Advertisement
Published: January 27th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Unfortunately it was too late to reserve a seat on today's Toy Train up to Darjeeling, so I was told the best thing to do would be to buy a second class ticket and then attempt to upgrade on the train. Since I didn't fancy the prospect of potentially having to spend the entire 6-9 hour journey jammed into second class, I decided to give it a miss and get a shared Jeep instead.
The shared Jeeps wait around until they are completely full, which meant a 30 minute wait until we departed. This required cramming into the seats 4 foreigners, 2 burly Nepalis, 2 chubby Indians, and 2 people of the size that the Jeep was originally designed for. One of the Nepali guys, on seeing my discomfort in the seat I'd been allocated, generously offered to swap with me. We got to chatting, and he said that he was a mountain guide in Uttaranchal. Later on, it turned out that he had actually climbed Everest. Plus his travelling companion's father was either the youngest or first person to climb Everest twice (can't remember which).
Though modesty makes me loth to bring this up, I guess in these
parts there are any number of Everest summiters, whereas my own main climbing achievement (an ascent of the north face of Skiddaw without supplementary oxygen when I was about 8) may well be unique amongst the current population of Darjeeling.
The journey was only about 3.5 hours, despite an overly cautious driver and a completely unnecessary 20 minute rest stop. It was all on just one road - Hill Cart Road - which the Toy Train track runs on, beside, and criss-crosses at regular intervals. We did pass the train shortly after leaving Siliguri and, wonder of wonders, none of the carriages were full. As the road moved up into the mountains, road safety signs began to appear, bearing slogans such as "If you're married to speed, get a divorce" and "Enjoy the hills at low speed".
Darjeeling is perched on a hillside, and I had a steep climb up to Chowrasta, the area on the ridge where many hotels are clustered. It's clear that there is a lot of Tibetan and Nepali influence here, and I was reminded of McLeod Ganj in that regard. I was puffing by the time I got to Chowrasta, but found my
intended hotel, the Bellevue, without any trouble. The room I was shown on the top floor was large, light, and clean, so I took it. It also has a bizarre looking contraption that apparently is the fire (Rs 100 for 10 kg of wood - I decided not to quote Varanasi rates to the manager).
The weather here is very pleasant from the point of view of sunshine and temperature, but unfortunately there is a lot of cloud and mist floating around. It was impossible to tell that the 3rd highest mountain in the world was lurking just to the north. I can find umpteen restaurants, shops, and Internet cafes close by without having to don crampons, which is a relief. I saw a meat store containing cages that you would normally expect to see live chickens in - instead, some plucked and skinned carcasses were sitting motionless in them, with no indications that they had the ability to escape.
While doing some Internetting shortly after sunset, I noticed that I could see my breath in the cafe. And when I stepped outside, it was damn cold - possibly worse than Bandhavgarh in the early morning. After putting
on all the clothes I had available, I sought out some dinner and was still shivering even after 15 minutes in comparative warmth. Deciding that a beer jacket might help to stave off the chill, I had several beers in Joey's Pub, which was the most pub-like so-called pub I've seen so far in India. Returning to the hotel just before 10PM, I was surprised to find that it was already closed. Fortunately the nightwatchwoman heard me trying to get in, and unlocked the door. Another one of these places that's presumably early to bed and early to rise.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.069s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 7; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0386s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb