Once landed it took quite some time to get through immigration. There was only one line for foreigners, but eventually it turned out that any other line would've been fine too. After immigration Raji was already waiting for me, together with her father. They took me to their car and back to their home.
After the Red Fort I was picked up by the driver of Raji's father, and brought to the Jantar Mantar, a magnificent complex in Delhi, which was meant as a way to study the heavens (it has astronomical properties, even though it looks quite confusing). The one in Delhi turned out to have an additional use by now: the park around it seemed to be a favourite meeting spot for lovers. I talked with the man who took care of the monuments and he mentioned about ten other departments that were involed in maintainance (the garden, the sewage system, the electricity system, et cetera). I asked whether it was good to have so many different departments, and he said: "It is good for the monuments". After the Jantar Mantar we went to TCS to pick up Raji, but the driver wasn't able to convince the security guard to fetch her, so it took some time before Raji arrived at the car. Then I had a wonderful dinner with puri.
During the trip my belly started to act up badly, which caused me to have
to run out of the bus (while it was standing still for some unknown reason
again) into the fields for a moment to recover myself, which ended reasonably
well. Now it is afternoon: In the morning we arrived in Rishikesh, where
I saw a beautiful hanging bridge, the sun rise over the Himalayas (even
though the bigger mountains aren't visible from here) and quite a few temples
and meditation places. Rishikesh is the place where the Beatles stayed
for quite some time with their guru. The guide was bribed (even though
the regulations of Panicker's, the organizers of the trip, say that this
shouldn't happen) to make sure we all went into a jewelry store, but I
didn't buy anything. The store sold stones that were linked to your sunsign,
which would result in good health, something that I might have needed at
the time. After Rishikesh we went to Haridwar, where I bathed in the Ganges
(at least partly) and had the pleasure to get two snakes around my neck
(one of which was a big python). Breakfast consisted of chowmein, which
made my belly settle down a bit, at least. In Haridwar I also went to a
temple on the top of a hill, which was accessible by ropeway. This temple
was professionally organized, with fences to guide you in the correct way.
The view from the temple was good, but the fences where in the way a lot.
Lunch I had with a few nuclear scientists from Rajasthan (where the nuclear
tests were done by India as well) and had roti, potatoes and curd. And
now I'm back and at Raji's birthday. The return trip went quite well, we
stopped at a roadside restaurant which had lots of signs saying things
like "DON'T WALK ON THE GRASS", "THINGS BROUGHT FROM HOME SHOULD BE EATEN
AT HOME", "DO NOT LOITERER PLEASE" (typo intended), "BUSES ONLY PARKING",
"TOILETS ->" and a very clean toilet. Only the level of understanding of
the waiters and the quality of the vegatable burger were disappointing.
I was dropped at the Hyatt hotel (which later turned out to be a place
where Raji's father had lunch quite often) where I was picked up. Before
being picked up I went to a bar, where I went to the toilet and ordered
a mango juice, but unfortunately they put ice in it, which makes me feel
quite insecure (it could be made of tapwater, which isn't really good for
weak bellied western people like me). I asked, and they confirmed my suspicious,
though I'm not sure whether they understood my question. So I asked them
for a version with no ice, and they took it away and returned later with
a glass without ice... So then you start to wonder... This is undoubtedly
how Indian people feel when they get something vegetarian in the Netherlands
and there is egg on it, and they then ask for a version without eggs and
it later returns... Was it a new dish, or did they just remove the eggs?
I gambled on a new mango juice. When I then went to a PCO place to call
Raji's father, it turned out that both Gurgoan and their mobile phone were
charged as local calls (Gurgoan is a city just outside of Delhi, where
Raji and her family live). I managed to reach Raji's father, and he confirmed
that he was coming and would be outside of the Hyatt hotel soon. I gave
Raji a present. The birthday celebrations themselves were rather short.
I later learned that while I was in Rishikesh and Haridwar, Gargi's bon and mother were also there. I didn't meet them, unfortunately.
Agra is a place that was designed for tourists, but it does contain beautiful
buildings. Agra Fort was quite nice, but the guide insistend that we followed
him, and he didn't want to get near to the moti masjid. I'm
currently waiting in the Hyatt hotel, cold and in a surrounding that I'm
not at all used to, feeling quite uncomfortable. Of course, during the
first trip to India I would've felt quite comfortable here, and less comfortable
outside, but things have changed. I'm pretty sure people know that I don't
belong inside this hotel. This place is quite similar to the plce where
I got the mango-juice with ice, but I hope to be able to leave soon. Outside
of the door of the Hyatt it is also interesting to look around: lots of
people that are being fetched or brought and a person whose only task seems
to be to open and close doors of cars and of the hotel. They get tipped
secretly and in large amounts (about the amount that would buy you a full
month of vegetables in Baharampore). In the bus I met K. Vijaya, who asked
me to call, which I didn't succeed in doing. He was impressed by the fact
that I had ordered an uttapam (mixed, this time, and too spicy for me,
eventually, but fortunately I also had soup) during the trip to Agra. He
ate curd rice himself. The wagon sickness of the bus trip is slowly disappearing
again. Agra Fort used to be protected quite well, with a dry moat with
tigers and lions, and a wet moat with crocodiles. Nowadays it is quite
easy to get in, if you have some rupees. The guide again took us to a shop,
which I'm sure payed him for this visit. They had lots of marble Taj Mahals
and woodwork. A strange place. The Hyatt hotel isn't as magnificent as
the one in Oman, but the service is good. The Taj Mahal is quite impressive,
but again there was too little time to see everything properly and the
weather was sticky (and raining sometimes). The masjid near the Taj Mahal
was quite fun and had a friendly (but still begging "as you like") priest
who showed me some nice tricks, though. The temple was the birthplace of
Shri Krishna and required a long walk on bare feet, which caused
them to get two pieces of glass in them (my western feet are quite soft).
In Agra you're continually followed by a huge crowd of so-called hawkers that try to sell you anything ranging from plastic cameras to film and T-shirts, postcards and other things that aren't at all interesting. Eventually I did buy a T-shirt, which turned out to have a very short life, but which was still quite useful. The price started at 250 Rs, and ended at 60 Rs, which was actually cheap for the location (usually they are sold for 100 Rs, even though Gargi-didi claims it would be 30 Rs in West-Bengal. But everything is cheaper there, and they don't HAVE Taj Mahal T-shirts). At Agra Fort I had a so-called "professional photographer" that took my picture everywhere. I eventually took all his developed and printed pictures, which were quite good.
I finally got the chance to eat at the McDonalds in Delhi. The coca cola and the french fries are the same, the ice in the coca cola is supposedly filtered and the vegetable burger has the same ingredients as the one at home, however, they have the option of adding cheese (you would've expected this option in the Netherlands, but it isn't there). The cheese is good, but for some reason the burger itself is not as well fried as in the Netherlands. Might be a fluke. There are many mobile phones here. The Palika Bazaar was a lot of fun: after roaming around for a long time and finding many wonderful shops I bought one shirt.
The reparation of my camera took two hours and it confirmed the statement in one of my books that Sikhs are quite good mechanics. I was brought to the store by Babu, one of the employees of Raji's father. He first wanted to take me on a scooter, but he had only one helmet, so we went by auto rickshaw.
After I returned to the office after I went to the Palika bazaar I was conned: a shoe-clearner had secretly put some dirt on my shoe, and then later charged me for cleaning it. I was quite taken aback by this, as I was never really tricked before in India. It is after all usually quite a safe country with regards to "crime". It wasn't that bad though, I only paid Rs. 15 too much eventually. It was just the crowd that formed that frightened me.
During the early morning I went to the station where I politely vomited
into a small bag that I had with me. Obviously my stomach didn't agree
with drinking (cold) water at 4:00 AM. Otherwise I felt quite ok, and the
breakfast during the train ride was good too. I arrived in Jaipur, where
I was approached by an auto rickshaw driver. After some negotiations I
was brought to the Amber Fort (the first thing to visit according to my
book) for Rs 100. Amber Fort is undoubtedly the most marvellous building
that I've visited during this entire trip. It has a 17th century part which
is well maintained, with beautiful Mughal like buildings (public audience
place, private audience place with mirrors and a hall of pleasures with
a garden which used to have lots of water) but the 16th century part is
the place that intrugues most: no guards, just a maze of corridors and
places that you can visit high above the desert. I met a person from
South Africa there, who was having a good time following all these corridors
as well. As usually I banged my head on some doorways (Indians are shorter
than me, both in the past and in the present). He talked to me about being
brought by the auto rickshaw driver to some weird place where they presumably
sold gems, where they asked him to bring some of these gems over the border.
He refused, because he knew smuggling gems was not a really good idea.
My rickshaw driver then took me to the City Palace, which was much less
fun than Amber Fort, even though it was quite well maintained (not too
difficult, for the price: foreigners have to pay about 25 times more than
Indian people) and being maintained. Most of the people there asked for
dutch coins. I didn't have any. Outside of the city palace was another
(bigger) Jantar Mantar, which I visited but didn't take any pictures of.
It was quite good, though, but I was hungry. The auto rickshaw driver eventually
found a quite nice chinese restaurant for me, where I had lunch, and then
I came back and brought me (even though I asked him not to) to a jewelry
place in some backstreet. There I was questioned about where I came from,
how I would go back et cetera, and asked whether I wanted to buy any gems.
No mentions of any smuggling, but that might be because I was first going
to Calcutta, which would be rather risky as I would travel by train. Rajasthan
is a wonderful place, where I certainly should return later.
On the way back I met a seller of suitcases (Aristocrat) who told me all about the way he travels through South India (by temples) and through Rajasthan (by forts). I discussed lots of Indian issues with him. He thinks that once the problem of illitaracy is solved, all other problems will be solved soon after. I was picked up from the train station by Raji's father's driver, who was anxious to get home and therefore drove me back to Raji's house with frightening speed. A sudden roadblock and the absence of any safeties in the car made it even more exciting.
Today the goodbye from Raji and her parents. Then I went to the Palika bazaar with Raji where I quickly bought a few silver elephants and called Gargi-didi about the new arrival time. Ate at Wimpy (where unfortunately they smoke) and went to the train station with a car. There the train was already standing and after a goodbye I left for Calcutta. I would've wanted to stay in Delhi longer (and see Turkglugabad, the National Museum, Humayun's tomb and many other fun places) but I'll save these for a later time. Because of Durga Puja there were very few train tickets available, and I was lucky to be able to get this one. I had quite a good time the short time I was in Delhi. I hope to be back soon, and can only hope to be welcomed in the same heart-warming manner again.
The trip went quite well, talking with people that didn't believe in the government anymore and thought that everyone could fend much better for themselves. behind a curtain to other Indians that had bribed the ticket inspector enjoyed quite an elaborate first class meal and special treatment. The air conditioning was quite cold, and I decided to put my towel into the vents in order to disable it. I was quite lucky to get the upper bed again, as I'm quite tall and the other beds would create problems with my feet sticking out into the corridor (where people pass continually).
The trip was done in the by now (for me) famous Radhjani express. The people I was with eventually claimed I was a Brahmin in my previous life, but they based this solely in some habits (eating mostly vegetarian food, not smoking, not drinking) that I had. I doubt they'd still say so if they knew me better.
After quite some time I succeeded in calling my parents.
Today it is more sunny than yesterday. We're preparing ourselves for the big trip that will start tomorrow. We went to the rock garden which is quite beautiful with a large waterfall and beautiful flowers (which are growing elsewhere as well). It's a bit touristic though. Of course I went to Keventer's again, where I had another cheese omelet with bread. However, they got slightly worse this time, as there were no onions in the omelet. We also collected information about trekking at the tourist office and at the youth hostel. Contrary to my lonely planet book the tourist office has now more information than the youth hostel. After all this we went to the peace pagoda, another place that we hadn't visited last time, which also has a buddhist temple with it.
At the temple there were lots of signs that said "observe silence please". This is undoubtedly the last thing that we did. When we entered the main prayer hall there were two people playing drums (six beats followed by a faster short beat and repeat). One of them pointed to a wierd looking plate behind him, which also had a stick next to it. Eventually I explored it and it turned out to be a painted drum as well. After some counting I finally managed to start drumming. Gargi-didi started drumming soon after me. One of the people left the room after some time and then I was lost in the rhythm. It was surprising how difficult it was: there were two possible ways of approach: counting strictly or using your feelings. I preferred counting at first, but soon discovered that even this was hard: the moment you thought about something else you'd miss the seventh beat, which was quite a sneaky thing, or you'd sound it one beat to early, which was even worse. Doing it on feeling was easier, but also here it was the case that the moment you thought about something else you'd miss the seventh beat. So the moment you managed to sound the drum right it was obvious that you were unable to think about anything else. It's quite a natural way to empty your mind of all thoughts. Of course, once you have no thoughts left also the passing of time is lost, so after an undefined period of time I moved too much for a moment and noticed that my leg was sleeping. This caused me to miss a beat and I retreated for a moment, surprisedly seeing that the sky had gone completely dark and that Gargi-didi was still drumming. That's when I updated my diary and read the papers on the wall (a plea against land mines, against the USA and against the occupation of Tibet). I tried to attract Gargi-didi's attention, but it seemed she was in a similar trance herself. Finally she stopped, and then I discovered that she wasn't in a trance at all, but that she had been competing with the other person that was drumming: they were trying to see who would maintain the rhythm the longest. Not something I would do.
The men playing the drums made it slightly more difficult for themselves, as they also prayed a mantra while they were drumming. The mantra was NA MU MYO HO REN GE KYO. At first I was just looking at this, but then suddenly I realised it was quite familiar to me. I checked my notebook and yes, there it was: the first page, the trip to Seattle, mentioned Nancy from the game shop where I bought my Star Trek cards to say that NAM (devotion) MYO HO (mysitc law) RENGE (cause and effect) KYO (Sutras teaching of Buddah) was the way Tina Turner stayed young. She was still quite young for her age too. From the size of my notebook I already realised that this would be the last trip I'd describe in it, so it was quite amazing to see this loop. Pure coincidence, of course.
The peace pagoda itself is quite new and beautiful, with many golden coloured plates that explain the life of Buddha. Gargi-didi complained, however, that these plates weren't in the correct order. We ate at a Texan/Mexican restaurant, but the food tasted Indian as usual. The place claimed an exclusive atmosphere. This was undoubtedly correct, I doubt any place had such a unique atmosphere. I doubt I'll visit it again. Dinner we had at a bakery (Glanary's) where they had pizza and lots of useful food that we took with us for the trekking trip. We also shopped for tea and sugar and chocolates and fruits for during this trip. We also bought some packaged soup.
Today the trekking trip starts. It went quite well. We arrived in Mana
Bhanyang by bus from Darjeeling, and left it immediately afterwards (at
9:00 AM). We climbed up to Meghma, first steeply and then less steeply,
but still up all the way, where we had tea. During this part it rained
for a short while as well, which caused quite a few of my clothes to become
wet, and Gargi-didi to feel less comfortable, but the trekking hut at Tonglu
had ample opportunity to dry things. It wasn't supposed to rain in the
second half of october, but I guess it was just a fluke. Dinner was rice
with potatoes and dal. The night went quite well too: we had one
of the bigger dormitories all for ourselves. There were some annoying people
from Calcutta, but they didn't bother us. On the trip up Gargi-didi also
found some quite interesting fruits, which she took with her. We also saw
some purple flowers
Meghma is in Nepal, but the difference isn't easy to see. Both the jeep track and the short cuts are quite well paved and maintained. We'll see how the next stage of the trip goes. The part to Tonglu from Meghma is steep up again, and it got dark during this part. The signs towards the trekkers hut are quite elusive, but eventually you'll get there.
From Tonglu to Jaibauri was quite a good trip, downhill and easy. We passed the entrance of the national park, where we had to register and pay the entrance fee, and we had tea in Jaibauri, which is in Nepal as well (this time with a border post, but noone stopped us). From Jaibauri to Gairibas there was a mudslide that had removed the road, which made it slightly difficult to progress, but we managed. From Gairibas the more horrible part started, as the trip to Kali Pokhri went straight up. It took quite some time, but we reached a tea house after we climbed it all. From the tea house the road split, and we asked which way to go, and they recommended taking the uphill road. So we did, and we went uphill and downhill and uphill and downhill and uphill, which it slowly got darker and darker. Fortunately we had already seen some houses in the distance, so we knew there was some place to go at least, but it took until 19:00 until we reached there. The moon was shining brightly in the night (Laxmi puja was clearly on its way). We were warmly received at one of the private lodges and met the English woman that we had already met in Tonglu as well, and were also told that the people from Calcutta had also arrived, but were in a different place. We turned out to be lucky: there had been a lot of rain, but it had been in front of us, so we hadn't had any problems with that. We had felt some wetness, but not that much. We had a nice dinner of noodles and noodlesoup.
This morning it is raining heavily, which makes it rather difficult to
progress. I decided to wait until it would clear at least a little bit.
The English woman was already entirely wet from the day before, and is
now looking for a jeep to take her up to Sandakphu. She is unable to find
one, though. Fortunately the rain lessened at some point, so we could at
least make the trip to Bhikey Bhanjang, where we had tea. There the rain
increased and reduced again, so then we could start our climb up. It was
quite steep (no sweet without sweat was written on the wall) but we managed
it quite quickly and had plenty of time to look around once up there. Unfortunately
there were lots of clouds and the mountains were covered with clouds as
well, so the view wasn't as good as was promised from most of the books.
Gargi-didi called her bon and I called Raji, which I hadn't been able to
do sooner because of the fact that I didn't know how to call a Gurgoan
number from outside of Delhi, and because I never had the mobile number
with me. This time at least the mobile number worked. Calling from a mountain
of 3636 meters high is quite expeinsve, though. We checked into another
private lodge, which was quite good but not very warm. But it was -2 degrees
Celcius to begin with. We had good warm food, though.
Tibetan bread can fill your stomach quite well. The sunrise was quite good, but there were too many clouds to see the mountains well. After this delicious bread we went down to Bhikey Bhanjang, because I wasn't planning to continue to Phalut. The English woman and the Calcuttan boys went to Phalut, though. At Bhikey Bhanjang I drank tea and Gargi-didi talked with the people there. From there there were two possibilities of returning to Darjeeling: the same route, or going to Rimbik, from where there is a bus as well. The lonely planet recommends the latter option, and describes the trip as follows:
Stage 3: Sandakphu to Rimbik
(Average walking time six hours)
From Sandakphu return along the trail down to Bikhay Bhanjang. From here follow the main trail as if returning to Kali Pokhari for one to 1.5 km. At this point, diverge from the main trail and head for a small hill with prayer flags on the summit before commencing your descent to Rimbik (2280m). The trail through rhododendron and coniferous forests is steep and muddy in places, and prone to leeches in the pre and post-monsoon period.
Based on this description, the fact that it was raining, the fact that another resource said that "there was no water on this trip" and the sign outside the tea house that said that there were no hotels or restaurants on the trip either, and the fact that all the other trips we did all took twice the amount of time that was stated for it (meaning this trip would take 12 hours according to the lonely planet) and the fact that the tourist office had recommended returning by the same track I argued we should do this, but Gargi-didi preferred the concept of a road that would "only go down" (according to the people at the house) and the fact that she didn't have to pass the mudslide at Gairibas -> Jaibauri again. I was quite confident that I myself would make it (we had enough food and water with us), so when Gargi-didi opted for Rimbik I went along. We left Sandakphu at 8:00 AM, left Bhikay Bhanjang (3000m) at 10:00 AM and reached the "small hill with prayer flags" at 11:00 AM. This had been the only uphill part, according to the people. There we met two local villagers that came from a trail leading down from the hill, and we confirmed that the track indeed went to Rimbik before following it. The track was quite well maintained at first, but later turned out to be washed away in places. However, it did go down all the time. I checked the location of Rimbik on the map, verified the direction with my compass to be able to check at least the general direction we were going in, and we set off. First is swirled down rather rapidly, until we reached a valley between two mountains. There the road split into three directions, and while making a decision on which road to take I saw two wonderful unknown big creatures behind us: a cross between a red panda and a snow leopard. I still haven't figured out what they were, but I've been told they might've been mongooses (or is it mongeese?). Eventually I decided on the road that went into the direction of the compass that didn't go up or down, but around the other mountain, and it seemed to be the right choice, as it kept going into the direction of Rimbik on the compass. Apart from the creatures we saw nothing else, and the rain kept falling down. The road got wetter and wetter and at certain places consisted of very slipperly light brown mud. After the second mountain we passed a third and went across the tops of the fourth and fifth. From there it went down steeply, until we were quite tired and I started saying "the road goes on and on and on from the door where it has begun" and Gargi-didi started singing a Bengali song whose first words were "how far..." (kothai dur). It was about 16:00 and we hadn't seen any human being and the compass was the only thing that assured us that we were at least walking in the correct direction generally. After 30 minutes of climbing down along short cuts we reached a black lake with gold fish in it. It was quite pretty (as was most of the forest and this trip) but the rain and the fact that we had only 30 minutes of light left spoiled it. There was a sign saying K* 8500FT but I refused to believe that this indicated the height in feet, because this would mean we still had to go down about 600 meters and had done only 200 meters so far. The road continued along the hill and had occasional parts that went down sharply. The short cuts had turned into small water falls of water over the slipperly brown mud, and the rain started seeping into my rain coat and back pack.
At 17:10 we saw some cows at the side of the road. First we let them stand there and followed the main road, but when this road moved away from the generally accepted direction, we returned and moved along the path next to the cows, hoping they were domesticated and would be close to a village. At 18:00 we realised this was not the case. We had ended up on a jeep track that very slowly waved down, passing two rivers at each turn. The forest was still there and it was dark. With the flash light on it was obvious that the jeep track was never used anymore: no tracks from horses, no tracks from people's feet and certainly no cars passed recently: small trees were growing in the middle, and the grass was high. All this wasn't promising at all. However, across one of the rivers there were VERY sturdy wooden bridges, which told us that the road should at least lead somewhere. But of course, jeeps can travel a long way without needing anything, and we were quite tired. The other river, unfortunately, had no bridge at all, and succeeded quite well in making our feet and shoes completely soaked. The road made another twist. For some reason the flash light made seing the twists more difficult, when the flash light was off you could see some lighter shade in the forest: this was the road, and you could follow it more easily. However, with the flash light off it was impossible to see what was lying on the road, which could be these wonderful fruits we found earlier. These were not so wonderful in the dark: you could trip easily on them.
And the road twisted and looked the same. The water made your feet wet again.
And the road twisted and looked the same. The fruits made you stumble again.
And the road twisted and looked the same. The water made your feet wet again.
And the road twisted and looked the same. There was a stairway on the left side, going down... Probably another short cut. Would you go in the dark?
And the road twisted and looked the same. There was the stairway on the right side.
And the road twisted and looked the same. The shortcut continued with a brown waterfall of water. Gargi-didi fails to remain standing and falls down, her ankle twisted. After getting up quite wetly, she steps into a thorn.
And the road twisted and looked the same, if you could still see it. The flash light scared moths, which scared us, and the shades of the ferns and other plants moved with your movement. Did something move there? Where will we sleep? We can't continue like this much further. Stopping is useless: it will only make you wet. Can you make a tent from a back pack and a raincoat that will keep all the water out? Will it ever stop raining? No... The rain is obviously increasing in strength.
And the road twisted and looked the same. Well... The same... Not really... Is that a light there?
And the road twisted, and yes, it was a light. Not a car, fortunately, but a steady light in the dark.
And so, at 19:10, almost 12 hours after leaving Sandakphu we reached a light. It turned out to be a house filled with two scared girls, that would never think of leaving such a scary white guy as me inside. But Gargi-didi could rest, after a second fall while walking to the house. I went to the next one, the guard house, where I was first directed towards the lodge `only 15 minutes further down', but after seeing Gargi-didi the guard allowed us to stay at his place.
There we ate rice with potatoes, and I drank unfiltered water, which made my stomach upset in a matter of minutes, but I didn't really care. I was so relieved after this Hans and Getzel adventure in the forest... Then we watched the news on television, where they told about a tornado that had struck Orissa, which was causing all the rain to fall in West-Bengal. So that was why we never saw the mointains, and this trip was so wet... And then I looked at my left hand, and it was covered with blood.
The guard gave me a bowl of salted water, and I put my hand in it. After it had been cleaned I put jodium on it, and a plaster, and looked at it with the flash light. It turned out there was a small black creature on it as well, which was properly identified as a leech. So the lonely planet was quite accurate, after all. Sleeping went quite well.
Yes, the place where we had arrived was Rimbik. When I woke up my stomach
was still upset, but fortunately we had taken the soup, and this could
keep it calmed down. It was said that the trip to the bus stop took about
30 minutes, so we set off with good spirits, even though it still rained.
But Gargi-didi had a blister that prevented her to wear shoes, and her
sandals weren't good for walking, and mine were too big. So progress was
slow, and the rain got worse. Along the way more and more people claimed
that it was further than expected (1 hour walk, you'll never catch the
bus) so we didn't get much encouragement. In area Rimbik turned out to
be quite a big place, built against a hill. There ere sufficient short
cuts, but whether these made the journey faster was unclear. We eventually
reached, at 13:00, long after the last bus had left, the place where the
bus would leave. There were two hotels, and I decided to check into the
one that had encouraged us to go down from the beginning (it had "HOTEL
SHERPA" written on the roof, well visible, even through the rain, from
quite high). There they were able to wash and dry our clothes, and they
had a nice menu with even momos on it. So we enjoyed good food and
a pleasant time.
Today it is Nepali new year. They could've told us this yesterday, maybe we would've hurried more for the bus, but on Nepali new year there are no buses. But it isn't that problematic: we were in for a well-deserved rest anyway. And the hotel Sherpa is quite a good place to be. The sun started shining, some people are considering returning to Sandakphu, but not us. Well, we mentioned it, but it was of course just joking. I bought some nice notebooks, meant for children. Tomorrow we'll try and take the bus of 5:45 AM. We have had most dishes on the menu by now, some of them are rather strange. There is a balcony full of corn, but the "corn stew" remains unavailable.
While we were resting one by one our friends arrived: the English woman, that had never made Phalut but had come back via Molley, and had been very troubled by the rain, and was all wet, wetter than we had been when we arrived, even. Also some people that planned to go up arrived, including a Swiss party. The hotel turned out to be half-owned by a Swiss guy that organized trips. His plans had also been upset by the weather.
Today we went to the ropeway at the other end of Darjeeling, which Gargi-didi didn't want to take at first, it really seems she has a fear of heights. It turned out that the temperature after the 3km trip down was quite high, and there were only touristic spots down there (like in Mirik), so after drinking some Coca Cola and banging my head on a overhead gutter we went back up again. It was surprising but we were the only two people that went up, and there was also a group of four people. Since each cabin was meant for six people we were allowed to skip the line and join these four people each time. Amazing. I also went to the Happy Valley Tea Estate, but unfortunately it was closed. It was quite beautiful to watch anyway. We also did some shopping for nice things (tea for example) and got information on the bus to Kalimpong. This bus supposedly leaves at 8:00 AM. I tried to tell the people at the hotel this, but they didn't understand, so they called their manager, and got me on the phone too, so I explained things. It was fun. We checked out at 7:00 AM the following morning.
It turned out that the bus to Kalimpong left at 7:00 AM, but it had a delay, so we managed to catch it at 7:15 AM at which time it immediately left. The jeep people had told 8:00 AM, so that we would miss it and we would've been forced to take a jeep. Gargi-didi was quite happy that finanlly some of my plans and queries went wrong. In Kalimpong it was quite difficult to find a hotel. We saw the wonderful Silver oaks, which was more expensive than a hotel in the Netherlands, and the Himalayan hotel (which doorway already looked so expensive that I didn't dare to ask) but eventually we managed to get a good room at Gompu's (according to the lonely planet this is actually the best hotel too, but I didn't have this book ready at the time, only the lonely planet with regards to trekking). Then we ate (Chinese) and walked to the various monestaries that were around. We saw their outsides, but not their insides, as it was Laxmi puja and as this was a national holiday also the monestaries were closed. This was odd, because you wouldn't expect Buddhist to care about a Hindu festival, but still... The monks were playing cricket outside, it was hot, and we had walked enough for one day. The moon didn't look entirely full. For dinner we found a place called "snacketeria" where they had lots of nice dishes, including uttapams. We also arranged a bus to Kaffer, which supposedly had a nice view of the mountains and was a nice place in general.
The bus to Kaffer was a private one, which means that they let anyone in
that asked for it. It first went to Lava (another nice spot according to
the tourist office, but it stopped there for only 10 minutes, so we didn't
see much of it). Then we went to Kaffer, where according to the tourist
office there were no rooms available. We checked, and indeed it turned
out that all tourist lodges were full. We then went to the private lodges,
and they directed us to one single room that just was freed. It was a private
room belonging to a house, but it was adequate, better than taking the
bus back immediately, because this bus was already booked full. The room
was Rs 200, expensive, but not really if you consider the fact that we
had to sleep outside if we didn't take it. It actually rained that night
too. We had a small meal (chowmein) and then walked up the mountain to
the viewpoint. Of course, once we reached it the clouds had obscured the
mountains. During the sun set we visited the garden, which was nice, and
did actually see some of the orange mountains. There is very little electricity
in the village. Most light comes from kerosine lights, which have a rather
odd smell.
For dinner we were asked to eat at the place of the people that we stayed with. Gargi-didi had already seen that the husband had been gambling, and during our meal he was smoking and drinking. He had six daughters and one son, because he wanted a son and kept only getting daughters at first. He said the same series of questions three times before falling asleep. I sang "Ik ben de blauwbilgorgel" for them. I hope I got most of the words right, but I doubt they'd care if I didn't.
The next day we hired a taxi and went to see Gaur, an old capital of Bengal. We saw the following things: