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Jeremy's 2008 Darjeeling India Trip

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[quote][i]Originally posted by jbelmont[/i]
[br]I've been to India many times to attend spiritual gatherings and see programmers to help with the notary directory.  But, on my 2008 trip, a friend of mine wanted to go with me to Darjeeling -- the jewel of the himalayas.  Darjeeling is in an out of the way part of India.  Technically its in West Bengal, but near the border of the restricted area of Sikkim. Sikkim used to belong to Tibet, but the Indians took it over as a buffer between them and China.  The military have a heavy presence on both sides of the border, and foreigners are restricted. 
 
So, we flew to Calcutta as our first leg of the trip.  Calcutta is a very poor part of India, and the city looks like the other metros of India probably looked thirty years back with bicycle rick shaws, and ... well... for lack of a better term, poverty, and lots of it.  The other attribute of Calcutta besides poverty was humidity, heat, and cab drivers that quote one rate and then try to charge double.   My friend was very generous giving away her money to strangers and couldn't be disuaded from doing so.  In my opinion, people will not be encouraged to keep their word unless others hold them to it. So giving in, doesn't do you, them, or society a favor, but encourages people to continue bad dishonest habits. Since I had never had local Bengali cuisine, we stopped at a famous hotel's restaurant and had some local specialties.  They were all very odd tasting and didn't resemble cuisine from any of the other provinces of India that I'm familiar with.  We had fish, shrimp, rice, and some vegetable dishes. Bengalis are famous for fish by the way.
 
Then, on to the crowded and humid train station.  My Indian friends are very clean cut, and refrain from alcohol and meat.  But, not everyone in India is so pure like them -- as we found out.  There was a drug bust in the train's waiting room as a man who was half conscious was dragged out of the bathroom and was strung out on some type of drug.  Police and attendants went in and out of the bathroom, and then it got quiet after the  man was dragged out.  Our train was late, but it finally came.  We lugged our heavy stuff to the train, and then it was time for a 14 hour overnight train ride.  Luckily, Indian trains have beds, so it was easy to sleep, if you ignore the shrill screams from the three year old who's parents were sharing the compartment with us.  After the second time being rudely woken up I loudly announced that I was sleeping and to please keep the noise down.  The family's point of view was that it was okay to abuse my ear drums, but not okay for me to be impatient.  
 
The next morning, I experienced the familiar pleasures of Indian train rides:  The "Chai valla".  Valla means salesperson or operator in Hindi..  Each chai valla in India has their own unique mantra or song they sing when selling their chai.  Some sing in a very low voice, while others go up and down with their voice. I find it so endearing I wrote a comedy routing of people who had auditions to be a chai valla.  Most of those auditioning were from America, Tibet, or some other place, so each person had a very unique style in my skit.  Each chai or coffee is only five rupees which is about twelve cents, but is very small.  So, I'll commonly have three or four cups of various caffinated drinks, plus snacks.    Sometimes there are multitudes of these impovrished salespeople making a cacophony trying to sell their goods.    
 
Chai chai chai --- cold drink cold drink cold drink.... lice cream lice cream... banlilal lice cream.... copy copy ... nes-copy...copy copy copy... copy nescopy, lays, lays, lays, potato chips lays, lays, lays.  ....... chai garam chai garam chai..........................peeenapple....peeenaple..... chai chai chai chai chai.... chai chai chai...
 
I became very curious what lice cream was.  I learned that its Ice cream, but made by the Banilal company.  So, they say Banila-Lice Cream when they put the words together, so it sounds like lice cream.  I thought it meant vanilla ice cream.  Copy means coffee, and Nes-copy means Nescafe Coffee. Brand names are the words used to describe American products in India.  Nobody knows what Orange soda is, but everyone knows what Fanta is. 
 
So, finally we got to a train station in some tiny impovrished town in Northern Bengal.  There were beggers everywhere and an endless supply of non-English speaking cab drivers competing for our business and handouts.  I learned that in many poor parts of India, the upper class complain that they can't find good maids, while there are endless people begging on the streets.  Maybe someone should start a maid school (then everyone would have it made).  We found an English speaking cab driver. We agreed to hire him for a fixed price for our journey, and then he deposited us into a car with a non-english speaking driver.  I said.... Hold on!!! We hired you because you speak English, so, you need to be our driver.  I talked him into it.  I'm very talented at talking people into things -- particularly in India.
 
We enjoyed a nice drive through the plains, and then it got hilly.  The colors of the buildings becuase like hill colors with the aqua and light green and purple colors painted onto the small houses dotting the countryside up the hill.  Then, we got to tea country.  California has wine country, Bengal has tea country.  Each tea plantation looks the same.  There are always lines of tea plants, with a tree every 40 feet, and a well placed seven foot tall boulder every here and there.  You can't have tea country without a tea museum, and those are very predictable too.  Then, we got into mountainous territory and the roads became trecherous.  Little did I know that it would get worse and worse the more our journey went on.  We past a beautiful monastary in Ghoom.  Such a gloomy name!  Doom and Ghoom! I wanted to go back to that monastary after we got checked in, and it was worth it.
 
Finally we got to the hotel which was at the top of a precipitous hill. We had to walk up six flights of stairs with our heavy bags, and were greeted by a Tibettan staff.  The border part of India has many Tibettan refugees, Nepalis, Lecherons ( a type of Himalayan ethnic group ), and Bhutanis, so the culture, is very Asian, and not so Indian.  We enjoyed some mountain style dumplings and then it was time for doom and Ghoom.  The monastary was spectacular, and we begged to hear the sounds of the huge horns, but they had a strict policy of only using horns during Buddhist prayers.
 
Please read more in part 2.

[/quote]

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T O P I C R E V I E W

jbelmont

Posted - 10/28/2010 : 01:05:37 AM

I've been to India many times to attend spiritual gatherings and see programmers to help with the notary directory. But, on my 2008 trip, a friend of mine wanted to go with me to Darjeeling -- the jewel of the himalayas. Darjeeling is in an out of the way part of India. Technically its in West Bengal, but near the border of the restricted area of Sikkim. Sikkim used to belong to Tibet, but the Indians took it over as a buffer between them and China. The military have a heavy presence on both sides of the border, and foreigners are restricted.

So, we flew to Calcutta as our first leg of the trip. Calcutta is a very poor part of India, and the city looks like the other metros of India probably looked thirty years back with bicycle rick shaws, and ... well... for lack of a better term, poverty, and lots of it. The other attribute of Calcutta besides poverty was humidity, heat, and cab drivers that quote one rate and then try to charge double. My friend was very generous giving away her money to strangers and couldn't be disuaded from doing so. In my opinion, people will not be encouraged to keep their word unless others hold them to it. So giving in, doesn't do you, them, or society a favor, but encourages people to continue bad dishonest habits. Since I had never had local Bengali cuisine, we stopped at a famous hotel's restaurant and had some local specialties. They were all very odd tasting and didn't resemble cuisine from any of the other provinces of India that I'm familiar with. We had fish, shrimp, rice, and some vegetable dishes. Bengalis are famous for fish by the way.

Then, on to the crowded and humid train station. My Indian friends are very clean cut, and refrain from alcohol and meat. But, not everyone in India is so pure like them -- as we found out. There was a drug bust in the train's waiting room as a man who was half conscious was dragged out of the bathroom and was strung out on some type of drug. Police and attendants went in and out of the bathroom, and then it got quiet after the man was dragged out. Our train was late, but it finally came. We lugged our heavy stuff to the train, and then it was time for a 14 hour overnight train ride. Luckily, Indian trains have beds, so it was easy to sleep, if you ignore the shrill screams from the three year old who's parents were sharing the compartment with us. After the second time being rudely woken up I loudly announced that I was sleeping and to please keep the noise down. The family's point of view was that it was okay to abuse my ear drums, but not okay for me to be impatient.

The next morning, I experienced the familiar pleasures of Indian train rides: The "Chai valla". Valla means salesperson or operator in Hindi.. Each chai valla in India has their own unique mantra or song they sing when selling their chai. Some sing in a very low voice, while others go up and down with their voice. I find it so endearing I wrote a comedy routing of people who had auditions to be a chai valla. Most of those auditioning were from America, Tibet, or some other place, so each person had a very unique style in my skit. Each chai or coffee is only five rupees which is about twelve cents, but is very small. So, I'll commonly have three or four cups of various caffinated drinks, plus snacks. Sometimes there are multitudes of these impovrished salespeople making a cacophony trying to sell their goods.

Chai chai chai --- cold drink cold drink cold drink.... lice cream lice cream... banlilal lice cream.... copy copy ... nes-copy...copy copy copy... copy nescopy, lays, lays, lays, potato chips lays, lays, lays. ....... chai garam chai garam chai..........................peeenapple....peeenaple..... chai chai chai chai chai.... chai chai chai...

I became very curious what lice cream was. I learned that its Ice cream, but made by the Banilal company. So, they say Banila-Lice Cream when they put the words together, so it sounds like lice cream. I thought it meant vanilla ice cream. Copy means coffee, and Nes-copy means Nescafe Coffee. Brand names are the words used to describe American products in India. Nobody knows what Orange soda is, but everyone knows what Fanta is.

So, finally we got to a train station in some tiny impovrished town in Northern Bengal. There were beggers everywhere and an endless supply of non-English speaking cab drivers competing for our business and handouts. I learned that in many poor parts of India, the upper class complain that they can't find good maids, while there are endless people begging on the streets. Maybe someone should start a maid school (then everyone would have it made). We found an English speaking cab driver. We agreed to hire him for a fixed price for our journey, and then he deposited us into a car with a non-english speaking driver. I said.... Hold on!!! We hired you because you speak English, so, you need to be our driver. I talked him into it. I'm very talented at talking people into things -- particularly in India.

We enjoyed a nice drive through the plains, and then it got hilly. The colors of the buildings becuase like hill colors with the aqua and light green and purple colors painted onto the small houses dotting the countryside up the hill. Then, we got to tea country. California has wine country, Bengal has tea country. Each tea plantation looks the same. There are always lines of tea plants, with a tree every 40 feet, and a well placed seven foot tall boulder every here and there. You can't have tea country without a tea museum, and those are very predictable too. Then, we got into mountainous territory and the roads became trecherous. Little did I know that it would get worse and worse the more our journey went on. We past a beautiful monastary in Ghoom. Such a gloomy name! Doom and Ghoom! I wanted to go back to that monastary after we got checked in, and it was worth it.

Finally we got to the hotel which was at the top of a precipitous hill. We had to walk up six flights of stairs with our heavy bags, and were greeted by a Tibettan staff. The border part of India has many Tibettan refugees, Nepalis, Lecherons ( a type of Himalayan ethnic group ), and Bhutanis, so the culture, is very Asian, and not so Indian. We enjoyed some mountain style dumplings and then it was time for doom and Ghoom. The monastary was spectacular, and we begged to hear the sounds of the huge horns, but they had a strict policy of only using horns during Buddhist prayers.

Please read more in part 2.