Saturday 18 November
A slow, well a 0600 alarm, for an 0800 pick up for the drive back to Gauwahti and a cruise on the river.
But before that it seems the local media had got wind of our arrival and so a quick interview was required on our thoughts of Manus and Assam. It was unclear if it was local radio or TV as there was some video taken on a mobile phone - one suspects not quite broadcast quality !
Of course as we checked out so we found that it was a cash only experience although once it became clear that we did not have enough so the card machine appeared. Lucky for us the ICICI account was not quite empty.
Much of the problem is caused by the demonetisation as there are simply not enough small notes in circulation the small notes have still not been issued. So up here where there are few banks and fewer ATMs and the economy runs on cash they were keen we paid in notes to add to the local supply.
The drive back was not as hair raising or life threatening as the one on the way up. Having had the bill payment experience we found an ATM that was actually not spitting out our Hong Kong cards but giving cash - all be it INR 10,000 per transaction. We were less successful in negotiating a stop at a supermarket 4 minutes away as, as it turned out a Temple tour and a guide was included.
We did get to the temple entrance and had a shoes off but Stuart was not keen about leaving his backpack which he had not left in the car. So we abandoned that idea and finally headed to the supermarket where we got a few essentials for the cruise !
The boat was run by Alfresco Grand who mainly run evening and sunset cruises on he river but we had a private hire of a smaller, 3 cabin boat. We set of downstream having loaded with beer and white wine and a awful lot of staff. After an hour we had a great lunch on the deck as the world slipped by - one of the better meals we have had on this trip.
The first leg of the journey was downstream to a large sand bar where we were to moor for the night. Not a lot to see apart from a few fishermen but the highlight was a bbq on the sand. We thought potato, mushrooms and paneer bar-b-qued was dinner but not so more to follow !
Lights out at 2200 !
A slow, well a 0600 alarm, for an 0800 pick up for the drive back to Gauwahti and a cruise on the river.
But before that it seems the local media had got wind of our arrival and so a quick interview was required on our thoughts of Manus and Assam. It was unclear if it was local radio or TV as there was some video taken on a mobile phone - one suspects not quite broadcast quality !
Of course as we checked out so we found that it was a cash only experience although once it became clear that we did not have enough so the card machine appeared. Lucky for us the ICICI account was not quite empty.
Much of the problem is caused by the demonetisation as there are simply not enough small notes in circulation the small notes have still not been issued. So up here where there are few banks and fewer ATMs and the economy runs on cash they were keen we paid in notes to add to the local supply.
The drive back was not as hair raising or life threatening as the one on the way up. Having had the bill payment experience we found an ATM that was actually not spitting out our Hong Kong cards but giving cash - all be it INR 10,000 per transaction. We were less successful in negotiating a stop at a supermarket 4 minutes away as, as it turned out a Temple tour and a guide was included.
We did get to the temple entrance and had a shoes off but Stuart was not keen about leaving his backpack which he had not left in the car. So we abandoned that idea and finally headed to the supermarket where we got a few essentials for the cruise !
The boat was run by Alfresco Grand who mainly run evening and sunset cruises on he river but we had a private hire of a smaller, 3 cabin boat. We set of downstream having loaded with beer and white wine and a awful lot of staff. After an hour we had a great lunch on the deck as the world slipped by - one of the better meals we have had on this trip.
The first leg of the journey was downstream to a large sand bar where we were to moor for the night. Not a lot to see apart from a few fishermen but the highlight was a bbq on the sand. We thought potato, mushrooms and paneer bar-b-qued was dinner but not so more to follow !
Lights out at 2200 !