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Hello From India....
Im not sure where I left off... Our arrival in India was rough, to stay the least. For the second time, my first day in India made me cry. We flew from Kunming to Kolkata on Sunday night (our flights were given to us, we didn't have the choice of what time to arrive). Arriving to Kolkata at midnight is a really bad idea as a tourist, so don't anyone try it. We visited three different hotels in the middle of the night. The place I had planned for us to stay in, which according to lonely planet offered a "home away from home atmosphere", was in actuality a hotel that resembled a jail/brothel. We climbed up 3 flights of stairs with our backpacks in the 100 degree heat and were presented with a room that locked from the outside, had bugs all over the beds, and when Jake peered into the bathroom the floor literally scattered apart (cockroaches). It being the middle of the night, finding another place proved difficult. The second location was marginally better than the first... and we finally settled on a hotel that was FAR too expensive, with decent rooms, but still had roaches all over the place. I can handle a lot of dirt, and heat, and other creatures.... roaches to not make this list.
We checked out the next morning and headed to the train station to buy our tickets to Darjeeling. When we arrived at the station we were told that the tickets we wanted to buy needed to be purchased from the tourist reservation office, which happened to be nowhere near the train station. I wouldn't normally mind this, however, the Indian government has banned rickshaws in most of the city, and taxis there are incredibly expensive with poor ventilation. It took us about an hour to reach the reservation office. (on the way we stopped at the bank and found out that the official airport exchange had given megan a fake 500 rupee note.. 😊) When we arrived we were told that the Darjeeling Mail train that we planned on taking was full, but there was another train available going to the same location that just took a couple hours longer. We saw no reason to not take this train instead and booked our tickets. (duh duh duhhhhhh)....
Before our train left Jake and I had a lovely lunch at a south Indian restaurant called Dosas and More. This was definitely the highlight of that entire 48 hour period. Around 5 oclock we headed to the train station. We had booked an air conditioned sleeper... when we got on the train and there were only fans running, we figured the AC would kick in when the train got moving. Wrong. As it turns out, this train not only was full of roaches as well, but the AC in our car was BROKEN! (also I should mention that AC sleepers do not have open windows... which works out wonderfully when the AC is functioning). In order to block out the heat and the creatures I went to sleep early (Megan cried, Jake went a little crazy, and I went to sleep) , a tactic that proved quite effective as I didn't wake up until we were 20 minutes away from our destination.
We took a 30 minute taxi followed by a 3 hour shared jeep ride to reach Darjeeling. I started to have fun in the jeep, the scenery was beautiful, the road was bumpy, and I was free of roaches. Darjeeling was a welcome relief after our first two days of chaos. We are staying at a small hotel with clean rooms (no bugs) and a friendly owner. Most mountain towns have water shortages, so there is no running water (unless you are rich) at this time of year, and showers are taken out of a bucket. But there is hot water upon request! (on my previous trip to India I spent a month showering out of a bucket .... minus the hot water part. so this was indeed a pleasant suprise)
Our first day in Darjeeling we decided to get out of the room and hold off on showering. Jake and I wandered up to the top of town where there is a really nice path with lots of trees and mist... and monkeys! Usually there are also views of the surrounding himalayas, but this time of year brings too much fog so you cant see much of anything. Despite this, the walk was very peaceful and at the end we enjoyed a delicous cup of masala chai. The waitress at the cafe where we bought chai took it upon herself to give us 2 mints in place of the 2 rupees that we were owed for change. We weren't sure if this was on purpose or not, but we laughed and went on our way. ( she did the same thing the next day, but instead of mints she gave us 2 cough drops. when we asked her about it she waggled her head and kept on walking.lol) That night I proceeded to take my first bucket shower after an almost 3 year hiatus. And in fact, I had forgotten how difficult it could be. I've once again figured it out.... rinse, lather, rinse. It really is an art, especially when the shower room is the same as the toilet room and you have all of 3 feet of room to successfully complete the activity.
Our second day we slept in, enjoyed a lovely breakfast of omelet and toast, and took to wandering the streets. There is a temple at the top of the town that is used by both Hindus and Buddists, which I find quite interesting. The temple has a small cave dedicated to the Hindu god Mahakala and is completely covered in Buddist prayer flags (one of my favorite things). It was really beautiful (pictures uploading as we speak.. hopefully).
Yesterday was our third day in Darjeeling, and also happened to be the date of local elections. Which brings me to one of my other favorite ( I use the term favorite loosely) things about India. Bundhs. The word literally means to close, but with the diversity of religions, peoples, and political parties in India, there are frequently days where entire cities shut down completely for holidays or any other special occasion... such as voting. So yesterday the entire town was closed, except for one restaurant. Jake and I decided to go visit the Happy Valley Tea Plantation instead of wasting a day sitting on our butts. The tea plantation was about a 40 minute walk downhill from the center of Darjeeling. We ended up walking below the mist and fog and the views were beautiful. The tea fields consist of rows of small bushes over rolling hills. The tea factory was closed but there is a woman near by who has her own (only somewhat legal) tea store. She invited us in for tea and described the tea leaves and the different types of tea that grow in Darjeeling. She was somewhat insane, but also quite friendly, and the tea was delicious. The tea we tried is called Super Fine Tippy Golden Flower Orange Pico 1. I think. We bought some to take with us.
Today it was raining. Which makes the scenery quite beautiful. We visited a Gompa nearby (a Tibetan temple).. and the walk took us through the trees and the mist in the rain. The Gompa was small but very pretty, and the groundskeeper showed us around. Jake and I then had lunch at one of the well known Tibetan restaurants in town, and it was the best meal we've had here so far. There are several parts of our recent journey I am leaving out I'm sure. But I'm happy to be back in India, drinking chai, eating "style cream and onion chips" (sour cream and onion), and loving and hating all of this country's countless eccentricities. (sanitation issues, bucket showers, getting candy instead of money as change, not being able to order half the things on most menus because they are out...among many others, I may start a running list)
We are suppose to leave for Nepal tomorrow, but there are strikes all over the country and as of today the buses still weren't running. Not really sure what we're doing.... who knows where we'll end up.
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naila
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hmmm. i honestly dont know if i could handle the bugs and the bucket showers. especially the bugs. luckily you had plenty of practice with me (and your india roommates) making you get rid of them. hahaha.