Darjeeling 01/09 Himalayas and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
Darjeeling 01/09
Himalayas and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
“Do not spit on the platform it is a bad habit and unhygienic, there are spittoons on the platforms, please use them.” That was the announcement as I walked across New Jalpaiguri station/Siliguri (NJP) West Bengal to Platform 1. Trains are cities on the move – families, businessmen, holidaymakers, all thrown together. So far I have seen three people that I had met on the train when I came to Darjeeling, in NJP although we didn’t see each other during our stay here in Darjeeling.
Tea and coffee has replaced the singing call of chai, chai, chai on trains as have the little bio-degradable clay cups it was served in. Even on the street chai now comes in small thin purpose-made cups. Chai not even sold on the train, you get a plastic cup of hot water and a teabag or a spoonful of instant coffee instead. Station platforms still have chai. Chai is tea masala, ginger, cardamom infused with tea, milk and a lot of sugar. Addictive!
Trains have their own community of followers, food sellers come on and off at each station, chai sellers (thank you!) as do women dressed as men, who clap at you – locals would sooner give money to them over the blind beggars etc, that get on?! Does the clap invoke some sort of curse unless you give them money?
Hawkers walk up the corridors with chains, binoculars, electric keyboards, pen drives, torches, and padlocks – all of which I have been asked to inspect for quality before I buy.
The trip to Darjeeling came about so easily, off the train, at NJP to a new type of trishaw, the biggest three-wheeler I have come across so far. Carries eight to ten people plus luggage. 10INR to bus station, then a bus to Darjeeling. Or not. Bus office told me it was too cold for drivers to go? So, share a ’sumo’ and 90INR and 3hrs later I had gone from 120m above sea level to 2,134m. The guy was right, it was damn cold - 0 to minus something!
Guesthouse Khushboo – 250INR a night, and another 80INR for hot water, paid a further 150INR for a heater on the second night. Great views from the roof.
Three T-shirts, shirt, shorts under my trousers, and two pairs of socks, fleece and a thin waterproof did not stop the cold but did prevent hypothermia setting in! Not at all prepared for the weather, so bought a heavy jacket for 190INR. Turned out to be just that – heavy, as were the blankets in the guesthouse – heavy but with no thermal insulation properties whatsoever, hence the required heater!
Thank God I was getting up at 4am to go to Tiger Hill to watch sunrise over Khangchendzonga and the Himalaya range. So cold by then - had not slept a wink, tossed turned, adjusted bedding and clothes all without letting the freezing air circulate inside the bed all to no avail – you could hear the brass monkeys howls as their balls fell off!
All was worth it in the end to see sunrise over Khangchendzonga; the colours as they changed the scenery were all fabulous. Industrious local working their way around the crowd of 100 or so selling chai. Got to love ’em.
It wasn’t exactly Tenzing Norgay’s Everest descent (he came from Darjeeling) but I walked back the 12km from Tiger Hill to Darjeeling, following the ‘Toy Train’ tracks, all downhill. A gentle 4hr walk arriving back around midday. Very picturesque.
En-route booked my ticket on the Darjeeling Himalaya Railway; the ‘Toy Train’ for the next day. Think we boys must be programmed to find steam trains of huge interest. I took more than 400 photos on the way back to NJP station, 380 on the first part of the journey taking the ‘toy train’ from Darjeeling to Kurseong, a thousand metres lower than Darjeeling, followed by a shared jeep & it was a share, 14 of us in it!?
On the way & in Darjeeling interesting signs declaring Gorkhaland, are displayed, an independent state for the mountain communities. Darjeeling has little or no connections of being part of India before colonists and now wants an independent state, aligned with Nepal and Bhutan. A fantastic side trip another one to be added on the “when I return” list. Note to self “warmer clothes!”
Big city next.