April 29 Kolkata Subway

We decided to try the Kolkata subway system known as the best in the country. It was clean and cool and extremely cheap (about .25 per ride). The cars were full of people but the system worked well. Our first stop was the Sitambara Jain Temple. It was an oasis in the middle of Kolkata. Beautiful spacious grounds, a pool, well maintained, and a lovely glass ceiling in the main temple. There were few worshippers, but lots of polite security guards to guide us through the procedures. The biggest problem was burning our feet on the pavement since we took our shoes off too early. Photography was not allowed inside the temple.

The second temple was a total contrast. This was the Kali temple, I should have guessed there would be trouble when personnel were posted at every corner to guide us to the temple. It was a total con job with a leech guide who said he was free because he worked for the temple. He took me from post to post buying flowers, blessing flowers and then insisted on a major contribution to feed the poor. At this stage I bailed and he trailed me way out into the street insisting I pay him. I didn't and Joan and I left.

The third place was the Nakhoda Mosque. Again we had an escort, and he took us through a locked door so we could wander the second and third floors of the Mosque. Later we were allowed to wander in the courtyard but not the ground floor of the mosque. Kolkata is suffering from a major heat wave and when I looked in the main entrance theplace was full of people sleeping on the cool floor.

April 28 Fly to Kolkata(Calcutta)

I had booked the return flight from Sikkim to Calcutta with 2 days leeway before our flight home. Sure enough I got a text message the day before our flight that the bad weather (fog) meant the flight could not fly into Pakyong and the flight was moved to another airport 200km away. That was actually good news since that airport was closer to Darjeeling than Pakyong. I saved 500 rupees. All went well and we were back in Kolkata by 1 pm. The heat is still a killer. I engaged a taxi driver to take us to a temple for 6 pm, wait 40 min and bring us home. I had the guide book with a picture and he called a pow-wow with his friends at the taxi stand to sort the directions and set the price. Off we went and we were in the most decrepit taxi ever. It had 4 doors only3 of which opened. The clutch was gone so we shuddered when starting. He stopped to add water to the rad twice. We were going along in the fast lane of a dual highway when we went past a radar gun. It felt like 120 because of the rattling but we were only doing 47kph. We were glad to get home in one piece.

April 27th Walk to Bhutia Busty Monastery

I tried navigating with google maps to walk to the monastery but it didn't work. I couldn't find the paths because even being off by 5 meters meant I was on the wrong road. I gave up on Google and started asking people at every intersection which way. That worked much better. The monastery is only accessible by foot and it was a 3 km walk from the hotel. It was a very foggy day with the clouds rolling in and out all day long. We were passed by a Hindu funeral lead by two people with a conch shell and a drum. It was eerie hearing them coming in the fog, but not being able to see them. The conch shell gave off an incredibly loud and piercing sound. The monastery was quiet and empty. A guard let us in and said we could take pictures. The outside was well painted but the inside was dark and somewhat plain, We spoke to the cook and he said there was only 13 students at the monastery. We took pictures and then started back. It had been downhill all the way coming. Now it was uphill for 2 km. We stopped a lot for pictures and purchases at the family stores. In the late afternoon I wandered through the bazaar taking pictures.  There will be no pictures due to bad internet.

April 26th The Zoo and Toy Train

From out of the window

Darjeeling from a distance

The Steam engine starting off

Hard labour on the streets of Darjeeling

The Toy Train is a narrow gauge railroad built in 1880. It cut the time to reach Darjeeling from 4 days to 12 hours. The train is still in operation between Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri about 80 km away. We took a small joy ride to Ghoom, 10km down the line. There is a small museum about the railway and then we returned. The train shares the right of way with a road and crosses the road on several occasions. The track is within 1 meter of doors and shops. At one point I could have easily grabbed a bag of chips from a roadside stand. Being on a mountainside the views are impressive but the photography is poor due to poles and wires everywhere. The train stopped for photos on the Bautista loop for 10 mins. This is where the train does a loop around to gain height. The train is UNESCO heritage site and certified Guinness book of records for the oldest working steam engine.

April 25 Tea Estate and Monasteries

The main Alter

We had a driver for the day and we toured around Darjeeling. We visited 2 monasteries and a tea estate. The Yiga Choeling is 150 years old and in need of restoration. This is the first monastery to allow photography inside and I gladly paid the $2 fee to use my camera. It was a nice compromise since I wanted to make a donation anyhow. When we arrived a monk opened the doors for us, sat and played on his iPhone while Joan and I took pictures then locked up when we left

The second Monastery posted signs saying 'no photography inside'. So I put my lens cap on and went in. I was inside for 10 minutes and during that time every adult that came in took out their cell phone and snapped pictures or selfies. Then 1 of the monks inside took out his cellphone and snapped a few pictures. I joined the crowd except I used my tripod. Joan said I got so dirty looks but I dumped $4 in the donation box and reckon I paid my way

The main Building

Two of five Buddhas

Tea fields near Darjeeling

In the afternoon we visited a tea estate We got a very good tour, the guide spoke only English but it was a group of 20 and we could barely hear her. But during the tea tasting she explained further and now we are tea experts. It's all in the processing. After the tour we wandered through the tea fields. For the second night in a row we ate supper from the street vendors. Their food is delicious and cheap. A filling meal for the 2 of us is $2. So far, so good!     

April 24th Drive from Pelling to Darjeeling

The drive to Darjeeling was lon and tough. Upon checkout I learned that my breakfast and dinner were includedd in the price of the room. The bad news was the hotel didn't take Mastercard and the only ATM in town hadn't worked for 3 days. In the end an employee from the hotel drove 25 km with us so I could use an ATM in Grazing the provincial capital. Grazing has more than 1 ATM and it took 3 ATM's before we found a working one. The hotel employee got the money and made his way back to Pelling, 

The driver was a bit of a cowboy and he lost his side mirror in the first 10 km when he nicked a passing truck. On these narrow roads any passing is treacherous. In the last 25 km he lost all his antifreeze. After 2 more stops for water another commercial driver told him to use real antifreeze and add more than 1 l. of water at a time. After that we limped into Darjeeling at 16:30. Between looking for a working ATM, crossing a provincial border, and overheating 3 times – we turned a 5 hr trip into a 7.5 hour trip.

Darjeeling in in the mountains and has narrow roads like Sikkem so driving in the city is an adventure. Often cars cannot make the u-turns required for the switchbacks. They stop, bach up and do the turn in 2 sections.