India 18 & 19: "Our Calcutta from another motha"

India 18 & 19: "Our Calcutta from another motha"

Yesterday was a lazy day. Ben and I relaxed at our hotel for most of the morning. The only way out of these mountains is via a shared jeep (12 people)

and Ben and I had sat in the miserable backseat for too long, so this trip we claimed the front seat. The only problem was that Ben had to straddle the gear shift.

This meant that everytime we shifted into 2nd or 4th Ben got a little 'helping hand' (I think he REALLY enjoyed our 3 hour trip down the mountain). We then raced to the train station to find out that  our tickets weren't valid. Ugh! So we cross the city to the bus station and book an A/C sleeper bus instead. Whew! 

Well, a relative 'whew', it was a 15 hour ordeal that involved Ben and I sharing a 3' wide sleeper mattress

in the cramped upper segment of the bus. It was a restless night, imagine tryin to sleep inside a pinball at the national pinball competition during an earthquake. Side to side, sudden and hard stops, accelerating (most likely 2 wheeled) turns around unseen obstecles, all miserable but the worst were the bumps, sometimes sending us a full foot into the air before slamming down again on the not-so-soft mat. Every time it happened, though our sleepless hysteria, we couldn't help but laugh. They were tight quarters, Ben and I avoiding spooning at all costs and missing our partners back at home with every waking moment. Just when we thought our bladders would burst and after the 3rd late hour we arrived in Calcutta. Exhausted and hot we barely managed enough energy to get to the hotel to crash. Then we woke up I time for our nicest Indian dinner yet. Only 1 day left in this trip. If anyone needs anything from India let us know now!