Color, color everywhere. The Holi Festival took place today and, as promised, it was a rambunctious display of drumming, dancing and color powder smearing. We’re taking the train north today from Kolkata, so we’re missing most of it, but what we did see (and be apart of) was a whole bunch of fun. [...]
OK, OK – I know. I’m obsessed. But really, when you buy a pair of pants like this and you’re seriously going to wear them, someone needs to point out that they’re absolutely awful. In the name of all things fashion – I bought a pair of diaper pants today. Not because I’ve had [...]
As a part of our ongoing quest to secure a special permit for visiting Arunachal Pradesh, we recently acquired a couple of application forms from the proper authorities. It took me a bit to figure out what it was that made them feel unusual and strange. They have been manually typed by a typist – [...]
When you have masses of people jammed together in a mega city (Kolkata is home to 15 million people), many of whom are looking for work, there is always someone who will do something for compensation. Take Nils’, our travel buddy at the moment, story about buying a card for his cell phone. The price [...]
“I’ll have a venti, one splenda, non-fat, no foam chai latte, please.” Yes, this used to be something I said out load – to people, no less. Starbucks may have been my introduction to chai, but India and Nepal have been my education in it. Here whole milk is combined with tea and spices. A [...]
Rumor has it that we’ve arrived in Kolkata just in time for the Holi festival. It hasn’t happened yet and we’ve been told it’s taking place on three different days from three different people. Our hopes are set for tomorrow, since we’re departing in the afternoon and really want to be apart of something as [...]
While meandering through the BBD Bagh area today, we happened to stumble upon a curious sight: Kolkata’s Chinatown. Today, hardly any ethnic Chinese live in Kolkata. Those who did – mostly merchant families brought there by the Brits in order to stimulate trade – moved to Vancouver, London and the US a long time ago. [...]
Kolkata is perhaps better known under its old name – Calcutta: a name that evokes images of poverty, beggars, Mother Theresa and vast overpopulated slums. After a couple of days here, I have to say that our experiences of the city are far different. In contrast to other Indian cities, we’ve found Kolkata to be [...]
The Indian Museum in Kolkata is a glorious throwback to what museums used to be like. It has everything from intact whale skeletons to Egyptian mummies and Naga crossbows. The taxidermied animal section is especially freaky-looking, with a moth-eaten Polar Bear that has turned brown with age, a Tiger so amateurishly stuffed that he looks [...]
We’re foodies. There – I said it. We can’t stop ourselves from talking about the food we eat on this trip. An observant person might say that when you’re unemployed, mealtime is the main focus of the day. And, yeah, I’d have to agree. We eat our breakfasts talking about what we plan to eat [...]
Kolkata is the last place on earth that you kind find these things – the human-powered rickshaw. It’s a licensed job, but a dying one; it’s rumored that no new tana licenses have been issued for years. Would we ride one? Absolutely not. We’ve ridden bicycle rickshaws on this trip and walked away from the [...]
We’ve returned to India, which for us means many things. We’re eating food we love. We’re mixing with the mass of Indian humanity. We’re growing our facial hair. Wait, what? OK – I’m not actively growing any facial hair – but Martin hasn’t trimmed his for a month (as you can see in the photo [...]
Southeast Asia and beer drinking are synonymous to me. A few beers after a long hot day of sightseeing almost always feels justified. Since we happened to spend a lot of this trip in SE Asia, well, you can imagine how many beers this girl has consumed. With that in mind, I’ve decided that with [...]
You know the saying, “to fly by the seat of your pants?” Well, that's been our philosophy for most of our adult lives – before and after meeting, falling in love and marrying. We're now taking that idea on an extended round-the-world trip. Follow us as we share the good, the bad and the downright nasty of life on the road.
