The best part of waiting until October for your main holiday is that we have enjoyed the great summer in the uk and it makes the dreary British winter speed by.

The planning has been competed, the packing finally sorted, the taxi is here and we're off on our third trip to India. The holiday always starts at the airport, watching other passengers, envious of the women who some how manage to look like they have just stepped out of a fashion shoot with immaculate luggage and beautifully coordinated wrinkle free clothes .

So our first stop on our three and a half week trip will be Kolkata, we haven't been here before so it will be a new adventure, of meeting new people, seeing new sights and experiencing great food.

After what seems like months and months of planning we finally packed our cases and made our way to the airport for our flight; the flight was busy and most seats were taken. No matter how comfortable a flight you have, sitting for 10 hour is uncomfortable so we were glad once we had a arrived at Kolkata airport. The lines for immigration were very long but moving very quickly, then to our luck we were called out of the line as we were the only European people on the flight and had to go through another line which was shorter and you would think quicker, but no, the airport was nearly empty when we left immigration; the customers officer had trouble its htis finger print equipment it kept breaking down so she had to go through the entire procedure about 3 times.

I always find customs the stressful bit, we will get through immigration, is the visa correct , will I find somewhere to cash some pounds for the rupee.

After 45 mins with customs we finally got to our waiting taxi; the journey to our hotel was quiet, nothing much on the road and we were glad that thenight porter was up and led us to our room. The hotel was called the Lytton, right in the middle of the city near all the markets and shops, yay!

After a good nights sleep well, Geoff had a good nights sleep I, however heard noises around 4am which was the time the hotel decided to move around to bed room furniture, then of course the honk, honk of the cars, followed by yapping dogs.

I fell back to sleep and the next thing I know it is 8:am and we need breakfast. There was plenty on offer at breakfast, lamb curry, vegetable curry, toast and eggs, scrambled fried or poached. The coffee was, well what can I say interesting it was a little weak but our lovely waiter managed to get some coffee powder to liven it up a bit.

After breakfast we thought we should explore; the market was just opening, this market is one of the oldest in India over a hundred years old and named "new market" no doubt we will come across the old market on our travels. The market like most we have seen in India was full of life as stall holders started opening their stalls, when they say you could come to India with no luggage it is true so many clothes shops, too many and as usual you do get a bit of hassle as traders try and entice you to their stalls, but its all good fun.

After the market we ventured into a taxi, a bright yellow ambassador car of which there are many. The ambassador car was bought over from England in the 50's, India took on the manufacture of them years later and they are still around today.

We visited a few of the main sights, the general post office a huge domed topped building built in the Victorian era and although still used as a post office it had lost its once glamorous paintwork and like many of the grand buildings was very faded. We continued our walk to a red brick building names the writers building where the top scholars of Kolkata used to meet and discuss, to day it house the military and the police. One of the prettiest parts of Kolkata is the park beautifully tended, full of colour as well as many people ether relaxing or fishing.

We stopped for our first kingfisher beer and relaxed for awhile before continuing our walk, as we rounded a corner hoping to get a taxi to take us back to the hotel we noticed a whole street of food vendors, we couldn't resist. We had a small snack of the best roti bread I have have ever had with a hot vegetable sauce, it was so good.

Back to the hotel for a rest and decide what to do this evening and also prepare for our trip to the Sunderbans tomorrow morning.