Getaway hill station at 7000feet

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Trip Start Jan 16, 2008 Previous
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  Darjeeling, India
Friday, March 14, 2008

Hi,
Soooooo..... our 30hour train journey was definitely interesting. Firstly we had the two upper bunks in the cabin so we weren't sure if we were meant to sit up there for the whole journey or if everyone sits on the bottom seats during the day. It was very awkward and like musical chairs for a while, one guy seemed grumpy but the other one told us we could share his seat (by patting it and beckoning us). We then spent a while trying to relax and wondering if we were intruding on his space before finally getting onto one of the top bunks to play cards and stay out of the way.
Luckily the nice guy got off shortly and the ticketman said we could have his lower one instead of one of the uppers, maybe he had noticed our confusion and discomfort. The other guy proceeded to grump about the place and we just ignored him.
Finally Mr.Grump got off and we had the whole cabin to ourselves yay

A very faint everest and Makalu

. We made ourselves comfy, played cards, read, ate cookies and brandy snaps.
Lucky for us two other passengers joined us in the middle of the night, waking us up by making lots of noise and turning the light on, then insisting that our bunks were their bunks (even though the two empty bunks were identical to those we were occupying).
Finally we arrived in Kolkata to find the trains to Siliguri full. Sighing we jumped in a taxi (pre-paid of course!) to the bus station to execute plan B. It was like a mad place with loads of people trying to get us to their stands and no obvious government centre/stall. After wandering around with our big bags for a while and getting pestered to death we pretty much just thought 'sod it!' and allowed ourselves to be led to the nearest one. Our bus was to leave at 6 (less than 2hours after we got off the train), we stocked up on biscuits and bananas and climbed aboard. It set off late as Indian buses do, we crawled out of Kolkata due to it's horrendous traffic and promptly broke down in some suburb. Everyone else got off and eventually some guy came to tell us we wouldn't be going anywhere for 2-3hours, we couldn't believe our luck considering our last overnight bus broke down too. What with it being a stifling non-ac bus we decided to sit on the pavement, providing a tasty evening meal for half the mozzies in suburban Kolkata. Luckily for us the plumbing and paint shop next to us was having a midnight spring clean so they provided us with some amusement

Another street

. Predictably 3hours later (not the optimistic 2) we got going thank goodness as we'd pessimistically started coming up with plans on how to get back to the city like a 2hour cycle rickshaw. We set off at 00.00 and arrived at 15.00 in Siliguri, although don't go thinking the rest of our journey was uneventful (although it was to the Indians who didn't particularly blink), the window across from us shattered sending blue glass everywhere.
In Siiguri we had a more than welcome meal before picking up a shared jeep, being new to this we picked an emtpy one so we drove around for an hour trying to recruit others to fill it up.
We arrived in Darjeeling at half8 and had spent a full 58hours travelling, we hoped Darjeeling was going to be worth it!!
After brunch the next day we got our bearings before hiring a taxi (no rickshaws can make it up here) to go to the Happy Tea Plantation. A slightly eccentric lady with a big grin (definitely 'happy') gave us a 3second tea demonstration. No it wasn't a crap demonstration, it was really high quality tea that only takes 3seconds to brew. Becky supped it up and Luke (not being a tea lover) said it was 'nice-ish'.
Next we headed to the zoo come Himalayan mountaineering institute to check out red pandas, snow leopards and a history of the climbers of the Himalayas. The HMI was fascinating especially the bit about yetis/abominable snowman and the toeless boots of a mountaineer. We also learnt that Hillary and Tenzing Norgay may not have been the fist people to reach the summit of everest as 2 British were seen a couple hundred of metres from the top before disappearing roughly 28years earlier. One of the bodies was recently discovered near the summit although no one's sure if they were on their way up or down

Becky infront of the mountain range

.
Afterwards we visited the Tibetan Refugee Self-help Centre to read about the history of Tibet and how they had to flee their country. Since then we have taken a particular interest in all the stories in the newspapers concerning the matter. Becky also bought a fluffy blanket here.
For dinner our meals had meat and VEG on the same plates ( with no weird 'brown' sauce), it was brilliant and like being in heaven. Also great local beer from Sikkim, definitely go to Glenary's restaurant if you're in the Darjeeling vicinity.
We rose but didn't shine at 3.45 the next morning and got a taxi to nearby Tiger Hill to watch the sunrise over the Himalayas. Absolutely spectacular, although a little chilly, a major highlight of the trip and one of the most amazing things we've ever seen, haha bet you're all jealous. Check out the photos, it was about one hundred times better in real life. Sorry for gloating....
Headed back for some brekkie and to warm our cockles, before a taxi to the little town of Ghoom nearby. We wandered back to Darjeeling visiting the local monasteries along the way.
Sunday lunchtime we caught a shared jeep to Siliguri (to get a bus to Kolkata) and let's say it was rather squished. How many people do you think can fit inside a jeep? ......a fair few. 4 in the front, 4 in the middle, 6in the back (yes that's where we were). Oh and the guy clinging to the spare wheel mount on the outside. xxxxxx

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Becky's beans on toast - not moving	Darjeeling street	Full pink sun	Houses below
Just before sunrise	Luke in front of mountain range	Luke infront of mural in monastery	Luke with the sunrise
Luke with the view	Mountain range in sunrise	Our Darjeeing tea demonstration	Prayer bells
Sun peeking out	Sunrise	Sunrise again	Sunrise on third-highest peak in the world
The promenade	Ugly thingy at monastery	Us sipping our Darjeeling tea	View from our hotel balcony
Yiga Choling Monastery

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