Darjeeling - Queen of the hills!

Ok well its been a long time between drinks and am now in the holy city of Varanasi (more about this place in the upcoming blogs). I'll try to 'backlog' some of the great adventures i've been having starting with Darjeeling..

After the crazy holi festival in Sanitiketan it was with relief that i jumped on a night sleeper train to Siliguri in the north. The 2nd class sleeper is pretty basic and after performing some acrobatic/yoga feats i was able to get into the upper bunk (there is 3) and had a great sleep as the train speed through the night..

From Siliguri it was straight into a jeep for the hills of darjeeling..The jeep sounds very 'Indiana Jones' but is a very cramped form of transport (and cheap) for getting around the place. Though at one stage we took a detour from the windy mountain road via some steep track that had my fellow indian passengers praying!

Anyway arrived in Darjeeling some 4 hours later and it was freezing! About 8 deg...brrrr!
Meet a great english guy living in NZ..(hi Richard) and we managed to find the hotel aliment after a short scenic detour. Have to say here that Darjeeling is built on the side of a mountain (literally) and is a great place to train for treks as u are constantly climbing up and down..

Aliment is a great place run by a nepalese family that has a restaurant and rooftop mountain view area..see pic...Meet some great people there...Most amusing were my fellow dorm mates form chech republic who were cornflake addicts - cornflakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner - i kid u not! And were talking about a place where most meals are 0.50 cents to $2...!!

Anyway highlights of Darjeeling:

• Gleanary's bakery - chocolate donoughts to die for.
• Tea plantations.
• The himalyan mountaneering institute.
• The tibetan self-help centre.
• The darjeeling toy train - cute.One of the highest narrow gauge railways in the world. Hitched a ride on puffing billy that kept needing to have 'rest stops'.

Actually it was a bit like going out of india - no touts, no diarrhea, not so much beeping and fresh mountain air.

Next the Singralia ridge trek...

Santinketan - Happy Holi!

A couple of hours north by bus, Santinketan is this normally peaceful little university town. Its where the famous Indian poet Rabindrath Tagore lived and wrote many of his works. The university is a collection of buildings from the Rag (British India) era.

Once a year the town plays host to the Holi festival (a national public holiday)and half of Kolkata descends upon the town. Santi actually means peaceful but on this weekend the town goes off - Indian style. For a start I hadn't booked any accom so rocked up late in the arvo (after a day of bumping around in Buses) only to find all places booked...Oops. But thanks to the incredibly patient cycle rickshaw dude who cycled me all over town I managed to score the last room in town. Phew...

The festival was great and featured classical Indian dance and music. A cultural highlight. I had some camera battery issues (Indian batteries are cheap and dodgy) so only got to take some pics of the aftermath - red, yellow, green and orange tikka powder is used to 'decorate' faces and hair both of unwilling and willing participants followed by a 'happy holi' blessing. Gets very interesting and messy as is the only time I've seen Indians drinking beer (wobbly pops)!

Another rickshaw dude talked me in to coming on a tour of the town. Wow what a tour. We followed the stream of bikes, cars and trucks to a ethnic market in this little forest out of town. What a mind spin as well as traditional jewelry and clothes there were buskas and singers performing (check out the pick) all in the middle of the forest! Only in India of course.

Bishnpur - town of bicycles!

After surviving my indian train experience it was a great relief to reach this peaceful little town northwest of Kolkata. And the best thing is bicycles rule in this place! Pretty much everyone is out on their bike (check out the bicycle school bus pic, kinda cruel looking but practical). Instead of blaring horns (the indian equivalent of indicators) I was greeted with the sound of ringing bells. My first cycle rickshaw ride was a bit nervy at first but I relaxed as the dude easily negotiated the bumpy roads and other traffic to take me to the tourist lodge.

Bishnpur is also home to some great 16th centurary terracotta temples and forts. Being the tourist I did the touristy thing and jumped aborad my trusty cycle rickshaw to do the temple tour. It turned out to be a really chilled out afternoon and the temples were fascinating.

Bisnpur is also home to Ujjad and his 'Bake Club' shop. I meet these guys while doing the temple circuit. I spent a bit of time hanging out with Ujjad and his friends at the 'Bake Club' eating cakes and talking about what else but cricket. Indians worship their cricket. The one day test with Australia and South Africa just happened to be on so this became the topic of many a converstation. Must say just from their enthusiasim I'm keen to watch more cricket!

They also took me on a bit of tour of the town and i got to ride one of their bikes - the 'hero'. These bikes, are heavy but solid and are the best cruising wheels. They've got big flared handle bars, single speed and springy seats! I'm going to try and bring one back to Aus. They rock.

Bishnpur was a great diversion of the beaten path and totally worth it.

Leaving Kolkata

So with my ticket in my hot hand to Berhampore which is a town near Murshidad. I set off to catch the 9pm train. Unfortuantely, I didn't check the ferry times and missed the last ferry across the Hooghley. Time 8pm. No problem I thought I'll just catch a taxi to the Howrah train station. Big problem: massive gridlock like i've never seen. Buses, motorcyles, taxis, trucks, pedestrians, cyclists all in one big noisey, smokey heaving mass of metal. Eeeck! I managed to communicate in broken hindi and sign lanuage that i had a train to catch at 9. To his credit the driver got me to the station at 8:57. But Howrah is no ordinary station. There is over 20 platforms between a new building and a old building which both look old and worn out to me. Well, no surpriseI missed my train but hey managed to negotiate the infamous indian ticket counter queues and get a refund! Great system - u can stuff up and miss your train and they give u a refund. One of the many highs of india.

I rebooked my ticket for the next morning and stayed in this hotel that could have passed for the Adams family's place just near the train station. Quite an experience (sleepless).

Ok so all is good and i'm on the train the next morning enjoying the passing scenery of indian rural village life - rice paddies, cows ploughing the fields, mud brick houses. Then after talking to a friendly local I realise im on the train to Berhampur not Berhampore! Berhampur is 600ks south east of Kolkata and i want to be heading north! For a minute i panicked then realised i can get out in a couple of stops and go to bishnpur which is a chilled little town with these amazing 16th centruary terra-cotta temples. So plan B then.

In Hindsight, I was so glad that i missed my original overnight train as i would have woken up 600ks in the wrong direction! Lesson learnt. Kinda funny though..

Kolkata - City of Joy ##@@@?

Yes I actually saw that slightly over optimistic statement on a power pole the other day...Maybe that's Indian sense of humor as I can't say i've seen a lot of people skipping and singing through the streets. What i have seen is extreme poverty in the middle of extreme wealth. It's really confronting at times. Anyway on a more positive note the locals do seem to love aussies (and more importantly our cricket team)..Another slogan i love is ''A clean city has clean walls" - even if the footpaths at times resemble a off track bushwalk with all the craters ready to swallow ignorant foreigners up and uneven surfaces. Then their is the clouds of affixiating black smoke from the vintage buses and trucks not to mention the open air urinals but hey at least the walls are clean!

So yeah have already been king hit with my first case of 'Dehli Belly'...Think it was some dodgy chicken. Lesson learnt and pleased to say after spending a whole day pretty much in bed feeling quite pathetic have bounced back with renewed enthusiasm to once again tackle this parallel universe that is India. My savior - Coldial Silver liquid and has been around for ages and is available in health food shops - awesome stuff!

Tonight I'm catching the overnight sleeper to Murshidabad which is a 18th century northern town on the banks of the Bhagriathi river. This used to be the main trading port before Kolkata was established..Sounds like a really fascinating place and my room has water views for the lavish amount of $10. Have been paying half that for my room in Kolkata which even though it is in one of the most crowded parts of town has views of a tree! Well it may not sound like much but I was impressed.

A quick word on the Varanasi bombs that killed 14. Yeah scary stuff as is only a couple of hundred ks from here and is on my itinerary. By all reports life is going on and those responsible are being caught. I guess we just have to live with this stuff now and if your time is up its up...

Will hope to upload some photos soon...Thanks for reading..

Namaste!

Oh Kolkata!

So here i am finally in India..and loving it! Sure there is in your face povety but after months of reading and preparing, i was expecting a lot worse. Call me hearltess but i find the 'talk to the hand method' works pretty well for those persistent touts/beggers. I guess when in Rome....

India really started on the flight from bangkok. Meet some hare-krishnas on their way to just north of here for pilgrimage. After chatting to one of them I was offered a 'place' in the taxi to come and join them.Thanks but no thanks..Though i do love their food and chanting... Also on the flight 98% of my fellow plane travellers were indian. First time i've been on plane when people were getting up for a walk seconds before landing and seconds after landing people were getting out of their seats to open the lockers! One couldn't but help feel sorry for the poor thai hosties trying to restore some order.

I just love arriving into a new place late at night and Kolkata was no exception. I was meet by two guys from the hostel who ushered me into their white 30 year old 'ambassador' (looks like a big brother of the morris minor). All the taxis here are yellow ambassadors and I keep expecting to see Noddy and Big ears driving by. The ride to the hotel through the surprisingly empty streets (empty of people that is but hundreds of dogs) was eye opening and reminded me of being in mad max set. On the way i saw my first dead body, cruised passed a bollywood dance party and negotiated a herd of goats..Only in India i guess...stay tuned..