Day 146 (Thurs 30 Nov) - Delhi

Arrived at Pahar Ganj, New Delhi at about 8.30am. It was great to be back on known territory. We stormed past the rickshaw drivers with our bags and headed in search for a hotel. Quite easily we found Airlines Hotel which was on the main Qutab Marg road. The hotel seemed clean and for Rs850 (10 quid) a night, quite reasonable for the centre of Delhi.

Went to the rooftop restaurant at the Shelton's hotel. The service is so slow and you don't know when stuff is going to turn up but the food is good and it was a good place to relax and have breakfast.

Delhi is a lot cooler than the last time we were here, well suppose it was August!

Good job Jo has still held on to her Darjeeling shawl, even though Sarb tried to persude her to part with it as she had trouble fitting everything in her ever growing rucksack.

Didn't get up to much today, Jo chilled in the room watching silly Christmas movies on TV whilst Sarb went to find a beloved internet cafe.

Went back to the roof restaurant at the Shelton Hotel for dinner. Really pigged out.

Couldn't decide what to eat so just ordered everything - momos, pasta, pizza.

When we got back to our hotel it was full of insects. Luckily we had a trusty insect killer with us and zapped them before we went to bed.

Day 145 (Wed 29 Nov) - Varanasi

The hotel is pretty noisy so had a restless nights sleep, which was topped off by the cleaner going into the room next door at 6am and switching on the TV on full volume. So much for our lie in!

Got up and headed off to El Parador for a tasty breakfast on their roof terrace. Fueled by breakfast fought our way to the train station where we dumped our bags and arranged tickets to take us to Ranthambore on Friday.

Spent most of the day at the internet - both of us have problems with our boilers so we were determined to sort them out before we left Varanasi. After successfully shelving out two grand a piece on new boilers we went to have a snack before we caught the train to Delhi.

The busy train left at about 7pm, we didn't have dinner as we were put off by seeing this rather fat family in front of us stuff themselves. In India we have seen that so many middle class families are fat, suppose it shows off their wealth.

Went to bed, slept quite well, except there was an extremely fat man snoring very loudly and then when he stopped you were worried that he'd kegged it! (Aside: This was not Sarb as he is now properly described as being portly).

Day 144 (Tue 28 Nov) - Varanasi

Up at 5.15am this morning. Met Bilhari who took us through the dark streets of Varanasi on his creaking cycle rickshaw. As we neared the old town (near the river banks) the streets became little more than a series of alleys. Be practically impossible to find your way round as a newbie!

We arrived at the Kedar Ghats and arranged a boat, amongst the many other tourists. Our boatman started rowing up the river naming the various ghats and who they belonged to; the majority of the ghats ( [1], [2]) and surrounding buildings are owned by Maharajas.

The sky soon began to lighten and we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset burning off the chill mist hovering over the river ( [1], [2] ).

Passed the immense burning ghat (where bodies are cremated) stocked high with different types of wood. Fascinating to watch the daily rituals enacted on the banks of this river; people washing themselves and their clothes and praying. Really does feel that time has stood still here ( [1], [2], [3], [4] ).

Many of the ghats and temples are in a desperate state of repair. Some of the ghats have little platforms that are supported by nothing more than a stack of bricks. Health and Safety would have a field day!

Got back to the Kedar ghat and met up with Bilhari who took us to a small cafe for breakfast and a chance to thaw out.

We went to the massive University campus to see the new Vishnaketh temple. The campus is criss crossed with wide avenues lined with beautiful trees; a far cry from the roads outside. We sat in the grounds of the temple in a patch of sunshine still warming up and watched the interplay of the monkeys and squirrels.

Bilhari then took us to a nearby monkey temple. It was very busy as some sort of ceremony was going on. After a security check we walked into the small temple grounds past groups of monkeys that were idling around. These guys were obviously very well fed as they would take a single bite from an apple that had been offered to them and discard the remainder.

Bilhari took us to some other temples as well although the highlight was the Mother India temple. From the outside it looks quite modern and unassuming. However when you enter it you see that the entire floor has been constructed from marble and is a relief map of India. The peaks of the Himalayas are about 3 feet tall with the Western Ghats barely registering about a foot tall. Very, very impressive.

Bilhari then took us to a silk factory where we bought one or two items as pressies. Back to the hotel quite exhausted and had a sleep.

Our day was by no means over however as we met Bilhari again at about 5pm for a trip on the river at night. We stopped by the main ghats where we witnessed priests performing a sun ceremony. Incredibly intricate and all timed to haunting music.

Bilhari returned us to our hotel and as a gesture of thanks we gave him 1000 rupees for his travels. A small fortune for which he was very grateful.

Had another excellent dinner at El Parador. The food was good but the atmosphere was slightly strained as we were the only ones in there and the owner some tables away insisted on sharing his views with us regarding the United States. We know that it is somewhat fashionable (and not entirely unwarranted) to kick the US in the knackers now and again but this guy was clearly operating in a different league.

Left him and his ranting and had a good old sleep.

uni temple
s and bilharia
priests fire ceremony

Day 143 (Mon 27 Nov) - Varanasi

Pulled into Varanasi about 8am.

Decided to walk to the Shivam hotel as it did not look too far from the station. Got a bit lost (the Lonely Planet maps are not very helpful) but managed to stumble across it eventually.

Our room is fairly basic but clean. Dumped our bags and went downstairs for some brekky. Feeling really tired so went back to our room for a sleep.

Got up in the afternoon and went round to the nearby tourist office. Absolutely useless.

On the way back to the hotel we met a cycle rickshaw driver called Bilhari who insisted on being our personal guide and transport rolled into one. Seemed like a nice chap so we engaged his services whilst in Varanasi. He will pick us up t'row morning for a trip on the Ganges.

Walked round the streets buying a few items that we needed. First impressions are that Varanasi seems to be another dusty and poor town.

We went for an excellent dinner at the El Parador restaurant. A trifle pricey but good.

Weather was quite bright and warm during the day but soon cooled off in the evening.

Turned in quite early as we have a very early start in the morning.

Day 142 (Sun 26 Nov) - Puri

Up at 8.30 to have breakfast with Neil and to pack our bags.

Said goodbye to Neil and piled into our rickshaw to the station to catch our train to Varanasi. We found our seats quite quickly and Sarb amused himself until the train pulled out by mooing at a cow that was wandering around the tracks.

The train travelled through the glorious sunshine and countryside ( [1], [2], [3], [4] )and we were having a good time of it as we seemed to have the carriage all to ourselves.

This good fortune was short lived as our carriage soon filled up as we stopped at a number of stations. The last straw was a guy that got on with a metre square package that he insisted he keep in the aisle between seats as it would not fit anywhere else. Since this meant it would be against Sarb's legs for the whole journey we decided to see if we could upgrade our seats.

After much faffing about Sarb managed to get our seats upgraded to 2A. We moved to our much more comfortable carriage and settled down. The sleepers opposite were unfortunately taken by two surly young teenage boys; their parents were seated slightly further away. The kids constantly bickered as their mother cluck clucked around them in an attempt at pacification; she seemed delighted that her boys were so full of vigour. To say they were spoilt mummy's boys would be putting it politely. Anyway after a few sharp words asking them to 'settle down' they seemed to behave well enough for us to read in peace.

We both had a fitful nights sleep. Sarb slept particularly badly as the train stopped a number of times during the night to allow passengers on and off the train. Since we had upgraded our ticket (and it must be said that a certain amount of baksheesh was involved) Sarb thought that a bunch of passengers would get on with real tickets to our seats!! Luckily we were ok.

Day 141 (Sat 25 Nov) - Puri

Had brekky and blogged till about 12pm.

Then took a rickshaw to the Jagganath temple passing through the very busy streets of Puri.

The Jagganath temple is surrounded by a wall and only Hindus are allowed into the complex we had to make do with walking round the perimeter. Pretty impressive all the same.

The surrounding buildings are architecturally very impressive, however, all are very desperately in need of maintenance.

Walked onto Marine Drive and the 'locals' beach. A much nicer beach than ours and very busy with Indian holiday makers.

Pottered back to our hotel enjoying the heat of the day. As we passed the Honey Bee restaurant we spotted Neil just finishing his breakfast. He had mentioned that he might pop up for the weekend.

As it was now beer o'clock we had a drink in the Peace restaurant and then headed back to the Z hotel where Neil had also managed to secure lodgings.

Neil and Sarb played a couple of games of chess on the front lawn as the light began to fade. The last game turned into a floodlit one!

We went for dinner at a restaurant that was on the beach front. Lovely food. On the way back from dinner we picked up some booze and even a small bottle of rum.

Neil and Sarb resumed playing chess and having tired of this game decided to play snakes and ladders! We all had a merry time drinking beer, rum and chatting away.

Day 140 (Fri 24 Nov) - Puri

Very lazy day today.

Blogged, generally lazed around, listened to the IPod and read. We are getting very good at just chilling out.

Had dinner at the Garden restaurant. For some reason Sarb was still not hungry. May be coming down with something.

Day 139 (Thu 23 Nov) - Puri

Got up quite late and had a good breakfast at the Peace restaurant.

Blogged in the morning.

Went for a walk in the afternoon along the beach; the waves were quite powerful.

As you walk out onto the sand the entire left hand side of the beach is completely covered by fishing boats and fisherman. It was also covered in small mounds of what we thought of initially as dog poo. However it didn't take us long to discover that this is the fishermen’s toilet! Decided not to walk through this biological minefield and headed right ( [1], [2] ). (Aside: Sarb wanted to post the photo he took of this part of the beach but was overruled).

Walked back to our hotel and had dinner at the Peace restaurant. Jo had chilly fish and a veg curry with chapattis. Sarb wasn't feeling too hungry so just had a beer.

Day 138 (Wed 22 Nov) - Bhubaneswar / Puri

Up early to head off to the train station to try and book our tickets to Varanasi and Delhi. Neil had warned us that these trains tend to book up fast. Absolutely baking and it was still just before 10am.

As the queue looked quite tame we went to try and find breakfast. Bad mistake as all we could find was a grotty little cafe. Sarb had a dhosa whilst Jo stuck to water.

Back to the station we queued up. Sarb was feeling in a not too friendly mood this morning. A persistent queue jumping Indian man could well testify to this!

Managed to get our tickets without too much fuss. We were planning to take a bus to Puri this morning but it was so hot that we just decided to get a taxi to take us instead.

Our cabbie took us back to our hotel, where we packed our gear and checked out. Loaded up the car and set off for Puri.

Bhubaneswar soon disappeared and was replaced by lovely wide open countryside. Quite beautiful.

Got to Puri at about 1 ish. Checked into the recommended Z hotel and settled into our big, airy and cool room. Really friendly staff as well.

Took a wander down the dusty main road and had a drink in the Peace restaurant.

We walked to the ATM machine a couple of km's away to get some cash where we met a Dutch couple. They'd been traveling in India about 3 months and were ready to leave. We could only agree. India is a great place to travel but it really begins to grind you down!

Walked back to the main road near our hotel and settled down to have dinner at the Garden restaurant. Very nice music although the food was not up to much.

Day 137 (Tue 21 Nov) - Bhubaneswar

Very special day this, as 37 years ago Sarb was delivered to an unsuspecting world.

Jo had been secretly hoarding birthday cards and gifts brought out by her mum when we met in Goa. Sarb was soon busy opening his cards and gifts that included a fab new hat. Since he'd lost his old one not so long ago this was most especially welcome.

Had breakfast downstairs and met Neil at 10am to go to the NamadKaran zoo.

We all had a fantastic day. The big cats were beautiful. Although the tiger that took a particular shine to a little boy was a little scary. Whenever the boy moved the tiger would track his movements from the other side of the fence, its eyes locked on the kid. There was murder in the tigers' eyes!

As we walked round some elephants came lumbering past us.

Went on the rickety cable car that took us over the crystal clear lake. Very pretty.

Decided we'd have a go on the the pedalos (ie. plastic school chairs simply welded onto a bit of flatboard and then put on floats) where we almost got stuck in the reeds as Sarb tried to get a photo of a bird.

Had a great lunch at the zoo and then went on the toy train. We waited for about 30 mins for what turned out to be a 15 minute ride that basically went in a straight line between some trees. Not exactly a great view.

At about 5ish we waited around the lake, passing the hippo pool, for the elephants to be taken for their daily dip. Quite an amazing sight as they splashed around in the water, clearly enjoying it.

Got back to the hotel for a little power nap before meeting up with Neil again. We headed off to the Mayfair Lagoon hotel. This is situated on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar and is its premier venue. The grounds are amazing and even include a real plane in the grounds.

Had a fantastic dinner with a number of Neals friends that had decided to join us for the day.

Day 136 (Mon 20 Nov) - Bhubaneswar

Up early and had a pretty dire breakfast in the hotel restaurant.

We pottered down the road to catch up on our blogging when Jo suddenly realised that she had her friend Neil's mobile number. Neil used to work with Jo back in London and was in Orissa for 2 years doing volutary work.

She phoned him and some half hour later he pitched up on his pushbike. Great to see him. Jo and I followed Neil, who was weaving his way through the heavy traffic on his bike, to his flat.

Turns out that he's staying about 5 minutes away from our hotel.

Had a cup of tea and met Neils flatmate. She is also doing voluntary work and was from the Phillipines.

Luckily the pace of work life in India is quite unlike London so Neil could happily skip work for the next couple of days whilst he showed us round.

We got a rickshaw to an area in Bhubaneswar that is literally littered with temples of varying sizes ( [1], [2], [3], [4] ).

Tiring of the millions of temples we took a rickshaw to a modern part of town that boasted some restaurants and a shopping complex. Had a great lunch.

Jo went off to do a little shopping whilst Neil and Sarb had a beer in a nearby restaurant.

Jo soon returned and we headed back to the hotel for a wash and brush off before meeting up with Neil again and going for dinner at a restaurant on the other side of the train station.

Day 135 (Sun 19 Nov) - Bhubaneswar

After breakfast, we packed our gear and headed out to grab a taxi.

En route we stopped briefly to chat to the owner of the hotel, Violet Smith, who was sitting in the garden. A lovely old lady although seems a trifle potty. When we replied to her question that we came from London she responded in grandiose tones with "Don't talk to me, dahling, about Larndan. I know all about Larndan. Had a hotel in Kensington don't you know. Grandson's gone to Charterhouse... ".

Got to Howrah train station which was surprisingly not too busy ie. it was like Victoria at rush hour.

We bundled onto our train and were sitting opposite an elderly Indian gent and a youngish bloke who had a mobile phone surgically attached to his right ear. Pulled into Bhubaneswar about 8.30pm after an uneventful journey.

We got a cycle rickshaw to take us to our hotel. However after the guy had travelled about 200 yards he decided it was too far and turfed us off. During the unloading of the bags and flagging down a passing rickshaw Sarb later discovered that he had lost his beloved hat.

A trifle frazzled we managed to get to our hotel. Checking in was an ordeal. We were pretty tired and said to the clerk that we would dump our bags in the room and Sarb would come down later and sort out the paperwork. The clerk wasn't having any of this nonsense and said that we should check the room first. We said that we didn't care what the room was like we just wanted to get in there. The clerk was adamant we should check the room. A standoff ensued whereby we were ready to check in but the clerk would not allow us until we had checked the room. Sarb lost it a bit here and suggested to the clerk that he use his imagination and PRETEND that we had checked the room.

This seemed to satisfy the clerk and we were allowed to get to our room. Dumped our bags and as Jo stretched out Sarb went down to sort out the paperwork where there were now two clerks. They both agonisingly proceeded to copy down visa and passport numbers, dates of issue etc. By the end of all this Sarb was ready to commit multiple homocide.

Finally all the nonsense was completed and we headed out to a local restaurant for a fab meal and a beer.

Day 134 (Sat 18 Nov) - Kolkata

All had breakfast again with Charles. He aims to include Darjeeling on his travels and Disco has extracted a promise from him that he will look after the dogs that we befriended.

Today Disco was to leave us and head back to London. She soon had her stuff all sorted and we all bundled into a taxi to the airport.

We waited with Disco to see if the flight was going to be delayed but all was well. Said goodbye to Disco for now as she may come out again whilst we are in South East Asia.

Jo and I got a taxi to Sealdah train station so that we could book our tickets to Bhubaneswar in Orissa further down South on the east coast. Managed to book tickets that will leave Kolkata tommorrow at 11:45am.

We got a rickshaw back to the hotel and suffered the worst traffic we have yet seen in Kolkata. Absolutely gridlocked with people, cows, rickshaws etc all trying to jostle and elbow in for an extra few inches of tarmac.

Got back to Fairlawn where we spent most of the afternoon uploading photos.

Popped over the road to a small restaurant where we had some tasty noodles. Headed back to the room as Jurassic Park 3 was on. We both fell asleep whilst watching it!

Jo is still not feeling too great. We've decided if she's still not well by the time we reach Orissa that we will have to go to a doctors.

Day 133 (Fri 17 Nov) - Kolkata

Sarb got up very early this morning to see what Kolkata is like in the early morning.
Walked, carefully stepping round the numerous people sleeping out on the streets, to the Maiden just in front of the Victoria Memorial. Even at this ungodly hour there were about 3 cricket matches going, a football match and a sort of group exercise session. Horses were roaming around quite freely.

The Victoria Memorial looked majestic as wisps of mist floated past it.

Sarb met up with Jo, Disco and Charles for breakfast. The three of us then went on a mammoth walk round Kolkata. Very soon into the walk we decided that the map in the Lonely Planet was next to useless, however it was the only map we had.

As we walked along we spotted a chap who really ought to have been at the business end of the hand pulled rickshaw.

Walked to the Maiden and spent a couple of hours at the impressive Victoria Memorial. The museum and galleries were excellent; the only criticism is that perhaps there is too much information.

Walked round the beautifully kept gardens of the memorial ( [1], [2] ).

From the Memorial we got a taxi to Eden Gardens. Although the name conjures up images of a beautiful garden in reality it is just an open grass area. Walked on and into central Kolkata.

The buildings in Kolkata are all crumbling away and in dire need of a facelift. However it doesn't take too much to imagine what it must have looked like at the height of the British Raj. Many buildings would not have looked out of place on Regent Street or Bloomsbury.

Walked past a large square that had intentionally been flooded creating a pond. The ducks certainly seemed to appreciate it.

Very, very hot as we reached the banks of the Hooghly river. Couldn't actually see the river as we were impeded by a ferry terminal. Decided that we'd have enough of walking and got a taxi to a famous eatery called Peter Cat.

This place was just like an Indian back at home. Had a great lunch and a few beers.

Left at about 5pm to wander back to the Fairlawn hotel. Jo wrapped up some pressies she had bought whilst Sarb lazed around.

We all met up again in the garden area of Fairlawn at about 8pm. As it was Sarb's birthday in a few days time and Disco was leaving tommorrow she gave Sarb his birthday pressies early ( [1], [2] )! Sarb got a travel chess/draughts set. He has threatened to teach Jo how to play chess, much to her alarm.

We sat around drinking and chatting until 11.30pm.

Day 132 (Thu 16 Nov) - Kolkata

We all hopped off the train and after a brief period of running round to find one another we all jumped into a cab to the Fairlawn hotel located in Sudder Street.

After Darjeeling the pollution, crowds and noise came as a bit of a shock.

We got to the hotel and had to wait for a couple of hours whilst our rooms were vacated.

The main upstairs hall of the Fairlawn can only be described as having suffered a major explosion in a (dodgy) antiques shop. Its crammed with ornaments, statues, lampshades, pictures etc. Very fussy but it does work.

We were offered breakfast whilst we were waiting for our rooms. We shared a table with a middle aged American chap called Charles from Washington DC. Charles had never before left the US and this was his first overseas adventure. We couldn't help to ask why on earth he would pick Kolkata. In a charming manner Charles explained that when you have a map, a dart and a late developing adventurous streak then why the hell not?

At about 10am we got our rooms and chilled for a few hours.

Later, Jo and Disco were still not feeling too well so Sarb went off for a wander to the nearest internet cafe whilst they relaxed.

We all had a lazy day. Early evening we attempted to have a drink but to the consternation of all and sundry the place had run dry. All and sundry were not impressed!

Jo and Disco went off for dinner leaving Sarb behind to watch a Bond movie.

Day 131 (Wed 15 Nov) - Darjeeling / Siliguri

Had our customary breakfast at Glenarys and then wandered back to our hotel to play with Chapati and Pakora. Disco had been saving her sausages for the dogs for which they were evidently grateful.

Packed our gear and walked to the tourist office to get our jeep that would take us to New Jalpaguiri at about 1pm. As we passed through Darjeeling we were forced to stop to allow the toy train to pass across us.

On the way back we stopped off at the Makaibari tea factory. Quite fascinating as we walked round the factory, looking at machines that were the best part of a century old still working. Even the final sifting of the tea leaves is done by hand by women.

We all bought some tea and then continued on our way to NJP as the afternoon light bathed the beautiful countryside in a rich warm glow. It was breathtaking.

We decided to stop off at Siliguri instead of NJP as there seemed to be even less in NJP and we had a few hours to kill.

At Siliguri we headed to Yatri's where he had a few beers (one too many in Sarb's case) before heading off to NJP.

At NJP train station we were forced to split up. The only seats that we could reserve were two in 3A and one in 2A. Sarb got the 2A slot whilst Jo and Disco went off to their 3A carriage.

Sarb had quite a pleasant time chatting to the locals sharing his berth, to the extent that they were probably quite relieved when the lights went out.

Sarb slept quite well as opposed to Disco and Jo.

The train pulled into Kolkata at 7am.

Day 130 (Tue 14 Nov) - Darjeeling

Breakfasted at Glenary's again this morning. Jo still not feeling well and only managed a couple of slices of toast.

Very lazy day today.

Sarb went on the internet, read and generally pottered around.

Disco read and generally pottered around.

Jo stayed in bed drinking loads of water and resting.

Despite feeling unwell Jo managed to rouse herself in the late afternoon for a stab at shopping. Retail therapy obviously works as she certainly looked perky when Sarb met her and Disco at Shangrila for dinner in the early evening.

Jo managed to buy some Christmas pressies for family back at home and Disco has kindly offered to take them back with her and post them from London.

Day 129 (Mon 13 Nov) - Darjeeling (Tiger Hill)

Flaming early start this morning (3.30am) for our trip to Tiger Hill.

Traipsed to the nearby tourist office in the dark to get our jeep. Passed through a sleepy Darjeeling. Well everyone apart from the tourists and the jeep drivers were still sleeping. The town was crawling with 4WD vehicles all heading towards Tiger Hill.

Got to the ticket barrier just outside Tiger Hill where Jo purchased some tickets that would allow us to sit in the viewing building. Still pitch dark as we strained our eyes to see anything at all from the viewing building. Luckily we'd managed to bag some seats right at the front by the windows.

To say it was busy would be an understatement. Indian tourists at the best of times are hardly quiet but with such an early start and with the cold they were clearly trying to wake up and keep warm. It was pandemonium!

Slowly the horizon began to display a blush of colour. Soon we could see a bright orange fiery ball begin to rise. Because of how high we were and the fact that the sun was rising over the Indian plains we were actually looking at sunrise from above. Most peculiar.

The mountains and Khangchendzonga in particular, were absolutely spectacular. We could even make out Everest in the far distance.

We watched mesmerised as the sun's light slanted across the mountains ( [1] 5:54am, [2] 6:09am,[3] 6:18am ) with sleepy Darjeeling in the foreground. We stayed around even though after the first ray of light hit the mountains the Indian tourists all jumped into their cars and roared off. They were missing a treat!

We took our jeep back to Darjeeling, stopping off at some temples along the way.

Got back to our hotel and slept until the early afternoon. Jo started to feel unwell at this point with an upset tummy.

Sarb pottered off to the internet cafe whilst Jo rested in bed and Disco read her book out on the verandah.

Had some G and T's out on the verandah and since Disco was also beginning to feel unwell we decided to skip dinner.

Day 128 (Sun 12 Nov) - Darjeeling

It had been pretty cold last night. Sarb even went to bed wearing his woolly hat!

Got up and went to Glenary's cafe (under the restaurant) for breakfast. It was a delicious breakfast washed down with a fabulous cup of Darjeeling tea.

Headed off to the tourist information centre. They were very helpful and we booked to go to Tiger Hill early the next morning. The guy seemed a bit worried that we hadn't booked our return train ticket to Kolkata. Took his advice and went off to the train station. Station was pretty busy and there was the normal pushing and shoving and queue jumping.

Walked back towards the town, passing through Chowk bazaar which was full of market stalls. It was full of colourful goods and challenging aromas. Picked up a few limes for our gin and tonic's later tonight. Arrived at Lloyd Botanical Gardens. The paths were very steep so we didn't venture far as we knew we'd have to clamber back up again and Sarb was keen to get to the zoo before it closed.

Strolled along Hill Cart Road, past Happy Valley Tea Estate and found the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park. All of us agreed that we don't usually like zoos but this seem to be fairly sympathetic to the animals needs and they had embarked on a positive snow leopard and red panda breeding programme. In fact they are doing such sterling work in this area we caught two snow leopards having a cheeky snog. Sarb was particularly taken with the snow leopards. They reminded him of Jo's sisters cat Tilly, who is only marginally smaller than the leopards.

Strolled back to our hotel. On the way popped into the shop and bought some gin and tonic so that we could drink it whilst watching the sunset.

Whilst we were sitting outside our rooms and admiring the fine views ([1] [2] ) , two friendly little dogs came to see us.

They had been hanging around the previous day and they seemed to be a permanent fixture so we agreed to call them "Chapati" and "Pakora".

Day 127 (Sat 11 Nov) - Siliguri / Darjeeling

We all slept well. Jo popped out early to book a hotel in Darjeeling that Disco had been recommended by her friendly travelers. She also managed to book a jeep to take us all to Darjeeling later that morning. Busy bee!

Had breakfast and then commenced the check out saga. Even by Indian standards this was painful. Disco and Sarb watched as the guy at the desk wrote out the bills on one set of forms, then repeated this on a completely new set of forms (not content with just writing the figures he actually wrote down the amounts in words) and then laboriously searched under his desk for some unidentified tickets that he tore from a book and then stapled to the bills. It was like watching a sloth that had overdosed on Valium.

Finally left Siliguri at 11.30am and in no time we left the busy town and were traveling through tea plantations. Slowly wove our way up a steep road into the mountains ( [1], [2] ). As we drove along the road we kept crossing the toy train tracks. We had considered taking the toy train but it sounded pretty exhausting as it took 9 hours, whereas the jeep would only take 3 hours. Further up the road we came across the toy train slowly, crawling up the tracks - it would be quicker to walk. We stopped on the way up and took in the breathtaking views.

Arrived in Darjeeling at about 2.30pm. The driver couldn't take us all the way to our hotel so we had to lug our rucksacks up a steep busy street which was full of enticing market stalls. We arrived at the Bellevue Hotel. Disco and Jo headed off to check out the rooms. They weren't impressed, though on the way up in the jeep we had discovered that Jo might have booked the wrong hotel as there was also one called the Main Olde Bellevue Hotel. Jo spotted that the other hotel was next door so whilst she got prepared to stall the hotel owner of Bellevue, Disco and Sarb popped next door to check it out.

The Main Olde Bellevue Hotel was the right hotel and we checked in to rooms 8 & 9 which had stunning views over Darjeeling and the snow peaked mountains from the garden area just outside our rooms.

After we dumped our stuff we found a nice cafe on Chowrasta which had fabulous views of Khangchendzonga. It felt quite chilly so whilst Sarb headed off to the internet cafe Disco and Jo went shopping. We had a great time bartering with the owners of the colourful market stalls. We had a very successful shop - we both bought woolly shawls, Jo bought Sarb a rather fetching woolly jumper and we all had matching Darjeeling woolly hats. We all looked like woolies.

On the way back to meet Sarb at the hotel, we stopped off at a shop and stocked up with beer and wine.

Wrapped in our new attire, we had a drink, on what we called our verandah, whilst we watched the sun go down outside our rooms - it was beautiful.

Later went to Glenary's for dinner and then headed back to sit outside our rooms and gaze at the starry night.

Day 126 (Fri 10 Nov) - Siliguri

Arrived at New Jalpaiguri train station at 8.30am.

Fought our way through taxi and rickshaw drivers and headed to the pre-paid taxi booth. Got a taxi to take us to Siliguri. Checked into the Conclave Lodge, had breakfast and then chilled for the rest of the morning. Not being as lazy as Sarb and Jo, Disco spent the morning making friends with some fellow travelers who had just returned from Darjeeling.

In the afternoon we decided to explore Siliguri - not much to explore really. Basically it is a very busy trunk road, lined with shops, hotels and cafes on either side.

Found an inviting bar called Yatris, where a friendly barman served us a few welcome drinks. Popped into the internet cafe to check what was going on back home and then headed back to our rooms.

Later we ventured out again for dinner, headed back to Yatris as no where else seemed that inspiring.

Day 125 (Thurs 9 Nov) - Sunderbans/ Kolkata

Up at 6.30am and went to the food area hoping for breakfast. No breakfast was provided, only cups of tea and coffee that we had to repeatedly ask for.

At 7.15am we set off on the boat back to Kolkata. At about 9am Subayesh, who had totally ignored us at this point, appeared and asked us to write on two blank sheets of paper our positive and negative aspects regarding the tour.

We informed him that we had no intention of writing such a statement and would instead send a detailed statement direct to Indian Moments. Subayesh repeatedly asked us to write this document. We refused. We asked him however where our written explanation was concerning the delays and mishaps endured so far on this tour; he admitted he had not written it.

We asked Subayesh to explain verbally what the delays were so that we could write it down. We started writing down what Subayesh said, who then became very aggressive and agitated. He demanded that we hand the pieces of paper on which we had been writing back and to write what he had asked. We refused. At one point this confrontation seemed to promise a bit of fisticuffs. We told him in no uncertain terms to bugger off to the back of the boat, where he'd been for most of the trip, as he was spoiling what was left of our trip.

Subayesh duly disappeared and we did not speak to him again until we reached Canning at 12.20pm. Subayesh told us to stay on the boat as he went on land. After about 20 mins Subayesh reappeared and asked Sarb to get off the boat so that he could speak by phone to the North East Indian representative for Indian Moments. Sarb spoke to this person and said that we would not be completing a hand written statement and would instead be sending an email to the head office of Indian Moments. The man at the end of the line became quite aggressive demanding that we complete a hand written statement. Sarb refused.

We then had to wait for another 40 minutes whilst we waited for the hapless Subayesh to organise a taxi ( [1], [2] ). This duly arrived and we set off for Kolkata at what can only be described at a rally car pace. How we managed to kill only one chicken on the way to Kolkata will remain a mystery to us; we must have come close to bagging a half dozen people, a few dogs and most worryingly almost got taken out by a lorry.

We got to Sealdah train station in Kolkata at about 3.30pm. Left Subayesh (thankfully) and dropped our main bags at the train station left luggage office.

We really needed a drink and so went off to the ICT Hilton hotel by autorickshaw.

Once there we all had a load of drinks and discussed the debacle of the Sunderbans tour. It kept us well amused. We reckon that Indian Moments had basically 'sold' us to another firm in Kolkata who then (badly) ran the tour. Hence why the 'NE Indian representative' desperately wanted our feedback to go to him so that he could cover his butt. We also felt that Subayesh was so incompetent that he was basically standing in for the 'real' guide who was probably doing a job someplace else. The three of us engaged in a highly entertaining crime solving conversation. In a nutshell, we reckoned that the NE Indian representative did it, with a mobile phone, in the pantry.

Had some grub at the bar and then got a taxi back to Sealdah train station. Got our bags and boarded our train.

We are in a 2 tier non AC class. Pretty basic. We all had a fairly uncomfortable nights sleep.

Day 124 (Wed 8 Nov) - Sunderbans

We got up at 6am and had breakfast. Although Subayesh had agreed to meet us at 6.30am he did not appear until 7am. He said that we had to leave immediately and that he would explain the remainder of the itinerary as soon as we got on the boat.

Set off and met our naturalist; meant to be in the itin a local wildlife expert.
As we travelled Subayesh decided to explain the changes to the itin. He wanted to squeeze into the third day all that we had missed on the first. We pointed out to him that this seemed rather unlikely and that we would be rushing around. Asked Subayesh to have a rethink and we would talk in the evening as we were missing seeing the Sunderbans drifting slowly by. Subayesh did not speak to us for the remainder of the day.

The naturalist we soon discovered was not such an expert, or if he wasn't he wasn't keen to show off his expertise to us! Soon after we set off some birds alighted at the bow of the boat. We asked the naturalist what they were and he immediately dived into his books to tell us. Each simple question meant that he had to look for the answer in a book. We soon gave up on him and just consulted his books whenever we wanted to look something up.

Despite this the Sunderbans is an absolutely beautiful place. A labyrinth of mangrove choked waterways branches off the main waterways. Our boat unfortunately would be far too large to navigate through these small inlets; not sure if any boat could.

We saw many, many different types of birds and the vegetation of the mangrove forests subtly changed as we traveled round. From rich green vegetation we came across swathes of mangrove that was coloured red, golden and green; perfect tiger camouflage. It seemed hard to believe that tigers roamed these mangrove forests, swimming in-between the many islands as the mood took them.

We stopped off at a couple of watchtowers. The watchtowers are constructed in lush forest and so it would be almost impossible to see anything that wasn't within touching distance. To enable people to see they had cut down the forest in long strips (a bit like bicycle spokes) with the watchtower at its centre. In these strips we saw some spotted dear and closer to even a monitor lizard basking.

We got back to our lodgings at about 5pm passing local boats as we went.

Subayesh came and spoke with Sarb saying that he was going to change the itinerary and that we should leave the next morning at 5.30am as the tides meant that we would reach Canning later than anticipated.

We disagreed as we were still very tired from the journey the previous day and had lost all trust in Subayesh to organise a drink up in a brewery. We said we would not get up at 5.30am, we would however get up at 7am and go straight back to Kolkata as we had to get a train at 8pm and we could not miss it. We all agreed that we would leave the next morning at 7am after we had breakfasted.

We all felt that the tides were being blamed for everything so asked Subayesh a written statement as to why we were so delayed on the first day and an explanation as to why the naturalist was so useless. S promised to have this note prepared for 7am the next morning.

At about 9pm we had a knock on the door and a man we had not seen before, but we suspect from the tourist lodge we were staying at, asked us to speak to someone on a mobile phone. The caller was the North East Indian Representative for Indian Moments. Sarb took the call. The man wanted an explanation as to why the tour was not going well.

Sarb told him that there had been so many mistakes made on the tour that there was no way in which we could communicate our concerns verbally but would write an email when we got back to Kolkata.

Day 123 (Tue 7 Nov) - Sunderbans

All got up nice and early and grabbed a coffee at a nearby restaurant. Subayesh had turned up just as we left about 8am but the car hadn't arrived.

Got back to the Hotel Galaxy and dragged our bags out. By this time about 8.30am the car had arrived so we all loaded up and set off. Whilst Subayesh was helping Disco into the car he managed to slam the door against her knee. We should have taken this as a bad omen.

Set off through the busy streets and out into the suburbs of Kolkata. Passed through smaller towns where the traffic was awful and the pollution was almost choking.

We arrived at Canning, south of Kolkata, at 11.30am a bit hot and bothered. We were not too pleased to be told that the road to the jetty was not good. Our bags were transported by rickshaw while we walked for about 10 minutes to reach the jetty.

Got on our rickety boat and waited whilst Subayesh disappeared only to reappear again, a half hour later with no explanation. We set off and for the whole of the boat trip we probably spoke to our 'guide' for about 5 minutes; no explanation as to what we were going to do, what we were seeing etc. We sat at the front of the boat and Subayesh and the crew all remained at the back with the exception of the captain who was at the wheel.

As our slow, tired boat chugged laboriously up the river we watched small villages and homesteads float past on the banks. Seems an incredibly poor region. We saw villagers waiting patiently for the many ferries that criss cross the waterways.

For some unexplained reason the boat stopped at a two jetties on the way and sat there for half an hour each time without any explanation as to why. When we asked Subayesh why we had stopped the second time he said that it was to pick up spares. Not exactly reassuring.

We also asked Subayesh when we would arrive at our lodgings. He said that we should get there for 5.30pm. We replied that since it gets dark at 6pm this did not leave alot of time to go to the watchtower as promised on the itin. He replied that because of the tides the journey had taken longer than anticipated.

As we had just been served a simple dinner by the crew Disco decided it was high time to crack open a box of wine that she had brought from London. Soon the three of us were sitting up at the front of the boat drinking excellent wine as the light began to fade.

Soon the light had completely gone. We then noticed that we were traveling on a boat with no evidence of safety equipment, no running lights and people with no idea. We were all a trifle worried.

After a long while we arrived at a jetty and disembarked with Subayesh. We had foolishly thought that because we had given all our personal information to Indian Moments that checking in would be a breeze. Wrong! Tired and hungry we had to suffer a pompous git asking for all our papers to check in. Subayesh had disappeared so no help there.

When we had checked in Subayesh reappeared and we made it very plain that we wanted to talk about how long the journey had taken.

Our rooms were very basic. We had no hot water, large cockroaches were in the rooms and the toilet seats were broken.

Subayesh came to our rooms. We told him that the journey had taken far too long and so we had missed an afternoons looking out from the watchtowers. Furthermore we were horrified to learn that the leaky, diesel belching and loud lump of a boat that had brought us here would also be our boat through which we would travel through the Sunderbans. So much for the 'tiger boat' promised on the itin. Subayesh promised that he would make amends and that next morning we should all meet at 6.30am to discuss the revised itin. There was unfortunately nothing he could do about the boat.

We turfed Subayesh out the room and sat around for a while playing the Post It Note game.

Day 122 (Mon 6 Nov) - Kolkata

Sarb was up early and was soon found banging on the door of Jo and Disco's room.

After getting ourselves sorted Subayesh, from Indian Moments the company that we had booked our Sunderbans tour through turned up. He had arrived to get our passports so that he could sort out special permits that allowed us to travel to the Sunderbans.

We wandered off and had some brekky before trying to get some cash to pay for the remainder of the Sunderbans trip. Managed to get some at the third cashpoint we tried.

We noticed that on Sudder Street there is a huge tethered goat that has a face just like the beastie in Aliens.

Walked back to the hotel and waited for Subayesh to return with our passports. He turned up around 12.30pm with the passports and permits and we paid him the remainder of the money for the trip. He said that we should be ready to leave early the next morning.

Sarb went off to the internet cafe whilst Jo took Disco off to buy some train tickets for our trip up to Darjeeling.

The train station was very busy and hot. Wonder why Sarb decided to stay behind! Jo and Disco fended off the locals and successfully bought the train tickets to Darjeeling.

We all met up back at the Fairlawn hotel at about 5ish. Had a few drinks and decided that we couldn't face the hotel Galaxy when returned to Kolkata so booked rooms at the Fairlawn for the 16th and 17th of November.

At about 6ish Sarb went off to the Hotel Lindsay and sat drinking a beer, admiring the view over Kolkata as Jo and Disco went shopping in the bazaar's below.

We all had an excellent meal with loads of beer and some surprisingly drinkable wine.

Got back to the Galaxy where we packed our bags up ready for our Sunderbans trip t'row morning.

Day 121 (Sun 5 Nov) - Kolkata

Eagerly got up and took a taxi to the airport to meet Debs (who used to work with Jo at Alzheimer's). Debs was coming to join us experience the delights of North East India for the next two weeks.

We'd read that it could take 2 hours to get to the airport so we set off at 10am only to arrive a mere 45 minutes later. The Air India flight from Heathrow wasn't due to arrive until 12.15. To kill some time we had some breakfast in the comfortable airport restaurant and went to the viewing gallery to watch planes land.

Waited for another hour and then decided we should go and see what had happened to the flight. The arrivals board stated that the plane had been diverted!! Great - poor Debs!!

Jo went to find the Airport Manager to find out what was going on. The Airport Managers office was full of friends and family waiting for the flight from Heathrow but no Airport Manager. It seemed that the plane had been diverted to Delhi (only some 2 hours flight away!!) because there had been a problem with the runway at Kolkata. Waited around for another hour. Finally an official from Air India came into the office and confirmed that the plane had been diverted to Delhi whilst repairs were being made to the runway and they should arrive in Kolkata at 4pm, though that was Indian timing so we weren't holding our breath!!

By this time it was 3pm and Jo decided to try Deb's mobile phone. Luckily she answered it and confirmed that she was sitting on the tarmac at Delhi Airport. They hadn't been allowed to leave the plane but she sounded surprisingly cheerful about the whole ordeal.

The flight finally arrived in Kolkata at 6.30pm, some six hours late. We met a slightly discombobulated Debs as she came through the arrivals gate and bundled her into a taxi.

We headed back through the busy, noisy, dirty streets of Kolkata to our hotel.

Before long we had deposited Disco's bags (Sarb's new affectionate name for Debs) and we were in the Fairlawn ordering a well deserved Kingfisher. Had a few drinks and retired for the night in our hotel.

To make it a little more comforting for Disco, Jo decided to sleep in her room, it had twin beds, whilst Sarb was upstairs snoring away soundly.

Day 120 (Sat 4 Nov) - Kolkata

Finally pulled into Kolkata at about 6 in the morning.

Got a taxi straight to our hotel, the Galaxy off Sudder Street in Chowringhee.

The hotel is pretty basic to say the least; it reminded us of our horrible stay in Mumbai. Still it was cheap(ish) so will do.

Both were absolutely cream crackered so slept until about 2ish. Feeling a little peckish by now so went off to the Hotel Lindsay that boasted a rooftop restaurant.

Unfortunately the rooftop was closed so we had to make do with the indoor restaurant. This place was quite cosy having only 8 tables, 3 of which including us that were being used. The numbers are important because there must have been at least 10 waiters all hovering round the top end of the room.

Despite the large number of waiters it took ages for our order to be taken. Then a long delay when a chap we hadn't seen before appeared and said that they didn't have Kingfisher so would a Black Label do? Yes it would do. The food arrived but the beer didn't. The food was finished and the plates taken away. Still no beer. The bill came and surprise, surprise there was a bottle of beer on the it! Explained to the waiter that a bill normally means paying for what you have ordered and if ordered item does not appear, it seems a bit thick to put it on the bill. After another long delay the beer duly arrived.

This has been a very common theme in India. Loads of people employed doing absolutely nothing. 10 waiters where 2 would have sufficed, the service was pitifully slow and then they cock up the beer.

We decided that we didn't like the Hotel Galaxy and would try and find nicer lodgings. Unfortunately every other place seemed to be booked.

Went back to the hotel where Jo had a sleep whilst Sarb went to the nearby Fairlawn Hotel for a drink. Sarb met some local Kolkatan gents. Noticing that it was getting late Sarb went back to the hotel Galaxy to wake Jo up. Once woken we decided to go back to the Fairlawn where we met up with our friends again.

They were pretty scathing about Kolkata; saying that up until very recently the locals referred to it as the Dead City as there was absolutely nothing happening here; no investment, no central government involvement, the local government basically playing games at being Communist and a general pall of stagnation hovering over the city. However they did say that things were beginning to change.

Headed back to our hotel for a good nights kip.

Day 119 (Fri 3 Nov) - Mumbai / Kolkata (Train Journey)

Got up from a good nights sleep at 8am.

Both had an ace brekky about 9ish and settled down to watch the scenery.

Travelled through vast agricultural areas. Weather looked quite overcast as we sped East.

Although we will be spending some 36 hours on this train in total we're both pretty comfy and upbeat. The trains in India are generally very good.

Passed the time by doing Su Doku, reading, updating our journals and relaxing!

Day 118 (Thu 2 Nov) - Mumbai

Pulled into Mumbai about 6.30am. Dumped our bags in the left luggage office and then went off to search for a cup of tea.

All the places, including McDonalds was shut. Clearly Mumbai likes to wake up in a leisurely fashion.

Walked to the Maiden where we were surprised to see the park teeming with people. There was the usual joggers and walkers but we were not expecting to see loads of kids doing marching drills, about three games of informal cricket going on, the cricket nets all being used with people fully padded up and a woman's football team limbering up. The time was about 7.30am! No wonder all the flaming shops were closed. All the people were out running around the flaming park!

Sat around for a bit then walked up to Leopolds for breakfast. Found an internet cafe where we burnt some CD's and done some surfing. We were feeling a little tired especially since we knew we had to wait until 8.30 this evening to catch our onward train to Kolkata.

Left the cafe and went to the Oberoi hotel at Nariman Point. We both had two glasses of wine each and Jo dealt with her usual club sandwich.

Walked back to the station. It was so hot that we were both gasping for a drink by the time we got there. We found a place that looked promising for a beer but was told that there was no beer today. Sarb asked the doorman if any other place nearby was doing beers. The doorman said that because of a religious festival the whole of Mumbai would be dry today. This was not music to Sarb's ears.

We decided to get a cab to Leopolds but it was heaving; luckily we got to Cafe Mondegar's where we bagged a table. Sarb spotted the sign on the bar saying 'No beer today' and looked crestfallen. Luck was on his side however as the cafe owner saw the anguish in Sarb's eyes and wandered over. After making sure that we were tourists, he even examined Sarb's passport, he decided we were tourists and hence exempt from local rules and customs and served Sarb a beer. Brilliant!

Chilled out for a while and then got a taxi back to the station via McDonalds. Jo abstained but Sarb tucked into a chicken something or other.

Whilst waiting Sarb decided to try a weighing machine. You pop in a rupee and after flashing some lights your weight in kilos is spat out of the machine printed on a bit of card. This looked like fun so Jo had a go. We both examined our weights and not believing the machine went to another where we repeated the experiment. We came up with another two, totally different weights. Deciding that we should find a proper machine we gave up and headed off to our train.

Found our comfy seats and settled in for a long, long journey all the way to Kolkata.
Not surprisingly we slept very, very well.

Day 117 (Wed 1 Nov) - Goa Majorda Beach

Up for our last breakfast at Shangrila. We're going to miss this place!

As we sat there Sarb finally managed to get a picture of the fighting bull that every morning has been taken for a walk to keep him fit.

After breakfast Sarb finally managed to get his hair cut. Every other time we passed the place it has been shut.

The barber tied the sheet so tight round Sarb's neck that there was a serious risk of oxygen depletion. Luckily Sarb managed to loosen it slightly. Sarb had his hair cut and declined the offer of a free head massage. The barber went ahead anyway. It seems that an Indian head massage basically involves inflicting all sorts of cranial damage as quickly as possible. After getting a right slapping round, and having his ears pulled so far out that they actually made a cracking sound, Sarb thankfully paid the man and made good his escape.

Jo had gone off to see Keith and Ruth whilst Sarb finished off his packing.

All met up in the hotel gardens a short while later. Sat around until about 2.30pm then made our way to the Pentagon for lunch.

After lunch Jo and Sarb got their bags from the next door hotel and loaded up Francisco's car. Said a brief but emotional goodbye to Ruth and Keith and set off down the road.

Got to the station and said goodbye to Francisco. Goa station is extremely modern; more like an airport terminal.

Waited about an hour for our train and boarded. We were in a Sleeper class which basically means 3 tiers of bunks with no air conditioning. Two Canadian girls also joined us in our little cabin and we were soon all chatting away. Turns out that these girls were working in some sort of Ashram where the monks would, without any malice, tease them for being a trifle plump.

We were having a jolly time of it thinking we had this little section of the train to ourselves but no. Loads of Indian tourists pitched up and basically sat ontop of us all. We got the bunks out and thankfully clambered up. In no time the entire floor of the carriage was littered with people making up their beds!

We were pretty glad when we pulled into Mumbai.