Coffee, Chai, and Chillin' in Kolkata

We've been in Kolkata, India (Calcutta, old spelling) for a few days. It's a little like New York, crowded, exciting, and with yellow taxis everywhere. Enjoying the city despite the fact that we're not doing much sightseeing, more shopping and AC hunting. You can pick up a cup of Chai tea here from a street vendor for 2 or 3 rupees which is about 5 cents. Today we tried juice that I swear is made from bamboo; really good in the heat. And a koti roll which is like roti French toast with veggies and paneer inside... Overall, the food has been quite tasty though pricier, 4 bucks for dinner instead of 2. The weather is really hot... Today it was about 40 degrees Celcius, or a bit over 100 Fahrenheit. Our hotel does not have AC so sleeping is a little bit of a challenge.

The big news is that Emilie finally uttered the words I've been waiting to hear for nearly 6 years: "Yeah, I could go for Dominos Pizza in Kolkata." Great! Perhaps tonight is the night, or maybe tomorrow... Believe it or not, the Dominos Pizza here is on Russell St. We're taking the overnight train to Varanasi tomorrow night, so there's not much time left!

I had my first auto-rickshaw (surprisingly detailed Wikipedia article) ride on the way to the airport in Bagdogra, near Darjeeling. Basically, an auto-rickshaw is a mash-up of a motorcycle, golf cart, lawn mower, taxi, and tin can. The steering wheel is really a handle bar and there is only one front wheel. Behind the driver seat up front there is a bench which the passengers ride. The advantage of a rickshaw versus a taxi is that you can weave through pretty much all oncoming traffic or just drive on the sidewalk and they are cheaper. The disadvantage is that should you run into said traffic... Unfortunately, the auto-rickshaws in Kolkata can only go around in small neighborhood areas. Since the city is pretty big (over 14 million here), we have to take a taxi pretty much everywhere. Too bad!

I left my camera battery charger and an extra battery in Darjeeling... There don't seem to be any chargers available here for my model, and I'm doubting they'll have them in Varanasi either. Perhaps when we get to Mumbai...