India, Kolkata + more? What do to?

[Myrddraal]

So I'm going to India. More specifically, I'm going to Kolkata/Calcutta for about 1 week, then 10 days where I will be free to travel elsewhere. Suggestions to what I shouldn't miss and what I shouldn't do are very welcome!

[rajpoot]

It actually depends on how much time you have to spare. If you want to see the historic sites then West Bengal isn't as good as Western India. You ought to visit Delhi and check out the monuments there. Delhi and the region around it has been the capital city of many kingdoms throughout history, and most recently the capital city of the Mugals (or Mougals....however you spell it). You can visit the Taj Mahal if you've never seen it before. it's near Delhi, in Agra.
And then you can come Rajasthan. More than half of the foreign tourists we get come to Rajasthan to check out the forts and palaces.
And if you do come to Rajasthan come to Jodhpur, where I live. It's tourist hot spot and Mehrangarh, or Jodhpur Fort is supposed to be the largest fort in India. It was built in the 1400s.

Aside from historic monuments and stuff you ought to try out the local cuisine. Again, I've never been to West Bengal myself, so I can't really tell you about that.

Edit:

Right you've written 10 days. You should definitely visit Delhi and Rajasthan. What month would you be visiting?

[Myrddraal]

Aside from historic monuments and stuff you ought to try out the local cuisine.

My brother is working in Kolkata, and I'm going to visit him. He'll only have 10 days off, which is why I have 10 days of absolute freedom, for the rest of the time I'll be with him in Kolkata, but I'll have the time to see the place during my week there.

Thanks for the tips. With only 10 days I think the danger will be to try to see everything and end up appreciating nothing. I think probably we shouldn't try to visit more than two areas, with five days in each.

Thanks for the names, it gives me something to look up!

[Whacker]

Ugh.

Others may have enjoyed their visits, I did not. I was in New Dehli for 2 weeks on business, and I was counting the seconds until I could go home. I was in the nicer areas of the city too, but it was still miserable. My wife had to wash my clothes twice to get the smell out.

The only thing I can think of that I ever would want to do or see in India is the Taj Mahal in Agra, as india (lol?) mentioned. It was a hellish 2 hour drive from New Delhi one way. If you can find a place far enough away from the less-than-hygenic hordes of people to be able to just take it in and look around, it really is a wonder and something worth visiting at least once in one's lifetime. I am glad I saw it. Because I'll be damned if I'm ever going back there again.

Best of luck.

[rajpoot]

Others may have enjoyed their visits, I did not. I was in New Dehli for 2 weeks on business, and I was counting the seconds until I could go home. I was in the nicer areas of the city too, but it was still miserable. My wife had to wash my clothes twice to get the smell out.

Well....you stayed in the big city...the biggest and the most populous city in the country, which is bound to be dirty due to the number of people living there. I've grown up in a small town and I can't bear either Delhi or Bombay or any other over crowded city.....(then again, entire India is over crowded when compared to the Occident.)
Next time when you're feeling brave enough again to visit, come to the smaller towns. That is where the true essence of my country is...in it's villages and towns...far from the maddening crowds.

Edit :

Still monuments-wise good place to visit Delhi...you should've checked out the Qutub Minar.

[Megas Methuselah]

Ugh.

Others may have enjoyed their visits, I did not. I was in New Dehli for 2 weeks on business, and I was counting the seconds until I could go home. I was in the nicer areas of the city too, but it was still miserable. My wife had to wash my clothes twice to get the smell out.

The only thing I can think of that I ever would want to do or see in India is the Taj Mahal in Agra, as india (lol?) mentioned. It was a hellish 2 hour drive from New Delhi one way. If you can find a place far enough away from the less-than-hygenic hordes of people to be able to just take it in and look around, it really is a wonder and something worth visiting at least once in one's lifetime. I am glad I saw it. Because I'll be damned if I'm ever going back there again.

Best of luck.

LOL, you would love the prairies. Oceans of grass, from horizon to horizon. You'll never feel the holistic sense of belonging that I have for my sacred and ancestral homeland, but you will never forget the feelings of smallness, freedom, and endless opportunity when there's nothing but grass around you in every direction for as far as you can see.

Saskatchewan's cities, though, are small and relatively boring. But the hoods spring forth the greatest of the first, the real, people. It's a magical place, a sacred land: The holy land. The legacy my ancestors left for me to make a living, and which I will leave for my descendants to be fruitful and multiply.

You are welcome by right of treaty to enjoy this garden of eden, btw.