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Itching to see the Himalayas

31/3/2015

I completely slept through the alarm this morning. I was meant to be leaving at 5.15 to see the sunrise on the Himalayas but I slept through my alarm. Luckily the people closing the door of the apartment next door woke me so I hastily threw on clothes and grabbed the cameras. Unfortunately the cloud was so dense you wouldn’t even know there were any mountains out there.
The rest of the day was spent wandering around Darjeeling which is very quaint and quirky. The buildings cling to the hill in a riot of colour. Although it's not at its best today all murky & covered in cloud.
The hotel served a very quaint old fashioned afternoon tea with sandwiches and scones with cream & jam. Well actually, it was marmalade and the cream had a faint but rather weird taste of garlic in it. Welcome to India. A huge thunderstorm started about 4.30 and we are all hoping the storm will clear the clouds and allow us to see the Himalayas tomorrow.

31st - Well the thunderstorm seemed to have done the trick. When I looked out at 5am it was cloudy but I could actually see down into the valley so I gathered gear & trotted off.
I couldn't believe it as the peaks slowly started appearing through the clouds. It was a truly beautiful sight that this picture doesn’t do justice.
We drove to Bhutan today leaving at 8am. The drive down the mountain alone took 2 hours. It was so reminiscent of NZ with big ferns and a twisty road. The long and short of it is that we spent all day in the car arriving at the Bhutanese border at 4.30pm.

Kanchenjunga

Darjeeling

The border gate

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Learning to be a "train chaser"

29/3/2015

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Today we began with a drive up into the hills to Tindharia. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society and the Cindrella Hotel in Siliguri (where we stayed) had provided the wherewithal to build a school and we were to take part in an opening/inauguration ceremony. It was unbelievable, we were treated like visiting royalty. The school is for children 3-5 years old, however, the welcoming party comprised just about everyone in the village. We were officially greeted and sung to (twinkle twinkle little star and eensy weensy spider in Hindi), danced for, listened to speeches, given tea and snacks and it was just wonderful. The impact that a small 1 room school, will make to the community and the joy and gratitude of the villagers was absolutely humbling.
I taught the kids how to say Kia Ora which went down well and after much persuading Janet & I danced with the kids. Well… actually we just bopped about trying to emulate their traditional dance. The kids thought it was hilarious and just loved it.
After that we drove to the Tindharia station to pick up the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway chartered steam train which was to take us to Darjeeling.
So I have learned what “train chasing” is all about. Basically those who want to, go on the train and those who want to take pictures of the train chase it in the car, stopping at strategic places to take photos and then rush ahead of it again. Most people were on the train, or jumped on and off. I was warned that train chasing is tiring but I preferred going in the car as it gave me the opportunity to take non train photos and on firm ground. It took us over 6 hours to get to Darjeeling and I was photographing for whole time, leaping in and out of the car with my mind racing to get the shot I wanted… as you do.
You have to be a bit of a mountain goat to live in Tindharia and it just got steeper from there. Amazing scenery but very hazy. Couldn't see the Himalayas at all. The higher we got the murkier it became until just before Ghum it was a real pea souper. It was quite daunting as Indians do like to drive without lights (to save the battery) and the train also didn’t have any lights on; the fog was so thick you could barely see in front of you and the train crosses the road all the time. The cars coming towards it would have no idea it was coming. How there was no accident I don’t know but I was told that collisions happen pretty frequently. Ghum is the top of the climb at 2258m/7407ft, then it was a slow & carefully braked descent down into Darjeeling. I gave in at Ghum and got on the train... totally shattered.

Kurseong

Gloomy Ghum

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A quick & dirty look at wonderful Kolkata

29/3/2015

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What a fantastic day. Kolkata is such a vibrant city and surprisingly very green with loads of trees and wonderful old buildings. It has historically had a bad rep which is arguably no longer justified. This was pretty much a quick & dirty look around. We started with a tram ride see to the bazaars but didn’t stop so could only do grab shots. It was stinking hot and we were thankful we didn’t have to walk. Of course the tram is completely open so we were able to hang out of the windows and door to take photos. You know, all the things you are not allowed to do back home. This was not the posh end of town. After lunch we had a short potted history tour of the city by bus. Kolkata was the capital until 1911 and currently has 13 million people. This swells every day to 18 million as people come into the city to work. I think we met most of them today.
Later in the afternoon I happened on one of those wonderful serendipitous opportunities & got the chance to see the South Park Street Cemetery. What a fantastic place, it was more a necropolis than what we recognise as a cemetery. It was very evocative, the tombs were largely from the time of the Raj & were massive, many with fancy domes and/or columns. It was quiet and peaceful (apart from the ravens screeching around) with lots of trees. I am so delighted to have seen it. I could have spent days there. Unfortunately I couldn’t do it justice with only 35 minutes.
I have also revised my thought that street food is ok if you see it being cooked in front of you. I guess it depends on what it is and whether it needs to be on a plate... there is is a plate being washed under that gush of water.

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I'm here...

28/3/2015

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I was sitting in the gate lounge in Auckland when I heard a call for Mrs Annee Tahtee.
OMG, for a fleeting moment I wondered if I was getting an upgrade. But No, of course not, they just wanted to make sure I had a visa for India before they’d let me on the plane.
The plane was totally chokka from Auckland to Singapore and it was one of the super jumbos. Not pleasant – enough said. Had a great flight from Singapore to Mumbai though. Unusually the plane was very light. I was right down the back and that section had 90 seats and only 14 people. It makes a huge difference to the comfort level.
I dithered about domestic flight options but was advised to leave as much time as possible to clear customs. And wouldn’t you know it – empty flight, sped through customs as if it wasn’t there and there is no one at the IndiGo counter for my domestic flight. A wee fella phoned someone and said wait 5 minutes. That was 35 min ago. Oh yeah Welcome to India J
Part of the problem is that it was only 11.40 when I arrived and my flight was not until 5.30pm the staff are probably off watching the cricket.
Bugger I just got charged IR1500/NZD33 for excess baggage. Seems they make no allowance what so even for international customers. I guess it could have been worse, Air NZ charges way more than that!
The airports here (I’m now in the domestic terminal) seem highly organised I’m sitting next to a free cell phone charging station. So I’m making use of that. India is full of the most amazing contrasts. All this available technology (well theoretically, I couldn't actually get onto the free WiFi) and yet there is a man rushing about bellowing at the top of his lungs for the last passengers to Bangalore.
It’s hot, 31 degrees, and there are great clusters of people grouped 20 deep around the TV sets watching the cricket. I also got wanded coming through security and it picked up my fitbit. First time that’s happened!
Ok, 42 hours after leaving home I am now in Kolkata (Calcutta) in a fabulous 5 star hotel room.
Driving from the airport to the hotel I couldn’t help but laugh. The traffic is every bit as bonkers as I had remembered and then some. I held my breath a few times but only shut my eyes once as we shot a gap that cleared vehicles on either side by a mere 2 inches. The taxi (as they all are) was pretty shonky and a few times it sounded like we were dragging something vital along behind us. The air con was having all 4 windows open and allowing every bit of dust, exhaust and heat in.
We passed a bus that had a sign on the back saying obey the road rules and blow your horn. What rules? My taxi driver was legend. Actually I think he was a frustrated rally driver roaring into tiny wee gaps, breaking as we almost touched the tail pipe of the car in front and tooting like a maniac the whole time. The best way to give you a feel for it, is for you to imagine that you are driving in a stock car demolition derby with extras: 3 lanes of careening, swerving vehicles, pedestrians walking randomly in the middle, bicycles with no lights, buses swerving across your bonnet, intersections that look like a giant game of chicken, tooting like mad and even a man on a bicycle sitting facing the wrong way in the middle of 3 lanes of oncoming traffic. Oh and at the traffic lights (the ones they stop for) the taxi drivers turn the engine off and all of a sudden it goes dead quiet – weird. As I said it made me laugh and I felt completely comfortable. Welcome to India.

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A lesson in travelling...

26/3/2015

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I haven’t even left NZ yet and already have created myself a headache.
On Friday my boss very kindly pointed out that I was adding an extra journey unnecessarily.
Okaaay – I’d best check that out!
On previous trips I have left my travel arrangements to a qualified person, especially when they involve multiple legs... but I figured it’s time to be a grown up and do it myself.

First mistake: thinking that a booking in and out of the different ports would be more expensive. In fact, you can use a multistop booking and depending on dates it may or may not be more expensive. It could even be cheaper.
Second mistake: look at a map! I was thinking that Mumbai was on the western seaboard and the closest to NZ. I didn’t factor in that flights might involve a transit. And, as I finish in Mumbai I figured that was the best place to enter and leave from. So I booked flights in and out of Mumbai and added an internal flight from Mumbai to Kolkata (Calcutta).
Matthew put me wise to the fact that as there is a transit stop in Singapore I'm actually travelling across India to Mumbai and then back again to Kolkata to start my trip... duuh!
I did try to fix it. I spend a pleasant 40 minutes or so chatting with a lovely (and extremely helpful) woman from Air New Zealand who investigated things for me. Unfortunately as I leave in 3 days, the available flights are now at the pointy end of the price scale and the fare increase was going to be over $1,000 plus the expected charges for making the change. Ok, that’s too much for me. So I’m sticking with plan A.
I had thought that I could just change the Singapore/Mumbai leg to Singapore/Kolkata. Feasible yes, but in practical terms via the Air NZ computer system, not so much.
So there you have it... a lesson in travelling. Look at the bloody map!

The route I'm actually taking

What I should be doing

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Itching to see the Himalayas

Learning to be a "train chaser"

A quick & dirty look at wonderful Kolkata

I'm here...

A lesson in travelling...

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