two dives of my life! So many colourful fish, coral reefs, stingrays, and all in crystal clear, blue, warm water!

One day on Havelock Island was the festival called “Holi”. Holi is a celebration of happiness and colour. They celebrate by throwing large amounts of brightly-coloured dry and wet paint around, and particularly by rubbing the paint all over your face! As soon as we walked out of our guest house, we were bombarded with paint thrown mostly by children, young men but also a few women and older men. While they smoother paint on your face and body, they yell “Happy Holi” and often give you some sweets. The celebrations intensified as we got closer to the market! It was a pretty unreal experience, but after getting a handful of paint in my eyes followed by another handful of paint in my mouth, I was ready to go home to shower! (Unfortunately the yellow paint was very difficult to get off my skin, and for 2 days I had a yellow face! I was commented to look like Lisa Simpson, have Jaundice, and/or Hepatitis….)

Tonight we are taking an overnight train en-route to either Darjeeling or somewhere in the northern state of Sikkim (we have yet to decide where we are going to go next). I am getting pretty excited to escape the heat and humidity and start making our way to the Himalayas!