Greetings from Calcutta

Yesterday marks the official ending of Sandeep's wedding after 4 long exhaustive days of rituals and ceremony.

So Duc and I took the long haul train from Sandeep's hometown (Daltonganj) to Calcutta.
We got onto the train at 2pm and arrived in Calcutta at 4:30am! The ride wasn't too bad. Duc and I talked about really funny stuff as well as personal things in the carriage along with around 10 Indian men who kept on staring at us strangely. We just acted as if they weren't there. Anyhow, I managed to sleep in the a/c carriage too and by the time I woke up, we had landed!

This morning, Duc and I went our separate ways. She went straight to the airport while I went to find a medium-tier budget hotel in the heart of CBD.

After walking down Sudder St for about 1/2hr at 5am this morning, I managed to settle in at Lytton Hotel which costs about $35AUD per night (although I'm not really staying the night only until 8pm tonight).

After breakfast at the hotel, I jetted for my adventurous discovery of Calcutta the city. I must say, this city is very clean compared to the rest. The architecture reminds me of Europe predominantly due to its past history of having being ruled by the Brits at one time.

While I was at Victoria Memorial snapping away my pics, there was this guy who approached me. He was jogging and stopped to say his greetings and like always asked me what my name was, where from etc.

He was very friendly. His name is Rehan and he is basically his own businessman by day and then a DJ by night. He is actually a famous DJ in India for 93.5FM playing Love Songs and dedications. He told me to listen to the channel from 9-midnight tonight as he will dedicate one song for me! hahahah! we've exchanged contact details (among with another 10 'aquaintances' I met while touring).

I've bought so many bags for all of my g/fs at home. The bargain of the day has to be this purse bag that I bought for only 20rps which works out to me around 50cents! I bought 4 and wanted more but I seriously can not fit any more things in my luggage.

Anyways, tonight I will make my way to Kolkatta airport aka Num Num, where I will fly to Singapore at 11:50pm schedule to arrive at 6am. From there I will make my way to P&G Singapore to meet with the Marketing guys. Gosh I hope I will be bright enough to hold intellegent business conversations as my mind has been on a holiday mode since 2wks ago (yet it has felt like I've been in India for months!)

I never thought I'd say this... but I am so going to miss India. Not so much for the food nor the culture, nor the stunning architectures but mainly for the people and friends I've met along the way that have been such genuine, friendly and caring hosts!

Farewell India....