Darjeeling 17hr Bus!!

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Hey guys,

We made it to Darjeeling after all those worries about not being able to get back into India because of this 2 month rule. I advise anyone who is thinking of going in and out of India within 2 months to go to the FFRO in India it will probably make life a little easier.

The journey from Kathmandu was an effort to say the least, we set off at 4:30am on a bus that was anticipated to take 17 hrs to get to the border (Kakavita). The journey started off with a 2 hour traffic and to top it off as soon as we got out of the jam a tyre blew out, but to be fair they sorted it pretty quickly. We stopped for toilet breaks and lunch every 3 hrs ish, so we got a chance to stretch our legs. The journey was what it was a very long bus ride, I think nearing the end we just accepted and got on with the journey. When we reached Kakavita we headed to a nearby guesthouse which to be honest was pretty basic but did feed us well and was very cheap.

Next morning after a nice sleep we headed to the border got stamped out by the Nepalese guys and then just had to fill out some forms to get back into India, no real hassle at all. We then got on a bus to Suliguru which we transferred onto our very first jeep ride up to Darjeeling. The jeep was bouncing all over the place Brodders enjoyed it I felt sick but we go there in pretty quick time, so overall not bad.

We then went in search for a place to stay, Darjeeling a pretty small place but it is on a hill so with backpacks its a little difficult especially as we didn't find anywhere for an 1hr!! The place we found is pretty cool showers don't work until 4pm until 6pm with a bit rubbish but we will live with it.

We headed to the tea plantations today, they showed us round the factories which was pretty routine stuff, it wasn't untill we got outside when we tasted some tea. There was a little hut with a very friendly retired tea picker inside who let us sample the number 1 tea in Darjeeling. She made it as promised in 5 seconds and it was very good, so good infact that we brought 100grams!!

We seem to be having difficulties at the moment trying to get a train out of here on saturday it seems that they are all booked up, and also seems a similar case for the next few days. So we will have to see how it all plans out.

Speak to you soon, hopefully somewhere different!!

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