Hello everyone...
we made it to India, Kolkata....a very bustling, loud, noisy, full amazing city. It has been a real re-dipping into India.
At the airport we got into a taxi that 2 men pushed to start...and then we realized that the car had no first gear...which meant he wasn't too keen to stop at the red lights. It was WILD...We stayed here for 2 days (didn't find an email place...they are rarer than we had thought) and then went to a tiger reserve, Sunderban, south of Kolkata about 3 hours by car...another wild drive. The roads are so full of people, bicycles wagons, cars, animals, buses it's always a matter of dodging. People seem to walk out into the road without looking to see if a car is coming.
We saw several egrets...a few spotted deer...several flying green parakeets, 2 kingfishers...and LOTS of mangroves as we wound our way through the waterways on a loud motorboat with an open deck. NO TIGERS...in fact they are quite rare...and there is a HUGE area (several thousand hectares) that is off limits to the public where they can roam...why would they venture to a tiger camp where there are lots of people????? It was sort of funny. The camp had the the visit of the finance minister (or perhaps his assistants?) while we were there....miraculously, while we were all exploring on river boats along interminable waterways they saw a tiger for 1/2 hour "back at the camp". Was that to support the plea for their financial needs?....We discovered today, back in Kolkata, in the daily paper at the corner tea room, that the figure of 3000 tigers was a mistake due to inefficient counting and they now realize that there are only 1000 in ALL of India...so.... they've decided to build 9 more tiger camps for tourism!!!! We were obvioulsy not the only ones to fall for a tiger sighting, as it seems to be a la mode.
We are also being dipped in the cultural bath of "how to get money out of travellers"...It's a constant art of wrangling. Everything seems to start out well and then go sour as suddenly they need twice the price for some reason...It is really to a point of having to laugh and relax while you're deciding how much you can take. It ends up being a matter of moods really.
I'm not going to do the blog during the trip as I don't feel ready to deal with one more unknown for a while!!! and the photos aren't on the "key" yet...
I think we're headed north soon...maybe to Darjeeling? Then to Nepal????
Love to all,
Jeffy and Pepo
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