Kolkata at a glace...

These elaborate wooden shrines are built in a day in the middle of the street and torn down immediately after the festival.

For 50,000 rupeeees... it's Jamal Malik the chaiwalla from Mumbai!

Preshies. One the right is my favorite.

Off to the river folks...

DURGA DURGA DURGA! JAI HO!

Tens of thousands of Durga (the ten armed Goddess) were thrown in the Holy Hoogly (ganga) river after 5 days of veneration.

autorickshaw

The only place left in India that allows hand pulled rickshawallas.

Three of the most awesome women in the world!

One of the 120 minutes a day we spent washing washing washing...

At Prem Dan which means "God's Gift"

At the famous Kolkata Flower Market under the Howrath bridge. This place was teaming with life, and smells (mostly the smell of rotten flowers decomposing on the road, not the smell I was quite expecting but it's India.)

We were given so many free flowers we couldn't carry them all so we gave them to this cute bunch of children on the way out.

Small children who live in modest huts near the river, we gave them out flowers. Here they kept running up to me an touching my hair and laughing and running away. I guess they have never touched blonde hair before because then they started trying to pull it out and examine it. OUCH!

Hannah, Anna and I bought 25 mango ice creams for 5 rupees each, maybe my best purchase yet in India.

Soda with extract of rose. yummmm

Victoria Memorial. Hail to the empress of India who never set foot here. It was very beautiful and calm for Kolkata I will give it that. It also seemed to be the place for middle class young India couples to find a tree and hanky panky.

This is an expensive picture. We wanted to see the sunset be didn't have time to go to the river so we ran to a rooftop restaurant then we felt obligated to buy something. I said "I will have a milkshake" before I could say chocolate the waiter informed me that they do not have milkshakes only chocolate milkshakes and strawberry milkshakes. Very confusing, but worth it for the picture.

OKAY: So today I found out that I'm going to Nepal tomorrow. I think there is a very rare chance I will be able to blog at all in these next couple weeks. I'm really excited! Everyone is going home for the Diwali Festival of Lights this week except poor No'rbu (see old blog post for photos) because he lives in a really remote village in Nepal and cannot afford for go home except one every 2 years or so. So I talked to Valentino to see if it was okay if I took him. We are going to go to his village and surprise his family for the big festival. It's going be amazing with my 12 year old Nepali tour guide and the view of Mt. Everest from his front yard. Life is good. We leave tomorrow morning and the enormous smile on his face this morning when I told him is already worth the amount it will cost me to take him home. I've been very worried about money in the past and everything has turned out fine, stressing doesn't help. I don't think passing up this once in a lifetime opportunity outweighs the cost of the trip.

I'll bring Sigur Ros, some charcoal pencils, and the biography of Ghandi and I think with the untouched landscape of the Himilayan mountians in winter this will be a 'fall break' to remember,