Day 253 : Arrival at the Ashram

It’s the day before our “yoga vacation” course starts so we took a rickshaw in the afternoon to the ashram (i.e. retreat). When we arrived it seemed deserted apart from a few people quietly sitting under a tree but we were soon checked in and shown to the dorms where we’ll be spending the next 10 days. My dorm had about 20 beds in – most seemed to be on the teachers training course that has already been running for a few weeks and there are a few yoga vacationers who have been around for a while as well. Felt a bit lost as we could not take part in the yoga classes yet (the beginner classes start tomorrow). I just sat reading in the room (it’s very hot outside) while the others went off to class.

Dinner was interesting. At 6pm everybody (about 100 people) sits cross–legged in rows on the floor of the dining hall chanting “Hare Krishna” whilst the food is served out onto stainless steel trays. Food is  tasty curry and bread. Not sure I can sit cross-legged for very long though.
In the evening we bought some yoga mats and baggy trousers for me. At 8pm there is half an hour of silent meditation – very hard to concentrate when sitting cross-legged as my feet keep going numb! After that is chanting along with drums and bells. The chants are very repetitive and gets faster for a few minutes until it ends. The lyrics are something like a Kula Shaker song. It’s also very hot and sweaty even though the yoga hall where we sit is open sided.

Lights out and bed at 10pm.

Day 252 : Morning trip to Tiruparankundram

Took the local bus to Tiruparankundram a small town with an impressive temple dedicated to Lord Muraga. The temple is very colourful and set into a hill that looks like a huge boulder.

Looked around the temple, saw boys in monk school (their chanting was very noisy not very serene, in fact most of the temples feel very chaotic with people cramming into small spaces and queues to get blessed and the temples are often very noisy). I lit some little oil candles and decided to get blessed by the elephant (I don’t usually but thought I would today, I love elephants so much I hope she isn’t too lonely with no other elephant friends).

Got the bus back to Madurai went to another bakery (not as good as yesterday’s) and had coffee and Indian cakes so naughty! Then bananas and crisps picnic lunch back at the hotel to escape the heat.

Did some more present shopping.

Day 251 : Madurai

Went to the Sree Meenakshi Temple which is meant to be one of the biggest temple complexes in South Asia. It is a huge maze of corridors, shrines and halls (plus the usual elephant) with four huge entrance towers covered in fantastically bright deities and figures. The temple was very busy and there was music coming out of speakers and also some live music. We watched as men carried out carvings of deities into a hall in a very chaotic manner with lots of shouting and laod drum music and a ceremony of flower garlands and candles. The various carvings and woken up and then put back to bed everyday.

Went to a bakery and had some sweet coffee (coffee is instead of chai in the South) and doughnut type things and Indian cakes (like baklava) some delicious.

Went to a rooftop restaurant (almost normal price food) which has views of the 4 towers of the temple. An amazing sunset and then the sky went a deep purple with such a bright crescent moon.

Randomly bumped into a lovely couple (David and Vicky) who we met in Darjeeling so we are hoping to meet them for dinner tomorrow.

Day 250 : Thanjavur to Madurai

 Checked out of the nice hotel and got an auto-rickshaw (with a giant speaker in the back) to the bus station. Took the local bus 4 hours to Madurai bus station then another bus to the old city.

Trawled the street of hotels and found a nice place to stay. Went to a cheap, clean cafe and had South Indian lemon rice and onion bhajis (like I’ve never tasted before– like a whole chunk of soft onion in a doughnut – amazing). 

Day 249 : Palace and more dancing

Today we went to the palace art gallery, it’s full of statues and bronzes many dating from the 10th century. We went up the palace tower squeezing through tiny staircases all the way to the top. We watched the world from high up looking down on everything even the backs of beautiful green parrots flying through the air. I could see the big temple and 3 other very colourful smaller ones, palm trees, a barking dog, a woman leading a calf, a cocky cock scratching the earth, people playing cricket in the orange dust. Its a skyline that could be from 100’s of years ago exempt for the many communication towers. I sat in the lovely peace and quiet for a long time until we were eventually invaded by hoards of school kids that stare at us as if we have 3 heads.

Went to the dance festival again, there was an amazing pink sunset and bright crescent moon framing the temple.

Loving it here in India generally (helps having a lovely room to retire to!). The colours of the flower garlands, the beautiful saris, your eyes are never bored, 1/3 of the smells are pleasant and your ears are always deafened. 

Day 248 : Thanjavur Temple

 Had a lovely breakfast (included in the hotel price – buffet of western and Indian food, lots of fresh fruit, had 2 bowls of cornflakes yum yum!).

Walked to the Brihadishwara temple – a very impressive temple built in the 11th century. The gateway to the temple is beautiful and has a real elephant (seems to be the norm in the south). You have to leave your shoes at the entrance so your feet get really hot on the brick tiles. The main temple is huge and it is surrounded by columned walkways that are the longest in India (I was saying to Will this must be the longest corridor I’ve ever walked down I guess I was right). Had a few people taking our photos but not too many. Lots of school kids in their smart uniforms and pigtails.

Got back to the hotel to avoid the mid day heat and had bananas for lunch.

In the evening, we went to a classical dance and music festival at the temple that happens to be on this week. The first show was a woman dancing a story about Shiva accompanied by a live band. It was absolutely mesmerizing, some of the best live music I’ve ever seen and the dancing was incredible she was so expressive.

Had room service dinner (almost as cheap as eating out) broccoli pea korma, chapattis and onion pakora yum yum.

Day 247 : Early bus to Thanjavur

Got up at 4.45am and made our way to the bus station. There was no way of really telling which was our bus just spent the first half hour wandering around the huge bus station asking random people which bus to get (also nothing much written in Latin script). Found what we thought was the right bus and stood next to it till about 6am then the bus drivers woke up (they sleep in the bus) and confirmed it was the correct one. Bus not very comfortable but quite empty which was good for the 6 hour journey.

Checked into our “splurge” hotel in Thanjavur which is quite posh and very clean yey! Had a nice and cheap lunch. Bought some more naughty Indian sweets (similar to fudge).

Generally in the south women wear garlands of small white flowers in their hair which smell sweet. Saw more ?bullocks? with painted horns pulling carts. People often have white stripes painted on their foreheads. Like everywhere young children and babies have black dots on their face (I think to create an imperfection to ward off the evil eye).

Had dinner in the same cafe as it is clean and cheap but decided not to go back because the waiters are really annoying.

Day 246 : Wander around Pondicherry

Had a look at Sacred Heart church. Ate some croissants. Will bought a book in a bookshop. Had some more food sitting in the park.

Had some lovely south Indian food in a cheap, clean restaurant – wish we’d found it before!

Thomas in Darjeeling

Thomas has been enjoying India - this is him a while back in misty Darjeeling...

Day 245 : Pondicherry

Started the morning at a chai stall then wondered around. Saw a temple with a painted sad looking elephant outside. Looked around the Sri Aurobindo ashram - the grounds were full of beautiful flowers and loads of pilgrims queuing up to worship the tomb of the founders. Walked along the promenade looked at the sea. The streets and buildings do feel very French, the street names are all in French, the policemen wear old style French uniforms and there are lots of pastries available! Although I’m sure the architect who designed things like the canal probably didn’t envisage the rubbish and the stink coming from it!

Was thinking that India is “decorated” with flowers, cows (although not here) and flowers.

We went in a small supermarket for the first time since I can remember (I love supermarkets) it had a variety of normal stuff and also sold babybell imported from France (750rps) and vache qui rie imported from Egypt bizarly (I like seeing where stuff is from).

Day 244 : Mamallapuram to Pondicherry

Both of us had an upset stomach this morning so it was a bit touch and go whether we would travel today but, since we had already booked our hotel there, we decided we had to plough on. Fortunately, we soon felt a bit better so we got on one of the overcrowded local buses to Pondicherry – much cheaper than a taxi and this time we eventually got a seat! The countryside is different here from the north - everything is more reddy and dry, although there are occasional wetlands. Saw lots of cows / water buffalo with painted horns.

We’re staying in Hotel Coramandel Heritage – room is small but has character and there is a nice lobby, supposedly with a coffee shop though there are no menus anywhere. The staff seem a bit rubbish so far – they go off to check something for you and then come back and ignore you to go and talk to other guests. There is supposed to be wifi internet but the staff seem more interested in browsing the web at reception than making it work for us.

We walked to the beach – about a kilometre from our hotel. The new town is really bustling with traffic but it quietened down once we got to the old town. As a former French colony, it does have a different feel to it and there are lots of galleries and patisseries and a couple of ornate churches. We’ll have a proper walk around tomorrow as Louise is a still not feeling 100%.

Day 243 : Mamallapuram

Up early and breakfast at Golden Palate (nice cafe with a/c). We walked to the slightly underwhelming Shore temple - a weather-worn 8th century temple on the beach (animal count - chipmunks, funky lizards, green parrots). In the centre of the village there is a large granite outcrop with lots of impressive carvings and caves dating from the 5th century. Lots of huge boulders and goats!

In the evening we walked on the beach and celebrated our wedding anniversary in a seafood restaurant (apart from rock carving, the main function of the village is fishing). The beach was really busy at dusk - full of fisherman rolling their nets, cows, dogs and children. Louise ill again at the end of the evening.

Day 242 : Chennai to Mamallapuram

We arrived in Chennai about 9am and Louse still feeling a bit ropey so, with the help of a friendly lady from the station master’s office, we opted to get a taxi to Mamallapuram.

The hotel (Sri Murugan guesthouse) seems nice enough – rooms are basic but clean. We had some soggy toast at the rooftop restaurant (not so clean – I don’t think we’ll be eating there again) and had a wonder around the town to the beach. There are loads of western tourists here – the town is largely just hotels, restaurants and tourist shops. The main attractions here are the stone carvings which we’re going to look at tomorrow when Loulou is recovered.

Day 241 : Ill again

Both of us feeling ill today with stomach pains – although seems to be better now than this morning. We left Puri in the morning and caught a taxi to Bhubeneswar (Loulou being sick in a bag :-( ) for an overnight train to Chennai .

All road journeys in India are a bit hairy – in the Sundarbans our driver described driving in India as a “constant game of chicken” – people are constantly overtaking (sometimes overtaking the overtaker) blindly and driving on the wrong side of the road. Maybe it’s because that’s how they cycle and so they just apply the same logic to cars (apparently they also drive this way on the 6 lane freeways where it is much more dangerous because they drive so fast). This style of driving also means using the horn a lot to let other drivers know you are overtaking – it’s like a constant negotiation with the other traffic to get past. On this particular journey we actually had to stop head-to-head with another car which was overtaking on the opposite side of the road and ran out of room. Fortunately the road was not very fast so we just stopped without a crash. Comically, there are signs everywhere to “obey the road rules” and warning about road deaths – I guess since there is very little respect for the police here (lots of corruption – you can usually bribe your way out of fines) then nobody cares. You would think they might have some regard for their own safety though!

The train is nicer than the previous ones – generally cleaner and quieter although there is still the odd cockroach. Spent most of the day in our bunks feeling sorry for ourselves.

Day 240 : Sights of Puri

In the morning we hired a cycle rickshaw to take us around the local sights. Highlights were:

• Golden beach / market
• Tanks
• Jagganath temple (non-Hindus are not allowed in so could only view from the roof of the library opposite)
• Handicraft centre. Bought some gifts

In the afternoon, swimming and sorting out travel plans for after we leave Pondicherry in a week or so.

Day 239 : Konark Sun Temple

Took a fun cycle rickshaw to the bus stand. We went on a really big, busy road – the cows are so funny they just lie in the middle of the road not minding the traffic. I saw a dead cow for the first time (thought I would see more as they just wander on the roads but people avoid hitting them at all costs and they are so well fed – always munching on rice or chapatis!) it was covered in flowers and they was a guy sat with it with a collection bowl. The tour guide in Kolkata said that you can only kill an ill or old cow so that’s what the Muslims in the city eat – not sure if that rule goes for all of India but I won’t be eating any beef or any meat! I have a slight obsession with cows Will is trying to limit the amount of photos I take of them but they’re so cute.
Got a bus to Konark. It was ridiculously squashed like the student link but worse - couldn't even put both feet on the ground (not cheap either at 30rps each). An hour or so later we arrived at Konark to go to the Sun Temple.

The temple is 13th century and was buried under sand for a long time. It is really tall and set in beautiful grounds. All the stone carvings are really naughty displaying explicit Karma Sutra action!

Photoshoot: The place was full of Indian tourists and we had our photo taken with many groups of people. Some families hire professional photographers who hang around the temple and we had a few “photoshoots! with these. It was like getting married again! E.g.. two women wanted their photo with us both, then one of them with us both then the other then them with just me etc! Also had photos taken with bemused children. It’s funny to think that we will go in the family album of these random people!

Took a more comfy auto-rickshaw back to Puri (saw a monitor lizard) after buying some palm leaf drawings. I really like them – I love all the stuff you can buy especially the tacky shiny shiny glittery stuff (Will not so keen).

Day 238 : Back to summer

We arrived in Puri on time at 0320 this morning. Happily, the hotel was expecting us and so we had a room to sleep in. The hotel is really nice (for a budget hotel!) – room is large and cool and there is a nice garden area with a pool and restaurant service. There is a giant dog called Limca (after the drink) which Louise has taken a shine to – he looks like a large relation of Tiger, the dog at our hotel in Chiang Mai.

Pretty tired today so only ventured out to check out the beach (large but not much going on apart from a camel and a few cows eating rubbish). Has a swim in the pool and caught up on our emails / photos. Tomorrow we’re planning to go to Konark where there is a large temple.

Day 237 : The Puri Express

Spent today on the train to Puri which gets in a 3am tomorrow morning. Had a surprisingly good nights sleep. The train is very slow and frequently stops at stations for 10 or 20 minutes. Each time we stop lots of beggars and hawkers come onto the train – the street kids are the worst as they are really persistent and you’re not supposed to give them money as they are usually working for somebody else (like in Slumdog Millionaire). Spent lots of time looking at the countryside and listening to the ipod. Always something interesting to see from the window – never wilderness. Saw rice paddies, cows ploughing waterlogged fields, buses bursting with people (including on the roof!).

We ordered lunch on the train but it was pretty uninspiring and very messy – we had to sacrifice a bed sheet to stay clean. There are no bins on the train so we put our empty polystyrene trays in a pile as directed by an official but then he just pushed the whole pile out the door onto the tracks! Everybody just throws rubbish on the ground and assumes somebody will pick it up (to be fair, there often is somebody who picks it up, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there were people sweeping the tracks – it’s just not very clean).

Going to try and sleep a bit before we get to Puri but there are cockroaches in my bed. Louise still has a cold.

Day 236 : Colourful journey back to NJP

Packed our things and had breakfast in Cacoas again. After a trek down the hill to the bus station we got a shared jeep to Siliguri. Another exciting jeep ride with some beautiful views. Cramped again although only 12 people in the jeep today (there are 8 seats). Think my cold getting a little better just feel like my head is full of cotton wool. Lots of interesting sights out the window – monkeys eating toast, villages, big bridges, half built hydro-electric dam, huge lorries right down in the river basin picking up rubble and sand, people washing in the river, kids sat on cows, cows ploughing fields, lots of road re-building due to land slides – not quite how the highway agency tarmacs roads but looks very effective.

Arrived at Siliguri and have some time to kill before getting the train from NJP at 3.20am! Had some food and drink in a cafe then decided at about 5pm to head to the station. We took a cycle rickshaw – another fun journey through the backstreets – pleasantly quiet – people playing cricket avoiding the cows wandering around, stinky rubbish filled rivers, people milling around, markets, lots of cycle rickshaws (India has certainly made amazing use of the humble bicycle from towing immense loads and entire families to being turned upside down and used to sharpen knifes and scissors), we went slowly over the train tracks (a train was coming) and then eventually arrived at NJP station.

Walking over the footbridge across the lines looking down at the tracks people are playing cricket in the last evening light, a dog is trying to play with a cow as if it were another dog. Booked a retiring room – which is basically a hotel room in the middle of the station, it has en-suite and everything ok although it does smell a bit of sick and we seem to have a pet mouse. But it has 2 beds and is better than some places we’ve stayed – all for less then £2 a night! Getting the room involved getting a ticket from an office going to another booth and paying for the ticket where Will got mobbed by children and then at the peak of him trying to hold into his wallet and sanity a man says hello and shakes his hand – this happens a lot and it’s mainly innocent we think people just want to say hello. After this the ticket goes back to the first office to get a receipt then we had to go to the on duty person for the rooms and she let us into our room! We have been here 1 hour and there have been 3 blackouts - one time I was walking along the corridor and was plunged into darkness. Will has ants on his pillow - at least they don't purposefully try and eat humans.

Day 235 : Sick day

Managed to go out for breakfast in Cacao’s cafe where we have already eaten once they do good beans and eggs on toast. Although Thai food was amazing and I love Indian food, I like how Indians around here have an appetite for western food like sandwiches, cakes and breakfast.

Did a little bit of shopping and had a look around an indoor market – the vegetables look so beautiful and fresh - heaped in colourful piles on the floor. Made it back up the hill to sit under many blankets in bed.

One thing I noticed here (and in Darjeeling) is the crazy way people (men and women of all ages) carry around obscenely heavy things from luggage to rubble in baskets hung from their foreheads; it’s unbelievable!
After eating lots of crisps (they cure colds) we went to a nice restaurant in the basement of a nearby hotel (thanks Rough Guide!). Will had Sikkimise pork stew curry thing (in this area they eat a lot of pork) I had some boring but tasty pasta (which I wanted for my cold).

Day 234 : Sights of Southern Sikkim

An early start to meet our driver at 7am for a tour of the local sights. For the first time since reaching the mountains it’s a crystal clear day and we can see the Himalaya from our bedroom window, including Kanchenjungha – the 3rd highest mountain in the world.

After visiting some nearby viewpoints whith great views of the Himalaya we visited Rumtek monastery, seat of the Karmapa of the Black Hat Sect, one of the most important leaders in Tibetan Buddhism. The previous Karmapa died in 1981 and the two incarnate Karmapas are still contesting the seat so there is a strong military presence.

There is a lot of earthquake damage evident – many landslides and very patchy roads. Other highlights were the institute of Tibetology and the Tibetan handicrafts centre in Deorali.

Louise still feeling ill so we finished our tour early and spent the evening in the (still freezing!) room. We tried to hunt down a cafe or restaurant with heating but no luck!

Day 233 : Darjeeling to Gangtok

Spent most of the day in a jeep taking the bumpy journey through the mountains from Darjeeling to Gangtok, capital of Sikkim. Our hotel, perched at the top of the hill that Gangtok sprawls over, is a little less luxurious than the one in Darjeeling. No heating anywhere and we appear to be the only guests. It has great views over the valley and, potentially, the Himalaya if the clouds clear! The town is impossibly steep – even more so than Darjeeling – and consists of tall, stilted buildings barely clinging onto the hillside. There was a large (6.8) earthquake here last year and I don’t think it’s the sort of place where the buildings are designed to be earthquake-proof…

Walking into town for dinner, we found a nice pedestrianized area (Mahatma Ghandi road) which forms the spine of the town with lots of shops and restaurants. Hardly any western faces here – mostly Indian tourists or a locals as it’s off season (locals are a mix of Nepalise, Tibetan and Bhutanise – the common language is Nepali). We hired a driver for tomorrow to take us around the local sights as we only have 2 days here.
Our room in the evening is freezing and Louise has caught my cold, so tucked into bed early – no hot water bottle this time though .

Day 232 : Tea plantation, markets and storms

Another cosy breakfast before walking to Happy Valley tea estate. We’d heard some mixed reports about it from the other hotel guests but it’s the only plantation within walking distance so we thought we’d give it a try. It’s low season at the moment so there aren’t many tourists around and it’s also not the tea picking season (which starts in March) so the plantation and processing factory were very quiet. After a steep walk through some tea fields we met a friendly guide at the factory gates who offered to take us around and talk us through the stages of tea processing. We learnt about the different types of tea and how they are sorted for different grades for leaf tea or teabags. the guide took us to his house in one of the villages on the plantation and we got to try some of the tea. Interesting that the loose tea is actually a better grade of tea than the stuff they use for teabags. The tea at Happy Valley is basically only sold in Harrods – none of it is sold in India – so not really likely we’ll buy any when we get back!

After getting lost in the backstreets we made our way back to the hotel and shared some cake with the other guests. More dhosas for lunch (at the Frank Ross cafe which seems to be the best of the cafes around here) and then we visited the market and book store. Books are so cheap here and the bookstores are amazingly well stocked – I bought “The White Tiger” in preparation for our 2 marathon train journeys next week.

We spent the rest of the afternoon back at the lodge, eating cake and watching the thunderstorms develop over the valley and avoiding the rain and wind. Power is very sporadic but everywhere is geared up with generators. We had to brave the outside once to make a dash to Frank Ross for dinner but otherwise stayed in all evening. There was also a large “Free Tibet” rally in the street (there is a large Tibetan population here). Hoping the weather will clear up for our Jeep trip to Gangtok tomorrow.

Day 231 : Darjeeling!

Back to winter survival mode (like in NZ) which involves many layers of unsuitable clothing to try and stay warm (it's just above freezing).

Went down to the living room to heat up by the fire. Had porridge it was awesome! Our soundtrack was many Budhist monks practising chanting in the next door room!

Walked along to lovely Zoo which has mainly native endangered species with many captive breeding programs. Also went to the very interesting Himalayan Mountaineering Institute museum. The views would be incredible but it is so foggy.

Had a lovely lunch of Masala Dosas and bought a scarf.

Day 230 : Kolkata–Darjeeling

So in brief our journey started in the Sunderbans at 10am 5/2/12: 10 min walk, 45 min cycle rickshaw, local boat, 3 hour jeep ride, taxi, overnight train to NJP, jeep ride to Kurseong, toy train Kurseong – Darjeeling arrive 6/2/12 - 6pm. All went relatively smoothly.

2nd class night train not as comfy as Thailand but ok. 2 hour jeep ride not at all scary and had beautiful views as we made the steep climb up through the tea plantations.

Had a few hours in Kurseong before getting the narrow gage toy train to travel further upwards to Darjeeling. From Kurseoung onwards everything is different. The people look very different (more Tibetan / himalayan) everything is more chilled, the people are quieter and less frantic, the food is different, there are Buddhist prayer flags everywhere and it is cold! Feels like we have left India (there is a drive to be independent – Gorkaland is written everywhere on shop fronts etc).

We checked into our lovely Tibetan run hotel which is lovely and feels like a ski lodge. We arrived just in time to see the view from our room – a brief glimpse of pink sky disappearing behind the Himalayan mountains and the light fading on the higgildy piggildly city clinging to the side of the mountain.

After 4 days of not washing a hot shower was most welcome! Had a lovely Tibetan dinner in the restaurant downstairs.

Day 229 : Back to Kolkata and then night train

Bit sad to leave the seranity of the countryside but looking foward to Darjeeling. Had lunch with Karen in The Fairlawn.

Went to the train station for our night train, was quite early. Had to give some precious change away to a variety of beggars to make them go away. Met a lovely dog (like in Thailand they are 100s of dogs and they are mostly all gorgeous and have a friendly demeanor) he was so lovely he just came up to me to wag his tail so I chatted to him he wasn’t even asking for food.

Caught the night train to NJP on time at 7.35pm.

Day 228 : Animal spotting on the river

Had some breakfast and chai on the boat. Picked up 2 Canadian guys from a safari lodge that our guide met yesterday to join our tour. Signed in at the entrance to the national park. There a quite a few other tour boats crammed full of Indian tourists – I’m glad we have a lot of space on our boat.

Animal count (no tigers oh well) hairy rhesus maquaqes, mudskippers (my favourite new animal of the day) wild boar, herons, variety of kingfishers, green bee eater,  spotted deer, eagles, 4 huge water monitor lizards, 3 crocodiles.

Visted another village that we wandered around. There was a lovely dog that escorted us around who I gave lots of cuddles. The village is so chilled out with lots of animals and kids running around and everything looked lovely in the late afternoon sun.

Went back to our village and went for a walk and played with the puppies before having dinner. Surprised we’ve not got ill as the water our salad and plates has been washed in and food cooked in is from the water holes that fill up once a year during monsoon and are full of ducks and other animals. So much prep goes into the curries and different types of breads they have made us.

Stayed in a mud hut which was fine but Will has a cold. Toilet ok was expecting just a hole but it had a ceramic surround. Not tap though so difficult to wash hands.

Day 227 : Kolkata–Sunderbans

Went on a trip to the Sunderbans national park with a guide – Mowgli from Kolkata (and another tourist - Karen a lovely lady from New York). We took a hair-raising 3 hour Ambassador trip (the jeep had broken down) then a local boat then a 45 min bumpy cycle rickshaw / palette trailer thing to a rural village. On the way we saw lots of villages and animals and people in the beautiful sunlight.

We had a lovely (poo fire cooked) lunch at our base (the family home of our guide’s relatives), before going on a (manpowered) boat along the river to look for wildlife. We then went to see the social highlight of the weekend for many surounding villages which was cock fighting (no betting but the winner keeps the losing cock). People stared at us in Kolkata but nothing like the staring we got here (think they are more impressed by Will’s hair than mine)! Although we stared a lot too I guess!

Watched some local music that went on a bit too long before having some dinner. Slept on a small house boat ready for our tour in the morning. 

Day 226 : Hitting the tourist spots

• Walked across the Maidan, the large central park in Kolkata. Although it’s beside a busy main road, there were loads of shepherds herding their livestock – mainly goats, but a few horses as well – and the odd game of football. A bit like the Bristol downs but with animals, loads of rubbish and in the middle of town.
• Looked around St Paul’s Cathedral, notable for the many fans hanging from the ceiling, and the Victoria Memorial, a grand gallery housing an exhibition on the history of the city and some paintings. Tourists were mainly Indian and we caught a few trying to take photos of us on the sly.
• Louise bought a new outfit from a street stall (cost £1.60) so she now has 2 combinations of Indian dress. Lots of amazing clothes available (for £20+) but not much point in spending too much!
• Dinner in Blue Sky Cafe – a curry house known as a travellers hangout (though we didn’t meet anybody). Bengalis eat a lot of meat but we’re going veggie while in India so paneer is featuring in a lot of our meals!