still in kolkata...

...because of many reasons. i had to wait for the visa of bangladesh, and since its not working with my internship (i am no student anymore, so instead of being able to do an internship for free i would have to pay 25 US dollars per day to work...) i can only get a 20 day visa. thats what the embassy told me yesterday. today i can collect my passport, and so i could leave to bangladesh tomorrow. BUT that would mean to leave bangladesh again on the 17th of february...and on the 17th of february will be the opening ceremony of the cricket world cup (hosted by india, sri lanka and bangladesh) in dhaka, the capital of bangladesh...and the first game will take place on the 19th, as well in dhakar! thats reason enough to stay 4 more days in india, so i will leave on tuesday, 1st of february to bangladesh - and just before i booked my flight, i will leave bangladesh on the 20th of february. i will fly to KL (kuala lumpur). and my hope is to be able to make myvisa for myanmar next monday, still in kolkata - and so i would fly from KL to yangon - capital of myanmar! at the embassy tehy said an express visa in one day is possible - and that would safe a lot of time in bangladesh if i had the visa already...i will see!

big river in kolkata...i wonder if the people get really clean in that water

howrah train station with the typical taxis

in the botanical garden - most colors from the women!

botanical garden again

this is all ONE tree...unbelievable

thats the tree

in the streets in india it often looks like this

and this

and as i said - MANY yellow taxis!

people living next to the railways

flower market

with amazing colours

it looks like this in many streets

clay cups for chai

here in kolkata you get your chai (tea) mostly in clay cups - they are produced for single use only!! after drinking the chai...

...the cups end up on the floor.

market

inside a small shop i saw this poster

and since it looked a lot like austria i had a closer look. and inside the house was a garage, in the garage was a car...and the license plate was black - the old austrian one!! i thought that was quite funny...!

a house under construction

rickshaw pullers

kolkata is, as far as i know, the only city in india (the world?!) where there are still rickshaw pullers like you see on that picture. and it is really strange to see them working...mostly old men, barefoot, running in the streets with (mostly a bit obese) customers on their rickshaw. i didnt use it because it would feel really strange for me. but you cant tell them...they simply tell you not to worry about how it is for them, because if you worry (and as a consequence dont take the rickshaw) they have no costumers and like that no money for the rent of the rickshaw or for food. so our western way of thinking (i talked to many people about it, most feel uncomfortable to take such a rickshaw) can often have the opposite as an outcome then it was planned...and that happens often in india!

another rickshaw puller

as all other big cities i saw in india, also in kolkata there are stil many places where you can see that the british used to be there... most buildings like this in the streets are in a really bad state (i think nobody in india invests money to maintain the house), but some places are just amazing!

st. pauls cathedral

victoria memorial

without words...it was inside the park of victoria memorial

its an amazing building...

...no matter...

...from which side

some guys i met in the street

again and again its interesting how things are transported

"look my shop"

it was really funny, when i tried to make this picture i first asked somebody to take my picture, but he refused (and i think he did not understand). then i asked somebody how was selling something in the street, he was happy to take the picture. so i stood there, many people waited that he can take the picture...he said it was done, but he had not taken a picture! and that happened again and again, at least five times before he finally managed to take this picture! so please enjoy it a lot...and those who know me better know how oppositional the words "sevi" and "computer" are!!

cricket is palyd everywhere

one of my favorite shops...really tiny though!

ok, have to go and get my passport from the embassy!! have a nice weekend all together...