YEP in Kolkata, India

I guess it's about time I say that I've been really fortunate to be able to travel these many places. Thanks to my Mum, Spinworkx & Ngee Ann! Many a times either at cheap rate or free. Haha! Everyone needs to travel. Right now, I'm seriously hooked. A very expensive hobby, yes. Currently planning for more trips in the future. Currently on the list; Genting, Hong Kong Part 2, NY, Hawaii... boy, who knows. And I leave for HK next week. Ha! Really hope NS Police is going to be very forgiving on the leaves. 14 days a year... Hmmm... Got to plan well. Haha!

Right. This one has been LONG overdue. Goodness. The YEP Kolkata, India Trip. Had a long post about this one a while back. See it here. Probably the most eye-opening experience of my life. The first time where I was able to see an entire different culture and way of living than ours. So here is the pictorial view of what happened. Warning: There might be a couple photos that you might not be comfortable seeing. Well, its pretty mild, but thought I'd just say this anyway. =p

12 November - 4 December 2004

Arriving @ Changi Airport with the precious cargo of computers.	The team; made up of all sorts of people.	Ahhh... Can't complain when you travel with SQ.
Kolkata Airport	An eventful 10 minute cab ride.	Our guesthouse for the 1st few nights.
This was just next to the guesthouse... But we weren't worried *sweats*	Our first road trip out!	First glimpse @ India streets
Boy did we have fun with fireworks that night!	Flute-seller	A local temple.
A total-waste-of-time trip to the hospital. More of a promotional stint by them than us learning something useful	First restaurant we visited. Chowmin! And I left my cap here. ZzZZzz...	Ooooo... Shopping mall with cineplex! What a change.
Moving out to the church hostel.	Proggaloy	Fluffy! Am I right? I think?
Simple but pretty delicious meals served everyday, 3 meals a day.	We took a walk down to the suburb town of Barasat.	One of the most interesting ways to travel...
These trishaws & their amazingly fit drivers.	A couple of us went back to town @ night.	We were greeted by an amazing festival! It was the last day! Lucky us!
Some quirky food sold on the streets	Some you would probably find about a decade ago in Singapore	No camera trick. The ferris wheel was really bloody fast!
Just as we were about to go back, a dude drag our whole group here, cutting a queue about 500m long...	Amazingly this is a temporary temple made for a festival contest. Guess what? They won first!	Third from right. The cool dude who brought us in. All he wanted in return was a photo of them for us to bring home. How cool is that?
Every morning we had PT! Followed by soccer for the guys.	We had gardening for 1 of the mornings.	We had mixed emotions about the gardening though.
Now I know the mosquitoes were a problem, but this is just "duh"....	A glimpse of our rooms. Not mine but they all look pretty much like that. 3 to a room	1 of the many blackout nights
Amidst the lessons, during the weekends we would take trips out to various places, like the St. Paul's Cathedral.	A fair in town.	A group photo @ a cultural centre.
Visit to Diksha, where both sides shared their lives.	Nirmal Hirday, 1 of the many homes by Mother Teresa. Met a Singaporean nun! Reminiscence of home!	A home for the Sisters of Charity.
We had a trip outside of Kolkata. Howrah Railway Station.	Railway stations always seems to have a wide range of people coming together @ 1 place.	A lot of the homeless around.
Shoe polishing.	Forgot how long the train ride took, but it definitely wasn't comfortable.	Had all sorts of entertainment though.
Santiniketan, a University town.	Our not-too-shabby motel. Terrible service though.	The infamous meal...
This town was definitely much more rural than Kolkata.	Slacking outside the dusty motel.	Another waste of a time of a tour. Only because we had no idea what the guide was saying.
Had some really excellent chapati @ the roadside.	Visited a traditional suburban home. Very cosy I must say.	A photo with the very hospitable family.
A hot spring in the middle of nowhere.	Yet another temple in the suburbs.	Had some interesting rock formations next to the temple.
If I wasn't mistaken, that is actually cow dung on the wall. They had a reason for doing that, but can't remember what. Ha!	Photo on the rock formations.	Travelling in the suburbs for hours at a time, sometimes you see celebrations like this.
A dam.	Reached a small little town & managed to witness this.	A goat slaughter house. Too bad I didn't get shots of the chicken slaughtering.
Now enough of the R&R for a while and back to our objective.	The Kishalaya Boys Home.	On the 1st day we were presented gifts from the boys!
We gave simple & short lectures.	Gave lots of hands-on practice.	Also gave them a look into our lives in Singapore.
After lesson photo!	We even had a soccer game with them, which we lost 2-1. Haha!	Even a cricket match too! Which we also lost. Haha!
We prepared friendship bands for all the boys as our gifts for them.	Cultural Exchange Day! Also the last day we would see them.	The whole home turned up to watch the show.
Our present to the home.	They put up many shows for us.	As we did for them! Even got to do yoyo for them! Haha!
More gifts & symbols of thanks from the home & the boys.	Saying goodbye was particulary difficult for some of us. Many tears shed.	A final photo with us.
May we meet again somewhere in the world!	The whole group split into 2, for Kolkata City & Darjeeling. I went to Kolkata.	A bookstore in the city.
Post Office. Men sit outside offering services to type letters as most quite a number of people are illiterate.	A shopping market looking much like Bangkok's Chaktuchak, only with more conmen. Beware!	Something very memorable was a visit to Mother Teresa's final resting place.
Victoria's Memorial. Probably the most prominent symbol of Kolkata City.	All sorts of eateries in Kolkata. Forget about finding Mac or BK in Kolkata. There's only Pizza Hut.	After 22 days, we finally were on our way back.
Almost forgot it was going to Christmas till we settled in on the plane.	Reaching home @ 4am was not very good for the mind.

Photographs by Andrew & Gary