Hotel Heaven

Sitting in the reception of Hotel Heaven, I have had two hours sleep in the last twenty five, travelled about seven thousand miles (I think) and am listening to the sounds of beeping horns which I'm sure I will forever associate with Kolkata. My first meal is cheese sandwiches and the spiciest crisps ever..... they actually hurt more than the spiciest ones I had before.


It's difficult to explain how it is here, apart from the fact it is exactly as you might imagine it. It's busy. It's noisy. It's hot. The air is so humid that I left my lovely air conditioned room and my glasses steamed up so I couldn't see until I got to another air conditioned room. The journey from the airport to the hotel took us through a lot of amazing and quite bizarre sites. People on mopeds with sandals and umbrellas, cows by the side of the road and being driven on the road. People pulled carts, bicycle pulled carts, motorized rickshaws, full to the brim buses and hundreds of yellow taxis all jostling for space on a road with no lanes. Yes, people do go in the wrong direction on the wrong side of the road, yet I did not see anyone crash or fall off their bike. 


I'm ready then to be challenged, to be surprised, to be disturbed even..... at the moment it all feels a bit unreal, but it is very real, I'm very here, very now.....


On with the adventure.....