Goodbye Guwahati or The Beginning of the End
We're tucked into The Park hotel in Kolkata, one of the city's iconic places in Park Street. The check in was wonderful - our cheap Uber taxi noisily forced a path through the traffic, entered a dramatically lit tunnel and was halted by several uniformed employees. They looked like characters from a James Bond film guarding the baddie's underground lair, but fortunately weren't armed. The doors were snatched open, and as I tried to open the boot to recover our large bag I was forcefully ordered "Leave!"; we entered a world of uniformed people to open every door, beautifully smiling women to fill our forms and multitudes to aid us if ever we should look even slightly indecisive.
In truth, the hotel is very impressive despite being due a major revamp for the classification. The room is no bigger than a Travelodge while the furniture may have been up to date around the 1970s. Few Travelodges could match the price, and Park Street is the acknowledged centre of buzzing Kolkata. It's a bit disconcerting to have people namaste-ing us as we approach, though.
Our morning had us breakfasting on the terrace on leftovers - Jen, sensibly, had the leftover cornflakes and milk, I had to make do with cheesecake. It was with some sadness we left, our digs had been excellent. Airport drive was uneventful, but as always interesting.
The flight over Bangladesh highlighted the delta. It would be a very different view after rains.
Kolkata is hot now but our room is cool with slightly wild air conditioning - no matter what we do to adjust it, even switching to heating, it's sitting at 20C. After a half hour walk once checked in we tried one of the many hotel bars and restaurants. My cold beer was really lovely after the heat outside, and Jen's coffee good. But£7.50 for the beer and a few quid for the coffee reminded us that India isn't always cheap.
Later we popped across the road for supper to a tandoori plus everything else restaurant. We'd not realised it was a buffet, but to begin with we were brought multiple skewers of meat, fish, fruit, veg and paneer. We thought we'd eaten well, but three young men at the next table were incredible, encouraged by the very attentive staff. Salads, curries, birianis, breads, and all sorts were there for us, all excellent. Then puddings. I didn't go too silly while Jenny was very sensible, yet still great value and a good vibe in there, but music was a bit too loud. I tried rounding the bill up as a tip, but they weren't having it - against company policy.
It feels like our time away is nearly over; despite departure not due for over a week Kolkata is our final destination before home.
And a quick postscript...
We realised the toilet bowl was leaking onto the floor at about 10.30 and called for assistance. Eventually we've been rehoused on the next floor in what appears to be a an accessible room. The tap is wobbly, but any toilet leaks will go straight down the drain rather than cover the floor! 11.30 now and time for sleep.
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