For those of you who have a good knowledge
of this vast and varied country the title may have helped you to pinpoint our
latest trip; Darjeeling
in North East India. Although we plan to
spend the second part of our year out exploring the Himalayas further I
insisted that we had one last fix of India
before leaving Malaysia. Air Asia
once again kindly made the decision easy by offering cheap tickets to Kolkata
just when we needed them. Getting the
visas sorted out was far from straight-forward and they proved to be the most
expensive visas we’ve ever bought. It
wasn’t quite the hoop jumping shenanigans we had to go through for the China visas but
Steve returned to the office more often than enough!
KL – Kolkata - Darjeeling
The flight over was on time, smooth and
uneventful. Immigration was the same and
our bags were ready and waiting. Sod’s
law says that if you give yourself a cushion of time you’ll end up having far
too much time to kill. There is very
little in Kolkata airport so we headed straight to the train station. The airport’s taxi coupon system works and we
were delighted to be bundled into an old ambassador. It was already dark so negotiating the traffic
clogged streets of Kolkata wasn’t an option.
So we wandered aimlessly around the station for a while, found the canteen
and had the world’s cheapest veg thali meal at only Rp22. That still left us with over 5 hours to kill
so we found a spot to sit down and got on with some serious people watching.
Our train eventually rumbled into the
station and mayhem ensued. There were
people, luggage and goods strewn along the length and breadth of the platform. As soon as the engine had finally braked into
position there was a mad scramble for the 3rd class carriages. The presence of lathi wielding policemen
ensured that the melee quickly and quietly formed itself into an orderly
queue. It was amazing to witness; from
chaos to calm in seconds. Indian’s rail
system move millions of people on a daily basis and the intercity trains tend
to be very, very long. Sure enough we
spent the next 15mins walking down the platform trying to locate our
carriage. We soon found our pre-booked
seats so got ourselves settled. Despite
being exhausted we didn’t get very much sleep due to a general hubbub of noise
throughout the night. Once the sun was
up it was lovely to watch the paddy fields and villages rolling by.
The train doesn’t actually go as far as Darjeeling but terminates
in New Jalpaiguri then from there you can get a bus or shared jeep up the
hill. We decided that since we weren’t
on a strict budget we’d fork out for a private jeep. In fact we got a small van that proved to not
be particularly powerful but it managed to chug its way up to Darjeeling at 2100m. Well, once we’d made a detour to the repair
shop to get the boot fixed. Usually
getting the hammer out and randomly tapping away gets it fixed but not this
time; the driver even had to buy a spare part.
Still, in true Asian fashion it was all quickly sorted out and we were
back on the road. It was very hazy as we
climbed up to Darjeeling
so the views weren’t as good as we’d hoped for.
However, we enjoyed the journey up into the Himalayan foothills and were
looking forward to better views as we approached town.
Darjeeling
This turned out to be a much larger town
than we’d imagined with the main road being rammed with fume belching, horn
honking jeeps, trucks and cars. However
Clubside, where most of the hotels and restaurants are, is compact and the market
stall areas are pedestrianised. We soon
tracked down Golden Heights Enclave but were a little bemused at what we
saw. Basically it takes up the top 2
floors of a block of flats so didn’t look very appealing from the outside. However, our room was perfectly adequate
despite the complicated shower system – 5 taps!
Just to add to our woes there wasn’t any electricity at the time of
checking in and there was no way we were braving a blast of freezing water! The sitting / restaurant area is enclosed by
glass giving great views over the town and surrounding hills and
mountains. That’s according to the
pictures adorning the hotel’s walls but it was way too cloudy for us to have
that treat.
We were hungry so set off in search of
momos and a pot of tea. We achieved the
first objective very well but Steve simply couldn’t find a decent brew for love
nor money. Darjeeling is very much geared up for Indian
tourists so if you want sweet, over milked tea in a doll’s tea cup you’re
laughing. Try getting a pot with milk
and sugar served separately and you’re in for a disappointment. Without a set plan for the afternoon we found
ourselves wandering aimlessly so decided to set off towards a monastery. Luckily this got us away from the people and
traffic clogged streets and into an all-together much more pleasant area of
town. We never did find the correct path
down to the monastery but we knew it wouldn’t be the only one we’d encounter
this trip.
Even though we knew it was probably going
to be a mistake we decided to try the local hostelry. The clientele didn’t bat an eyelid when we
popped in – even though there was a girl ordering and drinking beer! Now Indian beers range from just about
potable to down-right disgusting; how did we fare? Since we’d stumbled into a drinking den they
only had strong, chemical laced beers.
We shared one and legged it! That
left us with a pub that looked more traveller friendly so we weren’t beaten
yet. Joey’s Pub was a much nicer place
to sit and they had normal strength Kingfisher lager that tasted better but it
was still too chemically for our liking.
By now it was time to get some much needed sleep.
Singalila
Trek
Day 1
This 5-day trek in the Himalayan foothills
basically follows West Bengal’s borders with Nepal
and Sikkim and affords
spectacular views of Khangchendzonga; India’s highest peak. We awoke bright and early, sorted out what we
would need and what we would store at the hotel and poked our noses out to take
in the view. Unfortunately all we could
see was cloud; we couldn’t even make out the adjacent buildings. That wasn’t going to stop us so a-trekking we
would go!
It’s possible to book the entire trek from Darjeeling including
transfers but our research had led us to believe that this wasn’t really
necessary and would cost quite a lot more.
In fact we’d been quoted a price of Rp18 500 so kept a note of our
expenditure in order to calculate the difference at the end. We could have saved ourselves even more
rupees by taking a shared jeep to the start of the trek but we wanted to get
the show on the road so forked out Rp800 for a private hire. It’s less than 30kms but road conditions
aren’t the best in these parts. The
journey was enjoyable, once we were beyond Darjeeling and Ghum’s traffic, even though it
was still very cloudy. We didn’t get any
views but we did go through some lovely forested areas and small rural
villages.
In Maneybhanjyang, the starting point of
the trek, the first port of call was to have our passports checked. That done we then popped over the road to the
Society for Highlander Guides and Porters Welfare Association Office (phew!) to
arrange a guide. It’s all very well
organised and they make sure that the guides and porters are on a rota and
receive fair pay. Within minutes we’d
paid for (Rp600 per day) and met our guide (Ajay) and were ready to start the
trek. At the other end of the village
there was a brief stop to pay the park entrance fees (Rp200 per person &
Rp100 per camera) since most of the trek would take us through Singalila National Park. Let’s trek!
The first 2kms went straight up a jeep
track so we soon warmed up despite the thick cloud. At the top the cloud thinned a little giving
us tantalising glimpses of views down the valley but still no mountains. A little further along the track we visited a
monastery and this was where having a guide was invaluable. Not only did he explain everything to us but
it meant we were invited into rooms that we wouldn’t have felt comfortable
entering ourselves. We were astounded at
the excellent level of English our guide had as we’d assumed you’d only get
that on booking a private trek. Ajay
proved to be very knowledgeable and we enjoyed his company.
Following elevenses, where I made friends
with their cat, we continued along the jeep track. There were quite a few lazy tourists
(predominantly Indian) cheating by being driven up, so the track was busier
than expected. Luckily the path meanders
through the tree lined sides of the jeep track too and using that was much more
pleasant. By lunch time we’d bumped into
our friend David who’d travelled from KL with us. It was pure coincidence that we’d booked to
do the same holiday at the same time. Obviously we stopped for a chat but thought
we’d probably be on different schedules and only meet up in the villages at the
end of each day. David had gone for the
private, all-inclusive trek and other than travelling together from KL to Darjeeling he wanted his
own space.
The lunch stop was at 2400m and
occasionally the wind blew the clouds away enough for us to glimpse down the
valley. A bowl of warm, tasty noodle
soup was most welcome but it didn’t take long for us to start feeling cold so
we set off again. Following the ridge
the clouds thinned a little and the route became increasingly scenic. Within the hour we’d caught up with David
again and it turned out our 2 guides were friends too. We all wondered just how much of the trek
we’d end up doing together! Our path
wound its way up to Tongla which at 3070m would be the highest point of the day’s
trek. Once again I can’t regale you with
descriptions of the scenery and views.
It didn’t take us long to cover the couple of kilometres to the Border
Outpost where we had to have our passports checked. Why?
The path now continued over the border in Nepal and remained on that side of
the imaginary line to Tunling (2900m) where we would spend the night.
Siddartha Lodge’s sign welcomed us to Nepal and Steve
wondered why on earth he’d bothered going to all the hassle for the Indian
visas! The lodge was as basic as you’d
expect for Rp500 but amazingly had an en suite bathroom – not that there was
electricity or running water. However,
our guide appeared with a pot of hot water so at least we could freshen up. There was also a communal sitting area to
relax in that had a veranda attached so of course we had to poke our noses
out. We were delighted to see that
conditions had improved so with time on our hands we went for a potter.
The village consists of very few houses
with most of the inhabitants raising livestock and growing their own supply of
veggies. The clouds cleared enough for
us to be able to look down on Nepal
on one side and India
on the other with the jeep track dividing the two. From what we could see it looked like the
route would be predominantly in Nepal
which explained the familiar tea house set up.
Our wanderings took us to the top of a little knoll and from there we
got our first glimpse of snow-capped peaks.
We could only hope that this was a sign of the weather improving. Since there were only 4 Western tourists (we’d
got chatting to a German girl by this stage) staying at the lodge they sensibly
clumped us all together and placed pots of dhal, rice, salad and popadoms on
the table. The guides were being a
little too attentive; believe us, this is not the first time we’ve eaten
Nepali/Indian food! Asking for chillies
only led to them watching our every move even more closely – I’m sure things
will be more relaxed tomorrow once we’ve all got to know each other a little
better. Early to bed with the promise we
would be woken at 5am if sunrise over the mountains was worth getting up for.
Day 2
Disappointingly there was no dawn wake up
knock despite a storm keeping us awake but hopeful that it would shift the
cloud. The skies were displaying small
patches of blue but more than anything we were thankful that the rain had
stopped. Initially the path undulated
along the ridge and then descended towards Gairi Bas at 2600m. It was noticeably warmer and we were now
walking through forests of rhododendron, daphne and magnolia trees that were in
full bloom and a cheery sight. The
path/jeep track, with jeeps still coughing and spluttering their way up,
steadily climbs back up to 3000m. About
half way along there was a 2km section that was very steep. David was marginally ahead at this point so
Steve threw down the gauntlet and said, “You’re not going to let him get to the
top first are you?” Well that was all
the encouragement I needed so upped my pace slightly and powered my way to the
top – first! The locals know exactly
where to place the tea houses so of course after that little work out we had to
stop for a brew. Trying to get black
coffee, no sugar was proving impossible so I had to go for black tea – I don’t
even like tea!
I forgot to say – at the base of the hill
we stormed up there is an area of forest that is fenced off. It transpires that this is a half-way home
for red pandas that are being introduced to the wild having been born in Darjeeling’s zoo. As you know we’re not huge fans of zoos but
thought we ought to go and support their efforts to protect this highly
endangered and incredibly beautiful animal.
As we were approaching Kalpokhari at 3200m
the clouds obliterated the patches of blue sky we’d been enjoying that morning. In fact as we were walking towards the tea
house it started hail stoning. We got to
the hut in the nick of time as within minutes the frozen raindrops were pinging
off the corrugated iron roof. Worse than
that was the background accompaniment of thunder. We feared the worst and were delighted to
note that by the time we’d finished lunch it was dry again. Granted the cloud was thicker than ever but
at least we weren’t getting soaked through too.
The path mooched along to another check-point at Bikaybhanjyang and then
went straight up 800m in 4kms to Sandakpu and our day’s end. The initial and final kilometres were
particularly steep with a bit of a respite in the middle. Since we were over 3000m most of the way
there was no racing this time!
On reaching Sandakpu – 3636m and the
highest point of West Bengal – we’d reached the snow line where we all cooled
down very quickly and could feel the bite of the wind. The first lodge the guides had in mind was
full so we wandered into town to try another, bigger place. They were full too so the guides left us
supping a warm drink while they went to investigate the rest of the
options. They returned with glum faces
as it turned out that everywhere was full.
Or as David’s guide put it; “David, we have a problem!” We jokingly said we’d happily bed down in the
yak shed for the night but apparently they’d already checked out that option;
you guessed it – full. Hmm!
So how come everywhere was full in the
middle of a cloud in the middle of nowhere?
Well, it turned out it was a holiday weekend and Kolkatans had block
booked the lodges - who’d have thought Easter would be a public holiday in
India?! Fair enough but what galled us
was these were the lazy buggers who’d got there by jeep! In the end we were left with one option – to
walk back down the 4km steep hill as it was a full day’s walk to the next
village. Not ideal but by now we were
all freezing and just wanted to know we had a roof over our heads for the night.
The place we stayed in that night was not
the best to say the least but the lady of the house cooked some excellent
food. Unfortunately for her the only
warm place was by her kitchen fire so she had to perform her tasks with an
audience. By now we had to admit that we
were a group of 4 with Sabrina being officially one of the gang – we’d even got
as far as introducing ourselves! As I’ve
said not an ideal situation but we made the most of it and the camaraderie
helped to ease a potentially uncomfortable situation. With nowhere comfortable to sit and the
weather far too grim to venture out in we retired early.
Day 3
The day dawned the grimmest yet and as we
were emerging from our sleeping bags it started to rain. Luckily the precipitation didn’t last long
but it soon became apparent that we’d be spending the day in a cloud –
AGAIN! Despite our lack of window pane
we’d not been as cold through the night as we thought we would be so got a bit
of shut-eye. We descended on Aunty’s
kitchen again and were soon ravenous on watching her rolling out and toasting chapattis
on the open fire. Together with Bombay potatoes they made
the best meal yet and we were ready to walk back up that 4km hill.
In the end it didn’t seem as arduous as the
previous day but then we knew what was in store for us and it was at the
beginning of the day. As we
re-approached Sandakpu we noticed that the snow-line was considerably lower and
in fact we ended up trudging through said white stuff. Walking on snow had not been on our list of
expectations for this trip! Following a
quick brew and passport check we were ready for the next section of the
track. The guides wanted us to hang
around while they waited for our pack lunch to be prepared but we said it was
too cold to be sitting around. This was
where forming one group went in our favour as one guide led the way while the
other two waited for our food.
Once we’d rounded the corner we found
ourselves back in Nepal. There aren’t any markers or anything but the
guides love to tell you when you’ve crossed the border. I’m sure this section of the trek would have
been lovely had visibility extended beyond 20m.
We were walking through a yak meadow dotted with weird and wonderful
tree formations. The path descended for
an alarming length of time and then continued going on down. We knew our lunch stop was back at 3500m so
we were going to be getting another good work out. Sure enough the guides stopped us for a short
break in a sheltered dip before ascending the 3kms up to Sabargram. The path steadily continued and we slowly
plodded along through the increasingly worsening conditions – once more
hailstones were bouncing off our coats. Lunch
turned out to be the most uninspiring yet - boiled eggs and boiled potatoes; with
Sabargram being nothing more than a shelter and ticket inspection point. To add to the fun / misery it was now
raining.
Then the guides announced that there was no
accommodation available in Phalut that night – here we go again. So the map was spread across the table as we
tried to work out our options and pin the guides down on where there was a bed
for the night. In the end we had little
choice but to make a detour 2kms down the hill to Molley. We were assured of beds for the night but
we’d all have to share one room – things were just getting better and
better! By this point we were all
shivering with cold and realised that the rain had eased so set off. It was blowing a gale as we walked down but
it did feel marginally warmer down there.
Well, once we were in dry clothes and tucked up in our sleeping bags
that is! Unbelievably the weather
actually deteriorated.
In the end we spent almost the entire 16
hours we were in Molley holed up in our sleeping bags. We only emerged when food was brought to our
room. They had no choice but to serve it
there as there wasn’t any where else to sit.
Worst dhal & rice yet by the way.
Obviously the arrangements were far from ideal and once again we felt
sorry for David who’d paid for a private trek to end up being lumped in with us
lot. As with the previous evening we
made the most of it and all had a good chuckle but decided that the next day we
would choose different options. Sabrina
was on her way to Nepal
for more trekking so decided to head down and out. We decided that we would carry on no matter
what leaving David to make his decision in the morning on assessing the
weather.
Day 4
I would love to tell you that we woke up to
glorious sunshine but I think you’ve already guessed that I have to tell you
that we were still enveloped in that dense cloud. The walk back up to Sabargram didn’t take
long and from there we followed the ridge for 7kms to Phalut at 3600m. The walk was pleasant enough but we had to
imagine how lovely it would have been in better conditions – we seemed to have
to use our imagination quite a lot on this trek! Following a quick brew stop at Phalut it was
time to start the real Day 4’s walk.
The path soon descended into pine and
rhododendron forest and as soon as we were lower than 3000m conditions improved
considerably. We saw the odd patch of
blue sky and even the occasional glimpse into the valley below. We even ventured down to t-shirts but in the
shade of the trees it wasn’t long before I had my coat back on. After a long walk with some very steep
downhill sections we emerged from the forest into Gorkhey Village
at 2100m. This quite sizeable, pretty
village is spread up and along the banks of the rivers Gorkhey and Rammam and
is dependent on agriculture. Despite a
heavy (potato based) breakfast we were mighty peckish – well we had walked
24kms by midday. It was lovely to get
back to bowls of warming veggie noodle soup – no spud!
With time on our hands (the afternoon’s
trekking would only take a couple of hours) we went for a potter around the
village. The valley sides are incredibly
steep here and it amazing that anyone manages to plant crops let alone build
themselves somewhere to live. Although
it was warmer once the sun started sinking behind the high valley sides we knew
it was time to move on. The next section
to Rammam was typically Nepali flat i.e. 2kms up, 2kms down, 2kms up steeply
and the final 2kms a stroll into the village.
By the time we’d reached Sherpa Lodge in Rammam we were back up to
2400m. So now we were back on track and
back into privately owned lodges not government run shelters. This one proved to be by far and away the
best although there hadn’t been much competition along the way had there? Anyway, we were delighted to get private
rooms, buckets of hot water, somewhere nice to sit, fantastic food and treat of
treats a charcoal burner under the table while we ate. It really doesn’t take much to turn a shabby
place into somewhere worth writing about.
We fully expected this to be our biggest bill yet but it turned out to
be the cheapest – honestly; only Rp400 for the room and the same again for all
our food.
To sum up the day’s walk: Molley to Sabargram to Phalut to
Gorkhey to Rammam
2kms +
7kms + 15kms
+ 8kms = 32kms
Plus
there was a total altitude change of 2000m.
A
bloody good day’s walk and I think we deserved a bit of luxury!
Day 5
The day actually dawned bright and we could
feel the sun’s rays. We still couldn’t
see the hills and mountains above us but had lovely views looking down into the
valley. Once again we were going through
agricultural land and marvelled at the houses perched so precariously and
seemingly defying gravity. We set off
quite early to cover the 13km to Rimbick where we would catch a shared jeep
back to Darjeeling. Even though Ajay had phoned ahead to book
tickets and seats he said we needed to get there in plenty of time to reconfirm
our places.
Although it was a relatively short walk and
we had plenty of time we still took a short cut. This of course involved a steep descent into
and across the valley and with a steadier climb back up the other side. The scenery was lovely, the birds were
chirping and finally the weather was our friend. With plenty of time to spare in Rimbick we
indulged in a plate of fantastic freshly made momos that were ridiculously
cheap. Obviously it didn’t take us long
to wolf them down so we went for a potter around the town too. We’d imagined a smaller version of Darjeeling but were
proved to be very wrong. The town is
peaceful and picturesque with all the houses brightly painted and decorated
with plants and flowers.
By the time the jeep was timetabled to
leave they had more than enough customers for the number of seats. So it was once again a case of budging up and
in fact Ajay was relegated to riding on the roof! As we were leaving town we spotted David once
again and he got the last laugh on seeing me sharing the driver’s seat knowing
he had a private car waiting. To be
honest I wasn’t too uncomfortable and soon got into the rhythm of shifting my
leg every time the driver needed to change gear. At least being in the front meant we both had
good window seats and could enjoy the views looking over towards Sikim. Unfortunately it wasn’t long before we
descended into cloud and those up on the roof got very cold. After a couple of hours of narrow, twisting,
steep roads with hairpin bend a-plenty we were back at Maneybanjyang and the
start of the trek. Ajay jumped down and
we bid him a hearty farewell.
In theory the going should have been faster
for the second half of the journey but the fog had thickened and there were
many more vehicles around. We managed to
reach the outskirts of Darjeeling
in reasonable time to then crawl the last 10kms in an almighty traffic
jam. Indian’s still drive as gung-ho as
ever despite the road safety campaigns.
We’d seen a few warning signs similar to those on the Ley to Manali road
with a couple of them being much more to the point. For example: Better to Arrive Late than Dead
– see what I mean?! Or as Steve more
amusingly put it: Sharp Bend Ahead – Please Start Texting!! It wasn’t pleasant to back in among the
noise, chaos and pollution. We may not
have seen the mountains on the trek but at least we’d had perfect peace, pristine
air to breathe and were getting lots of exercise. It was good to get a hot shower and
comfortable night’s sleep though.
Darjeeling (again)
We’d left ourselves a day to explore Darjeeling further and to
do a couple of short walks in the area.
Well that was the plan until I poked my head round the curtain to find
we were deep inside a cloud once more.
On then hearing rain pouring we decided to stay put and wait for the
rain to ease before heading towards breakfast options. Suddenly Steve shot out of bed yelping – our
ceiling was leaking copiously so that put pay to our lie in. We grabbed buckets to catch the worst of it,
threw some clothes over our jarmies, contacted the hotel staff, shoved our
things into bags and shifted rooms.
Suffice it to say we were now wide awake but ensconced in a waterproof
room!
Did we have a Plan B? Of course we did – remember the toy
train? They’ve kept some of the old coal
powered steam engines going and drag them out every day for the tourist’s to
partake in a joy ride. This takes about
2 hours in total and costs Rp260 a head which we thought was good value for
something different and fun to do. In
true Indian fashion buying a ticket wasn’t as straight-forward as going to the
counter and handing over some rupees. Oh
no! You have to fill out a form to apply
for a ticket then present it at the counter – luckily they still had tickets
left. This left us with an hour to kill
but I’m sure you’ve worked out by now that there is never a dull moment in
Indian. We wandered over to the engine
shed and watched the men readying the train.
It’s amazing and environmentally a little disheartening to see how much
coal is needed for one short journey.
By the time we boarded the train the rain
had eased and the clouds had lifted a little so we could see down into the
valley. The train slowly, slowly puffs
its way up to Ghum a mere 7kms away.
Along the way the train takes in a loop of track and stops for you to
take in the 360o views of the area.
We’ll have to take their word for it as we were blanketed in cloud again
by this point. The train track runs
alongside the road and crosses it on numerous occasions. To be honest we thought that would cause
undue mayhem and chaos but disappointingly the traffic was quite light. Mind you, people and their stalls have to make
sure they’re carefully positioned. The
train finally huffed and puffed its way into Ghum station (the highest in India) where we
had 20mins to potter around. On the
return leg the train takes in the loop again but doesn’t stop and you guessed
it the skies had cleared. We blinked and
blinked again; but no, we were right, there were the tops of the high Himalayan
peaks just distinguishable from cloud.
We’d been in the area a week, trekked for 5 days in the very same
mountains to finally get a glimpse of what the postcards had promised. A grand little trip.
Back in town we were peckish so went to
indulge in some more Tibetan fayre. The
cheese and veggie momos turned out to be the best we’ve ever had and our light
lunch ended up being a bit of a feast.
Well it was difficult not to order a warm bowl of soup, Tibetan bread to
dip in ............ So feeling rather
full we were glad we’d saved the more energetic activity for that
afternoon. We’d decided that we would
visit the zoo in support of the efforts they are making to help the red
pandas. It turned out the zoo was quite
well laid out and they are in fact trying to help Tibetan wolves and snow
leopards along with the adorable red pandas.
Not only that, there are numerous information boards educating people on
the need to protect this special environment.
Most of the animals have quite large, natural pens but obviously you can
never give a big cat enough space in captivity.
Within the zoo’s grounds there is a
mountaineering museum which we found very interesting. The entire museum is Sherpa Tensing inspired;
the adopted son of Darjeeling. It’s amazing to see the gear and equipment
(or perhaps that should read ‘lack of’) that was used in the 50’s, 60’s and
even the 70’s on Everest expeditions. It
makes you wondered how they ever summitted the highest peak on earth.
On ambling back into town Steve spotted a
sign reading ‘Lookout 100yds’ so we thought we’d go and have a look. We were incredibly glad we’d made the detour
– finally the whole of the Himalayan range was in view. Granted not all of it was very clear and we
still didn’t have that blue sky backdrop but it was there along with a
multitude of lower ranges that make up this wonderful area. We could now go and buy the postcards! That night we set the alarm in the hope that
the mountains would still be clear the next morning for sunrise. We duly dragged ourselves out of bed but to
be honest wished we hadn’t bothered.
Although, it was interesting to watch the local early risers exercising,
praying to the mountains and generally having a mad half hour. Once we’d packed our bags we glanced
hopefully out of the window one last time – the mountains were there
again. We dashed up onto the roof to
enjoy the splendid views but by 7am the whole lot had disappeared again.
Still we weren’t too disappointed as we
were ready to leave Darjeeling
for the next leg of our trip. As we were
walking towards the shared jeep stop Steve got his wish and a Siliguri bound
jeep with seats to spare spotted us and stopped – we’d only just emerged from
the hotel! I in turn got my wish as we
were given the back seat but they didn’t attempt to squeeze 3 people on. So our downward journey was covered in
relative comfort and the weather steadily improved as we descended.
Zurantee
Our tea plantation treat started in
Siliguri where we were picked up in a private car to take us to the colonial
bungalow. It was a lovely journey up the
rolling hills and of course we saw tea bushes by the thousand. We were very warmly greeted at Zurantee and
it quickly became apparent that we were the only guests – how much fussing was
that going to lead to? The room we were
initially shown was very odd – we knew the fixtures and fittings would be worn
around the edges but we’d expected them to be older. Instead of old wooden colonial furniture we
found ourselves gawping at 1960’s / 70’s plastic veneer chipboard, tacky lamps
and nick-nacks. Since the place was clearly
empty we had a snoop around the other rooms and found one that was more to our
liking – we settled for the Diana room.
I think initially both of us felt that the
place wasn’t going to live up to expectations even though we hadn’t anticipated
top luxury. The staff (of whom there
were at least 10!) were clearly only used to dealing with Indian tourists and
didn’t quite know how to handle us. In
return we felt a bit awkward but once we’d all got each other sussed things
started to feel more relaxed. On
speaking to the manager we soon gleaned that they didn’t have any more bookings
so we would really be living the tea planter’s life! We had just unpacked our things when a knock
on the door informed us that lunch would be served in the dining room. We tried to talk them into letting us have
lunch in the garden but were looked at as if we were barking mad. Little did we know lunch consisted of a
3-course feast and wouldn’t have all fit on one of the garden tables! To say the food was plentiful is a gross
understatement and to say it was all delicious doesn’t do it justice. In fact the information card in the room told
us that the planter was disciplined on his timings and etiquette. Here’s the breakdown:
6.00 – 7.30 am bed tea 8.00
– 10.00 am breakfast 1.00
– 3.00 pm lunch 6.00
– 8.00 pm snacks and drinks 8.30-
10.30 pm dinner
Plus: Dinner to be served
in the dining room only. Drinks to be
enjoyed amidst nature or in the entertainment room but never in one’s living
quarters.
That was us told and who were we to argue
since we had the run of the place anyway.
We found that meal times were dictated for us but that was mainly due to
the staff needing something to do! All
of the food was exceptionally delicious and by the end of our 2 nights there
we’d been treated to everything they prepare.
As soon as we relaxed into the ambiance of the bungalow we really did
start to treat the place like our home.
We commandeered whichever table, veranda or gazebo that took our fancy
outside and watched the news and IPL cricket at leisure in the entertainment
room.
We’d actually paid for a package so it
wasn’t all sitting around eating and supping G&T’s – there were activities
to do too. First up was the rather
grandly titled Manager’s Day Out but it didn’t quite live up to its
billing. Things looked promising as
while we were sat supping tea in the garden the plantation manager popped in to
say hello. He was berating us for
sitting around when the weather was so good and we were just about to say well
let’s go when he stood up and disappeared.
Apparently it wasn’t going to be the manager’s day out at all but
someone with very little English drove us around the tea plantation and we
popped into the factory. It wasn’t very
well organised – no factory tour as such just a shuffle round and we’d have
rather walked around the plantation than drive.
We did get chance to do just that on the final day and very pleasant it
was too. I think Steve could fancy
himself as a tea plantation owner!
The safari to Goramara National Park
was a proper trip where tickets had to be bought and jeeps and rangers
hired. This is only a tiny park and we
really didn’t expect to see anything other than a couple of monkeys and maybe
some birds. There is reported to be lots
of different animals living in there but it’s very difficult to see them. The beast all the locals hope to see is guar;
a type of wild buffalo and now very rare.
There were plenty of birds flying around but no one seemed interested in
them. The only feathered friends we were
permitted to stop and look at were peacocks – well they are the national
bird. It’s always nice to see them and
it was lovely to see some very young chicks.
Disappointingly we didn’t see any monkeys or deer but eventually a long
way down a track we spotted guar. It was
very difficult to see them but they were definitely there. Once they’d wandered off we set headed
towards where we’d seen them only to find a couple in the undergrowth close to
the road – a positive identification this time.
As we were watching them we could hear an elephant clearly upset by our
presence but we never saw it. We hadn’t
expected much from the park and actually enjoyed the trip.
On the way home we had the gross misfortune
to hit a cow – not our fault as we weren’t driving but upsetting
non-the-less. Obviously for our Hindu
driver this was a very distressing event as it leads to bad karma; the cow
wasn’t too chuffed either! On the way
home we stopped off in a village for the driver to purchase some arrack to
settle his nerves on returning to the bungalow!
As we were waiting a storm began and the lightening was so low that it
hit the little shop in front of us and shorted all the electrics in the area. We had intermittent power cuts that evening
but power was quickly restored each time.
Our bad karma soon put in an appearance when a bunch of tea plantation
workers turned up – they were there to put on a cultural dance show for
us. This was not in the package and was
excruciatingly embarrassing since Steve and I were still the only guests! It was lovely of the manager and staff to
want to pull out all the stops and give us the full package but ……….
On arrival we were a little bemused by the
place and felt that we’d paid over the odds for this treat. By the end we thought that having a private
colonial bungalow and living the planter’s life had been a great
experience. Considering all the food,
trips and transfers it proved to be very good value.
Kolkata
Our overnight train trundled into the
station early and we found the place much calmer than when we’d left a week
ago. We’d worked out a bit of a walking
tour to sample city life, the river and some culture that would nicely fill the
time we had before heading to the airport.
Firstly we stowed our bags in left luggage where the sign told us not to
leave any food in bags due to rats! On
stepping out of the station grounds we were met with our first obstacle – how
to get over the main road? The streets
forced us in the wrong direction and on rounding the corner were told we
weren’t allowed to walk down the main road.
So we returned to the station to get our breath back and work out just
how on earth you’re meant to explore the streets. We’d noticed that the subway was conveniently
shut but had incorrectly thought it led to Kolkata’s underground train. Upon realising our mistake we worked out that
the subway actually goes under the highway we’d just failed to navigate. We were having some breakfast waiting for the
shutters to open when lo and behold David pops up.
The subway was surprisingly deserted and we
quickly found ourselves in a shopping / market district that was full of the
usual Indian sights, noises, smells and bustle.
As large Indian cities go this has to be one of the friendliest and laid
back. We wandered the streets without
being hassled, were warmly greeted and of course many Indians love to have
their photo taken. As we approached the
ghat area David managed to steal the show by stopping to have a shave from a
street side barber. This caused plenty
of quips from Steve and within minutes David had a sizeable audience with the
young dudes clamouring to have their photo taken with the daft foreigner! Even the local bobby found it worth a ring
side seat and enjoyed the banter.
I understand the history and religious
significance of bathing in the ghats but how people manage to muster up the
courage to place their heads under such filthy water I’ll never get. Still they were all merrily enjoying
themselves and again weren’t in the slightest put out or annoyed by our
presence. Steve’s walking tour then took
us past Eden Gardens
and through the green, peaceful medan area
ending up at the Victoria
Monument. A splendid and very grand building that has
been lovingly looked after over the years despite it harping back to colonial
rule. There are some interesting
displays and collections inside and varied enough that at least one should
appeal to most people.
We wandered back towards the train station
via different roads trying to find a good place to eat but the area had changed
since our guide book was written. Never
mind in the 12 years it had been since Steve was a backpacker in town. Obviously we didn’t struggle to find some
tasty treats and in fact it’s difficult to walk past many of the street stalls
without partaking. We retrieved our bags
and jumped in a taxi to the airport where we ended up with time to kill. On pooling our rupees we worked out we had
enough for one round of Kingfisher lager so supped up while reflecting on what
a fantastic holiday we’d had despite the weather being against us most of the
time.
