Yesterday was a bit of a touring around day. I changed hotels in the morning then met Laura and friends Mark and Harry to head to Baland. Baland (I'm sure I will have spelled it wrong) is an hour train ride from Kolkata and is a little village on the river. The train takes you through a bunch of villages, rice fields and banana plantations. The Indian train system is a bit of an experience so was very helpful to have a couple local people with us even though Laura has been here numerous times and know the system, for me it would have been a bit confusing!! Thank you Alysha for recommending I wait until I've been here for a little while before jumping on the trains here!
Baland is a quiet village with no taxi's or rushing vehicles ect. On the train we met a man who decided he wanted to tag along with us. We were heading to the Basilica (church) so he jumped in the motor rickshaw with us and kept showing up or waiting for us everywhere we went. He was pretty taken with Laura and I not being Indian. Somehow we finally managed to loose him as he was a little bit pushy.
Anyhow, the church was really nice and has a school/orphanage attached to it. After leaving the church we grabbed some lunch and headed for a boat ride across the river to see an old palace there (built in 1841). Aside from the mosquitos/bugs the boat ride was nice and relaxing. On the way across the river we saw a huge fish of sorts (similar to a sturgeon maybe?)!
The palace was beautiful and very relaxing. It is a muslim holy place and for different muslim festivals 100's of people will go there apparently.
By the time we got back to Baland and had some chai tea, I was starting to get really tired (still a bit jet lagged). So, combining being tired, on a crowded train, in heavy, humid heat, combined with the smells of burning garbage, incense, sweat, body odours, urine, and manure (the everyday smells here) it made for not feeling to hot on the train ride back to Kolkata! Thankfully I was able to have a bit of a power nap, despite the noise and josteling of the train and felt back to normal by the time we got into Kolkata!
All in all it was a nice relaxing day. Nice to get out of the constant rush and noise of the city.
In the evening we met up with a couple of ladies (whom Laura knows from previous trips) who come from outlying villages to work doing henna ect to try and make money to feed their families and keep their kids in school. One of the children needs to have an appendectomy but they need 6000 Rs to do the surgery (approx. $110 which is ALOT of money here). Hopefully she is able to get the money needed. They have an appointment with the Dr today so will see later what he has to say.
Today is a chill day. Am going to head to the Sister's of Charity (Mother Theresa mission) this afternoon to sign up to volunteer for the next week or so!!