Off to Darjeeling

I caught the train with no problem and settled in for the overnight trip. Indian trains are fairly comfortable, but I think that Chinese are more so. On Chinese trains the sleeping berths come with a blanket and a small pillow, where the Indian trains are just a sleeping spot. But it was still relatively painless.

The train arrived a bit behind schedule in New Jalpaiguri, at about 8:45. I got off and headed out to figure out how to get up to Darjeeling. When I first came out of the station I was approached by a guy asking where I wanted to go. When I told him Darjeeling he told me I would go somewhere and then somewhere else and it would cost such and such. It seemed quite a bit more than I had been told. Rajesh had told me I could get a jeep up to Darjeeling for about 2 or 3 dollars. This guy was quoting me 8 or 9. And he was accosting me right outside the station door. This has come to mean a danger signal to me. I looked out in the parking lot and I asked the guy whether any of them would go straight to Darjeeling. He told me yes, but they were going to charge me more than he was quoting. So I said that maybe I should just go and ask them myself. And the guy disappeared. I smiled to myself. I think I'm learning.

I went over to the jeeps and was told it would be 4 dollars. For a dollar, I didn't care and I got in. The trip up to Darjeeling was dizzying in its rise. We more or less went straight up a mountain. The scenery was quite amazing.

The scenery included this daredevil way of travelling up the mountain to Darjeeling.

When I got to Darjeeling, I think I must have gone the wrong direction. I'm certain that I could have found some cheap place to stay, but I kept finding places that were full, wouldn't take foreigners, or were quite expensive (by Indian standards). In the end, I settled for a place that was about 16 dollars a night, more or less because I was tired to chasing around for a place to stay. And the guy at the front desk was friendly and helpful. He also spoke 9 languages. And he was only 24!!! I can barely keep three languages straight.

After checking in, I headed out for a look at Darjeeling. It was quite a busy little city. I found later that there was a convention in town, and that only added to the number of people about because it was festival time (with a festival the next day being just the next one of the series). It's also not the most attractive town, in my opinion, despite being situated on the side of a mountain. But there was still some nice scenery, as it is high enough to have mists drift through and clouds cover the tops of the nearby mountain peaks. I figured I could spend a couple of days in the city with no problem while I figured out my next move.