Kevin Tiller

I set the alarm for 5am and got up and hassled the guy about unlocking the front door so I could get out. I very quickly found a tuc-tuc going south to Habra where I finished off yesterday. Nearly had an accident – he stalled it one time and tipped it up and nearly went off the road. Make it to Habra and had a chai and started running at 6.20am to run back north. I only used my water bottle with perpetuem powder and some salt tablets. Now and again I made a conscious effort to stop and take my pack off – sometimes had a chai, sometimes a sports bar and one time some curd was about the only thing I fancied to eat (but knew I needed to eat something). I didn’t want to run myself down into the ground again today.

I made it to the border for my day’s total of 35km at just gone noon and did the immigration for both Indian and Bangladeshi border, changed money, caught a rickshaw to the bus stop, bought a ticket to Jessore and then got to Jessore about 3.30pm, totally wrecked and still in my wet and dripping runing kit.

Jessore looks a bit of a dump and everyone wants some baksheesh for nothing. A guy at the drink stand asked me if I’d bought any gifts like calendars or pens and was disappointed when I said no. Another guy grabbed a form and started filling it in for new at immigration even after I told him I could do it, after he asked for a tip he said that the 10R wasn’t enough. The bloody cheek!

I checked into the hotel after taking a rickshaw ride from the bus stop, paid the 100taka asked for and he got shitty I didn’t give a tip. I only had 5taka left otherwise it was 500taka notes ($10). You don’t really tip rickshaw drivers usually just round up or keep the change.

I had some tomato soup at the hotel with a black instant coffee then had a look at some shops to see if I could get a local sim card as both my 2 can’t get a data connection (hence the delay in writing this post).

The room was faultless so cheered me up – even had a hot shower! I popped my new blisters and txted and called Dawn but couldn’t get hold of Chris. Then had a doze. At 8pm I went to the restaurant as I had a headache probably due to lack of food. Had some cold sprite and a veg fried rice which was  not oily and it really hit the mark. Didn’t go overboard though as I didn’t want to feel sick.

Still couldn’t get hold of Chris so I had no idea when they would turn up. Left a note at reception asking him to bang on my door. Went to bed approx 10pm.

Some photos from earlier today: