Our final stop was Hawra, the city adjacent to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). From Gangtok we drove back down to the same train station we'd arrived at and headed for Hawra overnight. In Hawra we spent the day sight seeing and exploring the main shopping road. At night we went out to celebrate Olivia's 17th birthday which was the next day. We sang for her and gave her a cake at midnight. The next day was sweltering hot and we were supposed to drive hours to visit temple. Instead, we visited only one temple and the Mother Theresa House. Mother Theresa's house was very simple and plain. We visited her tomb and an exhibition on her life. It was truly inspiring to see what one woman had done with her life and at her tomb to see all the people who love her and had left prayers and notes. The top of her tomb was decorated with paper cranes and messages of prayers for Japan.
We went out to dinner to celebrate our last night together then spent along time in the hotel until 3 in the morning when we had to go to the train station (at least 8 hours later than scheduled).
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| Sam on the train. |
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| These pictures are to give a better idea of what the trains look like. There's an aisle with two bunks on one side (where Sam's sitting) and on the other side of the aisle there's a compartment with six beds (three on each side). The bottom bunk is a seat during the day. The middle bunk folds down to make a back for the seat and at night is held up by chains that loop up on the top bunk during the day. |
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| Olivia on her birthday in the hotel lobby. |
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