Day 01: 19 Sep ‘09 - Bangalore to Kolkata to Bagdogra to Darjeeling
We met Mr. Dawa and driver at the Bagdogra airport, loaded up our baggage, and headed for Darjeeling - a really long drive over an extremely interesting road. Earlier in the season a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal damaged the road, and then the road suffered monsoon erosion and slippage. Needless to say, in spots the road was missing, or had slide down the mountain a couple of feet. At its best, the road was wide enough for two trucks, at its worst, barely one truck; none of it up to US safety standards. During one particular harrowing section looking to the left or right revealing nothing but air - a one lane ridge way with a train. The road to Hana in Maui is interstate compared to the road to Darjeeling. The trip took around six hours, including the stop at Kurseong.
Darjeeling is famous for tea plantations. Also, the timber industry is a large support to their economy - mostly teak and Japanese pine. Other observations are the tea pickers baskets, which are woven bamboo, and here the chicken cages at the chicken stalls are bamboo. The locals utilize local natural resources more than in south India.
We stopped mid way for a break in Kurseong to discover beer and momos; needless to say, we stayed longer that we should have, and we arrived in Darjeeling in darkness. Imagine that road in the dark. We encamped at the Mayfair Hotel, which is at the bottom of a really narrow driveway - mostly an alley. The hotel is a very nice hotel, and it turned out to be Alli's favorite due to its "lodge" charm. We settled in to our rooms, and then went in search of sustenence. Since this was Alli's folks first encouter with hotel food in India, we decided to order from the menu rather than do the buffet. Our orders were placed, and verified... waiter: "Yes, ma’am, that’s three orders of sautéed chicken [head nod]"; Alli: "Yes, three orders of chicken satay"; waiter: "Ma'am, that is going to take a long time", and Alli now admits that should have been the clue regarding gross missed communication. And so began the trials of getting our food ordered and cooked correctly during the whole trip. Needless to say, we did not enjoy the sautéed chicken, which set off a culinary cascade that we never recovered from as this particular set of culinary experts attempted to correct the situation by bringing unordered food on subsequent days, and the confusion propogated to all the days of our stay in Darjeeling. The beer was cold.
Day 02:20 Sep’09 - Darjeeling
Excursion to Mirik Lake, which is nestled in forested hills at an altitude of 5800 ft.
Durring our visit the weather in Darjeeling was cloudy and foggy. Mr. Dawa, our guide, decided that we sould do Mirik Lake on the first day and view the Himalaya on the second day. A decision that proved to be prescient. So, we ventured to Mirik lake on our first day, which is very nice drive down off the peaks of Darjeeling through some wonderful Japanese pine forests along the Nepal border. We encountered several Border Security Force outposts partway through the trip. It turns out that Mirik is very close to Nepal. The BSF mission in the area is to control the movements of the Maoists from Nepal into India, and because we were truly foreigners, we were stopped for about 10 minutes at the first one while the driver did some serious explaining about our presence.
Traffic on the road was heavy due to a statehood political rally. The Bagdogra – Darjeeling region is a gerrymander to the state of West Bengal. The people are of Mongol heritage dating back to the time of Genghis, and they are petitioning the Indian central government to be and independent state – Ghorkaland. Turns out, there are some shenanigans regarding who supports this movement and why that we read about in the paper after leaving the area, which also explained why the BSF was so interested in our travels.
Also, another note on local traffic – there are
few buses, but they do have a lot of “share jeeps”, and it appeared to us that you can get 10-15 folks inside the jeep, and 6-8 on the roof, while 1-2 hanging off the back standing on the bumper. And, a quick observation about the quadrupeds in the region - there are few cows, and quite a number of dogs. And the dogs appear to be quite short legged. Our theory is that when the Raj pulled out of Darjeeling, they abandoned a number of horny Corgi’s, who promptly shortened subsequent generations.
Mirik is a very nice little village surrounding the lake. Jess took a 30 minute horse ride around the lake while the rest of us bipeds walked. On the village side we encountered a number of hens with chicks. One hen had fashioned a nest in the dirt at the base of a tree. It was bowl shaped and about 4 inches deep. Larrie dubbed it “an egg plant”. One shop keeper, upon seeing Jess enjoying the chickens, “called” them, and they all came running. Whereupon, she fed them, and Jess enjoyed the moment – a hen party (ahem!).
Upon our return to Darjeeling, we were to walk back to the hotel through the upper market. Alli took advantage of the time to return by vehicle to the hotel and have the first of many massages. While the rest of us were in the upper market we stopped at the Golden Tips Tea shop, where the science of what makes a great cup of tea were explained to us – in order to get us to buy a bunch of very expensive tea; however, I must say that first leaf oolong is quite good. We walked back to the hotel though the market where it was quite peaceful and serene. Darjeeling reminds one of West Glacier during the evening time - mountain peacfulness in the cool air.
A number of houses in the region fly Buddhist prayer flags and are adorned by many flower pots. A number of species of orchid grow in the region, and the people are very happy to have color in their lives. A marked contrast to South India, where most folks of modest means eek out a life with a cow and several chickens in the front yard.
At the end of the day, and upon the return to the hotel, hungry and tired, the culinary issues with the hotel continued to plague as the waiter decided, on his own, to make amends for the prior nights chicken satay fiasco, and brought up some pasta thing bathed in a really obnoxious green stuff. It tasted worse that it looked.
Day 03: 21 Sep ‘09 - Darjeeling
Up early to drive to Tiger hill and watch the spectacular sunrise over Mt. Kanchenjunga (28,208 ft. Worlds third highest peak), on your way back visit Ghoom Monastery.
Mr. Dawa had us up and moving in darkness (04:00) in an attempt to defeat the clouds and fog and view Mt. Kanchenjunga, which is 80 km. to the North of Darjeeling. Once at the peak of Tiger Hill (about 7500 ft elevation), it looked to be that we were above the cloud cover. It was a glorious sunrise, worth the price of admission. And, bonus, we were lucky enough to see the tip of Everest, which was over 160 km away on the Nepali / China border to our East Northeast. This ritual plays out every day of the year, and there were a number of folks on top of the mountain, but like all other similar events, once the main act, in this case sunrise, occured everyone scurried on about their quotidian business. As we stood there admiring a magnificent mountain, the cloud cover that was below us, rose to obscure the mountain. We were very lucky to have seen the mountain at all.
In the lower 48, mountains rise about 5,000 ft from the base elevation. Whether in the Rockies or the Appalachia, that generality holds. However, the Himalaya are huge. We stood at 7,500 ft looking at a mountain of 28,000 ft and 80 km away, and it loomed before us as though we could touch it. Truly spiritual for those who appreciate a good sunrise over snow laden peaks.
Leaving the sunrise to return to hotel for breakfast, we stopped at the Ghoom Monastery where our guide, Mr. Dawa, explained the various artifacts that make up a Buddhist temple. Observed a sleeping dog in the couryard sunlight in all the confusion. Several people walked up and stood next to it, walked past it, and it slept on. Once in a while it would roll over to allow the sun to warm another spot, but it never woke up. Could be the dog was an enlightened canine living in nirvana that is Darjeeling.
After breakfast, we visited the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Center, where they made woolen things to wear and walk on from scratch using the tools of the ancients. It was very heart warming watching these quiet people live the lives of their ancestors. Sheared wool was carded and spun into thread. Dyed by natural dyes, the wool was used in different looms to make rugs, shawls, and other cloth that was assembled into other types of clothing. Also, some looms made the silk apron worn by the women to signify marriage. Jess purchased a shawl in the gift shop, however, the woolen vests just wouldn’t go around Larrie’s portliness; so, a sale missed. Rug orders were out a year; so, the quality of work is recognized across the world. All of the artisens where very happy to show Jess how their work contributed to the whole, and Jess was all too happy to listen and study their prowess.
Leaving the refugee center, we toured the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park and the attached Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa accompaning Sir. Edmund Hillary during the first ascent of Everest in 1953, lived in Darjeeling and was quite the local hero. The zoo was interesting as a zoo of local beasts and birds. The HMI was a museum dedicated to climbing expeditions.
Upon exiting the zoo, we immediately found ourselves in a epic traffic jam, which are quite common to Darjeeling as most of the roads are footpaths in width, and for some odd reason the drivers think that two vehicles can pass each other in the narrow sections. Needless to say, it was a good thing the zoo had bathrooms. Lunch was late, but we found our way to a momo place near the upper market. Following lunch we descended (quite literally) into the lower market area, which leaves the backside Commercial Street of B’lore in the dust for compactness, steepness and density. However the experience was short lived as having had a bit too much of the market and the teeming throng, we retreated to the hotel for cold beers and solitude. Introverts on vacation, you know.
Almost forgot to mention that while we were in Darjeeling, another state close by had an earthquake of 6.3 magnitude that was felt throughout the region. We did not feel it as we were walking through the market areas, and it was well we did not hear of the quake until getting back to flat ground. I’m not sure the stress of that road and the news of a quake were congruent with pleasant traveling.
To sum up Darjeeling, Larrie indicated that of all the places in India this was a place to grow old happily, and that he could do so. It was cool, cloudy, foggy, and moments of sun at an elevation of 7500 ft with a view of the most magnificent mountains on earth. The heritage of the people is different as their traditions do not appear to have be hijacked by those seeking fame and fortune. Serene and truly a place to contemplate ones purpose and value while drinking some mighty fine tea. Allison summarized Darjeeling as Russell Market meets Lombard Street.
Day 04:22 Sep’09 Darjeeling to Calcutta
On the road again - down the mountain to the airport. We got caught in several traffic jams on the highway. One was so thick, and Alli’s bladder so full, that she decided to walk to Kurseong where we were going to stop for a respite anyway. Jess and I accompanied her arriving at theexact same time as the car. It was a very nice 5 km walk along the Darjeeling Railway tracks.
From the point of the respite in Kurseong, we took a new road to the airport that avoided a lot of the time consuming roadway. The new road was supposed to be faster; however, fast is a relative term in India as it does not mean less time or more speed. We passed some of the largest bamboo we have seen – 6-8 inch in diameter. Another shortcut was taken to be faster still, and discovered that road repairs had closed the road, and we were forced to retreat to the main road whereupon we discovered a Tazo tea plantation. The world get smaller traversing roads less traveled, I guess.
No comments:
Post a Comment