Tea Town

Wednesday 26 January – Saturday 29 January 2000

After two days of relaxation, we were back on the road again, this time heading to Patna (again by train) where we were due to make an overnight connection to Siliguri, near Darjeeling.  Pippa was always keen to hook up with her roots and hill stations created and used by the British during colonial times had become one of her personal favorites.  Not to mention, of course, the thought of a good cup of proper tea. 

The overnight train to Darjeeling was bearable, but far from comfortable.  We had bunks on which to sleep but rather than a compartment with a lockable door (we should be so lucky), there was simply a curtain separating the four inhabitants of our 'cabin' from anyone and everyone who chose to walk through the main carriage, pushing the curtain aside and staring in as they did so.  We had been warned about bags disappearing and so took major precautions to chain everything to the bunk using all the padlocks we had.  Our money and passports were secured on our person.  In fact, everything was grounded … except for our boots.  The next morning, Eric was shoeless.  Luckily, he had a pair of open-toed sandals which, given the cold weather, had not seen much use since our arrival in India. 

From Siligiri, we travelled by jeep up the winding hillside to Darjeeling.  Once we were out of town, we were in green, open countryside and began the uphill climb, passing several tea plantations as the climate began to grow steadily colder and a thick mist began to settle around us.  Parallel to the road, tiny railway tracks ran, occasionally crossing the road.  They looked as if they had been made for a mini-sized train and indeed there were the tracks for the toy train, which for generations has been making the steep ascent into the mountains from the plains, often washed out by monsoon rains and out of service but now a major tourist attraction.

When the British arrived in Darjeeling it was almost completely forested and virtually uninhabited.  It was first established as an R&R centre for their troops, but soon people made the journey to escape the heat and humidity down on the plain.  Nowadays, it was a busy town and people from all over the eastern Himalaya came there to work or trade in addition to the many Tibetan refugees who arrived in search of a new life.  Darjeeling’s most famous export is tea and it produces almost a quarter of all India’s production, employing some 40,000 people.

Our visit to Darjeeling was out of season but despite this, the place was buzzing with activity.  We had come simply to relax for a few days and although we knew it would be cold, little did we know we would be taking hot water bottles to bed with us and in need of thermal underwear!  Our hotel, the Grande Dame of Darjeeling, would probably have been an exquisite place to stay during the summer when you could sit out in the pleasant garden and enjoy a decent cup of tea, but at this time of year it was freezing and we sat in our room huddled around an electric fire watching our breath condense.   

The highlight, however, was the stunning views we were afforded of the Himalaya range on top of Observatory Hill, a viewpoint sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists.  Watching the sunrise over these snowy peaks was breathtaking and we began to appreciate the love that climbers feel for these majestic peaks.  We could see Mount Everest way in the distance as well as the closer Mount Kanchenjung, the world’s third highest mountain.

Whilst in Darjeeling, we faced the decision as to where we would head next.  We had three weeks remaining before we needed to be back in Bangkok to take our flight home and had yet to even touch the southern part of this incredible country.  We realised that time would be tight even if we were to fly, using an internal air pass that could parachute us in to the key cities we wanted to explore.  But this wouldn’t give us time to spend much time on the ground and do justice to these extraordinary places.  In addition, we were beginning to tire of arduous travel and Pippa especially was finding it difficult to keep up with our aggressive pace in between heavy bouts of morning sickness. 

And so we took the decision to return home early, leaving southern India for another time.  We would be sad to leave, but knew we would be back again one day to see what we had left behind.  We booked tickets to Calcutta, giving ourselves two days to see the sights there before heading back to Bangkok on the final leg home.

Calcutta

Sunday 30 January - Monday 31 January 2000

Unlike Delhi, Calcutta is a relatively recent creation, dating back a mere 300 years to the times of the British.  Now it was more famous for its slums and squalor than any monuments and like many Indian cities is chaotic and run down.

Our tour of Calcutta took us to the Indian Museum, housed in an impressive colonial building with a beautiful façade as well as the Victoria Memorial with its Calcutta Gallery, but there were many, many more sights on offer throughout this bustling city.  We then motivated ourselves to visit the Victoria Memorial, a huge white marble museum which houses a grand collection of memorabilia from the days of the British Empire.  

It was an interesting place to wander, amid the hoards of locals, but after so many temples, monuments and museums we had seen on our trip across Asia so far, we were travel-weary and found our thoughts turning more and more to home.  In just a few days, there we were, relishing 50 cm (18 inches) of snow in the backyard and thrilled to death to have all the comforts we'd missed for nearly half a year.  

After a month's recovery and preparation, our next trip would be to Oceania...