darjeeling is a hill station...originally created by the brits, there isn't much evidence of them anymore...some of you have probably heard the name, but in reference to tea...something like 25% of india's tea is grown in this area...darjeeling is part of west bengal, india's most populated state...it's a wierdly shaped state, and i'm surprised that it's all one state...kinda like creating one state out of washington, oregon and california...with alaska in there as well...the people at the top are nothing like the people at the bottom...darjeeling is in the himalayas, and it's totally different from the main part of the subcontinent...different clothes, languages, scenery, food, traditions, etc...the people look different too, as many weren't descended from the same ethnic groups as in the rest of india...they're much more closely related to nepalis, tibetans and burmese...it's a buddhist area...we felt completely at home, as it is quite similar to many of the areas we saw while trekking in nepal...i'm not sure why, but darjeeling wasn't at all what i expected...before arriving, i expected a smaller town, and a quiet town...it was far bigger than i had imagined, louder (though not at night, as darjeeling gets quiet not too long after the sun goes down...it's definitely NOT a party town) and had a lot more people...for travelers, it's a tea town, and an area in which to organize trekking...layna and i wanted the tea...we learned quite a bit about tea, and i learned that i have lower class taste in tea...i don't taste the difference between a good tea and a bad tea...each day we went to a tea house and tried a different tea, and i could only barely taste a difference...had i not known what i was drinking, i wouldn't have thought them that much different from lipton...(yes, i know, you tea people are shrieking that i could say such a thing)...
we didnt do a lot in darjeeling except enjoy tea...we saw another movie, called billu barber...again, despite it not being in english, it was relatively easy to understand...and of course, there was a happy ending...
after darjeeling we took the toy train to siliguri...the toy train has been designated a UNESCO world heritage sight...it was originally built between the two towns as a way to move potatoes around...it goes slowly, of course, and around rather tight corners...13 times it has a z crossing...that is, the train goes forward, stops and goes backward onto a diagonal track, then stops again, and switches again onto a new track, this one lower than the first track...it took 8 hours to go 80km...from siliguri we rode our last train in india, to kolkata...
the 2nd biggest city in india, and most often known as a poor city...mother theresa's motherhouse is there...so is a huge cathedral, st paul's...so is the victoria memorial, which is like a cross between the US capital building in washington DC, and i don't know what...you're not allowed to take pictures inside, which seems a little silly to me...i took a picture of a quote by queen victoria before finding out about the photography prohibition, and 30 minutes later as i was leaving, someone chased me down and had me delete it!!! i liked the quote, so i walked back over and wrote it down...why are pictures not allowed of inscriptions?
kolkata is built on either side of a dirty river, and there is a busy, well known (to some people anywho, definitely not to me) bridge over it...the howrah bridge, i think? anywho, for yet another unknown reason (to me) photography of the bridge is strictly prohibited...but they do sell postcards of it...so of course i did my best to figure out how to get such a picture...i did, though it involved walking through slums, and dealing with the very pervalent smell of urine, and EVERY SINGLE GUY i passed calling out something along the lines of sexy mother, or worse...(for the record, the slums in mumbai weren't nearly as uncomfortable)...
layna and i had some tailoring done in kolkata, which was fun...i had one of the traditional salwar suits made...i've never had clothes made especially for me...i loved the way it turned out...it's probably a good thing we usually stick to our budget, because i was tempted to have several more made...they're colourful, and very very comfortable...
our last adventure before leaving kolkata was as a result of a mistake i made...i have no idea how i did it, but i thought our departure time was really really really early in the morning, so i thought we'd just go to the airport late evening...but i was off by ten hours...our flight left at 1145, not 0145...fortunately, we were able to stay with a local family, which was a fantastic experience...by far the best biryani i've ever eaten...they were incredibly friendly, and i had a good time getting to know them in the little time we had...
it's a good thing we stayed with the family, and didn't just spend the whole night at the airport...the international terminal of the kolkata airport is small, and has VERY few facilities...the ONLY duty free was alcohol, and a few chocolates...just one room...we were whisked to the premier check in line at our airline though, which was great...
goodbye to india...i miss it a lot...everything else will be so easy...
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