Now These are Mountains!
From choking smog to crystal mountain air albeit via
a "road" which would be a challenge for extreme mountain bikers!
Another un-Godly wake up time of 5am greeted us this
morning...what's with that! Fortunately, we discovered the outdoor restaurant
opened at 6...Hooray! On the dot of 6:05 we walked over and, much to our
amazement, found it virtually full of insane, sleep-deprived, golfers! I've
gotta say, the food here is simple but it's great comfort food! Hot tea, crisp
buttered toast, spicy scrambled eggs...mmm....we love this place! The complex
we're staying in was built a few years ago and is called, much to Amber's great
delight, The Far
Pavilion!
The cottage section is over to the left of the main complex. In the foreground is the first tee of the golf course. I'm definitely going to play a round when we come back...and the caddies are trying to convince Amber of their teaching skills should she decide to pick up a club. We had to check out fairly early in order to make sure we got to the airport in time. I mentioned to the manager, Francis, that I was working on a screenplay which was set at the Club so he's offered to show me the Club's archives when we get back and also show us around to the riding stables, etc....Excellent! The army of helpers poured us into a particularly wobbly taxi and off we went into town (fortunately in somewhat less humid weather than last night). I had spied a Citibank branch the previous evening after suffering rejections at the other less hospitable banks so we decided to give my bank card one last try. One complication...we had to pull over opposite the bank...cross our side of the road to the middle divider...find a gap in the fence...and then dash across the remaining half...all the while dodging diesel-spewing buses and honking taxis. So...fondly remembering my extended health coverage...off I went leaving Amber to conduct light conversation with our cabbie which, apparently, went: Amber (Garam hai?); Cabbie: (Ha Memsahib)....silence.... Much to my great joy, Citibank was kind enough to hand me a wad of Rupees and I happily took life and limb in hand and braved the return trip. Amber, deciding that I shouldn't be the only to have all the fun, repeated the exercise, leaving me to have a slightly more in-depth conversation with the cabbie (mostly having to do with Amber's road crossing techniques).
It's very strange that the Calcutta airport's Domestic Departure terminal is so much nicer than the International Arrivals section. Maybe they feel that spiffing up the International section would squash a visitor's preconceived notions of what they're about to experience - and that would just be too cruel! We almost missed our boarding call because Amber became totally enamoured with the Liptons Tea store - and their selection of powdered chai concentrates.
After an uneventful flight (except for being subjected to Zamfir's version of Candle in the Wind over and over again), we landed at Bagdogra airport in Siliguri. This is the town in the plains which acts as a gateway to the Eastern Himalayas - but it was still 29 degrees! There, we were met by the smiling faces of Francis and Sonam, representatives of North Point school, who had come down to pick us up. Francis, as he puts it, is the Minister of Housing for the school while, as we found out later, Sonam is a driver with the driving skills of Jacques Villeneuve! To get to Darjeeling you go through a town called Kurseong (which is about halfway up). Generally the trip up takes about 3 hours but if you take a shortcut to Kurseong, you can shave about 1/2 an hour off the trip. Efficient bunch that they are....the shortcut it was!
The first section of the drive took us through gently rising slopes with tea bushes dotting the landscapes.
Then it got serious! Yowsa....there was a lot of white knuckling going on. Amber's usual description of herself being a long asparagus....could more accurately be described as a freshly plucked piece off celery! For those that have visited the Sunshine Coast and gone up some of those really steep driveways beside the highway...imagine that grade with the width of a driveway going on for about an hour of driving. From Siliguri to Kurseong, we rose from 400ft up to 3,400 feet in an almost constantly vertical manner. Other than the hyperventilating, it was spectacular - we went right up the side of a mountain...and you could look down to see where you'd come from. The camera can't really do it justice!
.....And this really says it all!
We stopped for coffee and valium (kidding) in Kurseong where Amber was the subject of great fascination with her tongue-stud! The Nepalese were entranced! We set off on the equally spectacular final hour and a bit to Darjeeling. It's hard to describe just how beautiful this drive is. There are all sorts of flowers growing wild at the side of the road, the hillsides stretch out of sight both below and above....with houses and tea gardens disappearing into the distance - thousands of feet in either direction. Combine that with fresh-faced Nepalese kids smiling at us, and it begins to look just a bit like paradise. There are a lot of kids around as this section of the hills is where many kids are sent to boarding schools - about 300 schools, according to Francis. We cruised into the busy town of Darjeeling and made our way to Sinclairs Hotel. The road up to the hotel is half the width of the average driveway and so steep that you're quite breathless after walking up it. How our SUV squeezed up it, I'm still not sure.
We checked in (and it's chilly without central heat) and got familiar with the hotel's facilities. Nothing terribly fancy here but the staff is very friendly and eager to help. Thank God for the portable room heater....we've gone from sweltering heat to damp cold in the usual disorientingly speedy manner. We got ourselves organized and walked down into the town for a bit of a look. There are lots of streetside stalls and funky eating joints. We walked into a place called Glenary's (which has an amazing bakery downstairs and a restaurant/bar upstairs). A beer and soup later and we were ready to call it a night. We thought we were sleepy until we had to walk back up the road to the hotel....let's just say the heartrate gets right up there. Wide awake...and wheezing...we struggled up the stairs to the room. It's amazing what being 7000 feet up does to your aerobic capacity.
Our first evening in the Himalayas came to a sleepy end with us looking forward to 12 days of R&R.
The cottage section is over to the left of the main complex. In the foreground is the first tee of the golf course. I'm definitely going to play a round when we come back...and the caddies are trying to convince Amber of their teaching skills should she decide to pick up a club. We had to check out fairly early in order to make sure we got to the airport in time. I mentioned to the manager, Francis, that I was working on a screenplay which was set at the Club so he's offered to show me the Club's archives when we get back and also show us around to the riding stables, etc....Excellent! The army of helpers poured us into a particularly wobbly taxi and off we went into town (fortunately in somewhat less humid weather than last night). I had spied a Citibank branch the previous evening after suffering rejections at the other less hospitable banks so we decided to give my bank card one last try. One complication...we had to pull over opposite the bank...cross our side of the road to the middle divider...find a gap in the fence...and then dash across the remaining half...all the while dodging diesel-spewing buses and honking taxis. So...fondly remembering my extended health coverage...off I went leaving Amber to conduct light conversation with our cabbie which, apparently, went: Amber (Garam hai?); Cabbie: (Ha Memsahib)....silence.... Much to my great joy, Citibank was kind enough to hand me a wad of Rupees and I happily took life and limb in hand and braved the return trip. Amber, deciding that I shouldn't be the only to have all the fun, repeated the exercise, leaving me to have a slightly more in-depth conversation with the cabbie (mostly having to do with Amber's road crossing techniques).
It's very strange that the Calcutta airport's Domestic Departure terminal is so much nicer than the International Arrivals section. Maybe they feel that spiffing up the International section would squash a visitor's preconceived notions of what they're about to experience - and that would just be too cruel! We almost missed our boarding call because Amber became totally enamoured with the Liptons Tea store - and their selection of powdered chai concentrates.
After an uneventful flight (except for being subjected to Zamfir's version of Candle in the Wind over and over again), we landed at Bagdogra airport in Siliguri. This is the town in the plains which acts as a gateway to the Eastern Himalayas - but it was still 29 degrees! There, we were met by the smiling faces of Francis and Sonam, representatives of North Point school, who had come down to pick us up. Francis, as he puts it, is the Minister of Housing for the school while, as we found out later, Sonam is a driver with the driving skills of Jacques Villeneuve! To get to Darjeeling you go through a town called Kurseong (which is about halfway up). Generally the trip up takes about 3 hours but if you take a shortcut to Kurseong, you can shave about 1/2 an hour off the trip. Efficient bunch that they are....the shortcut it was!
The first section of the drive took us through gently rising slopes with tea bushes dotting the landscapes.
Then it got serious! Yowsa....there was a lot of white knuckling going on. Amber's usual description of herself being a long asparagus....could more accurately be described as a freshly plucked piece off celery! For those that have visited the Sunshine Coast and gone up some of those really steep driveways beside the highway...imagine that grade with the width of a driveway going on for about an hour of driving. From Siliguri to Kurseong, we rose from 400ft up to 3,400 feet in an almost constantly vertical manner. Other than the hyperventilating, it was spectacular - we went right up the side of a mountain...and you could look down to see where you'd come from. The camera can't really do it justice!
.....And this really says it all!
We stopped for coffee and valium (kidding) in Kurseong where Amber was the subject of great fascination with her tongue-stud! The Nepalese were entranced! We set off on the equally spectacular final hour and a bit to Darjeeling. It's hard to describe just how beautiful this drive is. There are all sorts of flowers growing wild at the side of the road, the hillsides stretch out of sight both below and above....with houses and tea gardens disappearing into the distance - thousands of feet in either direction. Combine that with fresh-faced Nepalese kids smiling at us, and it begins to look just a bit like paradise. There are a lot of kids around as this section of the hills is where many kids are sent to boarding schools - about 300 schools, according to Francis. We cruised into the busy town of Darjeeling and made our way to Sinclairs Hotel. The road up to the hotel is half the width of the average driveway and so steep that you're quite breathless after walking up it. How our SUV squeezed up it, I'm still not sure.
We checked in (and it's chilly without central heat) and got familiar with the hotel's facilities. Nothing terribly fancy here but the staff is very friendly and eager to help. Thank God for the portable room heater....we've gone from sweltering heat to damp cold in the usual disorientingly speedy manner. We got ourselves organized and walked down into the town for a bit of a look. There are lots of streetside stalls and funky eating joints. We walked into a place called Glenary's (which has an amazing bakery downstairs and a restaurant/bar upstairs). A beer and soup later and we were ready to call it a night. We thought we were sleepy until we had to walk back up the road to the hotel....let's just say the heartrate gets right up there. Wide awake...and wheezing...we struggled up the stairs to the room. It's amazing what being 7000 feet up does to your aerobic capacity.
Our first evening in the Himalayas came to a sleepy end with us looking forward to 12 days of R&R.
Posted: Thu - October 23, 2003 at 01:20 PM
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Published On: Nov 21, 2003 04:41 PM
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Published On: Nov 21, 2003 04:41 PM