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Published: March 21st 2006
Dinner on Trek Day 1 in farmers kitchen
Left to right: Bronia, Dave, Karina & GavinWe came to Darjeeling (yes, where the tea is from) for a view of the Himalayas, an unwind from the hectic travel we have done thus far, and to celebrate our birthdays in one place without having to change hotels for a few days.
Instead, in true traveller style, our plans changed and we ended up with a different experience of Darjeeling and the Himalayas, but one that was no less enjoyable.
We decided on Darjeeling as a destination on the strength of some photos that Bronia's aunt and uncle (Joan & Ron) showed us of their visit there, and because we cannot visit Nepal due to the political situation we felt that at least we'd be able to see the Himalayas from there.
To get to Darjeeling we had to get the train from Varanasi Station. We got to the station in plenty of time for our train to New Jalpaiguri/Siliguri (nearest one to Darjeeling) which was due at 5:00pm. We are fast learning that these times bear little or no resemblance to the time that the train will actually turn up, but we are assuming that they are to be used as a rough guideline. When
Farmers' cat warming herself by the fire
Such a sweet sight to see the Tibetan family (feet you can see in pic) gathered round the earthen stove with their cat (grey) moulded against the earthen stove wall fast asleep and blissfully happy. Life just doesn't get better than that! it did arrive, the train succeeded not only in arriving 3.5 hours late, but also it had switched platform on us which we realised after the train had pulled into a different platform.
There was a frantic gathering of bags and gear and running very ungracefully to the correct train. This while trying to step over families who had set up camp on the platform with enough luggage to indicate that they were about to board a trans-atlantic steamship, not a 12hr train.
I think you have to see the funny side of these things to remain sane, and besides, it gave us the perfect opportunity to become aquainted with the only other two foreigners on our train, also on the wrong platform with us, Gavin and Karina from Australia.
The train journey took us about 12/13 hours and we arrived at New Jalpaiguri/Siliguri at 09:00 the next morning. Once re-united with our new Aussie friends we comandeered a share-jeep, or rather the owner comandeered us by latching on to us the minute we got out of the station until we agreed to travel with him for a fixed price up the mountain passes to Darjeeling. The
share jeep is a large 9 seater 4x4 vehicle into which he fit 15 people on the inside with 2 young boys hanging on the back. Just another normal day in India!
The jeep ride proves very 'interesting'. It basically manifests itself as a white knuckle ride with the driver seemingly having something to prove to us all about his cornering ability at speed and altitude on the narrowest of roads. During the few moments of straight road when we can relax enough to speak we share Indian travel anecdotes and horror stories with Gavin & Karina. Tales of scams, pitfalls and disasters becoming commonplace and are achieving a competetive edge amongst us travellers as we share the worst and best, but it makes us realise we are not as naiive as we had thought.
By the time we arrive and get out of the vehicle in one piece, much to our collective relief, we have talked ourselves into joining the Oz guys on a 5-day hiking trek in the the Himalayas.
Darjeeling instantly strikes us as different from the rest of India. Firstly it's much colder than what we've experienced. We've gone from heat and swirling
The Four Trekkers
L to R: Dave, Bronia, Karina & Gavin dust to cold and swirling cloud. In fact, it's so cloudy that we have no views of the Himalayas for several days due to the heavy cloud and mist in the town but this in itself lends itself to a sort of mystical atmosphere. The people here are more Nepalese and there is a heavy Tibetan/Buddhist influence here which again is in constrast to the mainly Hindu north.
After ruling out our first hotel choice due to damp, we choose a much better class accomodation with a lovely homely lounge, complete with log fire and comfy furniture. It also must have awesome views we can only guess at, as the fog/cloud only permits us a view of the street directly below.
After the rest of the day and the whole of the following one relaxing and exploring the locality, we are supposed to start the trek. However, it turns out that Karina is unwell so the big walk is postponed, and upsettingly for Bronia we can only resort to traipsing round the shops (!!), and sitting in our newly discovered favourite haunt "Hasty Tasty" - a sort of Indian fast food place but all the food is made
from scratch and delicious.
Trek day arrives finally and the four of us head off at 7am in another jeep (more modestly driven) to our starting point at
Manebhanjang, where our passports are checked and we are offered a guide which we decline. After all, in the guide book this trek is graded as 'easy'.
Day 1 is supposed to be trek of 14km but we reach our destination (a trekkers hut in
Tongla) by about 14:00. It is challenging terrain with steep climbs that would afford amazing views if only we weren't still shrouded in the cloud. We can only assume that the book is slightly wrong and that we have done only about 8/9km. We spend the afternoon keeping warm in our sleeping bags and telling stories until another Aussie (Jack) arrives on his own doing the same trek, and we chat further before dinner.
Dinner is actually quite a magical affair which takes place inside the farmers one-room house with his family. They even own the first cat we have seen on our journey, and he sleeps about an inch from the open fire over which dinner ( rice,lentils and potatoes ) is prepared.
Day 2 starts early and we set off in high spirits. It's also Bronia's birthday today !!! I bet she'll remember it. We hike all day, stopping only for noodle soup for lunch at a small trekkers hut. Later in the day we find a woman selling Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate bars & that becomes Bronia's birthday present from Gavin & Karina which is met by leaps of joy. All this at over 3,200 metres. By 17:00 those spirits and birthday thoughts have evaporated somewhat and we are still 3km short of our target for the day when we decide to hole up in a tiny village for the night. It is cloudy and misty again, and we are all shattered by some remorseless climbs.
We stay in a village which is actually about 50m over the border into Nepal and this turns into another highlight as the Nepalese give up their house for us to sleep in and we share their dinner and hospitality, including some local brew (hot beer and some clear suspiciously pleasant tasting liquer). We eat, in what is we suspect, the local pub, a hut with earthen floor and roaring fire and we
Trek Day 3 - We see Kanchenjhunga!
Ah the glorious mountain peak - simply huge and awe inspiring. Our first view of the Himalayan peaks that have been hidden from us for 3 days by cloud and worth the wait! are certainly providing a great deal of entertainment to the locals. We sleep very soundly, despite it being freezing again.
Day 3 promises to be hard work. The first 3km which we decided to abandon the night before is sheer climb. We set off and complete it by 10:30 and it is well worth it. Waiting for us at this small summit at 3,600 metres is a spectacular view of Khangchendzonga in the distance (the highest mountain in Indian Himalaya). We stand in awe and snap our camera merrily away for a while before we get a well earned breakfast of sloppy porridge and omelette and head off again.
This turns into one of the longest afternoons ever. Our target for late lunch should be only 10km away but when we are still walking in fog (what a surprise) at 17:00 we know that the book is wrong again. We crawl into the next village
Molley on the map just wanting rest and food. This 'village' turns out to be an Indian border army camp which is spooky to say the least, with dormitory accomodation, terrible food and nothing to buy not even water.
Such is our
Trekking through cloud & a forest hit by forest fire
It's an earie sight walking on mountain ridges at 3,500 metres & knowing that to your left and right are spectacular chasms, valleys and views but the cloud hems you in and the burnt trees are your only company. lack of faith in the trekking book that we decide to cut our trip short by a day and we set off early the next morning bound for
Rimbik and a jeep back to Darjeeling a day early.
We decide the book is an absolute shambles, as this walk cannot be described as easy in any way, shape or form. When we arrive in Rimbik at 14:00 we've missed all the jeeps so we while away a surreal evening watching the Bronze medal curling finals at the Turin Winter Olympics. I cannot believe I just owned up to that.
A four hour ride next day sees us back in the relative comfort and safety of Darjeeling where we all just chill and catch up with emails and caffeine.
Fully rested we wake up ready to celebrate Dave's birthday, only to find that the whole town is shut down due some general strike about tea plantations workers that are being mistreated, so the drinks are put on hold. We are confined to our hotel reading for the afternoon, which is actually rather pleasant.
There turns out to be a couple of cheeky bars that open later that evening so we can share a belated birthday bevvy or two with our Aussie friends.
After another relaxing day in the town with some more shopping and reading and also some more socializing, we leave for the train station via the post office to send our first package home.
Darjeeling has been an entirely different experience from the one we expected, and indeed all our previous Indian encounters - but I would say we both enjoyed it immensely.
One final word - I have to mention the staff and owners of the Dekeling Hotel in Darjeeling - they were truly the most friendly and genuinely nice people we have dealt with so far in India. They even brought hot water bottles to warm our beds at night. Thank you for enhancing our stay!
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Cindy
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Journey of a Lifetime
It's wonderful to read your travel blog, I really look forward to the next installment. Your descriptive writing takes this reader from her comfy chair to the streets of India with all the sounds and smells. Stay safe you two, and keep up the blogging!