A day off

 Jenny didn't feel up to much this morning, perhaps sleep deprived from my snoring, and returned to bed after our first "normal" breakfast in six weeks or so. The blend of corn flakes and muesli in uht milk (fresh milk here is never used cold) was refreshingly bland! Alas, the apartment doesn't have bowls, but improvisation was simple.

Tablets are anti-malarials

I headed out for a walk, first away from the city to the incredibly overdone footbridge (it had escalators!) where I crossed over and walked towards the busyness. The next possible place to cross without climbing the central fence was about a mile further in from the footbridge, and that was a take-your-chances-with-the-traffic broken section of fencing. But the footpath was excellent for that mile, though gradually there was more broken paving, increasingly deep and wide holes and the common blockages of parked cars, scooters and shack cafes forcing pedestrians into the road. 

Bamboo scaffolding - one scaffolder in trainers, the other in flip-flops 

The fanciest footbridge I've ever seen! 

On the edge of the city we're many traders relying on drivers stopping for whatever was on offer. This cart is for crushing the juice from sugar cane. Others included coconuts, fruit, dusters (a very important item here) and illegal alcoholic drinks rebottled in clear plastic water bottles. 

Guwahati is very much a city of temples

A poor photo of a beautiful kingfisher. The water in this pond was vile, but far from the worst I saw today. Despite this, I saw plenty of dragonflies and birds. 

After a couple of hours walking, despite temptation of Baskin Robbins, I headed to our apartment via an Uber two-wheel taxi - ie, a scooter. The app price was about 27p; I generously gave a pound for the 4km ride. It was fine, but I'd bought a bag of fruit so was only holding on with one hand. Every speed hump bounced me a few millimeters backwards. Surprisingly, I managed not to fall off the back. 

I spent a bit of time planning Kolkata accommodation - we've gone for another apartment hoping it matches our experience here. Also booked a river cruise tomorrow evening. 

Jen bounced back to health for this evening; we walked around the maze of streets and found lovely café for supper. Still on a day off, we ordered a starter portion of fish and chips followed by meatball spaghetti (Jen) and a meaty pizza - wonderfully unchallenging and very tasty.