I left Kolkata on the 6th to head up to Darjeeling. Not before time either, the humidity in Kolkata was becoming a bit of an issue, as was my rate ‘expensive’ accommodation. Had a quick look around the Victoria Memorial before I left, all very impressive. I am getting slightly sick of seeing all these gorgeous monuments, statues and buildings that after a bit of examination turn out to be dedicated to a dead British queen, or in rare cases king. There isn’t much that can be done about it now and generally I am dead against the rededicating of buildings to suit a new purpose or because they remind people of certain historical events, it just seems a shame that many of India’s best buildings and attractions were built to commemorate the death/visit/sneeze of someone who either never set foot on the shores of the country or stayed only for a short time.
The train to New Jalpaiguri was uneventful apart from waking up 2 hours earlier than I needed to (6 instead of 8am) and not being able to get back to sleep thanks to the unfortunate snoring of quite an attractive Indian girl. Took a cycle-rickshaw from NJP station into Siliguri where I found a jeep that was heading up to Darjeeling. I could have taken the famous toy-train, but that takes nearly 9 hours so that was out, I could also have taken the bus but that took 4 hours and the buses are not what would pass for road worth in the UK (the ‘mountain pass’ to Darjeeling would not be a good time for the brakes to fail’, so I took a share jeep much more comfortable, or so you would think. In something about the size of a Land Rover (some Tata 4×4, who incidentally now own Jaguar) we managed to get 13 people in, at the start. Not as bad as it sounds really and at least we were all inside rather than riding on the roof!
The journey wasn’t exactly smooth however. If you can imagine your average alpine pass in France, Italy or Austria and then cut the road width in half, take away half the tarmac so that there are holes in the road the size of Mason Crater (look it up) then you would be just about there. Oh and there happened to be a large political rally going on in Siliguri which attracted pretty much everyone from up in the valley who were obviously all coming in the opposite direction, it didn’t make for the quickest of journeys. Some of the trucks and jeeps that were coming the other way were brilliant, looking like old British Leyland trucks, people were crammed inside, on the roof, on the flatbed and pretty much anywhere they could hold on to. Flags were being waved, music played and much chanting by the occupants meant that having to wait at various switch-back bends for half an hour or so while they all passed was not all that bad. Alas that was not the end. Bearing in mind that I was the only white person in the truck, only an issue because everyone else spoke Bengali and not very good English, when the driver kept arguing with my fellow passengers about something and stopping the truck every now and then to shout even more, I wasn’t in the best position to be able to understand what was going on. Through a bit of guess work and basic conversation with one guy, the problem seemed to be a combination of the following; the driver did not want to go on because of all the traffic coming the other way, he to meet some friends/wife, or wanted to go to the rally. We stopped at a village about half way to Darjeeling (40km from Siliguri) where upon 2 more jeeps stopped behind us and then drove on and our driver got into a big argument with the traffic police, who are everywhere in India by the way. Eventually after cramming in the policeman and another 3 people jumping on the roof (a total of 17 people now) we moved on, getting to Darjeeling about 2 hours later than we should have done. Just to rub it all in a bit more, it seemed every single person apart from the tourists had left Darjeeling to go to the meeting, so everything apart from 1 crappy restaurant was closed for the day, not so good when you haven’t eaten in 20 hours. All good fun though.
Darjeeling is not what you may expect, certainly not what I expected. Built on a steep hill, it is a maze of interconnecting roads (funny that) and steps that can tire you out quite quickly, it’s also a lot bigger than I thought it would be. There is a large Nepali and Tibetan population (which I did expect) which makes for a town that is completely different to anywhere I have been so far. For one it is bloody cold. About 16C when I got here at 1.30pm, coming from 40C and high humidity in Kolkata it has been a bit of a shock. Last night I slept in trousers, a t-shirt, jumper and heaven help me my socks, and was still colder than Hilary Clinton’s personality (bada bum tsssh). Doesn’t help that I have gone uber budget here, staying in a 100rps a night room with no shower or from what I can tell running water and hot water available for 1 hour in the morning heated from a gas stove.
Once again thanks to the timing of my trip to India possibly the best thing about Darjeeling is out of my reach, the views. The cloud cover in the valley is nigh on impenetrable for most of the day, completely covering the valley on both sides. When the sun does come through however, as it did today for a couple of hours, it really is stunning. Rolling, undulating hills covered in tea plantations with small villages nestled in amongst them as far as you can see. If you look close enough then you can just about make out the Himalaya in the distance. Depending on what people say, I’m going to try and get up to Tiger Hill, a viewpoint 11km above Ghoom from where you can see the sunrise over the mountains……4am wake up though!
It would clearly be a crime of enormous proportions not to come to Darjeeling and get involved in that quintessentially English (and Indian) drink, I am talking about tea of course. Having had numerous cups of varying brews I can confirm that they are all different, albeit in a subtle way sometimes. I am heading down to one of the tea estates tomorrow to check out the factory and the fields, I will report back on what I find….probably nothing more than a bunch of tea leaves – but there you are.
Today I rode on the Darjeeling Toy Train, a world heritage site don’t you know. Winding its way up and down the mountain, it was apparently originally built to exploit the price difference of potatoes in Darjeeling and Siliguri…..bit of an extravagant way to make a profit but there you go! Anyway it is still in full working order and powered by some of the same engines as it was 60/80 years ago…i forget. In reality that means a painfully slow journey along narrow gauge tracks with steam/smoke billowing from the coal fired engine. Quite an experience though and definitely a feat of engineering. The slow pace is not actually that bad, it allows you to appreciate the views around you – the cloud cover was not too bad this morning. The valley really is stunning, would be amazing to see it in clear blue skies and the shining sun. Having say that, as I was walking down to the internet place the sun was breaking through the clouds on the horizon creating shadows of the various different crests of the hills/mountains, really beautiful. So I guess that no matter what time of year you go somewhere, there is always a positive. The picture on the left below shows just how small the train is compared with a london carriage back in the day.
Today I have drank about 9 cups of tea, half of them lemon. I may be in danger of becoming something of an addict. Not sure the priory treats people for tea addiction however.
More in a couple of days, or even tomorrow if you are lucky and the weather keeps me indoors for most of the day.
xx
