So the first rule of travel in india is to be flexible! The last 2 days have been crazy but we are now sitting in a bar in gangtok while neil and some men sing karaoke. Completely surreal!
We left Sarenga at 6 on Sunday morning and drove for an hour and a half to the station. We were driven by Surijit who has the only car in Bankura district with seatbelts. We waited in this rural station getting strange looks and getting even more hot. When the train came it was incredible to walk into an air conditioned carriage. In indian trains different men come round and sell everything that you could possibly need. Neil and I bought some books for our journey and our long awaited jhall mori (it was well worth the hype). Once in Howrah station we were met with a wall of heat. We walked to the launch and got the boat across the river. While we waited the boys playing in the river chatted to us and asked for "one photo please" (this reminded me of the children in Likhubula). Once over we headed to the beautiful victoria memorial park. This is a green haven in the middle of Kolkatta. Modern thinking young people come here on dates. That is right: unmarried men and women can actually hand hold or if particularly keen hide behind a bush or umbrella and kiss! This was a shock for us as men and women barely talk in the villages. Also inthe park we met some austrian and german medical students and an adorable family who lived in Howrah invited us for dinner. We had our photo taken with so many people, it was like we are celebrities!
We walked to a nice part of the city to get something to eat. Pretty early in our search we found a pizza hut and the need to not have rice overcame us and we succumbed. No regrets! We had a good meal in a place with ac and a working toilet. After that we got a taxi to Sealdah station. Neil describes this as "hell on earth" and "reminiscent of a refugee camp". While waiting for our train we sat on newspapers and became friends with Sardeep Hussain who was coming on our train too. He is a lawyer we was overjoyed to meet some foreigners. The train to NJP station was lovely but we spent the whole time asleep. When we arrived, our friend Sardeep helped us to a taxi to the place buses go from. We were all set to go to Darjeeling when our taxi driver said that we would be able to get there but the hotels and shops would be closed and we should go to Gangtok instead. He convinced us and we got on a jeep going to Gangtok. This jeep did not till it was full. Full meant 11 people including the driver? To give you the picture, this was the size of jeep which in Britain would take 2 children to school.
Sitting in the back, we befriended the 2 men with us. One was Samik, the Che Guevara of the hills. He is an artist in Goa but is from Kalimpong. He is setting up an animal sanctuary in goa and is involved saving street children in the towns and taking them to Darjeeling. He was such an interesti8ng man who was very politically minded. Apparently "india is a paradox". Our other back seat friend (who I can't remember the name of but he bore an uncanny resemblance to Richard Hammond; if Richard hammond was indian!) was an engineer from Bihar. I spent some time talking with him about his relationship woes. "Women here are only interested in you for your money!"
The drive was rickety and very hot. We climbed further and further up into the mountains, it getting cooler with the altitude. When we reached the border to Sikkim, as state to the north of west bengal, we had to deal with Indian bureaucracy. We needed a permit to enter the state. This required a passport photo, which of course we did not have. We had to pay the man half the cost of our jeep travel to photocopy our pictures, all the while holding up our fellow travelers.
Eventually we reached Gangtok, a mountain town in the beautiful, green Sikkim. It is so clean here. There is even a pedestrian precinct in the main shopping street. Our hotel is wonderfully clean and the man at reception is lovely. We are hoping for a pleasant few days in the cool of the Himalayas. We have been overcome by the friendliness of the Bengali people. So far, so good.
J x
We left Sarenga at 6 on Sunday morning and drove for an hour and a half to the station. We were driven by Surijit who has the only car in Bankura district with seatbelts. We waited in this rural station getting strange looks and getting even more hot. When the train came it was incredible to walk into an air conditioned carriage. In indian trains different men come round and sell everything that you could possibly need. Neil and I bought some books for our journey and our long awaited jhall mori (it was well worth the hype). Once in Howrah station we were met with a wall of heat. We walked to the launch and got the boat across the river. While we waited the boys playing in the river chatted to us and asked for "one photo please" (this reminded me of the children in Likhubula). Once over we headed to the beautiful victoria memorial park. This is a green haven in the middle of Kolkatta. Modern thinking young people come here on dates. That is right: unmarried men and women can actually hand hold or if particularly keen hide behind a bush or umbrella and kiss! This was a shock for us as men and women barely talk in the villages. Also inthe park we met some austrian and german medical students and an adorable family who lived in Howrah invited us for dinner. We had our photo taken with so many people, it was like we are celebrities!
We walked to a nice part of the city to get something to eat. Pretty early in our search we found a pizza hut and the need to not have rice overcame us and we succumbed. No regrets! We had a good meal in a place with ac and a working toilet. After that we got a taxi to Sealdah station. Neil describes this as "hell on earth" and "reminiscent of a refugee camp". While waiting for our train we sat on newspapers and became friends with Sardeep Hussain who was coming on our train too. He is a lawyer we was overjoyed to meet some foreigners. The train to NJP station was lovely but we spent the whole time asleep. When we arrived, our friend Sardeep helped us to a taxi to the place buses go from. We were all set to go to Darjeeling when our taxi driver said that we would be able to get there but the hotels and shops would be closed and we should go to Gangtok instead. He convinced us and we got on a jeep going to Gangtok. This jeep did not till it was full. Full meant 11 people including the driver? To give you the picture, this was the size of jeep which in Britain would take 2 children to school.
Sitting in the back, we befriended the 2 men with us. One was Samik, the Che Guevara of the hills. He is an artist in Goa but is from Kalimpong. He is setting up an animal sanctuary in goa and is involved saving street children in the towns and taking them to Darjeeling. He was such an interesti8ng man who was very politically minded. Apparently "india is a paradox". Our other back seat friend (who I can't remember the name of but he bore an uncanny resemblance to Richard Hammond; if Richard hammond was indian!) was an engineer from Bihar. I spent some time talking with him about his relationship woes. "Women here are only interested in you for your money!"
The drive was rickety and very hot. We climbed further and further up into the mountains, it getting cooler with the altitude. When we reached the border to Sikkim, as state to the north of west bengal, we had to deal with Indian bureaucracy. We needed a permit to enter the state. This required a passport photo, which of course we did not have. We had to pay the man half the cost of our jeep travel to photocopy our pictures, all the while holding up our fellow travelers.
Eventually we reached Gangtok, a mountain town in the beautiful, green Sikkim. It is so clean here. There is even a pedestrian precinct in the main shopping street. Our hotel is wonderfully clean and the man at reception is lovely. We are hoping for a pleasant few days in the cool of the Himalayas. We have been overcome by the friendliness of the Bengali people. So far, so good.
J x
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