River trip morning

 Another lovely Kolkata morning and a late breakfast around 9.00. The badminton court is still being worked on - I suspect it was originally teak and the boards are thick - it may have lasted indefinitely if they'd not had it covered by a vinyl playing surface. The joiner seems serene in his work. Here he's stopped to sharpen chisels. 

There are also tradesmen in refurbishing furniture; with no power tools that takes ages, but very little dust. 

At 11.30 or car came and a group of us were taken to a ghat {in this case meaning boat landing) and crossed a floating restaurant (being used as a pontoon - I hope it never leaves the berth with so many gaping holes just above the waterline) to an embarrassingly ugly dressed pontoon boat. 

With the tide still falling we bucked it going upstream with occasional commentary. The Hooghly is mostly Ganges water and has a tremendous importance culturally and (more in previous centuries) economically to India. 

In brief, we travelled under the Howrah Bridge (about eighty years old now, always incredibly busy with main city to the east and main railway station at the west end). 

A couple of miles off driving up the right channel, we turned to return down the east. By then the tide had turned and it was against up around three knots by the time we docked. 

We passed numerous ghats - river entry places - where people washed (sometimes ceremonially for purification, you'd only wash functionally if there was no other choice), swam and hung out. 

Some ghats appeared almost abandoned - this chap really struggled on the slimy slipway

Many fishing boats were out - I don't know what was being caught, nor would I want to know I'd eaten fish from here, though I may well have done

River ferries can be very convenient transport in such a congested city. There are many landing stages and apparently as few rules as on the roads - horns blowing and cut across wherever you fancy. 

Many of the ghats had prominent temples attached 

And, of course, we ate another lovely meal! 

Overall, lovely for a sightseeing trip, and another chance to get to know more from thy he wedding. We also chatted with others unconnected. 

Back to base around 4.00, time for a nap before our next meal out. Struggling with the pace!