sevistravel: arrived in kolkata

yesterday in the evening i arrived in kolkata - the journey was really long!
i was in the first train from 2:30 pm till 5 am, 5 hours waiting in hyderabad, and then another 31 hours in the train! so it was 46 hours in the train!!! the trains here, at least 2nd class sleeper looks like this:

3 people can sit here, the back can be put up - and 3 people can sleep

view from my bed - no wander i couldnt sleep so well!

"my" train

the toilets are disgusting - more disgusting the longer the travel is

guys serving food

in the train you get food from the train stuff, but also an every station people enter the train and sell everything from coffe/chai, fruits, nuts, chocolate, cookies, samosa and other spicy indian food, chains to lock your luggage, things to warm your ears...and lots of other stuff! also many people come to beg, and do that in different styles! some "just beg", smaller children clean the floor and ask for rupees, some sing or make music, and then there are many shemales...they clap in their hands and want money! and since nobody wants to have too much contact with them i think they are the most successful beggars in the trains!! because they leave you alone if you give a few rupees...!

in a train station

small family...in india...HAHA

i think we passed australia!


its dirty everywhere...

in the trains there are no dust bins and people throw everything out of the window. and encourage you (me) to do the same...and think its quite strange if you dont do that!! they throw their rubbish out of the window even in trainstations!! two guys were sitting opposit of me, eating, packing all the left overs into an old newspaper...and went to the other window to throw it out because the train was stopping at a station and they could not throw it out of their window!! very strange...but i heard that they are still so much used to throw everything out because not long ago they were all eating from banana leaves, and thats of course no problem to throw out... dont know if it is true, but it makes me understand better!!

entering kolkata

more and more people

i arrived in kolkata (the name was rechanged a few years ago, since calcutta was the name given by the british...and thats reason enough to change it!) and found quite a nice place to stay! today i just walked a bit around, and everywhere you still see the influence of the brits! also these cars (taxis) were produced in the uk. when they stopped producing them india bought the whole production line...and is still producing them! same for example with royal enfield (motorbike). and many buildings also have the british touch, as in delhi and mumbai! some pictures of my first day in kolkata...