Impressed by Calcutta. It is a city in West-Bengal with a population of more than 18 Mio. people. So, this is double-size of Austria’s whole population… Strange and a little bit unbelievible.

OK. I am sleeping in Sunflower Guest House, a room with fan for 500 Rs. Unfortunally no room with AC was available - would have been looking forward for one this time.

Went to see the Maidan today, this is a big, big park next to the Hoogly River. Visited the Victoria Memorial and was surprised by a really modern part of the city. Modern means, that I found many stores like “Benetton”, “Levis” and so on as well as well climated coffee-shops with good ice-coffees and shakes.

Calcutta seems to me very splitted and gapped: Poor, more poor, most poor and rich. People washing on the street next to cooking, next to washing dishes, next to living in small barracs on the pavement, rikshas with men-power as well as modern multiplex-cinemas, cars, shops and fitness-studios, supermarkets. This is strange and interesting. In my eyes, this city is developing and shows it’s poorness and gaps very very extremly.

I saw many french and english buildings due to former times and sometimes the colonial-style reminded me on Cuba: Similarities in style and oldness and not beeing renovated.

I am very tired today, going to bed after having dinner. Tomorrow I will visit the city again and finishing the day with a Bollywood-Movie in one of the cinemas.

More images maybe tomorrow… Bye…

Afterstaying in Kashmir and visiting city and Gulgmarg outside in the mountains I went down to Jammu in a Jeep for 10 hours. It was the most exciting drive ever. Through rough mountains, a lot of trafic jam the whole way: Jeeps, Busses, Lorries, Rikshas, Sheeps, Goats, Cows, Bikes. Exciting and the local next to me was always crying “Allah” (Kashmir is Muslim). The drive was very dangerous. It was raining and there was a thunderstorm all the time. It was along journey through the mountains where itwent down meters on the right side all the time. We had twice stops where we had dal with rice and the next time salted tea.

The first days I had everything: heat and cold, freezing and sweating, hail and rain and sun, snow, thunderstorms as well as big big desert-storms with broken trees on the “roads”… Amazing.

We had to sop many times im between and saw a lot of accidents, b roken cars and strange things.A lot of military (of course, Kashmir) and dead cows which felt down into the valley on the right side of the street. It was very much exciting and made me feel how i could be in Afghanistan.

At about 11 PM we arrived in Jammu, the other part of Jammu & Kashmir. We stpped there and hwent searching an accomodation. We decided to search for another jeepwhich drives us to Amritsar in Punjab. We found one and left at 0 oclock.I was very tired and was sitting in front next to the driver, left to me was Mehmet.

The drive was crazy again. I felt like in another movie. The street was big, then thin. Then tared, then not tared. Then splitted, then together. Then absolutly no street and then a big big big space, then separated by tons or broken up by military. On both sides next to the streets I always noticed lorries parking - mazbe having a rest. It was a crazy drive, horning all the time and shaking up and down. I trusted the Punjab driver. A lot of strange cars where heading or in front of us. Strange vehicles where I do no know, what they should be for. Strange lights, strange colored cars with strange sounds. Very extraterristic. Very interesting.

We arrivved in Amritsa anb 4 AM in the morning. There was high/life at the Golden Temple and we decided to go there to have a short sleep. I slept there on the floor outside and - as we have checked a hotel before - we went to this hotel after a couple of hours to go to sleep.

The Golden Temple was amazing. Never seen such a building and such an athmosphere before. So. More tomorrow, I have to leave…

OK. And eve somewhere on this road, between Jammu and Srnagar I found the even most most most terrible toilet until now :)