Despite getting to bed about 11.30, I’m awake  - in Bodhgaya-  and it’s 4.30 am (aka 10am Melbourne time) Sunday November 6^th . Is it only a day and a half since I left home (and only four and a half since buying my ticket !) 

The flight on Friday from Melbourne to Bangkok left just slightly later than the 3.30pm scheduled time. Had a window seat - of course over the wing, even though when paying for my ticket I’d reserved one further back to avoid that noisy position. But it turned out well as there was an empty seat next to me, which I shared with a lovely woman who had the aisle seat.  It’s strange and interesting how physically close one can get with a complete stranger in a short time when sharing an empty middle seat on a plane, that the normal conventions of personal space and certain social graces can be put aside when hurtling through the sky. We contorted in close contact into numerous positions of variable comfort around each to make the most of our extra space.

(Just in this moment as I’m typing I hear the world outside my room beginning to wake with the chanting of monks – perhaps from the Mahabodhi temple, which is only a short distance from my guest house and the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment, or maybe it’s coming from one of the many monasteries dotted around town.)

Anyway, back to the journey, and onto Bangkok – the flight passing with the usual distractions of meals, movies, airline magazines, newspapers, chats with my seat mate and some broken sleep. Then three hours wait between flights and off to Kolkata at around 11.45pm Thai time with a whole new bunch of people.

Landed in Kolkata 2 ½ hours later, and further east, at 12.45am. to a sign with my and my  hotel’s name,  a car and driver waiting for me – a small luxury, and in my mind an absolute necessity when arriving after midnight at Kolkata airport.

My home in Kolkata  was the Lalit Great Eastern Hotel in Dalhousie Square. By the time I got to bed it was around 2.30am. showered and crashed. I shouldn’t have bothered about the 9am wake up call to make it on time for breakfast. I woke at 6.30 (Melbourne time midday), feeling slightly  . . . strange.  I guess jetlag encompasses the mixture of feelings comprising tiredness, disorientation and various small anxieties about what needs to be done to get settled in a new place. For me one of the most pressing was to find and get some cash at a fully operational ATM. The ATM at Kolkata airport had finally decided it couldn’t produce the goods despite my many patient attempts to overcome it’s particular peculiarities.

I encouraged myself to relax with some confident self-talk about Kolkata being a major city, plenty of big banks etc etc and did some yoga then headed down to the pool. It was rainy and not such a warm morning so I had it to myself.  it was so rejuvenating to swim a few laps,  then stretch out in the steam room, have a shower followed by a leisurely breakfast  - a lavish buffet and two good coffees – looking out to  courtyard with pond and flowering water lilies. Next -  out into the rainy, crowded, noisy streets of central Kolkatta protected only by a hotel umbrella that kept closing in on itself – to find a well behaved ATM, a Vodaphone office, where I went through a laborious process to get an Indian sim, and just to have a bit  of walk around the city streets negotiating the obstacle course of stalls that crowded the streets with all manner of goods and their dripping tarps only half –sheltering them, pools of water, slippery and uneven footpaths, tooting vehicles and people with umbrellas seemingly oblivious to others  - getting my Indian ‘travel legs’, connecting with the reality of being in India. 

Next came a short crazy taxi trip from the hotel across the Hoogly River (?) over the impressive Howrah Bridge to Howrah Station.  As soon as I was out of the cab, a porter was there. My bag on his head he led me to an enquiry desk crowded with men jostling for attention. I got into Indian mode and held my own, got my carriage and berth number and followed the porter Mohan to the platform. The train was on time, Mohan carried my bag into the carriage and I settled in for the 5 ½ hour journey. It was very enjoyable. There was snacks soon after departure and dinner at 8, both served on a folding table set up in the compartment. In between meals  the bed was made up with crisp white sheets. and I was able to get a bit of sleep. My cabin mate Pradeep, was an engineer heading back home to Gaya, which was also my destination. We chatted about various things – religion, family, life, the recent Diwali festival- he lent me his phone to ring my guest house, he spoke to the phone company when I was having a bit of a language problem and got my new phone going and when we reached Gaya he checked I was safely in my taxi, which brought me to my home in Bodhgaya, Rahul Guest House  - and here I am.