Enjoying the Oberoi. Once the Grande Dame of Calcutta hotels. A bit frayed around the edges but a welcome oasis from the mayhem of another Indian city. A massive street market on the doorstep so had to buy a couple of white cotton shirts to supplement my wardrobe. 2 for ten quid and they haven’t fallen apart yet!

A private guide and driver took me for a city tour. A couple of temples

Then some of the old colonial district where the East India Company operated out of back in the day. Including the Anglican church and a memorial to the victims of the infamous Black Hole.

The vast Victoria Memorial which unfortunately is closed on Mondays. A pretty impressive building/ legacy considering Queen Victoria never made it to India.

Lunch – well an anaemic chicken sandwich (with the crusts removed of course!) in the oldest coffee shop in town

Sara (my ex and close mate) was born in Calcutta in the mid fifties and lived there for a few years. I had always said that if I was ever in Kolkata I would see if her old home was still there. So armed with the address from her birth certificate my guide and driver set off to investigate. Unfortunately the house was long gone having been replaced with a (residential complex).

The photos that follow were of the family pets which included two orphaned tiger cubs. Including Sara’s mum bottle feeding one on the sofa.

Only 65 years ago – definitely a bygone era!!

The next day was spent resting at the Hotel before an evening flight to Delhi and the redeye to Heathrow. Then a four hour drive down to home and Flete House in Devon.

Reunited with Max the next morning

Both happy to be home. Just jetlag and covid hangover to get through……

Postscript

Not the holiday that I had been hoping for. India is a complete tip!! Poverty, pollution and diseases everywhere. Pandaw who have always been reliably brilliant in Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia were a complete shambles. A very unhappy bunch of passengers on both legs of the cruise including those who joined us from other Pandaw cruises.

Absolutely Pandawful and not to be recommended!!!

I will need to find another destination before the whole world implodes and rivers and waterways become unnavigable. Watch this space!!

The Brahmaputra is an immense river that flows out of Tibet, through India where it ultimately joins the Ganges and into the Bay of Bengal. It’s tributaries drain a large proportion of the Himalayas and a combination of “snow melt” and the Monsoons make it one of the world’s greatest rivers in terms of volume of water flow. The volume of silt creates a vast and ever changing combination of islands and sand banks. Needless to say the Chinese have already started disrupting the flow with a series of hydroelectric dams in Tibet (which of course they claim to own).

Impressive in size and scale, especially if you like an endless series of sand banks and relatively featureless riverside activity. Sparsely populated it is flanked by some vast nature reserves containing many endangered species including the one horned rhino and Indian tigers etc.

Our first major excursion involved a bumpy 90 minute minibus ride followed by a two hour float down one of the Brahmaputra’s many tributaries through a somewhat disappointing region known for its variety of bird life. Not today however….

Lots of cormorants, a few herons and a kingfisher or two…

Followed by a wander through a remarkably clean & self sufficient village with lots of fruit & veg growing and some comparatively well tended cattle, goats & pigs etc.

Another dawn start to visit the Kaziranga National Park for some Rhino, Elephant and hopefully Tiger spotting.

Success on the Rhino front and also some impressive Water Buffalo, a lone Elephant and various species of deer. No tigers spotted unfortunately but a recently killed and extremely pongy Water Buffalo carcass was proof that one had recently been in the vicinity.

Lots of bird life which made up for the lack thereof the day before

An obliging kingfisher posing on a dugout canoe and a rare black squirrel up in a tree. Oh and a butterfly..

A trip to a Tea plantation was cancelled as we are again!! “here at the wrong time of year”. Did spot one field of green tea bushes…

A pretty mediocre stop for lunch at as Assamese glamping site and then another long bumpy drive back to the mother ship which had repositioned while we were on our adventure and took an age to locate as they were still building the access road.

Pandaw are clearly running out of things to keep us entertained as we head back downstream – a much more rapid process as we have the not inconsiderable river flow behind us.

A morning walk through a village populated by a well established Bangldeshi (Muslim) community. The local school – madrasa style turned out to greet us and as usual they were as fascinated by us as we were by them!!

Some friendly locals and them back on board to head on downstream.

Our final excursion involved another extremely bumpy tuk tuk ride to a remote village where they make the “finest silk in the world”. I’ve heard that before however still using antiquated methods of spinning and weaving they were producing some very fine scarves and shawls.

A quick display by some local musicians and dancers, a visit from the local beekeeper and then back into the tuk tuks, a quick stop in a local town and back to the ship in time to see the local fisherman catch a sizable catfish next to our mooring

Dinner after a chilly Assamese dance experience on the “sundeck”, followed by the usual full crew introduction. No fancy dress or audience participation this time which was a relief!!! An early start for the trip to the airport and one hour flight from Guwahati to Kolkata with screaming temper throwing brat a few rows behind. How someone didn’t strangle it was a miracle!!!

Checked into the Oberoi in Kolkata (very civilised) for the final couple of days before the long haul back to Blighty.

Everyone relieved to be away from the clutches of Pandaw. Their Indian operation was totally shambolic and to those of us loyal customers, who are used to their normally high standards, in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, a huge disappointment!

Pandawful in fact !!!!!!

More to follow…….