The Darjeeling Mail

The Darjeeling Mail is supposed to be the premier train from Calcutta towards Darjeeling, although it doesn't actually go to Darjeeling and never did. According to Wikipedia it is one of the " legendary trains in the eastern region of India that has been running from pre-independence days and is still in operation" . It runs to New Jalpaiguri from where I have a ticket for the "Toy Train" a narrow gauge railway that runs up to Darjeeling itself. 

Arrive by taxi at Kolkata's Sealdah station, the forecourt of which is a solid mass of cars and people. Some selling stuff and many bedding down for the night. Luckily I can see that the Darjeeling Mail leaves from platform 9B so make my way through the crowds to the First Class carriage at the far end of the long train where I am assigned a berth in Cabin A. The train looks grubby and tired, what a contrast to the Chinese and Russian trains I travelled on in 2014. Soon meet my travelling companions, three Indian guys. The steward puts some sheets on the berths and we leave on time. Managed to get some sleep although the air conditioning seemed to vary from frigid to sultry.

Wednesday 15th November
Wake up at 6.30, it's light  and we are travelling through a flat landscape of mostly arable agriculture. An hour later and I can see snow capped mountains in the distance. We are running late by over half hour.  It's about 8.30 when we arrive at New Jalpaiguri Station, NJP to its friends,  so not much time to find the platform for the Toy Train to Darjeeling. Looking down on the tracks from the overhead bridge it's quickly obvious where it is because the Toy Train is narrow gauge and there is only one platform serving the pair of narrow gauge tracks below, I but don't see many people waiting to board and no sign of a train. Push my way through lots of taxi touts to an information desk, show my ticket to the the woman behind the grill to be told the train is cancelled. She tells me I need to get a taxi to Silguri Junction and a bus from there. Back to the touts! Best price I can get is 300 Rupees to Silguri Junction so off we go in a slow crawl along congested roads where I see my first cows wandering through the traffic. At Silguri Junction there are several bus companies but none with buses to Darjeeling.  They all tell me I need to get a car. So in the end I get an SUV for 1500 Rupees, after much haggling over when I will pay. We leave the crowds of Silguri Junction behind passing through tea plantations and going through a big military area. After that the road starts to climb and for quite a while we follow the tracks of the toy train. Judging by how overgrown they are I can't believe any train has run over them in the last month or so. The views are spectacular but given the sharpness of the hairpins I can see why it isn't bus friendly. About a two hour journey to Darjeeling and ask the driver to take me to the Summit Grace Hotel where I am staying but, when he finds out where it is from a passer by, he arranges for a local taxi driver to take me for 200 Rupees. Up more hairpin bends to the hotel which looks quaint and cosy but the room isn't ready yet so I have a minestrone soup and coffee in the restaurant. First time I have had minestrone which is seriously spicy! And the coffee with milk turns out to be hot milk which may once have had a brief  encounter with a coffee bean. Finally I get into the room which is OK but the view from the balcony is magnificent, the snow capped Himalayas.  

What a View!



Comments

  1. Li Mandy26 November 2017 at 12:44

    The view surely makes up for what sounds an intensely stessful journey.

    ReplyDelete

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