31.01.07

Helicopters, Trains and Auto Rickshaws

Posted in India, Travel at 10:43 am by Andy

From one of the best journeys to one of the worst?

How much would you expect to pay for a helicopter ride out of the Himalayas? 25 quid can’t be bad can it? I didn’t think so either and despite a lot of worrying as to whether the chopper would leave or not due to the mist we found ourselves strapped into the back of a 5 seater, single engined… something. Sorry not enough of a nerd to name helicopters on sight.

The journey was absolutely amazing from the moment we gracefully took off, all the while flying along valleys lower than the mountains surrounding us. Even when we reached the plains near Siliguri (where I though it would be boring) we flew lower and had a true birds eye view of all the activity going on below. To top it all off we landed in a military airport base just in time to see three fighter jets roar off into the sky. Words cannot express how impressive this all was too me… Which is possibly why I love Tom Clancy’s writing so much. Full on techno nerd stuff. I only mention this as I’m in the middle of “Every Man a Tiger”. The first non fiction of his books I’ve read, but none the less fascinating. (While on the subject of books, check out Orwell’s “Burmese Days” for an interesting yet hard hitting insight into colonel life in India).

Out of the airport we were crowded by the usual taxi drivers, but this all turned into interesting banter when they found out that we were two of the crazy westerners who’d completed the
Rickshaw Run. Celebrities.

Once at the train station we were relieved to see that the waiting list gamble had paid off and that we had seats. We didn’t remain up beat for long though, as it turned out we were going to be crammed in again. This time in our compartment of eight we had fourteen. A family of five crammed into two seats is bad enough, but four burly army soldiers on two seats with masses of luggage and riffles really takes the biscuit.

I was initially really stressed, but it is amazing what a forty pence curry and a cup of chai can do. A bit later on into the journey I got chatting to the guy next to me (policeman, with wife and 3 kids occupying “two seats”) and it turned out he had also heard about the Rickshaw Run via television. True celebrities.

The fame continued when we arrived in Varanasi. After agreeing a “special price” with the rickshaw wallah (as we too were rickshaw wallahs) they guy stepped aside and let me drive his rickshaw half the distance.

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21.01.07

Gangtok

Posted in India, Travel at 12:22 pm by Andy

Our first sunny day in Darjeeling, typically, was the day we were leaving. For the first time we could see the snow capped peak the world’s third largest mountain, Kangchenjunga. We didn’t have time to take in the views however as we had a shared jeep booked to take us to the capital of Sikkim, Gangtok. The drive over was fantastic. Three hours of beautiful mountain roads that often had me fantasising of a shinny red Integrale…

Upon arrival we picked a nice sounding hostel we found in the Rough Guide. It was a good choice. Not only are the views stunning and the food good but it is the friendliest hostel I’ve experienced yet in India. Not bad for 4 pounds a night. The people up in the Himalayas are so different to all those we’ve met before. This was something we noticed when climbing the hill to Darjeeling. I think it has a lot to do with the Bhuddist Tibetan and Nepali influences.

Looking from our balcony the town, prayer flags flying, unfolds in front of us perched on the steep hillface all the way down the valley. Up the hill the otherside hang hundreds of terraced rice paddies. A little further in the distance lies the Rumtek Monistary. Above all of that the aforementioned snow covered Kangchenjunga completes the scene. Unfortunately, subsequent to our first day it has been too misty to get any decent pictures.

Since we’ve been here, we’ve been relaxing after the Rickshaw Run, reading loads and trying to get our websites updated (another day and we should be there). Yesterday we took the cable car down to the Museum of Tibetology (which was closed) and today we were up early to climb the mountain to the Enchey Monastery. We then climbed a little higher to the Ganesh Viewpoint to look at the mist followed by several nice hours in the tranquility of the Himalayan Zoological Park.

This large sanctuary is quite different to many of the zoos here. The animals have very large enclosures, so much so that you have to be lucky to see some of the animals. There is also a large focus on the breeding of endangered animals. Highlights were seeing a Himalayan Black Bear, several Red Pandas and a Leopard really close.

Next stop, Varanasi, hopefully with a Himalayan helicopter ride thrown in.

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