Day 1: Darjeeling to Jaigaon

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After 28 days in mountains, it was time to head for plains, to Jaigaon, the border town in India where one can enter Bhutan, the land of the Thunder dragon. I boarded the only direct state transport bus to Jaigaon from Darjeeling at 7.30 am (ticket Rs.135/-). A less time consumping option would be to take a shared jeep to Siliguri and then another one to Jaigaon. The bus seats were quite comfortable and an advance booking got me a single seat right next to the driver. The driver was a jolly person having been perfected the art of multi-tasking. He knew almost every other person on the way and waved to each of them as his other hand negotiated the narrow hair pin bends. When not waving, he talked on his swanky Moto razr phone with a melodious ringtone. At one corner he also made his daily vegetable purchase ! No one seemed to mind. He returned the favour by stopping at the passengers will at their doorsteps. A dense fog made sure that we just crawl at a stingy speed. At one point, a Tata sumo appeared out of nowhere and kissed the bonnet of our bus. It was just a kiss as both the vehicles were traveling at 5 km/hr. At one point, we saw a fleet of 18 jeeps parked and swarmed by south indians eating idlis from their steel plates causing a minor traffic jam. As the fog receded, the driver pushed the accelerator hard on the curves. I caught a glimpse of a BRO signboard,' Drive, dont fly'. Guess the driver did not. We took almost 5 hours to reach Siliguri. Once we hit plains, the tdriver lost his jovial mood and me too. After days of mountains, the plains seemed drab and boring. Another 4 hours drive and we reached the ugly and dusty town of Jaigaon.

I met Shyam and Basav, civil service hopefuls whom I found on India mike travel forum. We had agreed to meet in Jaigaon. Shyam was a software professional before he cracked the Indian Revenue Service job. He re-took the exams and is hoping for the IAS, the creme-de-la-creme. Basav is a MBBS doctor and is preparing for the exams for last 2 years. He has experienced the charms of babudom first hand as his brother is Tax commissioner. He has no plans to do medical practice. Nice chaps ! We are staying in Hotel Evan (near the border, Rs. 450/- for double bed). I am sharing my room with a Nepali corporate trainer who met these guys in their taxi from Gangtok. After knowing my Purdue background, he offers me a proposition to hold a training seminar for Mechanical Engineers in Nepal. An Indian engineer with a US degree will be a big hit, he said. I took his card. Most of the shops over here use Bhutanese currency which is on par with Indian currency. After a good dinner, I crashed on the bed. It was a tiring day.

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Comments

[R.Shah]

About Bhutan
Hi and sorry- going throught the entire blog, I found a wealth of info about cheap hotels- only hope it is good enough for couples. Nice to hear about HMI again after nearly 10 years (when I had done my basic course from there). Good going and all the best,

[achuneka]

Hi The hotels that I stayed in were decent and clean enough but just for a backpacker.. Look around atleast in Thimpu and Paro it wont be a problem... Bumthang valley is off the main tourist trail... so it will be great ... nice to know you did the HMI course too !