I could not sleep well because of the smell of the room and the snoring sounds from some of my roommates. After I got up, I gave the locker key back at the front reception and had breakfast, which consisted of two pieces of toast.
Since I wanted to switch things up and spend the morning somewhere other than Starbucks, I went to a different coffee shop right next to a bookstore. The staff were polite, the coffee tasted great, and the ambience was nice, so it might have become one of my favorite coffee shops in Kolkata. I ended up staying there for about four to five hours. I had two cups of coffee and a cinnamon roll.
After I left the coffee shop, I headed to the Indian Museum. On the way, though, I was approached by a guy on the street. He asked me where I was from. I said I was from Japan, and he responded by saying, “You are not Japanese.”
He started talking to me while I was trying to get to the museum. His name was Alex, and he was a tour guide who used to live in Japan. He had done a lot of tours for Japanese people in Kolkata, Varanasi, and New Delhi.
At first, I was very suspicious of him, but as he talked to me and showed me his Instagram, I started to trust him more. He suggested that we meet up after my visit to the museum. I agreed, and we decided to meet up later.
The museum was not as great as I had expected because of the bunch of young students who gave me strange looks and the overall size of the museum. There were not as many exhibitions as I had expected, either. So, it was quite disappointing.
While I was in the museum, it started raining heavily. When I left, it was still raining outside. At the entrance, Alex was waiting for me.
Alex suggested that we go to his tour office, which was actually his home. He said his home was nearby, but it turned out to be about 30 minutes away on foot. Since it was raining heavily, I refused and suggested that we go to the nearest coffee shop instead. I told him that I would pay for his coffee.
We ended up going to Barista, a chain coffee shop in India. We mainly talked about his tour guide business. He asked me some questions about how he could make it better.
After we agreed that I would promote his tour guide business if I found any Japanese people who were interested in visiting India, he left.
I stayed there until about one hour before my bus departure time, which was 7 PM. On the way to the bus station, I had dinner at a different Kati Roll food stall where there were many customers waiting in line. I had an egg, chicken, and cheese roll. I finished eating it by the time I arrived at the bus station.
I struggled a bit to find my bus because there were a bunch of buses parked along the road. After making sure that it was the right bus to Varanasi, I put my large backpack in the luggage compartment and got on the bus.
My sleeping berth was the top bunk on the window side. I was glad that I did not choose the two beds right next to each other on the other side of the aisle because I would have had to sleep next to a stranger.
Although the bed was comfortable enough for me, the blanket smelled pretty bad because of the humidity inside the bus. It smelled like half-dried clothes.
After getting on the bus, I suffered a bit from a runny nose and a sore throat. I eventually fell asleep at about 1 AM after we had a decent break.
The Morning Coffee Shop
Lunch
The Sleeper Bus
