Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
We finally made it to INDIA! Only after a few quite exhausting days we arrived in Kolkata at about 1am. Yeah that's right Bangkok makes you arrive in their city at god awful times as well as leave at horrible times. That way ensuring you are disoriented when you arrive and then again when you leave so that the next country can take advantage of your weakness! Once we arrived we were hoping to get some money and a cab and head to our hotel. Well in a perfect world...not India that might work. After waiting in line for about forty minutes to take out some money just to be told the machine is down and that we could use the ATM just outside. So of course the minute we walk outside we are hounded with touts and there is no ATM and no way to get back into the airport. We needed to book our cab inside to make sure we got the right price. Yet, were standing outside no money no cab and a bunch of non official cab drivers eager to pounce. We had no choice but to go with one of them. We finally made it to our hotel which took about 30minutes for an actual ten minute drive and cost us 20 dollars versus the actual 4. However, once in the car driving we noticed how sketchy our situation was, the streets deserted with military set up at certain roads and our driver trying to act lost. At the end of the day we just wanted to get there safe even if it cost us an extra 16 dollars. Yet, we learned our lesson and just how careful and on the watch you need to be in this country.
Stepping into Kolkata was like stepping into another world. We had not truley experienced culture shock unitl we arrived in India. The fist couple days we spent in Kolkata we needed to just get acclimated to what was in store for us. We didnt really take in too many sights we just spent our time getting accustomed to the stares and the grabs. At one point we were even followed for about six city blocks and we know this because we walked in circles just to verify that we were being followed. It is hard to get used to all the attention and eventually we endured. It was hard for Brandon to have to deal with all the stares I was getting but getting upset about it was not worth it. Yet how do you react when someone stops you to thank you for letting them look at your wife or when a hand slyly grabs my ass in a crowd.
- comments