The Cindrella Hotel Siliguri

... reçoit des fleurs bénis pour le petit shrine dans le bus et les têtes des personnes devant dans le bus. Chacun se met quelques pétales sur le dessus du crâne. Ma mère serait enchantée par de telles pratiques de bénir les gens et véhicules avant un long trajet. Pas si différent que ça, le Christianisme et l’Hindouisme finalement, non ?

Du reste, la jounée est longue. Le confort du voyageur dépend ...

... the way home we got held up at the Sikkim/West Bengal State border because there were strikes blocking the road in West Bengal. That took 3 hours and made Vikrim very nervous because he wanted to get back to Nepal that evening in case the strike took place the next day in Nepal. It held us up for 3 hours, but thankfully it was at a place where there was a nice restaurant with clean bathrooms! Vikrim did make it home late that night, too.

... monsoons ist das es jeden tag regnet, und jeden tag ein bisschen frueher...im moment ist 17 uhr standard...aber ich wurde nicht nur mitten auf dem berghang ohne weg nass, noe, es wird ja auch noch dunkel...und kamera und winzeltaschenlampe wollen vor naesse geschuetzt werden...das war eigtl meine hauptangst...das die taschenlampe ausfaellt.

Habe dann spaeter 2 typen unter nem zeltdach gefunden,die mir im regen den ...

... on the little shelf/table by my bunk (I was on the lower bunk of three) so i wouldnt have to rummage later for money....an hour later i woke to the noise of the kids jumping around... everyone else still asleep, and thought i would have a chai, only to discover my 5 rupees coin had disappeared!!! I was not impressed, the middle girl looked decidedly guilty when i kept asking...'umm where has my 5 rupee gone?' and then promptly looked away ... it wasnt the amount of ...

... and hike his way down, leaving me to tackle the plight alone. The thought of leaving keeps me up at night, it truly does. Christmas day was great fun. Apart from meeting Alistair that night I have a leisurely breakfast of tibetan bread with jamand a hot chocolate before viewing the mountain ranges from the roof. I amble through town, spend an hour walking down down down to the Tibetan Refugee Centre where they have closed for lunch, and trek back up up ...

... of night awaited us. The following 12 hours were spent in fear of death. Not long after we left the station the bus became enveloped in a thick fog! Unfortunately, the bus driver did not believe this to be a reason to take the drive slower. So we spent the majority of the night dodging everything from cattle to construction vehicles! A number of times the bus left the road and came skidding to a stop. Good fun, we tell you. The only thing that gave us a ...

... room *t the front of the hotel which h*d * gre*t view but sleeping w*s not *llowed *s the w*lls didn't provide much protection from the sound of the b*rking dogs *nd very e*rly morning shen*****ns of the loc*l folk. So the next morning we tr*nsferred rooms to the b*ck end of the hotel *nd settled for * view of the very green hotel g*rden. D*rjeeling *nd its surroundings *re re*lly *n experience th*t must be h*d in re*l life r*ther th*n in photogr ...

... 50 minutes to get to the other train station. Immediately when we arrived we ran around like idiots looking for our train. Eventually we found our train and the minute we jumped on it, it started moving. Train ride was uneventful, but beautiful. After 14 hours we arrived in Jalpaiguri. It was supposed to be our last stop before arriving in Darjeeling. In Jalpaiguri I went to reserve our train ticket to Darjeeling. Once again I went through three lines before the attendant told me ...

... much quicker and without a sore bum) The train is quite extraordinary though. At the top reaches of the rail line it shares the streets of the mountain townships and vilages with the everyday bustle of jeeps, pedestrians and shops. The train literally passes on the doormats of homes and shop fronts which sell fruit, tobacco, tea and fabrics. Actually, the proximity borders on the ridiculous. It would be possible to have ...

... to cascade down to the ground. Sometime during the night we had received 3-4 inches of snow. We trudged out of our tents and ate breakfast. Since it was snowing, there was again zero visibility, so we did not even bother to climb up to the peak. It was interesting however to get snowed upon from within a cloud. That was a first for me. After breakfast we started our trek back down the mountain. Our trek pretty consisted of two days hiking up, the one day where we went to the pass, and ...