A day in Kolkata

Five months of traveling and we are still in for an adventure. We flew form Bangkok to Kolkata, India and everything went really smoothly. We arrived late at night so we simply checked in to our hostel and called it a night. Excited to be here we headed out into Kolkata and walked through Maidan park towards the Victoria Memorial. Maiden park is a big park near our hostel and is filled with tones of people playing cricket. As we walked through we got the sense that no body works in India because everyone is out playing cricket or sitting and watching, Kolkatans take their cricket very seriously:)

Suggested by our Indian friend Aveek whom we meet in Mexico, we went to the Victoria Memorial. This famous building which is a cross between Buckingham Palace and the Taj Majal is Kolkatas reminder of once being the British Raj capital. The VM is now a museum that holds British war memorabilia as well as displays a timeline that chronicles the city's history. Unfamiliar with Kolkata's history especially the British influence we were thrilled to be able to walk through the VM and read up on Kolkata. After our visit through the VM we strolled the streets and popped in to a few places. Fist we attempted to visit St. Paul's Cathedral but were unable to get in, not sure why. From there we visited St Joseph's Home for the Aged where we were given a tour by one of the sisters. St. Joseph's is a home to roughly 150 elderly individuals whom are poor and need a place to live. After our tour we stayed and chatted with some of them and it turned out to be a real treat. Relaxing and soaking up the warm weather out in the courtyard were two elderly men who spoke perfect English. Excited to see us they asked us all kinds of questions and provided us with some Kolkata street smarts. After about a half an hour we said good bye and proceeded to walk towards the Mother House to arrange some volunteering. The Mother House which was once run by Mother Teresa is an organization that cares for the destitute and dying. Upon our arrival we were told by one of the sisters to return the next day at three for orientation. We said thanks and left with the anticipation of returning the next day. Well as usual most everything we plan never ends up going according to plan.

During our walk home from the Mother House we meet these two guys from NY who were in search of a place to stay. I suggested Sudder St. because it is filled with hostels and was the street we were staying on. Unsure of how to explain how to get there, Brendon invited us in his and John's rickshaw and asked us if we would ride along and help them get to Sudder St. Well it turns out Brendon and John were on this rickshaw run and had driven up from Pondicherry which is in the south of India and were headed to Shillong in the NE. They had signed up with the adventurists.com and were raising money for Mercy Core by participating in this rickshaw run. Since there plan was to head north up to Darjeeling they invited us to come along. Our original plan was to stay in Kolkata for a week and then head up to Darjeeling but since we meet them we thought why not join along for the fun.