The fight begins

 
Sunderbans Day 2
Sat on the front of the boat again with a lovely German lady who is an English teacher and spoke beautifully.  The day started off with a 6 hour meander through the various rivers and channels around the tiger reserve but the closest we got to one was the picture in my bedroom of one swimming.  They are incredibly strong swimmers and a netting fence has had to be erected – not strong or even high, but they can’t jump anyway as they are too heavy – it is more a psychological barrier.  We saw quite a lot of birds, wild boar and spotted deer and a 12 foot long estuarine basking crocodile and also a two foot long baby one swimming. The crabs were on the mud beside the quay – the extra shows a crab eating. It has a specially adapted mouth so it filters the food out of the mud and ejects the latter as a little ball. It was incredibly peaceful and finally came to an end where we were taken back to the Tiger Camp for lunch before re-embarking for the trip back to the bus.  We took 3 ½ hours to reach Calcutta where I said farewell to the Indians and their terrific guide who were on a two week tour and took a taxi to the Howrah Station to catch the 10.30p.m. Howrah Puri Express. 502 Kilometers – says so on the ticket! – arrival 7am. Took ages to find the platform which seemed to be in a much later addition to the main station – and while waiting for the ¼ mile long train to appear I got into conversation with a man who has a leather business.  He also makes special jackets, wallets, bags etc. which are patented and made to pattern for a wholesale magician’s business in West Byfleet in England. I  shared a cabin containing 4 bunks with a Mr and Mrs Mukhergee and one other man.  Mrs M was in a strop as she had a top bunk so I exchanged – glad to prove I could still do the climb – a small towel, blanket, two sheets and a pillow were provided.  In the night as we rollicked our way south towards Bubaneshwar the carriage filled with smoke – all fans had to be turned on and engineers arrived to find the cause – overload of the air conditioner which had burned itself out.  I hardly heard a thing and slept on so missed the drama.  But it meant we were 3 hours late in arriving in Puri.  Mr and Mrs M had got out at Bubaneshwar so a friend of my remaining companion arrived to chat (in all 7 friends were travelling to Puri – all are retired Indians who have lived in America for over 50 years and come back to India to avoid the harsh winter in New Jersey).  Fascinating to hear their take on Mr Trump and lots more. PICASA HERE NOW