Pictures:
N ot washing - prayer flags!
The tree at the end of the universe - 500ft drop after the tree!
Main road to Darjeeling!
Tibetan knitter
Tea garden, but not as we know it...
DARJEELING - is it our cup of tea?
Quite a day! Taxi to airport, good timing, pleasant check-in, nice airport. Plane came in, but no-one seemed in any hurry. Began to worry as our connecting flight in Delhi had only a half hour gap. Boarded half an hour late, so mentioned to the flight attendant that we should have a connecting flight. She took the onward tickets to 'show pilot' then gve them back. Resigned to missing plane.... Otherwise Jet Airlines pretty impressive, plenty of legroom and lovely staff. Arrived in Delhi just after our plane was due to take off. But ... ground staff waiting, sent us posh bus of our own, and said would try to get our luggage, but if not would send it on tomorrow. Settle for that - obviously only one flight a day! And then two baggage handlers appeared with our cases, slung them on the bus and off we went straight to the waiting aircraft. Two more baggage handlers met the bus, took the cases to load, we boarded and the plane took off! Amazing! There was a quick stop in a place we'd never heard of, and during that short stop a flight attendant came and asked if we would like food. Yes!! He brought us boxes with lovely chicken sandwiches, chocolate brownies and drinks for the princely sum of £2.50 each, and it was delicious. Pretty good service eh? And the plane made up the time! l Very quick baggage collection, taxi arranged by hotel waiting for us for the 100k journey to Darjeeling.
An interesting journey! Mad traffic, nothing new there. Then we began to climb! Hairpin bends, massively potholed narrow road, sheer drops, no barrier, narrow train track weaving across road, much oncoming traffic, often large and very insistent. Stopped at about 5000 feet at cafe with terrific hot chocolate, and massive drop right below! Onwards and upwards. The most terrifying ride ever, took about 4 hours, climbed to about 7000 feet, and here we are in Darjeeling. We stopped worryng part way up - just hoped to survive!
Darjeeling isn't beautiful, though it might have been once. It is crowded and grubby, but looks as if it might be interesting to explore tomorrow. However, the hotel actually starts on the 4th floor, up steep marble steps. Our room is at the top, another two steep flights, no lift. Also the air is thinner here! Felt very sorry for the lads who carried the luggage! Actually felt pretty sorry for myself too! The room is very nice, timbered walls, carpets, little wetroom bathroom, even a little TV. But those stairs!!! When I phoned the man said he could find us a room tonight and we could choose a better one tonorrow. This is fine - but I might never come out! He sent tea up, and said that as the restaurant is on the ground floor (6 flights down!) we coud order room service if we want. We want! Now waiting... There is a little lounge with smoky log fire one flight down, but can't be bothered just now! However, all should be well as Dave has ordered dinner and extra pillows and had a chat with Tibetan owner and we will move to a suite (!?)in their other property tomorrow. Of course it might not be wonderful but it sounds fine, just a bit further from the town, but having seen the town, that ain't a problem. So, we are not downhearted - and we have had our first glimpse of Kanchenjunga! Rather hazy today, but hopefully all will appear. Another adventure!
Few minutes later - they just brought us hot water bottles!
DAY TWO
Well, it hasn't got any better! Hard beds, lots of noise outside all night, little sleep. Nice breakfast though. We had a wander round this morning as we waited to move, and in the sun Darjeeling didn't look quite so bad. The people at the first hotel were really lovely, but the stairs were horrendous and once a day was more than enough. So, towards midday we went off in a taxi to 'Hawk's Nest Luxury Suites'. Mmmm! We do have a bedroom and a sitting room plus wetroom bathroom, but there are absolutely no amenities, and it is up a horrendous track. Only consolation is that, unlike stairs, you can get a taxi up a track! The TV is rubbish, there is no internet, and it is bigger than the last place but otherwise less, not more, deluxe. Also it is freezing cold! Went back to explore town this afternoon, and guess we've seen it now. OK for a quick visit, but very scruffy and dirty with all but the square full of horrendous roaring Landrovers in convoy. Final insult, it is cloudy and the Himalayas are not visible - Kanchenjunga should be right in front of us, but....
We asked for a fire tonight (at a cost) and are still waiting. Problem is how to arrange to escape, as mobiles only work on text and there is no STD here, so booking flights and hotels is difficult until we can get to the town tomorrow. Wish I'd braved those stairs now!! Probably all seems much worse because we are so tired after everything! Darjeeling was not the best idea we ever had!
Fire and dinner eventually came, so things a bit brighter, but still very cold. Gave up and went to bed early........
DAY THREE
Decided not to linger, so had jeep (and driver) to look around then take us down to Siliguri to catch a flight to Delhi tomorrow. All was redeemed when we had a Tibetan driver who took us to see tHe Japanese temple and the Peace Pagoda, complete with chanting monks who rise and open the temple at 4am. Wonderful spot! We had coffee on the roof terrace of a scruffy but nice little cafe and the mist had lifted a bit, so we got glimpses of the Kanchenjunga massif, but obviously we aren't going to see the full monty. Sad. Our lovely driver then then took us up a horrendous narrow little concrete track to a Tibetan Refugee Centre. Here we saw people earning a living by simple and lovely handicrafts. Old ladies were spinning, weaving, carpet making and knitting, there was carpentry and craft work and there was a small area (compared to the big plantations) of tea growing. There was also a photo gallery with the Tibetan story - made us quite angry with China! I didn't know China had a quarter of its missiles on Tibetan soil, as well as other simiar hardware, and large troop numbers. No wonder they don't want to let Tibet go! Our driver was Tibetan and, at the age of three, was carried across by his father, travelling by night and lyng low by day, through
Bhutan and eventually into West Bengal and Darjeeling.
After a long visit, many photographs and a fair bit of shopping, we left and set off back down the hairpin road to Siliguri. Actually, it seemed OK, maybe we are getting used to hanging on and hoping for the best - the driver obviously expected to get home tonight, so.....
Found a real hotel in Siliguri for the night - seems to have the features hotels normally have - so we settled in to a late lunch of fish and chips and beer. Heaven! So, all ended well. Off to Delhi tomorrow.
DARJEELING - is it our cup of tea?
Quite a day! Taxi to airport, good timing, pleasant check-in, nice airport. Plane came in, but no-one seemed in any hurry. Began to worry as our connecting flight in Delhi had only a half hour gap. Boarded half an hour late, so mentioned to the flight attendant that we should have a connecting flight. She took the onward tickets to 'show pilot' then gve them back. Resigned to missing plane.... Otherwise Jet Airlines pretty impressive, plenty of legroom and lovely staff. Arrived in Delhi just after our plane was due to take off. But ... ground staff waiting, sent us posh bus of our own, and said would try to get our luggage, but if not would send it on tomorrow. Settle for that - obviously only one flight a day! And then two baggage handlers appeared with our cases, slung them on the bus and off we went straight to the waiting aircraft. Two more baggage handlers met the bus, took the cases to load, we boarded and the plane took off! Amazing! There was a quick stop in a place we'd never heard of, and during that short stop a flight attendant came and asked if we would like food. Yes!! He brought us boxes with lovely chicken sandwiches, chocolate brownies and drinks for the princely sum of £2.50 each, and it was delicious. Pretty good service eh? And the plane made up the time! l Very quick baggage collection, taxi arranged by hotel waiting for us for the 100k journey to Darjeeling.
An interesting journey! Mad traffic, nothing new there. Then we began to climb! Hairpin bends, massively potholed narrow road, sheer drops, no barrier, narrow train track weaving across road, much oncoming traffic, often large and very insistent. Stopped at about 5000 feet at cafe with terrific hot chocolate, and massive drop right below! Onwards and upwards. The most terrifying ride ever, took about 4 hours, climbed to about 7000 feet, and here we are in Darjeeling. We stopped worryng part way up - just hoped to survive!
Darjeeling isn't beautiful, though it might have been once. It is crowded and grubby, but looks as if it might be interesting to explore tomorrow. However, the hotel actually starts on the 4th floor, up steep marble steps. Our room is at the top, another two steep flights, no lift. Also the air is thinner here! Felt very sorry for the lads who carried the luggage! Actually felt pretty sorry for myself too! The room is very nice, timbered walls, carpets, little wetroom bathroom, even a little TV. But those stairs!!! When I phoned the man said he could find us a room tonight and we could choose a better one tonorrow. This is fine - but I might never come out! He sent tea up, and said that as the restaurant is on the ground floor (6 flights down!) we coud order room service if we want. We want! Now waiting... There is a little lounge with smoky log fire one flight down, but can't be bothered just now! However, all should be well as Dave has ordered dinner and extra pillows and had a chat with Tibetan owner and we will move to a suite (!?)in their other property tomorrow. Of course it might not be wonderful but it sounds fine, just a bit further from the town, but having seen the town, that ain't a problem. So, we are not downhearted - and we have had our first glimpse of Kanchenjunga! Rather hazy today, but hopefully all will appear. Another adventure!
Few minutes later - they just brought us hot water bottles!
DAY TWO
Well, it hasn't got any better! Hard beds, lots of noise outside all night, little sleep. Nice breakfast though. We had a wander round this morning as we waited to move, and in the sun Darjeeling didn't look quite so bad. The people at the first hotel were really lovely, but the stairs were horrendous and once a day was more than enough. So, towards midday we went off in a taxi to 'Hawk's Nest Luxury Suites'. Mmmm! We do have a bedroom and a sitting room plus wetroom bathroom, but there are absolutely no amenities, and it is up a horrendous track. Only consolation is that, unlike stairs, you can get a taxi up a track! The TV is rubbish, there is no internet, and it is bigger than the last place but otherwise less, not more, deluxe. Also it is freezing cold! Went back to explore town this afternoon, and guess we've seen it now. OK for a quick visit, but very scruffy and dirty with all but the square full of horrendous roaring Landrovers in convoy. Final insult, it is cloudy and the Himalayas are not visible - Kanchenjunga should be right in front of us, but....
We asked for a fire tonight (at a cost) and are still waiting. Problem is how to arrange to escape, as mobiles only work on text and there is no STD here, so booking flights and hotels is difficult until we can get to the town tomorrow. Wish I'd braved those stairs now!! Probably all seems much worse because we are so tired after everything! Darjeeling was not the best idea we ever had!
Fire and dinner eventually came, so things a bit brighter, but still very cold. Gave up and went to bed early........
DAY THREE
Decided not to linger, so had jeep (and driver) to look around then take us down to Siliguri to catch a flight to Delhi tomorrow. All was redeemed when we had a Tibetan driver who took us to see tHe Japanese temple and the Peace Pagoda, complete with chanting monks who rise and open the temple at 4am. Wonderful spot! We had coffee on the roof terrace of a scruffy but nice little cafe and the mist had lifted a bit, so we got glimpses of the Kanchenjunga massif, but obviously we aren't going to see the full monty. Sad. Our lovely driver then then took us up a horrendous narrow little concrete track to a Tibetan Refugee Centre. Here we saw people earning a living by simple and lovely handicrafts. Old ladies were spinning, weaving, carpet making and knitting, there was carpentry and craft work and there was a small area (compared to the big plantations) of tea growing. There was also a photo gallery with the Tibetan story - made us quite angry with China! I didn't know China had a quarter of its missiles on Tibetan soil, as well as other simiar hardware, and large troop numbers. No wonder they don't want to let Tibet go! Our driver was Tibetan and, at the age of three, was carried across by his father, travelling by night and lyng low by day, through
Bhutan and eventually into West Bengal and Darjeeling.
After a long visit, many photographs and a fair bit of shopping, we left and set off back down the hairpin road to Siliguri. Actually, it seemed OK, maybe we are getting used to hanging on and hoping for the best - the driver obviously expected to get home tonight, so.....
Found a real hotel in Siliguri for the night - seems to have the features hotels normally have - so we settled in to a late lunch of fish and chips and beer. Heaven! So, all ended well. Off to Delhi tomorrow.
Apologies for posts that are repeated - Blogger seems to have a mind of its own. Will try to keep it to just one copy of each!
ReplyDeleteHi Madalaine, glad that you will be in Delhi tomorrow (I suspect you are a little relieved too!); sadly I won't now be able to meet up with you as my plans have changed. Have a great visit anyway - can recommend The Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Afternoon Tea at the Imperial Hotel and a particularly good lamb curry at a resturant called 'Punjabi By Nature' in Vasant Vihar.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry not to see you Ian. Were hoping to as we are in Delhi early. Thanks for recommends - will try! See you soon. M & D
ReplyDelete