It was 4pm when we left Varanasi and was 3:30pm the next day when we arrived to Darjeeling. What was not supposed to be a 24hr transportation day sure was. Here is how it went… left our hotel got a tuck tuck to the train station by a guy who must have been high as a kite speeding through the city as if it was the end of the world. Then he asked us to pay more and a bit in advance so he can buy some prayer flowers for himself & the tuck tuck. We then finally make it to the station the train is 2hours late all and in the mean time a man with his fly open and his penis out & about is chatting to us about lord knows what. He is there until our train finally arrives… we then board the train and even though we paid for full sleeper bunks we spend the whole night trying to fight people off our bunks.
The next morning we finally arrive to the next train station and are so close to making it to Darjeeling, but first we must take a 3 hour jeep up the mountain. We negotiate a price for the jeep and are told it will leave in the next 10 minutes. We then realize that it’s not going to leave until it’s full. An hour later the guy comes and tells us the jeep is not going up and we need to find another one that is. At that point Val & I are pissed we just want to get to town find a place to stay. Some other guy comes and tells us he is about to leave, but needs two more people. He wants to charge us way more I argue and argue until we get the same price. We take our seats and the journey up the mountain begins. 3 hours later we arrive in Darjeeling… and begin the search for a hotel. It takes us a while to get our baring straight and make our way up the mountain to the hotel with our backpacks on. We find a place for a decent price and at the moment thought it was a good room. We check in and then realize it really is a shit hole, but decide to just stay because we are too tired to do anything else.
Val & I both have a habit of spending the 1st day we arrive in a place doing nothing and well we love it. So yeah we arrived were excited to be in Darjeeling, because from the little we saw it looked beautiful and loved that not one single person bothered us once as we walked around with our backpacks. So the rest of the day we chilled and watched more FRIENDS! We made plans to have a busy day the next day. Little did we know we would both wake up feeling weak and with stomach problems? The next day we spent it all day and night in bed going to the toilet a million times and just watching more of FRIENDS.
The next few days were nice. Even though we were sick on and off we did manage to do and see a lot. We walked around the town a lot visited a museum, went to the Zoo and botonical garden, visited a Tea Estate, road the Toy Train (even though what was supposed to be a 2 hour joy ride turned into a long 5 hour waiting ride), climbed Tiger Hill to see the sunrise over Mt. Everest (was a huge boner kill it wasn’t a clear morning so didn’t see anything). Oh & we did a lot of shopping and sent some packages home.
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Overall our time in Darjeeling was just what we needed after a few weeks of crazy India. The entire time we were up there Val & I kept telling each other this really does not seem like India at all. It’s crazy that a 3 hour ride up a mountain would make everything so different than where we left. The people were amazing… they didn’t bother us or pester us to buy anything not once. You could walk in and out of a shop with out the owners even saying a word to you. Even though the worst toilet experience of my life was here I loved everything about Darjeeling. Sometimes Val & I even thought we were in a amusement park, because things seemed to perfect and cute. In the end I am so glad we took the crazy adventure to get to Darjeeling and from now on I am calling it Darling Darjeeling… because it was a darling to us and we loved it for that.
You know for me I never really liked Darjeeling much at all. It was one of my biggest let downs in all the places I visited in India. Though I did have to laugh when you said it didn’t feel like India when there, as I got the same feeling as it felt more like Nepal. Even more funny was when I got to Nepal it felt more like India at times! lol
This is what I wrote and photographed while in Darjeeling: http://foggodyssey.com/2011/03/03/great-indian-railway-challenge-darjeeling-india/ Though it does sound like you had a better time there then me.
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T-roy I will have to check your post out. I can’t believe you didn’t like Darjeeling… I liked it so much as you can see. I think that is why I liked it so much… because it didn’t feel like India at all.
The first paragraph sounds like something from Hunter S. Thompson, it made me laugh.
Oh and I have realized I cannot go to India alone, sounds like you are so lucky to have Val.
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Thanks Aygelina… I just googled him because I had never heard of him. I have to tell you I think you will like it, but agree don’t do it alone… it would be so damn very tough. I am very lucky I have Val.
What Ayngelina said about never being able to go to India alone…I don’t think I could go without Andy and you and Val and maybe even a couple other people. I couldn’t handle it.
I like how you said “boner kill” and “packages” in almost the same sentence.
I’m glad Darjeeling was a little better for you. Sorry about being sick though. You and Val are going to be like an old married couple by the end of this 3 months though, between the toilet issues and the shared beds and the tantrums and such.
Big hugs to both of you. I hope we get to hang out again someday 🙂
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Jaja the thing is you really just need one other person. Everything here works great for two people. The more you get the harder it is travel sometimes. You and Andy I think would need to set a bigger budget than Val & I have set to fully enjoy India.
I didn’t even realize I said those two things in the same sentence. You would enjoy Darjeeling for sure… we are now both feeling better. Oh & I agree we are already a very old married couple.
Great post! Really reminds me of what a travel day was like in India—everything from the train delay to the guys with their dicks hanging out!
I’m really sad to have missed Darjeeling now—you make it sound great and those photos look wonderful.
Jaja Adam that is India 100% just crazy. Ahh Darjeeling was a very nice town to visit… thanks about the photos!
Amazing pics. So you loved something in India after all!!
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jaja yes I loved it a bit & thanks about the photos!
Hey! Thankyou for posting this! Me and my partner have been thinking about taking a trip from Varanasi to Darjeeling for quite some time now! Can you please tell us any good yet cheap accomodation in Darjeeling and the best way to get there from Varanasi?
A huge thankyou in advance! 🙂