Goodbye Kolkata hello Sunderbans

Last night we went to the hotel bar for a drink before dinner, although they had gin it was imported so cost a fortune, strange how they didn't have the cheaper local gin; Geoff had no chance of getting a Guinness and had to settle for a lager, good old Kingfisher, the local brew. There were only a few people in the bar and not much atmosphere so we decided to take another walk through the street market, close to the metro; a stall holder started to tell us all about the metro and when it was introduced, and also gave us some good advice on where we could eat, him and his colleague walked with us a short way, chatting about their business and told us their plans to come over to Europe to set up some shops and ship their merchandise, they would be visiting England within the next couple of weeks to carry out a survey of where they were going to base their company.

People are very friendly and although they all want to take you to their shop which is a little embarrassing when you have no intention of buying anything. Our new friends left us at the restaurant and gave us their card with hopes of seeing us again soon!

The restaurant didn't look promising, from the outside it was really quite plain and you couldn't easily distinguish where the door was and you couldn't see in; as we entered a very smart gentleman welcomed us, the design of the restaurant was a little like an outside garden; rocks with cascading water and little bridges as walkways, the chairs were dressed in heavy brocade and the tables were dressed with simple ecru linen which looked very smart. Our concierge suggested a table on the upper balcony where you could gain a great view of everything going on and sent a waiter over with menus. We decided on a cocktail I had a Martini in but Geoff was very adventurous and tried a vodka, chilli, mango concoction; all I can say is that there is a time and a place for adventure, and cocktails is not one of them, geoff took a sip and asked for a beer! The concierge was most attentive even though he had a full restaurant and asked Geoff if he wanted his cocktail claimed down - I think all he did was put some ice in it but it was better. The restaurant service was really good and the food amazing, I had prawns and paneer and geoff had lamb, plenty of it and it was really good, we would definitely revisit after our trip to the Sunderbans.

The next day we had to be ready for 8am for the start of our 106km journey to Godkhali the small town where we would take a boat to Bali Islands in the Sunderbans.

Our driver was definitely on a mission to get there and Geoff had to ask him to slow down, the driving in India is quite mad, if they want to overtake they honk on their horns until the vehicle moves, its just the way it is over here, mirrors on a vehicle appear to be for display purposes only, no one uses them!

Three hours later we arrived in Godkhali and as much as I tried I could no longer wait and had to find the ladies, I was escorted to the towns' public toilets, which were not as bad as some I have seen and a lady escorted me to a cubicle, she must have known I wasn't carrying any money with me and mentioned that in India you have to pay to use the public loos, she was very sweet and didn't really mind that I couldn't pay.

Onwards to our boat; do not picture a viking cruise vessel or a smart power boat that you would find on the Norfolk broads, our vessel was wooden in need of a makeover or at least a tub of two of paint. I love boat rides, what I don't like is getting on and off boats. The jetty, no it isn't a marina its muddy half broken irregular bricks or concrete steps where you need to look and plan your moves most carefully; I did mange to board without making everyone laugh or groan so mission accomplished. The seating was garden plastic chairs, but it did have a canopy to shelter us from the sun, our guide for the next couple of days, Mittal, gave us some coconut milk which I liked, it was really refreshing, Geoff wasn't so keen. Our 2 crew, Boppi, our captain and Vishnesh his assistant were two young guys who could easily scramble over the quay and boat in their bare feet.

Our journey took about an hour, a lovely relaxing trip and getting off

was a breeze, (high tide), full concrete steps, no problems for me then. The camp is made up of a dozen small bungalows sited around a large pond and dinning area, very simply furnished but everything was there. The camp has to rely on a generator for electricity so it is a precious commodity and isn't on all day and night, (no point it being on if you are out all day is there)? Once we had settled in we were going on another boat trip to visit a watch tower and hopefully spot some wildlife, so back to the boat, to my disappointment as the tide had turned my lovely steps were no longer accessible for the boat so it was back to very slippery mud, stones and bricks but I made it.

Our time on Bali was mainly spent on the boat going through forests and clamouring up watch towers to view the wildlife, the highlight is to spot a tiger, but as our guide hadn't seen one since March we weren't holding out much hope. Among the animals we did spot

white-spotted deer, a reptile that looked like an ant-eater whose name I have forgotten, several enormous crocodiles, one must have been about 20 foot, and of course monkeys, lots of monkeys. We were also lucky to spot a good assortment of birds including very pretty kingfishers, the huge storks and many eagles and of different types.

After a full day on the boat we retuned to our camp, we were the only guests for the whole time we were there so, we had great service, there were probably 6 members of staff looking after us from the village; the camp proves a good opportunity of employment for the villages either working directly on the camp in the kitchens or providing laundry services, using the islands' only generator for ironing.

Our chef on the camp was wonderful, we had a variety vegetable and meat curries and breads, and plenty of tea and coffee, and beer, we certainly didn't go hungry.

The highlight of the trip to the Sunderbans was an early morning walk around a local village of Bali, as it was only 7 o'clock, the morning was cool and the village was a hive of activity, mothers getting the children ready for school, children herding goats and cattle and a house proud lady adding a layer of mud to the walls of her home, basically using water to smooth out sun-baked cracks in the walls. The ladies are certainly very busy in these villages as well as looking after the home, they tend their small parcels of land where they grow vegetables and rice as well as tend the animals, but they also found time to catch up with neighbours for a chai and a gossip;- most of the men of the village were either fishing or working on boats or owned shops in the market.

Our couple of days in Bali ended too quickly and it wasn't long before we got on our boat for the last time and headed back to Godkhali for our onwards trip back to Kolkata.