(If you just want the pictures, no descriptions, you can go here.) I went for a walk today: to Ghum along the quiet road, to check it out for my cycling debut cum exit from Darjeeling, and then back along the main road, National Highway 55, beside the tracks. Most good days start with a …
I took the toy train down to Kurseong and back yesterday. What a fun excursion! I travelled first class, for the princely sum of one dollar per hour, although the carriage was, er, well-worn. If I were to do it again, second-class looks comfortable enough (padded benches) for one-fifth of the price. It was a …
It was raining when I arrived in Darjeeling six days ago, and yesterday it stopped for a while. After wandering around in the clouds, suddenly there was hillside and verdant green valleys. Last night there were even stars, both above and below. The ones below were lights dotting various hillsides where houses are glued precariously …
The bus billed itself as a ‘Royal Sleeper’ but it was neither. Certainly not regal except perhaps in someone’s crazily exaggerated perspective, nor conducive to rest. It arrived at 6:00 pm but it was still an hour late in leaving, finally getting going around 8:30 pm. And after I had been subjected to the obligatory …
Wow – back in India and shaping up to be quite a day. First of all, AirAsia didn’t like the way my bike was prepared for flight – pedals off, handlebar rotated 90 degrees to line up with the front wheel. I was sent off to one of several plastic wrapping machines and waited for …
I first travelled to Asia, from Britain, in 1973. I hitch-hiked across Europe, then took a ferry, trains and buses to Nepal. It was a long way. One miserable January afternoon, my mum dropped me off at the top of Blackheath Hill to hitch to Dover and catch the ferry to Ostend in Belgium. I …