We faced a long day and night of travelling to get to Kolkata. First we caught the local bus to Siliguri which took us around four hours. This retraced some of our original journey up to Gangtok. The road was treacherous, but after the journeys we’d taken in Sikkim in the last few weeks, it didn’t seem as bad as it had on the way up. I deliberately booked the night bus from Siliguri as I didn’t like the city when we stayed in it previously. It is a building site; major construction is going on all around. It also has some of the worst squalor in any Indian city that we have visited. That’s a shame as it’s the gateway city to the hills. Maybe it will improve once the development process has stabilised somewhat.

We found the bus office and departure point for Kolkata in Siliguri relatively easily, only to be told that our bus was cancelled. We were assigned to the next one, which meant a slightly longer wait, so we repaired to a nearby hotel and ordered some beer. We finally boarded the ‘Easy Bus’ at around 8pm. It was a relatively expensive journey by Indian standards, but we had read that the Volvo multi axel buses were the most comfortable to sleep on. Its colour scheme was bright orange, not particularly soothing. The attractive female attendant had a permanent smile fixed on her face. We were in a lower bunk together. The attendant came round with a rose for each of us, plus pots of Indian spicy pot noodle and bottles of water and a purple fizzy drink. The Easy Bus song blasted out as we settled into our berths. To start off with it was funny, but it quickly became irritating. I was glad I had earplugs. Suffice to say we spent a restless night, not helped by the beers we had drunk earlier. If anybody is interested I put a reel of our trip on Facebook.

We staggered off the bus into the chaos of the bus station in Kolkata and were quickly surrounded by a crowd of taxi drivers all vying for our custom. After some quick negotiations we left for The Hotel Cecil with the one who agreed to take us at the cheapest rate. We were disappointed that he didn’t own one of the classic yellow Ambassador taxis that Kolkata is renowned for. It had been a struggle to find a decent hotel in Kolkata for a reasonable price and I was unsure of whether the Cecil would be ok or terrible. as its reviews were mixed. We couldn’t check into our room until midday, so we left our bags with the reception staff, who seemed ok, and set off to explore the city.

Due to our exhaustion we were not really thinking properly and it seemed a good idea to set off on foot across Kolkata. After several weeks in the hills we were not used to the heat and humidity. It was close to thirty degrees. The city must be unliveable in the summer, I know that many people who don’t have access to air conditioning and cannot escape to areas of India with a cooler climate perish.

We found ourselves walking through a market area. The stalls were set out along the pavements. The cooked food looked delicious but I was wary of buying street food in an area that was so polluted and right next to the road. Women and men sat on the pavement with live chickens in cages next to them. Fish were being chopped up on the pavement. A few live ones were swimming listlessly in a few inches of water. Another section of pavement held collections of delicious looking fruit and vegetables. The walking was hard as we were constantly having to step round and over goods and people, but it was very interesting. We finally found ourselves in the Park Street area, a more touristy part of the city. Sweat dripping from our faces we collapsed in a cafe and ordered omelette, toast, lassis and several coffees. Feeling revived we checked google maps and noticed we were near the Indian Museum, so we decided to visit.

The outside of the museum reminded us of London buildings. In fact the whole set up of the centre of the Kolkata felt very British. Inside the museum was a little neglected in parts, but there were some fascinating exhibits, including a massive fossil collection and statues, pillars and doorframes taken from ancient Indian temples. A special exhibition in partnership with a museum in Australia was taking place, focusing on the Australian songlines and Bengali tribal culture. A very enthusiastic young man showed us round a number of stalls showcasing examples of tribal crafts. It was interesting, but in our tired state we were beginning to find it hard to concentrate.

We headed out, planning to walk to the Victoria Monument, which did not look too far away on the map, just across a green area called ‘The Maidan’. This was a mistake. The Maidan was no Green Park, although it might have been beautiful at some point in the past. It was now a rubbish strewn wasteland, with a few people around playing cricket or sitting and relaxing. Frustratingly, we could see the Victoria Monument in the distance, but it was difficult to trace a way towards it. We came across some horses chowing down on grass and weeds. We later spotted carriages transporting tourists up and down nearby – the horses must take turns on and off duty. Some looked better cared for than others.

By the time we reached the outside of the Victoria Monument we decided we were too tired to go in. Tim searched google for an air conditioned shopping centre nearby. Reaching it involved a little more walking. We ate masala dosa in a modern food court and then drank more coffee in Starbucks. I revived after this further coffee shot and did a bit of shopping while Tim literally chilled out.

We finally made it back to the Cecil Hotel after our first experience of using the Kolkata Metro. It was crowded and the guards didn’t enforce security as seriously as they do in Delhi and Lucknow – although the body and bag check stations were in place there was no enforcement. Thankfully, our room at The Cecil surpassed my expectations. It was sparkling clean and the ebony furniture had an old world charm. We even had a balcony, but we didn’t feel up to appreciating any of it properly at that point. After showering we collapsed into bed drifting off to the sounds of the Kolkata traffic.