In between treks

Darjeeling

Photos

Darjeeling was a change to the hot wet stickiness of Kolkata and it's downpours; it was cold and wet, actually wetter. We had the usual overnight train to the foot of the Himalayas at Siliguri. We were probably shielded from the transvestites plying passengers for baksheesh by an Indian couple in our compartment. In Nepal an Indian couple told us stories of how they would leave the girls alone but grope the men if not given money. I for one was certainly happy for the lack of attention. Then for something different we decided to haggle for the Jeep ride up to the hill station of Darjeeling. Theoretically this should have been straight forward. We had the bargaining power - loads of jeeps only a few passengers. They played their hand early by saying that their jeep was "leaving now", of course they never are. We were patient, but no one would budge on price. In the end we settled on a few rupees off but I guess you could call it a technical victory.

The jeep steadily climbed up to Darjeeling passing a military base and numerous tea plantations finally entering a cloud and Darjeeling.The thing is that that cloud never really lifted. The sky was hidden all but for one night, it rained every day and sometimes all day. We tried to do some washing but that only dried after almost a week. I guess it didn't help that our guest house, Tower View, had a bit of a damp problem and anything touching the external wall became wet and grew mildew. Particularly strange was that they had posted signs saying that water was scarce in Darjeeling so don't wash your clothes. This climate was certainly not the warm dry air to help Roselin's flu. In fact she really only made it out for one day when we visited the zoo and the Hot Stimulating Cafe. The zoo had all the promised animals we had missed in Nepal: Snow Leopard, Bengal Tiger, Brown Bear, and Wolf. The Hot Stimulating Cafe had lemon ginger tea for Roselin and tasty momos but not the Bob Marley tunes described in their visitors book. I think the power was out (again), which is becoming a regular experience in this part of the world. For the admission to the zoo we also got to see the Mountaineering Institute, where we hid from yet another shower/heavy mist. The Institute has a few dioramas and an eclectic collection of genuine mountaineering kit used on expeditions but the surprise exhibit for me was a large telescope gifted to some official by none other than Adolf Hitler.

Roselin did relent into seeing a doctor at the local Planters Hospital. We seemingly jumped the queue while others waited (gora power) and got ushered into the doctors office. It was a small office made even smaller by the fact that, while Roselin dictated her symptoms to the doctor, a local guy was on the examination table having a nasty graze on his thigh cleaned and sterilised by a nurse, a woman who I am guessing was his wife stood by, and I and another random loitered in the corner. India must be ahead of the facebook curve with their lack of interest in privacy.

The only other excursion I did was by myself to the Happy Valley Tea Estate. While the factory itself seemed virtually inactive except for some sorting in one room, there were plenty of picking in the fields around. Women, all Nepali, picked the youngest 3 leaf shoots while male overseers looked on from under umbrellas.

New Delhi

We splashed out for our trip back across the country to Delhi by upgrading ourselves to the AC carriages. Besides air-conditioning we also got pillows, sheets and blankets, bottled water, newspapers, and meals. The carriage was even swept. But just as well, because without the windows to toss your rubbish out of it just piles up on the floor. The floors of these carriages see a lot of action. People sleep there, its the dumping ground for all your trash, one child even urinated and vomited in the corridor (to be left as is by the nonchalant parents). So the people are still very much the same no matter which class you travel. I was asked what was the same between Australia and India and was lost for words, I still can't think of anything.

The main tourist street of Paraganj in Delhi, Main Bazaar, seems to have had a face 'lift' since we were there last, it might have even been for the Commonwealth games. But it looks like a couple of metres from every shop front has been ripped off leaving a scar and none of that claustrophobic market street atmosphere of Varanasi. They have ripped out its seedy soul too and it felt empty and dead. We avoided it and stayed at Amax in Arakashan St over the road from the train station, which is lined with hotels of all calibres. It is not far from  Main Bazaar, but almost a world away.

We did venture out to the old city around the Red Fort for food. After I had to queue for 20 minutes to get through the metal detectors at the metro station I found Roselin (segregated queues like the airport) and we travel the 2 stops to the old city. I think I waited in line more than it took to travel on the metro and the train was pleasantly air-conditioned compared to the queue. We had hot jelebi and kurd from the street stands and soan papadi from Haldiram's. We had lots of plans but they would have to wait until we got back from Ladakh, Roselin had itchy feet again and was still not over her flu.

Manali

It was my belief that nothing in India came for free but I will have to recant that thought. During our efforts to organise our trek we have discovered what really has been there all the time. And that is exactly what is free here - time. It is obvious to me now, everywhere you see people frittering it away, and I understand why it takes so long to do anything.

We have been in Manali for 9 days and counting and are likely to achieve only 2 things in our time here: 1. Organise our trek to Leh and 2. Get our Kindle replaced. The first is why we are here anyway (besides avoiding the monsoon). We went into Himalayan Adventures looking to book the trek and ended up being redirected to a small operator out of Keylong on the other side of Rhotang pass. This was all after hours of advice and phone calls by Giresh, all for free. Our second 'accomplishment' was not planned for and due to a small accident over lunch. Roselin in a trip down memory lane managed to drop test the Kindle, and being as adept as ever managed to find its weakness that I could not. Luckily it was still in warranty but we had the added challenges to post the old one back to Amazon and get a new one delivered to Manali. This is not as trivial as it would have been in Australia. First of all we discovered that electronics are technically 'banned' from being posted in India. So this means that no courier company would provide insurance, a requirement from Amazon. So we had to use the Indian postal system. Now while India Post is meant to be the largest in the world it doesn't mean that it is the most efficient. First of all we had to back track the previous town of Kullu as this has a Postal Head Office, the only post office to give us insurance. Then we had to find someone to pack it for us. A woman in a courier company came to our rescue with some bubble wrap, and I found an old cardboard box from a nearby store. She spent a good 15 minutes wrapping as best we could get it for free. Then we had to buy half a metre of white calico and some sealing wax and found a bookshop owner? who happily stitched up the package and melted wax over the stitches for free (well we did buy a marker off him for less than a dollar). At last we could post it with insurance and tracking. After 3 days tracking was showing that our parcel (that must be there in 30 days) had not moved since we handed it over. We were still waiting for the new kindle to arrive. Although it took only a few days to make it to India, it had not made it into our state, and was sitting, waiting "delayed due to extra handling".

It all got too hard so we gave up and went to yoga! Besides the up and down the hill we hoped it would get us in shape for the walk. Roselin had heard from some Frenchies that she would have a strong back - maybe she feels like carrying more in her pack! After 2 days we both licking our wounds and not feeling up to going back. Not a good sign 20 days walking in the Zanskar. But we weren't waiting any more; the kindle arrive just before we took a jeep to Keylong, we were trekking again.