We found a nicer beach about an hour away. Though the weather was cloudy and many places were closing up. This is what you get for visiting resort towns during the off season. I've never before been so self-conscious wearing a bathing suit at the beach. Men stare at...

Our guidebook made Kolkata seem like it would be some sort of cesspool where we could only find expensive yet run-down hotels, where we'd be accosted by touts and beggars, where we'd pay too much for too little. We were dreading leaving our beautiful little Darjeeling,...