EyeCallYouBetty (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} eyecallubetty) wrote,@ 2008-05-21 21:32:00 |
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India: Mostly Harmless
Our days in Darjeeling were absolutely splendid and we did absolutely nothing. The whole time it was cloudy so a repeat of the sunrise dash that i participated in with Nate and Breezie would have been pointless. The first day we got there we met up with some Americans who were there on a two week vacation and thought we were pretty hardcore for daring to attempt to travel in the 'sleeper' section of the train. Since I had been taking the sleeper train for the last two months I was unimpressed with their definition of 'hardcore'.
We stayed at the same hotel and even though it was a hike it didn't seem as bad as last time. It started raining the next day and we basically slept the whole day away. Which was awesome. It rained so hard at one point that I actually thought the building was going to fall down around me. Our crowning achievement that day was to make it out of bed and attend the 6:30 showing of Iron Man at the Darjeeling Mall. I thought it was the best movie I've ever seen in my life but that could be more about the fact that it was in English than it actually being a good movie.
On the last day we finally got around to sight seeing and I took Matt to the temple on Observatory hill which is where the original Tibetan Book of the Dead (also called the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying) had been housed. We asked a nice monk who we saw at the movie theater yesterday to take our picture. Then I suggested we go to the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Center, a suggestion that ended in a ridiculous amount of tromping through random neighborhoods in Darjeeling following a mist-obscured sign you can see only off in the distance - so far that it could actually be your imagination. Eventually we made it to the Center, which was completely anti-climactic and only cool for the fact that we got to watch a bunch of monks play basketball.
We made it back to our hotel in time to get all of our stuff and go to the train station and after the 10 hour train ride we had only enough time to stop at Auntie's for some tea (and to pick up my enormous amounts of luggage) before we had to be at the airport. When we finally got the Delhi we hadn't bathed or eaten in 30 hours and we were feeling pretty grotty. It was actually raining in Delhi which made it a lot cooler, which was the only saving grace for an otherwise SNAFU-filled day. I actually had to pay Rs. 1700 (over $40) for excess baggage because the airline we flew only allows 44 lbs. per passenger, not per bag. Not to mention that our Taxi driver to the airport drove around in circles for an hour before actually taking us to the airport (I swear, I have never paid that much for a cab in Calcutta in all three months I was there) and the Taxi driver in Delhi refused to take us anywhere near our hotel. Of course, I refused to let that one go and harangued the man until he turned off the car and threw our baggage onto the street.
I seriously can't let an argument with a Taxi driver be. In Calcutta, the one who took us to our hotel from the train station was about to cry because I wouldn't get out until we were exactly where I wanted to be. I knew where we were, I even knew how to walk from to our hotel, I just refused, on principal, to vacate the vehicle until I got what I had paid for - a ride to our hotel. Maybe its a good thing I'm leaving, the taxi drivers union is probably about to take out a hit on me or something.
Anyway, here we are in Delhi and I have finally found a way that I can maybe charge my own Mp3 player which is making me very happy. I may have some music for the ride home.
I guess this is my last post in India as I will be boarding my plane in nine hours. I still can't believe I've spent almost five months in India, it seems very surreal. I guess before I close out this journal I'll post the best of my pictures so that everyone can see what has been happening. Maybe I'll go back and insert pictures in the specific posts they come from.
either way, I believe that India bears visiting again, but for now I think its sufficient to say that its mostly harmless.
Our days in Darjeeling were absolutely splendid and we did absolutely nothing. The whole time it was cloudy so a repeat of the sunrise dash that i participated in with Nate and Breezie would have been pointless. The first day we got there we met up with some Americans who were there on a two week vacation and thought we were pretty hardcore for daring to attempt to travel in the 'sleeper' section of the train. Since I had been taking the sleeper train for the last two months I was unimpressed with their definition of 'hardcore'.
We stayed at the same hotel and even though it was a hike it didn't seem as bad as last time. It started raining the next day and we basically slept the whole day away. Which was awesome. It rained so hard at one point that I actually thought the building was going to fall down around me. Our crowning achievement that day was to make it out of bed and attend the 6:30 showing of Iron Man at the Darjeeling Mall. I thought it was the best movie I've ever seen in my life but that could be more about the fact that it was in English than it actually being a good movie.
On the last day we finally got around to sight seeing and I took Matt to the temple on Observatory hill which is where the original Tibetan Book of the Dead (also called the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying) had been housed. We asked a nice monk who we saw at the movie theater yesterday to take our picture. Then I suggested we go to the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Center, a suggestion that ended in a ridiculous amount of tromping through random neighborhoods in Darjeeling following a mist-obscured sign you can see only off in the distance - so far that it could actually be your imagination. Eventually we made it to the Center, which was completely anti-climactic and only cool for the fact that we got to watch a bunch of monks play basketball.
We made it back to our hotel in time to get all of our stuff and go to the train station and after the 10 hour train ride we had only enough time to stop at Auntie's for some tea (and to pick up my enormous amounts of luggage) before we had to be at the airport. When we finally got the Delhi we hadn't bathed or eaten in 30 hours and we were feeling pretty grotty. It was actually raining in Delhi which made it a lot cooler, which was the only saving grace for an otherwise SNAFU-filled day. I actually had to pay Rs. 1700 (over $40) for excess baggage because the airline we flew only allows 44 lbs. per passenger, not per bag. Not to mention that our Taxi driver to the airport drove around in circles for an hour before actually taking us to the airport (I swear, I have never paid that much for a cab in Calcutta in all three months I was there) and the Taxi driver in Delhi refused to take us anywhere near our hotel. Of course, I refused to let that one go and harangued the man until he turned off the car and threw our baggage onto the street.
I seriously can't let an argument with a Taxi driver be. In Calcutta, the one who took us to our hotel from the train station was about to cry because I wouldn't get out until we were exactly where I wanted to be. I knew where we were, I even knew how to walk from to our hotel, I just refused, on principal, to vacate the vehicle until I got what I had paid for - a ride to our hotel. Maybe its a good thing I'm leaving, the taxi drivers union is probably about to take out a hit on me or something.
Anyway, here we are in Delhi and I have finally found a way that I can maybe charge my own Mp3 player which is making me very happy. I may have some music for the ride home.
I guess this is my last post in India as I will be boarding my plane in nine hours. I still can't believe I've spent almost five months in India, it seems very surreal. I guess before I close out this journal I'll post the best of my pictures so that everyone can see what has been happening. Maybe I'll go back and insert pictures in the specific posts they come from.
either way, I believe that India bears visiting again, but for now I think its sufficient to say that its mostly harmless.
