Travelling in India

Travelling in India is quite an adventure, for better or for worse.. Yesterday we left Darjeeling to go back to Delhi. We got up early and went down to the bazaar in Darjeeling, where pooled jeeptaxis leave for Siliguri once the jeep is full, and it's not considered full when it really is, but when there are around 15 people in a jeep for 8-9, having some people hanging outside, standing on the flap. So we drove around Darjeeling for quite some time, yelling "SILIGURI" through the windows, to pick up more people. Needless to say, the journey was very uncomfortable, especially on those rocky, terrible things with holes they call roads. An 80ish km took 3 hours. But the view was as always fantastic.

In Siliguri we took a auto rickshaw to the airport in Bagdogra, where we flew to Guwahati in Assam, all the way on the other side of Bangladesh, before continuing to Delhi, again alongside the beautiful peaks of the Himalayas. It's so beautiful I wasn't sure whether the goosebumps were because of the AC or the view.

Back in Delhi we were supposed to take a prepaid taxi to the Railway Station (which is a 2 min walk to our hotel), but the car broke down in the middle of the motorway and we had to actually push it away from the motorway while trying to avoid getting hit by all the cars, mopeds and autos. After arguing with the driver for a while, we ended up taking an auto to the railway station.

Back at the hotel we just had time to take a well-needed shower before our Indian friends came to pick us up and took us out to a very modern and fancy restaurant where we stayed until late.

Tonight, our plan is to take a night train to Varanasi, so tomorrow we will wake up in Varanasi, and hopefully try some yoga.

By the way, I bought a beautiful, dark redish sari in Darjeeling. Now I'm looking for a tailor who can make the blouse for me. Today is Monday so most places are closed, but hopefully I'll find someone in Varanasi.

Oh and one more thing. In Darjeeling, one of the things we did was to go to the Happy Vally Tea Estate, as Darjeeling tea is quite famous in the world, and a personal favourite. After a tour inside the factory, we went to the little cafeteria where we were served the finest quality Darjeeling tea actually called, hang on to your hats now: Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pick 01 (picko one). A lovely old Nepali woman explained everything, and told us it could be done in only 5 seconds, and that's why she's known as the 5 second lady.. We sat there for quite some time and she told us how she had moved to Darjeeling from Nepal to get married when she was 13, and told us all about Nepal and even the old legends from there. Afterwards we wrote in the guest book, so if you ever go there you can read what we wrote on the 5th of Sep 2008.