I was so proud of myself - 10 minutes early to my bus departure time. (I'm not as early for things I used to be.) I figured the 8 pm bus would be late leaving anyway - they often are. So there I sat in the Shyamoli bus stand, waiting for the big "AC" bus to India. Well, after awhile, someone advised me to get on a small, local bus that had been sitting outside for awhile. That was kind of weird, but I supposed that passengers were being herded from different smaller bus stands to one of the larger stands from which the International bus would depart. This was kind of true, but I soon discovered that the 8 pm bus to the Indian/Bangladeshi border had already left! It was scheduled for 8 pm alright, but from the main terminal! I suppose I got a little angry at Shyamoli management at this stage, for not informing me that I should be at the Kalampur station by 8 pm, not my local Asad Gate station.
They shrugged their shoulders and said, "no problem, sit down" (the word "please" hasn't quite entered the English lexicon in Bangladesh yet). Then, to my horro, they proceeded to call the bus to have it turn around! I could just imagine walking down the aisle, people glaring at me for making everyone over an hour late! So I had my second little chat with Shyamoli management. Fortunately, either the bus didn't get the message or the driver refused to turn around - I'm not sure. But after an hour and a half, another bus going to the border appeared, and I was given a seat on that one. Whew! No angry stares, Bangla cursing, etc., and I was on my way!
The trip to the border was uneventful - besides being bounced up and down because I was in the last row of seats, the voyage was pleasant enough. They even gave each passenger bottled water and a snack box: a small fried thingie, what I thought was a sandwich (but halfway through I realized it was just two pieces of white bread), a round sweet of some kind, and a hard-boiled egg. When you're hungry, as I almost always am, you take your chances. No harm done this time, I'm happy to report!
At the border, we had to wait about 2 hours for the Customs to open. In my case, this time was spent reading, snacking, chatting up some tourists from Bhutan who had come all the way to Dhaka to shop for cheap goods, observing goats, cows and small children, avoiding beggars but occasionally helping them out, etc. Once the border opened, we all walked down the road and filed through the Bangladeshi border post (where I had to pay an additional Tk 300 because I didn't realize I was supposed to bring BOTH copies of my departure tax - "live and learn", which, by the way, would also make a good title for this blog). Then we walked down some more pavement, filed through the Indian entry point, then the Indian pre-screen for Customs, then Indian Customs, then back to the pre-screen guy for a signature...oh, and one other little office for a stamp and a signature. The Indians have the bureaucracy thing down pat: it only took a couple of hours to do all this! But it wasn't all bad - in between official stamps and signatures, there was time for chatting or being chatted at (an English school medium headmaster cornered me about three times - his English wasn't that great, but he considered it a great honor to talk to someone "from the American side" - all I could say was "Dang, ya'll, it's the same freakin' English they got on the other side uh the pond", but I'm not sure he understood what I meant. Anyway, lots of smiling all around... By the way, if you go, the customs offices and officers are all housed in quaint little tin sheds - don't expect fancy buildings at the border!
I couldn't wait to get going again. After a nice little naan, deem & cha (bread, egg and tea) breakfast, we were on our way to Siliguri. Oh I didn't mention that several people offered to exchange my Taka into Rupees back at the border, but I deftly denied their advances, considering their exchange rates low and my chances high of doing better in Siliguri or Darjeeling!
Little did I know that no one wants Bangladesh Taka in India!! In fact, I only had 130 Rupees with me that Brad Reimer (visiting from Winnipeg) had given me in exchange for some purchases he made. 130 Rupees is less than $3.00. I managed to get a rickshaw from the place I had lunch (on my Visa card) to the Jeep stand for Darjeeling. That cost me 50 Rupees (R$) and I soon realized that I didn't have enough left to get to Darjeeling. I saw a nearby hotel and very fortunately, the owner allowed me to change what little US Dollars I had with me for Rupees. I had brought all my US Dollars with me, just in case, but it only amounted to $29. They wanted $100 minimum to do an exchange, but finally agreed to take $25, and I walked away with the much-needed Rupees. I'm sure I got a bad exchange rate, but what could I do?
So the ride up (and I do mean UP) to Darjeeling took forever, and once again I was bouncing around in the back seat! I wasn't alone, though. The "Jeep" was what I would call a Land Rover (though perhaps it was in fact a very large Jeep). In any case, it had been refitted in the back to store people instead of goods, which were placed up on top of the vehicle instead. In my estimation, the front, middle and back benches would comfortably accomodate 3 people each. Nine people in a Land Rover (Jeep?) is a pretty good haul, I think. We began our trip with 12.
Along the way, the driver stopped in a small town and picked up two more. For some reason (?!), they decided to put 5 on the front bench and 5 on the back. The driver actually sat on somebody's lap while he drove! I'm not sure if he shifted the gears himself, or if it was a joint effort, but we made it up the mountain in about three hours. It was SO cold in that Jeep - for some reason (?!), people would put on more layers of clothing, but NOT roll the windows up all the way. Could be a Tibetan thing (the local population is a mix of mountain-based, Asian people and Indians). I asked the girl in front of me to roll up her window (shortly after she put on a thick sweater), which she did, but it rolled back down part-way on the very bumpy road. It's possible the locals know more than I do... Later, I closed another one across from me when nobody was looking. Still, it was COLD, and Darjeeling is COLD. Be forewarned.
So we rolled into town about 7pm but it felt much later to me because of the long day, the long trip, etc. I was going on 24 hours since leaving Dhaka. I started looking for a hotel in the dark - for some reason I had expected people from the hotels to meet the incoming cars at the bus stand, but no one did. I think I read that piece of "information" somewhere. Anyway, asking some locals, I soon found the Hotel Seven Seventeen, which enjoys a good reputation in the Lonely Planet guide book. They said they'd check on a room and why don't I eat something in the restaurant. The Chicken Butter Masala was excellent, as was the hot tea! And they found me a room. It was more than I wanted to pay (R$ 1200) but I settled in, figuring that it was late and I could look around more the next day with the benefit of light and heat!
Well, at least it was light the next day! Darjeeling seems to be having a cold spell with heavy fog. So no scenery, no warmth, even in the middle of the day, but I had bigger issues to attend to. Namely, no money. You see, I brought LOTS of Taka to Darjeeling believing that I could exchange it here. Finding out yesterday that no one wanted to exchange them was a major letdown. And my backup plan, getting a cash advance against my Visa card, was also problematic. I've never used it that way before, so I don't have a PIN number! Finally, about 11:00 this morning, I walked into an exchange place that was interested in Bangladeshi Taka! I didn't get the best exchange rate in the world (lost about $40 over what the Taka would be worth in Dhaka), but at least I can stay here the rest of the week!! And I found a small, clean room up the street at "The Heritage" for only R$ 500 a night! So those are the highlights of my trip so far!
Did I mention that it's COLD here?? And the Internet and heating systems are decidedly spotty, and unusual. Top it off with an almost 24 hour power outage due to a power line post falling over. But I'm making it. If we can get a little sun here tomorrow, I'm planning on visiting the zoo and some Buddhist temples. If not, I'll probably try the local Bollywood cinema and more tea stalls!
Pictures coming after this great adventure concludes at the end of the week!
--Larry
