After a brief stopover in Taipei, where we stayed at the brand new (brand new brand new) Novotel (replete with hot shower, warm bed and buffet breakfast for $15), we arrived in Delhi on the 31st at 2pm. The first nostalgic sense to be reignited was smell. India has a very particular and peculiar smell. A deadly mixture of smog, cardon dioxide, dust and human sweat.

Although we had a wait-listed ticket from Delhi to Kolata (1500kms and 17 hours) by train at 5pm that same day, we only found out at 4pm that we were given one berth between the two of us. Ollie and I have shared a double bed (twice to date), but not a single bed (let alone a single berth on a train, which measure 1.6m in length and 1m in width [generous]). So, we discussed with the official ITDC (insert acronym menaing here…) about our options, which were threefold:

1) Fly to Kolata that night for $200 (8300Rs)
2) Take a train the next morning for 24 hours and $100 (3700 Rs)
3) Fly to Kashmir and spend a week exploring the disputed state of Pakistan/India

Turns out the travel agents at the ITDC were all from Kashmir.

We decided to fly to Kolata, despite the fact that we has just arrived in Delhi and had spent money and time coming into Delhi from the airport. We caught the 8:05pm flight from Indira Gandhi airport to Kolkata. A sign from the heavans (Mt. Kalish in Hinduism) was receievd on our way to the airport. In the traffic log, a non-descript man on a motorcycle was spotted sporting a Minnesota Vikings jacket!!! (I am a committed Vikings fan) I shouted my approval and despite his obliviousness to the team’s recent losing record (3 losses from 4 games, but we are in ther playoffs), he offered to give me the jacket! I would have worn it with pride but asked him to keep it because of the cold. This even was equidistant between surreal and surriptious.

arie, an Irish traveller, whom we shared a ride into town with. The three of us arrive in the city centre at 11:15pm on NYE and checked in at the Paragon Hotel at 11:30pm. NYE was spent outside one of the few bars in Kolkata negotiating the prospect of standing up (only seated patrons were allowed). Consequently we were caught between dry land and the endless sea, much like Kevin Costner. Although NYE was anticlimatic, our new year’s day was eventful, if not repetitive for myself, as I played tour guide to my traveling companions.

Darjeeling is the next destination: former British hill station, tera captial and site for Gorkhaland.