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Anybody that thinks New York City is dirty and crowded would absolutely hate Kolkata with a passion. In fact, you would easily hate any major Indian city. My pictures do not do major cities justice, nor any part of our Indian travel experience for that matter.

There is lots more to read below the pictures here, just click the link.

Check out my recent flickr set for more of my pictures: India set #2

Highlights below with captions for each:

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Kolkata has about 15 million people. Walking down the street is a constant assault of your senses. There are unsurprisingly horns honking constantly. There are also people constantly approaching you and asking you for one of a few things: they want you to take a ride in their taxi/tuk-tuk/rickshaw, they want you to buy wares, they want you to stay in their guesthouse, or they want you to buy drugs. A quick “no thanks” and quickly walking ahead will usually suffice. If you stay in the same spot you will likely continue to get badgered.

Beggers are also all over the place, especially in train stations and every time your train stops somewhere. Often times they look horrendously poor or have a disability. In one train station we witnessed a handicapped person who couldn’t use their legs dragging their body along the ground with their arms to try and catch a train that was leaving. The beggers spend an especially long time trying to get money from us specifically because we are Western. One we denied yelled something nasty at us and drew considerable attention from those around us on the train.

There are also a number of sights that if you saw them in a city in America you would be surprised. Here they seem pretty standard. The sidewalks are often completely destroyed or sometimes non-existent. Yesterday we had to walk into the middle of the road around the sidewalk because if had been replaced by large piles of trash that people were sorting through. Knocked down trees that have destroyed fences or blocked the path are common. People old and young are often found laying on the streets in an incredibly sad and pathetic fashion. Yesterday we also walked right beside a dead dog on the street that was swarming with flies and almost stepped on a couple dead mice/rats.

There are animals all over the place. In all parts of India nasty dogs and sometimes cats are common. I’ve posted some pictures of people driving buffalo down crowded Mumbai streets and a goat standing on a car. In Hampi or rural cities it escalates. Cows, buffalo, goats, monkies all over. The list of animals we’ve seen also includes sheep, a giant crab, and cobras (being tamed by a snake charmer).

The smells are pretty intense as well. The animals unsurprisingly leave behind waste that is pretty nasty. I feel like I’ve pretty much just gotten used to the smells as it smells like a gross public bathroom most of the time. On the street right beside this internet cafe are 2 “urinals” on the street that consist simply of small walls extending off the side of the building. I say “urinals” because in actuality there is no porcelain or plumbing to carry your urine into a sewer it simply ends up flowing down the side of the street and smelling particularly awful.

I’ve posted some pictures about the trash but never really described it. There doesn’t appear to be much money for waste disposal, if any at all. In most places you are just expected to throw your trash into the street or wherever you find convenient. An experience I had in Hampi pretty much sums it up: On the way to the Mango Tree Restaurant, one of the best in Hampi, we were walking down a nice scenic path that was lined with banana trees. A man was walking towards us drinking a 1 liter bottle of water. He finished it and nonchalantly chucked it to the side into the banana tree forest. Right in front of us with no shame. Wouldn’t you at least throw your trash someplace less scenic? Not the banana tree forest on the way to the restaurant you likely just ate at? This country is pretty nuts. On trains everybody throws their trash out the windows so it gets pretty ridiculous near the tracks.

We just had a couple days of train riding, including one all day train that reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit for an uncomfortably large portion of it. 110 degrees made the 95 degrees that it usually is seem like an icy gift from Heaven. Our train from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata was canceled so we ended up in an even lower class that what we had been taking, sleeper class. We were sleeping on wooden benches all night but it wasn’t too bad considering sometimes the second class trains are completely stuffed full of people which I was scared of.

Tonight we ride an overnight train to Gaya, the city where Buddha achieved enlightenment. From there we go to Varanasi, the city where Indians go to die because they believe they will achieve enlightenment. Then its onwards to Nepal where we plan to do the Annapurna circuit, a beautiful 20ish day hike through the Himalayas. There are small villages along the way that have guesthouses that we will be sleeping in, not a tent.

This post sounded fairly negative with talks of nasty cities and trash but honestly there are a lot of really amazing things here if you are willing to put up with the discomfort. I’ve generally enjoyed the train rides a lot except when it got to 110 degrees. Going up to the top of the mountain in Hampi for the sunset was one of my favorite experiences so far and certainly one of the most beautiful and interesting places I’ve ever been in my life. I have high expectations for our trek through Nepal as well and I do not believe I will be disappointed. I’m also excited about going up to Himachal Pradesh for the Dalai Lama’s birthday (July 6th) and then coming down through Rajastan for 10 days or so before we head home. Rajastan has been described as Alladin. You can even Camel trek through the desert. Nice!
Check out Chris’ blog for more details and his pictures here: http://hongkongchris.wordpress.com/