Radinja10

We always seem to spend Leap Year's Day in India. In 2012 we slept under the desert sky and went camel riding. http://radinja2.blogspot.com/2012/02/wednesday-29th-february-camel-riding.html In 2016 we spent the day on a hellish bus trip through the minor foothills of the Himalayas that a "friend" had persuaded us would be a breeze. http://radinja6.blogspot.com/2016/03/on-buses-leap-day-special-episode.html He is still a good friend and today we have arranged to meet him for culture and lunch. But first shopping. Breakfast at Lutyens Bungalow is always a delight and even better now that they have started baking their own bread. We are in no hurry and step at a few minutes before ten. We haven't walked thirty yards when an auto driver approaches.  "Metro" is the answer. "Oh no sir. Crowded and dangerous. Better by auto." What he doesn't know is that  when D checks the other, even older Metro Travel Cards, they have a balance of Rs 178 on...

Bed tea arrives at 06.30 and is welcome. D has been awake for a while and notes that we leave the last scheduled stop, Kanpur, 45 minutes late. They day is another grey one but it is not raining. Even D realises that photos of IRCTC meal trays can become less than enthralling so here is the last one.  Note the smiling features of the steward. That is the smile of a shark. Unlike South Western Railway, who operate the Rajdhani that we took from Bangalore to Nagpur, Northern Railway do not decorate the coaches and staff uniforms with exhortations not to tip. When the steward makes a final appearance with a tray and some breath freshener he is not too happy with D's offering and hustles for a bit more. Cheeky sod. We accept that he works hard for long hours but we haven't asked him to do anything that isn't part of the job. Perhaps it's something to do with being closer to Delhi. A great effort is made to catch up the lost minutes but all is for nothing when w...

Yesterday evening we conducted a test run to the station in order to sort out timings for today. Having calculated that the alarm needs to be set for 05.45 we inevitably wake up before five and just decide to give ourselves some extra time. The youth in the lobby rouses himself to check us out and opens the gate. It is daylight but overcast and mizzly. We make short work of the half mile or so to the station, then walk ten coach lengths back along the platform in the direction of the hotel to get in position for coach H1. R is less than overjoyed with the prospect of a 27 hour train trip and is most insistent that D delivers a Coupe for this one. An online check confirms that we will be in Cabin D, a two berth Coupe. Train12423 Dibrugarh - New Delhi Rajdhani arrives a couple of minutes late but there is no hurry as the stop is scheduled for twenty minutes.  Our coupe has been previously enjoyed but a chap turns up promptly to clear the rubbish and we soon get settled ...

It was still raining at ten past one in the morning but by the time we wake at ten past five it has stopped. We gather ourselves together and step out into the daylight. There is a light in the kitchen and R, ever the opportunist, blags cups of black tea. The arrangement with our guide is that he will get our permit when the office opens. This was supposed to happen at six but at half past there is no sign of him. D is not a happy bunny but R makes the most of it and gets some car park birding in, including Mrs Minivet, the female of the Scarlet Minivet featured a week or so back. Eventually the show gets on the road and Sahil drives us all down to the river. The guide was worried about the weather and kitted us out with umbrellas. Another party arrives by car, three rather grand senior Indian couples, who speak English except to the hired hands. A boatman appears, bales out the vessel and makes a token effort to dry the seats.  We watch the Grandees clamber aboard an...

We have the luxury of a lie in this morning. The WiFi has gone from intermittent to non existent. At breakfast our paranthas are very good but do take 45 minutes to arrive. Good job that we are not in a hurry. The waiter is very keen to show us the hotel's vegetable garden, which has a wide range of produce. At ten o'clock we load up the car and hit the road. Our destination is another National Park, on the other side of the Brahmaputra River, close to the State Border with Arunachal Pradesh. The trip involves driving back towards Guwahati then turning north to cross the river. To say it is big is an understatement. The current bridge just carries two lanes of traffic and a new one is being built parallel, just to the west. D spends the trip trying to get yesterday's blog on line, but between poor WiFi and bouncy roads it is a losing battle. Nameri Eco Camp is right on the edge of the National Park and consists of a dozen or so Canvas Cabins around a centra...

Apologies for late publication. The North East is not the place to go for 4G. We seize the moral high ground by being at reception five minutes before five. Sahil is not very late and we head off through the darkness to the gate where the elephant safaris operate. A crowd has already started to assemble and soon we are waved forward to the Elephant Riding Point. This is easy to identify on account of the multiplicity of elephants around it. Soon it is our turn to clamber aboard a large elephant called Pravan where we are joined by an Indian man in the third seat. His wife and daughters are allocated their own elephant. He must have a cold as he keeps saying "Achar, Achar". The elephants stay together in a loose group as we head out across the rather boggy grassland. Soon we are right up close with a couple of rhinos although taking good photos from a moving elephant is not that easy. Every so often the elephant pilot will give us some interesting fact, such ...