25/03/2012

Ok, so today was booked as a day of relaxation. There's still plenty of fog to go round the mountains around here so still nothing to see. But we got up after 8:00 and relaxed for a bit before showers and breakfast in the room. We also asked the hosts here to book us a taxi directly to Bagdogra airport.
Afterwards we decided on going down to the Glenary bakery where we had a scone and a cake and sat down to do some web surfing - after all it's near impossible to surf up here with 3g - for the remaining 3 hotels in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and finally New Delhi. For the latter we booked the Lalit, which appears to be a "happy" medium in terms of price versus 5*, location and reviews. It's quite pricey but not in comparison with many of the other 5* hotels in New Delhi - and sure, it's our last few remaining nights in India and have to be (positively) memorable ;-)
We also ended up booking the same-day Agra trip to see the Taj Mahal and the Fort there by A/C bus from New Delhi - and we found the HOHO Bus in New Delhi too, which provides a similar hop-on/hop-off service like you'll find in many Western cities, including Dublin - so that certainly appears to be the way to go and see New Delhi and do a full loop in a day.
After nearly three hours of surfing there we also bought an interesting Banana & Walnut cake in the place before we headed off to Kunga for yet another nice meal - except that the family there today seemed rather pissy - must have been trouble in paradise earlier in the day ;-)
Just before 16:00 we returned to our room and relaxed in front of the telly and laptop - on the way in to the room we also arranged with the hosts to have the bill and remaining washing done later in the evening so that we didn't have to be messing with that stuff in the morning.

Dekeling Resort

Our living room in the resort - with the really nice fire place

30/03/2012

This morning we slept in until 8:30 and I was literally out for the whole night as there was no noise or pesky cleaners around. I went down to the gym and ran for about 45 minutes before having a shower and returning to the room.
There we had breakfast from bread, cheese and Mango jam that we had bought in the Bazaar next-door yesterday.
Then we relaxed for a bit before heading off in an auto-rickshaw to go sightseeing. As usual, tourists pay a very unfair markup to see stuff - Rs.350,- per person to see the main sights here in Lucknow versus Indians who pay only Rs.100,-. Anyway, we started off at Bara Imambara and got lost to the point where Claire was running scared and worried about how we were going to get out after about 40 minutes of walking around the labyrinths upstairs. In the end I back-tracked us to a point and got us out of there ;-) The camera, which had displayed a full battery just this morning with three bars, proceeded to run out of battery, which was really annoying and meant that for the rest of the afternoon off sightseeing I had to rely on my phone camera - so note to self, make sure to bring spare battery/camera - gadgets do lie about battery!
Then we went across to see the Clock Tower, the Picture Gallery and the Bathing Ghats outside. Afterwards we headed across to the Chota Imambara where we spent about an hour with a couple of "guides" who of course were very happy to pick us up and show us around - and be friendly, as they obviously expected to be tipped...
We also went into a park just between the Clock Tower and Chota Imambara and spent a bit of time there before we had enough. We then got hold of an auto-rickshaw and were dropped off at the hotel at around 15:00.
I sat down and copied pictures off cameras and smart phones alike as it had been a while since I backed them up - and I signed up to the Taj Internet (€10 for 24 hours but I didn't really have a choice as 3g would be more expensive). Meanwhile Claire went out to the pool and I joined her about an hour later for about an hour.
Then I went off down to the shop next door and got us some noodles and bread for dinner and we had dinner at around 18:00.
For the rest of the time before we were due to head off at 23:15 we just relaxed, watched TV and Claire had 40 winks!
When time came we walked down to reception and checked out, quickly got our car and were taken to the station. At the station we found our platform and waited for 30 minutes before the train arrived, a couple of minutes ahead of schedule - while waiting we had plenty of people staring at us as if we were aliens from another planet - and openly doing so. Anyway we got into the AC2 train carriage where chaos awaited us with about 20 people in the aisle trying to get past each other with luggage and elderly people who could hardly walk by themselves. It took nearly 30 minutes before things started settling down and luggage was packed away, well after the train had departed. Claire and I tried to go to sleep - I had some music on - but it was hard as I in particular had rude people just pulling away the curtain to my berth and then stomping off when they realised someone was there - I even called out to one of them to explain himself but the fecker ran off - I was well sick and tired of the locals at this point as many of them have no manners and are quite ignorant as well as noisy without having to be. It is a wonder that any one Indian actually sleeps at all around here and that they're not all insomniacs - especially in the trains. A little appreciation of their surroundings and fellow beings would go a long way.
What has surprised us about Lucknow is that a lot of the people here are not very friendly. They will happily "take you out" on the road, throw your goods around in the supermarket and stare at us both rudely at times and even yell things at us from cars and scooters etc - and we have no idea what it means (and no, that's not paranoia as we both noticed/witnessed it). We have found that people are generally only nice to you if they are wanting something from you, mostly a tip, which is pretty annoying. Also, there are countless kids around  ages 4-8 running around here and begging - much more so than any other place where we have been. We were actually really looking forward to leaving for these reasons - not a very pleasant place.
The only positive surprise is that auto-rickshaw drivers are less inclined to try and screw you - on two occasions we had the driver outright quote us Rs.100,- with no haggling for more than 8km, which would be unheard of elsewhere - on one occasion they (2 guys in the front) quoted Rs.200,- for a 7km ride but we just walked off - 5 seconds later they came up alongside us and asked for Rs.150,- to which I firmly said "100 Rupees and no more!" - they caved in and accepted. What you need to do is walk along the roads and have a driver stop and ask you - at that point you negotiate the rate and DO NOT enter the rickshaw until there is agreement. The reason is that these guys are hungry for a ride - oftentimes you will find that parked-up auto-rickshaw guys will quote you an arm and a leg as they are not really bothered unless of course you're "stupid" enough to accept. You can test auto-rickshaw drivers by just walking past them - if they don't bother "harassing" you then you know they're not that hungry and you just move on past the next one ;-)

Lucknow - Bara Imambara

Lucknow - Mosque at Bara Imambara

Lucknow - main square of Bara Imambara

Lucknow - Clock Tower

Lucknow - Bathing Ghats

Lucknow - tower next to Bathing Ghats

Lucknow - Chota Imambara main entrance

Chota Imambara - the king's bathing area inside

Lucknow - a building inside Chota Imambara

Lucknow - main square of Chota Imambara

29/03/2012

While Claire was completely out on the train for nearly 10 hours I did wake up on occasion from the woman coughing and the man snoring - and from the train stopping and starting. But I did have a few hours of sleep and didn't feel too bad - while Claire, of course, was full of energy.
We got up at 8:00 and were chatting with the couple below us until 10:30 when we arrived in Lucknow. Just before we arrived they asked us if we wanted to share a cab, which we accepted as they were going roughly the same way. So she went off and arranged a cab for us and we got all our luggage loaded into a tiny little car (I was sitting in the front seat with my big backpack squeezed between my legs) and were on our way. She told about where stuff was and which buildings were which on the way out and on arrival we agreed to swap details to stay in touch.
After goodbyes they took off and we went in to check-in to the hotel at around 11:30 - we got a quiet room in the far end of one the hotel wings and the room was nice so no complaints there. We showered and clothed and were then on our way to see the Residency of Lucknow, which is a bunch of ruins after the 1857 uprising there where it served as a refuge for about 3.000 British. After walking around there for a couple of hours and visiting the on-site museum we exited and then walked east into town where we had a look around the shopping streets etc. In the end we ended up on M.G. Road at 16:00 and had food in the Cafe Royale, which consisted of Momo's, Biryani, Aloo Jeera and garlic toast - this was the first real meal of the day so we stuffed ourselves well beyond normal amounts.
Then we decided to walk back to hotel and were back half an hour later where we went to the supermarket next door and bought stuff for breakfast - as breakfast isn't included in the room rate - and allows us to get up and do whatever we want to do tomorrow. After all we need to check out at 12:00 but our train doesn't leave the station for Jaipur until 0:30, so we want to stay in the room for as long as possible - after which we'll go sightseeing again for the rest of the day before returning to the hotel for our luggage and then go to the station.
After returning to our room we just relaxed in front of the TV for the rest of the evening before going to sleep.

Lucknow - The Residency main building

Lucknow - nice building

Lucknow - another nice building

Vivanta by Taj in Lucknow

28/03/2012

This morning we had a "lie-in" as I didn't get up until just before 8:00 and Claire stayed in bed while I trotted down to the gym for a run. I hadn't been to the gym since Kolkata and in the meantime we had been in Darjeeling for 5 days - I don't know if it was the latter (because of the elevation and then coming back down to "thicker" air) or whether my body just craved a good run but I held a really good pace between 11.3 - 13.5km for just over an hour before I stopped. It was good and I felt great afterwards.
So after showers we went for breakfast and then returned to the room to finish packing. We relaxed for a bit and finally checked out and left our luggage in reception at 11:30. Then we headed off outside and decided to walk to the Ram Bagh park.
Little did we know, however, that it was a public holiday and all the shops were shut. However, it did mean that there was hardly any traffic or madness on the roads and on the pavements so we were actually walking in relative "peace" down to the park. There we found lots of Indians playing their favourite sport Cricket on every strip of grass, pavement, road, alley etc. We had countless offers to join (well me, anyway) but resigned ourselves to just sit and watch for a while.
We also went to the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama + mini-park, which was quite impressive with all the figures and scenes and settings. And i took pictures of the big Singh statue on the east end of the park too.
After spending a couple of hours there and trying some of their local refreshment drinks made by hand we finally decided to trot back to the hotel. There we had a coffee in the foyer while reading news and relaxing.
Then just before 16:00 we went up to the restaurant and had a couple of really good chicken curries (one made with largely tomatoes as the sauce - nearly Italian in style if not for the hotness and spices ;-) At just after 17:00 we paid up, got our luggage and walked down to the station, which was literally only 7-8 minutes away by foot.
We then went to the upper class waiting room and passed 1.5 hours there before the train arrived on the platform outside and we boarded.
There we met an older Indian couple who are living in the UK. At first we didn't get on so well because they weren't happy with the "cleanliness" of the berth and the fact that the beds hadn't been made when they arrived. Also the man wasn't happy that he was sharing with Claire and I because he hadn't seen us on the list outside - and we happened to have booked an upper and a lower berth - and they wanted two lower berths.
I let that one pass for a while, not giving in because I was pressured to - so after sitting down for a while and doing a bit of small talk I finally offered them the lower berths of my own volition, which they happily accepted. From then on we got on quite well and Claire and the wife were chatting a lot about the NHS because the couple were both doctors - one a surgeon and the other a gynaecologist. We also chatted about India and even China, which they had previously visited. At around 21:00 we parted ways and Claire and I went on the upper bunks where Claire read for a bit before going to sleep while I was playing a bit with the laptop before listening to some music and going to sleep.
However, we both agreed that two of the best days we have had in India were definitely Amritsar - very friendly people and a very nice place to visit!

Amritsar - Building at Ram Bagh Park

An impressive figure outside the Panorama in Ram Bagh park

The Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama in Ram Bagh Park

One of the panoramas inside the Panorama building

A painting inside the Panorama building

The Maharaja statue in Ram Bagh Park

27/03/2012

Last night we spoke to the receptionist about hiring a cab to see the Pakistani/India border crossing but it turns out they'd do a full package with guide where we got to see the Golden Temple and a couple of other temples before going to the border. So we decided this morning to take them up on the offer for a full day with driver/guide. Probably very expensive in their terms but taking the hassle out of sightseeing- and the driver turned out to be quite nice.
We first booked the package in reception after getting up and showering and then went for a nice enough breakfast in the hotel.
At 10:00 we met the driver and were on our way to the Golden Temple. The temple was definitely one of the highlights of our trip as we got to see their giant and mythical Chapatti machine, which took up a whole room. We also got to do the community supper, which consisted of sweet rice pudding with almonds, a curry with beans and of course chapatti! Very nice and a great experience to be sitting in a giant room with a heap of other people on long mats to be served food and eating. There was also a small plot of grass etc to see and an open prayer room.
Then we did a small donation to "pay" for our food and went into the queue to get inside the temple and queued for about an hour to see the the inside, which was very impressive with gold and a huge chandelier. It was also where all the prayer music was emanating from as there was a "band" inside consisting of a bongo-like drum, an unknown string instrument and a singer - all of them male.
Back outside we headed off after nearly three hours there and we got to see another couple of temples before heading for the border at 14:00. On the way we got into an accident as a motorbike with two men stalled just in front of us but thanks to our driver's quick braking noone was hurt. Two cops appeared out of nowhere immediately and our driver just managed to get his seat belt on before they had a look. They quickly decided that it was the motorbike's fault and waved us on - the drivers had no helmets on and stalled in front of us so they were given a severe brow beating as we passed.
As we arrived by the border we realised that we were an hour early at 15:00 and that it wasn't open yet so we had to go to a restaurant by the road side and sit and wait while having something to eat to get access to seating- so I had to get 4 Samosas of which I donated two to the driver and ate 2 myself while hoping I wouldn't regret it - though they were nice tasting. Claire also got us a couple of coffees as we were both getting tired. Just before 16:00 we went to the queue for the border and that's when absolutely mayhem/madness started. There were literally thousands of Indians coming to see this as well as a few tourists. We were all literally herded into multiple queues with the women, including Claire, separated from the men - I was in front of our guide while waiting 25 minutes before they started letting the women and children in. After a further 10 minutes it was finally the men's turn and jez that was nearly scary as that was the closest I have been to a stampede with pushing, shoving, trampling and squeezing people through the gate. Not only that but on the other side they maintained strict separation of men from the rest while women etc walked down towards the stalls - and this was vigorously enforced by military personnel on horses and with sticks. Scary shit really. Finally we, the men, were let through to security where they were giving out about my camera bag as bags not allowed but let me through after seeing contents - both Claire and I kind of knew but the guide told us not to worry - and neither of us were prepared to leave our bags or belongings behind in the car. By then I obviously lost track of Claire and guide so I walked down to the stalls myself and climbed up the stairs through pushy Indians - only 5 min later to realise my mistake, ie. that I had gotten up on the stalls with Indians but that there were separate tourist stalls if you had a passport, which I did. I was told this by the guide when he spotted me but by then it was too late as it was just too packed and people were seriously pushing and shoving for entry and advantage in terms of view to the border. So I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to spend my time there with thousands of Indians whether I wanted to or not. So I climbed my way over to the furthest corner from the border but with the most direct view and texted Claire - and finally mounted my telescopic zoom lens onto the camera for some shots. Then started the show - and jez what a show - John Cleese would seriously have something to learn from these guys for his mad walking sketch :-) All the while lots of Pro-Indian beats where played loudly while some well-known Indian was running around with a mike to stir up people while also going to the military performers to have them scream whatever they were screaming while all this funny walking business was going on. Seriously funny to watch and to see how ma... nationalistic the Indian people- as with their Pakistani counter parts on the other side. Also lots of Indian women were invited down to dance around with their kids - but apparently that was also a bit of a jibe against the Pakistani side because Pakistani women allegedly aren't allowed to dance to music; or so I'm told... So anyway in the midst of all this madness a perfectly OK looking young Indian guy literally puked his guts up right next to me, while a lot of other men were rubbing his back while it happened WTF?!) - not sure what was wrong with him but afterwards he stood up and looked perfectly OK - maybe migraine or something, but nonetheless the stink was pretty bad and everyone kind of edged away from the output and left a big empty circle there. After about half an hour of this and countless pictures and video clips on my camera it finally ended and I trotted back to the car where I met the guide and ultimately Claire. Then we were off again to another Hindu temple called the Malta Temple and consisted of long labyrinthine walkways and caves on the way to the main shrine and you walked through water ways as well and lots of mirrors were around. It took a good while to go through it and we were constantly engaged by curious Indians and spoke to quite a few of them. Afterwards, when we got to the main shrine, the hi-jacked us to the inner circle of well-off and well known men who were sitting with a guru-looking man and we were all clapping along to their music while seeing this guru distributing some kind of symbolic rupees to his fellow friends. We were also awarded huge flower necklaces, for lack of a better word, on two occasions while all this went on. Unbeknownst to us all this was televised through multiple cameras to the whole city of Amritsar!!! No warning but we spotted it and the guys next to us were laughing while telling us - needless to say we were a bit mortified!:-) After about 10 min there we finally got out of the ring and met an impatient guide as he at this stage had had a long day with us and it was nearly 20:00. So he drove us back to the hotel and we gave him the agreed Rs.2.000,- for the day plus a Rs.300,- tip because he had been the best guide we ever had while here! He even contacted the hotel again who contacted us to make sure we were happy to pay him this much of a tip. We then proceeded to order room service food and then watched the One Week with Marylin Monroe movie before finally succumbing to tiredness. We both agreed that this day was probably the best day we have had in India. And to top it off, the people here in Amritsar are really nice and friendly - definitely one of the friendliest place we have encountered!

The entrance to the Golden Temple

People busy at the Chapatti machine at the Golden Temple - in a large room outputting lots of Chapatti's - really impressive stuff

Park next to the Golden Temple

The Golden Temple

Another impressive building at the Golden Temple

A large statue on the west-side of Amritsar towards the Pakistani border

The mad-walking society on the Indian side of the Indian-Pakistani border before it all  kicks off

Prime example of the madness that befell us on both sides of the border

Here's a real Indian soldier overlooking the border where all the funny-walking was carried out

This is the temple and area where we were hijacked into the middle to sit and clap to the music with the inner circle - televised to the whole city without our knowledge

26/03/2012

Today was a big travel day. We got up before 7:00, showered, I had breakfast and Claire had none due to her travel sickness and instead popped a Vomistop pill.<br>

We said our goodbyes to over hosts and they gave us two good luck shawls for the journey.<br>

Our driver du-jour turned out to be the same driver we had for tiger hill and he got us down to Bagdogra airport without incident in 3 hours. Temperature on the way went up by at least 15C to more than 30C as we descended more than 2000m and we were well sweaty when we reached the airport.
We checked in and waited about half an hour before boarding commenced and plane to Delhi was on time leaving at 13:25 and went without incident and we landed at 15:30 in Delhi.
After having a look around in the airport shops we went for something to eat in a Chinese outlet - Claire wasn't impressed with her Dimsum, chips and springrolls but my Chilli Combo meal was pretty good.
Claire went looking in more shops while I sat down and wrote a few emails before we headed down to the gate. We were actually well impressed with the domestic airport terminal we were in because it was new, large and well spacious. Some of the art was also very good there.
Again we boarded on time on a propeller plane and were on our way on time again at 18:45. We arrived in Amritsar airport at 20:00 and got our luggage, which was another worry out of the way given the horror stories we have heard :-)
At the prepaid cab stand we were well screwed but we didn't have much choice, ending up paying Rs.800,- to take us 15km to our hotel in a Jeep. Not impressed but too tired to argue further with the a*hole.
However our hotel and room turned out to be quite nice and after checking in and having a walk around the hotel we ended up in the Behind Bars bar for a couple of drinks while watching Indian music videos on a projector screen.
At 23:00 we went up to bed, well tired...

Darjeeling town below Dekeling resort - dreary fog for 5 days - sigh...

Our hostess at Dekeling Resort

An impressive sculpture depicting Yoga positions in New Delhi domestic airport

24/03/2012

Thank the higher beings that this morning was the final day of our Japanese noise makers from above - I woke up first at 3:30 when they scampered around for about 20 minutes for no apparent reason and then went quiet again. And again at 5:30 after which I gave up sleep and started reading and subsequently played with the laptop. I heard and saw all the Japanese tourists taking off with their guide outside at around 8:30 and sighed a huge breath of relief.
Claire finally woke up at 9:00 and we sh owered after which we were offered breakfast. Our hosts then offered us to move upstairs for a couple of last quiet nights here, which we obviously gladly accepted - so we packed our stuff and moved it ups tairs while they prepared the new room and the room below.
Then we went off on our touristy business again - to the Botanical Gardens here. They were so-so but the houses scattered around the Gardens contained exotic flowers and plants and were actually very impressive and colourful.
Claire also found 3 new pals in the form of 3 girls around 10 who were very interested in talking to here - they had surprisingly good English so they must be learning that from very early age. After about 10 minutes with them hovering around us we said our goodbyes and headed back up to the Chowrasta Square where we had a couple of drinks in the form of an iced tea and a coffee in Cafe Coffee Day.
Afterwards we walked around in some of the stores in Chowrasta, including the Oxford bookshop, which was well worth a visit although we didn't buy anything. We also popped in to the Nathmulls tea shop for the second time while here and bought some more tea - for Claire's parents, as we have been quite impressed by the quality that we have sampled here.
Then we had another nice lunch in Dekevas and then visited some stalls - after which we returned back to our room at around 15:00. Claire had a snooze for about an hour while I relaxed on the couch with the laptop. Then around 17:30 we walked back into town and had another feast in Kunga.
We have eaten a lot lately while here in Darjeeling and it's starting to show ;-) The Tibetan and local food here is sooo nice - I really enjoy the soups and Momo's and Claire the Chillies, Curries and Momo's too.
On reflection we both think that as positively surprising Kolkata was Darjeeling is the exact opposite. It is noisy, suffers from air pollution from literally thousands of jeeps and other transport, it's cold (as in 12-15C) when the fog is really thick and the sun blocked out and generally very foggy. So the great & clear views we thought we were going to see have not been forthcoming - and we're quite frankly disappointed. That is, except for one area of the trip up here - the most excellent food and tea. It really is well worth sampling. But it doesn't quite make up for not being able to see the Himalayas mountain range and in particular Kanchenjunga - it's a bitch, as this was supposed to be one of my personal highlights on the trip. Never mind, there's bound to be disappointments on long trips like this and we just have to stay positive about the rest we have seen - and will come to see ;-) Well, actually - come to think of it, the accommodation was also very nice apart from the noise and lack of sound insulation as you would expect from a 175 year old building - and in fairness, the hosts did attend to us quite well and we ended up being upgraded to a room more than twice the price of what we paid - for free. That, and of course the fire places, which were fantastic and just added that extra personal "cabin" and luxury touch ;-)
So anyway, we returned back to our room just after 19:00 and I put the fire on, which quickly heated our living room. Claire planted herself in one seat and watched countless soccer games (Europe/UK) while I was playing with the laptop in the couch. Finally at 23:00 we went to bed.

The inside of a green house inside the Darjeeling Botanical Garden

23/03/2012

So, this morning we woke up at 3:00 - there really was no need for us to set our alarms for 3:50 for pickup at 4:30 because our Japanese "friends" above us got up much earlier and starting walking and banging around in their room. So after reading the latest news I got up and had a shower. We had some coffee and around 4:20 we exited our room and walked down to the end of the road for pickup.
However, no car emerged at 4:30 so at 4:45 we walked back up the hill to the resort where I accidentally woke up the dog while I was looking for other exits/entrances where the driver could be waiting - just in case. This prompted the hostess of the resort to wake up and come out - and we notified her that we had seen nothing of the driver so she started ringing around and finally got hold of him - he was on his way...
Nearly 20 minutes later we were finally picked up at 5:00, half an hour late - the driver excused himself with not having heard the alarm - fair play to him for not making up some elaborate story.
We were on our way and after a fair few involuntary stops due to queues along the way to Tiger Hill (lots of cars going there at this time in the morning) we arrived after about 45 minutes while it was starting to get bright. Unfortunately a thick fog had developed overnight, which followed us all the way from the resort and to Tiger Hill - so there was nothing to see until after about 10 minutes up there when the sun finally came out of the fog, well above the horizon. So no mountain ranges then...
After a further few minutes there with literally hundreds of people fighting for spots we decided it was pointless to remain there and instead returned to the car where we asked the driver to drop us off on a scenic route back to Darjeeling by foot, as suggested by the hosts. And they were right, it was a really nice walk in a quiet area with little going on although we did meet a fair few people, must of which were friendly enough to offer Good Morning and Namaste's back to us.
After just over one hour of walking we were back in Darjeeling, i.e. at around 7:20 only to realise that no breakfast places were open. So instead we went on the hunt for an ATM and after 4 tries we finally found one in working order - clearly ATMs up here are not a bank priority.
After being ignored by the staff in one breakfast place for 15 minutes we got up and went back to our favourite place Kunga where I had fruit muesli (freshly chopped!) with curd - and Claire had a cheese omelette and some of that really nice plain Tibetan bread with butter - yum!
After breakfast when went for a walk past first a museum and then around Observatory Hill, but at a lower level and ended up spending quite some time walking both down and up before returning back to Chowrasta. From there we went down to the Zoo and spent about an hour - and spotted a black bear, a black panter, a snow leopard, royal bengal tiger etc - we also spotted a few specimen of the red Panda, which neither of us had heard of or seen before - just as lazy as its black counterparts it must be added - a lot of slouching going on there ;-)
Then we had a look at the Himalayan Mountaineering Museum, which was pretty impressive too - it sported a lot of equipment used by many of the famous Mt. Everest climbers in the long gone past.
At this point, at around 12:00, we were very tired and decided that we would get some takeaway food, which we would bring back home for later - but first have a nice snooze. After 3 nights of little sleep I was pretty messed up. So back in our room at 13:00 we went to sleep and I had 1.5 hours before getting up again.
At this point (Claire still sleeping) I cleaned the fire place and started a fire, had something to eat etc before Claire woke up. After a shower she also had something to eat and we made some of that nice Darjeeling tea that we had bought in a shop yesterday - we also shared a Tuborg that Claire had been around for more than a week.
From then on it was pure relaxation in front of the laptop and the telly while the fire was keeping us toasty.

This exactly captures tiger hill - fog, sun not out until well above the horizon, absolutely no mountains to see - and lots of people - a letdown...

Black bear in the zoo

Snow leopard in the zoo

Royal Bengal Tiger - gone cookoo from the enclosure - just walking back and forth along the fence in a mindless state

The black panther

Kunga Restaurant - the highlight of Darjeeling - really nice food!

22/03/2012

Movement upstairs started just after 5:00 and predictably I woke up again after a few hours of sleep. It was one person alternating and shuffling between the living room, the bedroom and the bathroom in shoes - eventually the rest of them woke up and started moving around too after 6:00. It was really infuriating and I didn't get much sleep after - even Claire woke up and wondered what was going on.
Finally at 7:30 I gave up and got up and showered - and so did Claire. Just after 8:00 the owners knocked on the door and served us breakfast. I brought up the noise and asked them if we could please have the Deluxe room we had originally booked in the hotel because, as I had read, it was on the top floor (attic). They promised to check but soon returned and told me that all was booked out and that they couldn't even move me to a top floor in the resort because it was all booked out too - but they said that the Japanese people upstairs had been asked to keep it quiet (through their guide as they spoke no English) and would stay only for 3 nights after which the resort would switch us upstairs. I was not happy, but what could we do, short of going on the hunt for another hotel.
We ate breakfast and got out the door just before 10:00 and then went exploring. We first went to Chowrasta and walked around Observatory Hill and saw the monestary on top of the hill too. We had lunch in the Develekas, where we had Tibetan bread, Tibetan Butter tea, steamed Momos with soup and Dumplings with chicken soup - very hearty meal and we were ready for the off afterwards again.
Then we walked across town and saw the Dali monestary by the main road of Darjeeling going towards Ghoom. Then we walked down to the Burpek Palace where we had a quick couple of pictures before walking back into town (up-up-up - very hilly around here!). While nearing the Palace I was actually stopped by a youth who asked me if I wanted to sell weed - I thought I misheard him and asked "Sorry, what?" - "Would you like some Marijuana?" - "Erhm, NO thank you!" ;-)
In town we found a Coffee Day and had an Irish Coffee (non-alcoholic) and a Frappucino. Then we walked back up Chowrasta where we had a quick look at a market and St. Andrew's Church before heading back to Kunga for dinner. This time we had 2 huge big spring rolls and a Chicken Curry with rice - again, big enough to feed a small army. Just after we had ordered the place literally filled up in 5 minutes and two girls from New Zealand and Canada, respectively, came in. As there were no seats available we offered them two cramp together on the bench so that they could sit on chairs on the other side of the table with us. We were speaking with them as we were eating and found out that they were in their mid-twenties, had arrived in Delhi, then just flown to Darjeeling where they would stay for 3 nights before heading off again - ultimately going to a wedding in Mumbai for a friend of theirs from Mumbai who had worked with them on cruise ships.
After the meal we headed back to the resort and into our room. While listening to the goings-on with shuffling feet and shoes upstairs, we had a visit from our male host who arranged for a cab for us to go and see the sunrise on Tiger Hill in the morning - turns out that the Japanese are going too so it's probably a good idea that we sync with them given the noise (we would have been woken up by 4:00) as we will need to depart in the morning at 4:30 to experience the sunrise.
Later he also came around with more firewood for our fire, which was nice - we think they are trying to make amends over the room issue, which is nice of them really.
Then we sat back and relaxed in front of the television before heading off to bed.

The Japanese Peace Pagoda

Chowrasta Square

A monestary on top of Observatory Hill

Another monestary in town

The toy train as it passed under the monestary

A common picture in Darjeeling - full of fog