Darjeeling

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Darjeeling

We got dropped off on Darjeeling's Hill Cart Road and wondered aimlessly for a while to find a taxi. Someone saved us in the end but charged us 150 to get to our hotel. 

Accommodation

We stayed at The Travellers Inn which is near the TV tower. We negotiated the room rate down from 1500 to 800 rupees per night including a heater (required!!)
It was really nice and had a good little restaurant which has great views (on a clear day). The staff were also lovely and would do anything for you - we were especially demanding for pots of tea!
However, the place was freezing - 24/7. It was difficult to eat in the restaurant as it was so cold and there were no heaters. The heater in our room was good if you stood next to it but did little to warm up the wooden room! They didnt even have hot water bottles which would have helped a lot! A shame, but for the last night we moved to Hotel Dekeeling which is near/ just above the clock tower. 
Dekeeling hotel was 1800Rs (negotiated from 2300) for a deluxe room but they made us pay 200 for a slightly better (oil) heater. The hotel was generally warmer, provided hot water bottles and in their lounge was a wood burner. They also have wifi for free and a big brekkie costs 150. 

Things to do

On a clear day Darjeeling has great views of Mt Khangchendzonga (6691m) and the tip of Mt Everest (8848m) in the Himalayers. We caught a glimpse of it one morning for about half hour before it misted/ clouded over. We got up at 04:30 to watch the sunrise from Tiger hill (shared jeep arranged at 4:30 at taxi rank 100Rs each) but unfortunately visibility was less than 10cm due to mist! Waste of time that was! But it is supposed to be amazing when clear! There is also a look out point on Observatory Hill which is walkable from town. There is also a Tebetan buddist gompa (monestry) atop observatory hill that is interesting to see along with it's resident monkeys.

Darjeeling is obviously famous for it's tea - apparently the best in the world. The 'Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Picko 1' (the tip of the tea bud) is the mist expensive and you can brew a cup from the leaves in under 5 seconds apparently. 

One of our favourite things was to take a trip from Darjeeling to Ghum (about 8km) on the Steam 'Toy Train' (Darjeeling Himalayan Railway). The train took a while to prepare at the station with men throwing in tonnes of coal and water. The journey was about an hour to Ghum and an hour back chugging along at about 10mph! The 'steam' from the engine threw about lots of Smutts (which we learned from an old fella on the train!) that got all over your face!! At Ghum (the highest railway station in the world apparently) you stop at the Railway museum which is quite interesting.

We visited The Happy Valley Tea Plantation which is just below the main Market. You can walk there but it's all down hill and thus a hard walk back! So we took a taxi for 300Rs (with some hard bargaining) for a retun journey.
A worker showed us around the tea factory for a politely requested tip (not currently processing at this time of year) and taught us the basics. then we went into a little hut where a lady gave us a cup of the finest and tested our knowledge. We bought a bag of The Super fine tippy for 400Rs for 100g. We did think it was a bit mean that we had to pay for the cup of tea (50Rs each) especially as we made a purchase! Oh well!

Other things we did were look around the Market (bought lots of wolleys!), wonder up and down the winding roads and went to the botanical garden (rubbish- literally). We also had High Tea at The Elgin hotel (one of the posh places) which was nice especially when they put on the coal fire!!

Next to Varanasi (via NJP / Siliguri). We booked train tickets through Sandeep Jain at 'Jain Cosmetics' Laden Ln Rd (has a vodafone sign). All trains were full but he knew a guy in Siliguri that would definitely get us a seat on any train we wanted (for an extra 700Rs of course). We had to pick the tickets from a random location in Siliguri after giving Sandeep 1000Rs deposit but it all turned out alright in the end! We recommended him to other people we met too.

We returned to Siliguri via the Makaibari tea estate in Kurseong. We got to meet the owner (4th generation) - Raja Banerjee who is quite a character / eccentric with lots of funny catchphrases! We had another tour of the factory and the surrounding tea gardens.

Our taxi (not shared) was 1400Rs including the stop at the tea estate and to pick up the ticket in Siliguri. However I think we nearly died about 20 times as our driver driver drove so recklessly that we had to tell him to calm down 3 times. You can imagine how bad it was especially on winding roads with a sheer drop on one side. At one point he started to overtake a van and we nearly had a head on collision with a truck! At this point we really shouted at him and begged us not to tell his boss! Were still thinking about it as he is a serious danger to himself and others!

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Photos

At one with Tea
Happy Valley Tea Estate

"We Want Gorkhaland"
The cause of the Bandhs