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Published: September 3rd 2010
On the Road 1
A long way upDay 50 Kathmandu to Hetauda (Sun 22nd Aug)
A very late start today, as we didn’t leave the hotel until 1100. So we all managed a leisurely breakfast, at which point Lynn, Jo and I met the new tour leader. Matt had joined the group yesterday while we were away and so he introduced himself at breakfast and went over with us any information that he had given the others yesterday. He seems like a fairly laid back guy and should fit in well with the group. It’s nice to know there is someone there to sort out any difficulties for us (despite being capable of taking care of things ourselves, it is just far more relaxing to have someone else do it - and who cares if this makes us lazy)!
So after leaving Kathmandu valley, the journey was amazingly beautiful! It was all mountains and valleys today and much of the journey was spent admiring the view out the windows. People afraid of heights were recommended to sit on the left of the coach, so of course I took a seat on the right and it was well worth it! We didn’t go past much in the
On the Road 2
And a long way down way of civilization and all the pit stops today were “nature breaks”, which was interesting. Watch out for the leeches! And the truck drivers...
At some points we were over 3000m above sea level and there were times when the clouds rolled in below us. I hink you really have to be there to really appreciate the beauty of it all. Its just so
big.
We did eventually make our way down to the lower region of Nepal and our stop for tonight is Hetauda. The Orchid resort, which sounds really nice, and was quite nice actually, but you still got the feeling you were in one of those horror movie hotels. All kind of stylish and grand in an old sort of way. And it
was raining. More than one person mentioned The Shining...
Day 51 Hetauda to Siliguri
Well, we were meant to leave at 0800 today, but since breakfast was 30 minutes late, so were we! We did eventually get going though, and nobody had mysteriously disappeared through the night. We are back on flat land and it looks and feels like India again, even before the border.
We saw a lot of people in orange again. The festival of light is obviously a very widespread thing. It did serve to slow us down a bit though unfortunately and we only made it to the Indian border as the sun set. Another relatively relaxed border here, but by the time we went through Nepal immigration, and loaded our bags on the new (and very small) coach, it was dark. So we had to go through Indian immigration in the dark. And so naturally the power went out as we were trying to fill in out forms...
And candles attract mosquitoes, and we were all tired, and our new coach resembles, more than anything, a little sardine can...
We were very happy that our hotel was not all that far from the border and it even appeared to be a decent one. We ate up the road at a food hall which was nice. Unfortunately the air was a bit too full of spice (a really weird sensation) and I had to go home before my eyes were too swollen to see out of...
Day 52 Siliguri to Murshidabad
Breakfast
by room service today! It was a bit weird actually. The restaurant wasn’t open so they gave us our breakfast by room service. A nice one too.
So. The new transport is a little 13-seater minibus and is TINY!! We all just fit in and there is very limited room for our hand luggage. There are 10 of now including Matt so we are an even smaller group than when we left London. No one is very happy with the transport but at least it is only for about 3 days. We should be able to survive that. Unfortunately the air conditioning is a bit questionable too...
So we left just after 0800 and arrived in our new hotel just after 2000. Another very long day, and possibly the longest so far on the trip, beating the 12-hour drive to Delhi by about 20 minutes. We made as few stops as possible in order to reach the overnight stop as soon as we could. We are very much back in India and there are people everywhere. It is also a lot wetter in this area. I guess the monsoon rains really came through. There are flooded fields and
Festival of Light 2
This is a common sentiment in India... we did notice quite a few tea plantations as well.
The hotel here was quite good and most of us ended up with single rooms, as the “twin” rooms reserved for us were all really doubles. Fortunately its not the tourist season and there was plenty of rooms left. It was actually a little strange to have a room to myself again...
We ate at the hotel and had a couple of beers. Strangely, they only served the Kingfisher ‘strong’ here. And it
is rather strong.
Day 53 Murshidabad to Kolkata
The trip to Kolkata today is not as long as the past few days. A good thing too, as we are all getting a bit fed up with the sardine can.
The air conditioning broke down completely today and so we had the windows open fully, which was rather windy but also refreshing. And it made it easier to take pictures...
When we made a stop for lunch in the mid afternoon, we were only about a 30 minute drive from our hotel. Which made it an odd place to stop when we just wanted to keep going, to finally get there. The food was worth it though - very nice!
Our hotel in Kolkata was
wonderful. Absolute luxury as far as we were concerned! I elected to stay in and enjoy in while everyone else headed out for drinks. I just wanted a night to chill for a bit.
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Lorraine
non-member comment
ohhhhhh, ooooh, eeeeh, ahhhhh
Hi AJ, Thanks for the update. What an amazing trip to finish in Nepal. The scenery is amazing. I gather from what you haven't said about the trip through India it would have been a good option to fly from Hetaudu to Kolkata. Hopefully the stay in Thailand will iron out any kinks. Just being in one place for a few days will help. Looking forward to your next blog. Love you heaps Babe. Mum xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxo