Delhi/Jaipur > Pushkar > Udaipur > Mumbai > Calcutta > Darjeeling > Kathmandu > Pokhara > Varanasi > Agra/Delhi |
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Calcutta - Darjeeling - Siliguri 8.2 - 12.2.2004
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| Day 19: Badnera - Calcutta Mumbai had pleasent temperatures even at nights, but it`s not the same when you speeding through Indian countryside at 100 km/hour. Fortunately I had bought a blanket from Udaipur. Woke up around 7 AM, when those salesmen started to walk up and down the aisle. Bought a cup of tea and couple tangerines for breakfast. Nice mellow day for a change: Mostly just reading and listening music Day 20: Calcutta
Arrived in Calcutta in a morning and took a cab to Sudder street via Howrah-bridge, which should be the busiest bridge in a world. Don`t know if that was so busy?After getting a room in a hostel I rested for a while. It felt quite luxorious to take a first hot shower in a week, my hostel in Mumbai had only cold water. Later went to reservation office to buy a trainticket to New Jaipalguri. Walked around Sudder Street neighbourhood in a evening. Day 21: Calcutta - New Jalpaiguri
People in Calcutta are famous for worshipping Kali. You know, that blood hungry goddess from Indiana Jones and temple of doom. So obviously there is a temple dedicated to her and I wanted to visit. When I got there "priest of a temple" immediately tags along, taking me to a tour. Unfortunately photography was forbidden inside the temple area, but let`s just say there was lots of goat sacrifices going on and plenty of blood around. Visited Victorias memorial, in a Maidan park, before heading to trainstation. And I did it in style: in a handpulled riksha. Day 22: New Jalpaiguri - Darjeeling
Train arrived in New Jaipalguri in a morning and there was jeepdrivers ready to take me to Darjeeling. Only thing is, that jeep wasn`t going anywhere until there was enough people aboard. We finally got to Darjeeling around noon. It is located 2000 m above sea level, so weather was a bit too cold for me and when I checked local weather forecast from Internet, it said that temperature is going to drop down to -6!! So I decided to get back to the valley tomorrow and head to Nepal. Day 23: Darjeeling - Siliguri
Survived that super cold night and went to toytrain station to buy ticket to Siliguri. It takes five hours more than a jeep but I couldn`t resist, since it`s pulled by a real steam locomotive. Trip is kind of boring at first, but it gets interesting later on when you start to go downhill. Only thing was, that driver got way too excited about his whistle and kept pulling it all the time. 80 km and eight hours later I was in Siligulri and crashed in to hotel near trainstation. Tomorrow: Nepal! |
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Train toilet...nice! | ||||
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Traffic jam in Calcutta | ||||
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Temple of Kali | ||||
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Darjeeling | ||||
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Toy train | ||||
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Toy train in station | ||||
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