Originally the site of a monastery
Dorje Ling or Darjeeling was claimed by the British from Sikkim in
1817 and used as a site for a sanatorium and soon became the most popular of
all the hill stations. The hill stations were retreats that the British Raj
used to escape from the stifling heat and dust of the Indian summer on the
plains, a sort of summer retreat and with the arrival of the British the town
rapidly expanded in size. Darjeeling is approximately 400 miles north of
Kolkata in the state of West Bengal and is located in the foothills of the Himalaya
at an altitude of approx. 2200m (7000ft). The town clings precariously to its
hillside location with the views dominated by the incredible mountain landscape
of Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. Put aside the usual
perceptions of India, this is the India of dense forests, of cool mountains and
lush green trees, and of tea plantations as far as the eye can see.
Described as being of “faded grandeur” many of the buildings
hinted at their grand colonial past but faded may be putting it kindly, many
buildings appeared to be in a dangerous state of disrepair and near collapse including
magnificent stone buildings which were clearly left over from the times of the
British Raj now forlornly sitting with weeds growing out of gutters, washing
strung out of broken windows, facades turned black with soot from pollution and
large portions of what was elaborate brickwork and ornate stone masonry now
crumbling or
gone, probably for good
My first impression was of a town with its infrastructure in
a state of near collapse, unable to support the demands put upon on it.
Roads were gridlocked with traffic with an
endless line of jeeps and taxis picking people up, dropping them off and
touting for business, indeed the appearance of fruit and vegetables on road
side stalls seemed to differ depending on how close to the main thoroughfare
the stall was located with the degree of difference measurable in level of appetising
appearance. There are frequent power and water shortages, often during the
night the power would go off in the hotel and once in a restaurant while whilst
we were eating. As for the sewerage and rubbish disposal system….suffice to say
I was thankful that we were staying at the top of the hill and not the bottom
of it!
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| Jeep is the main form of transport to and from Darjeeling |
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| Kwik Fit? |
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| Hoping not to develop toothache while we were there... |
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| The good ol' post office |
Darjeeling is famous for its narrow gauge railway the “toy
train”, now a UNESCO world heritage site, which chugs, not without effort, up
and down the hills and for the rail enthusiasts it is possible to take a two
hour “joy ride” on this train between Darjeeling and the town of Ghoom. It is
possible to take a diesel locomotive from Siliguri, the main transport exchange
half an hour from Bagdogra airport, to Darjeeling which takes a painful 8 hours
and is frequently held up due to land slippages and derailments. Instead of the
train we opted to take the only other form of public transport to Darjeeling,
that of the less than comfortable option of a “shared jeep”. To arrange this
you turn up at the shared jeep stand in Siliguri and your luggage is thrown on
the roof whilst the driver, assisted by the obligatory urchin who collects the
fare and climbs on the roof and runs various errands, tries to cram as many
individuals as is possible into the said vehicle. In this case there were 4 in
the back, 4 in the middle and 3 up front including the driver and urchin. And
then we were off for a very bumpy ride over the rough tracks and roads into the
mountains.
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| The traffic jams could put the Haudagain roundabout to shame |
It pays not to be in a hurry though as the jeep stops often to let
people off in various places and sometimes won’t move again until new
passengers have been found and the jeep is full. And then there was the
obligatory chai stop…. As I was rapidly finding out patience is not a virtue in
India, it’s a necessity. Anyway 3 hours and 350 rupees (£3.94) later we
arrived, hot, dusty and weary in Darjeeling.
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| Chai Stop |
A minor difficulty was that we had no directions for
the hotel and only the vaguest idea that it was at the top of the hill and we were given directions by locals…unfortunately they appeared to
be total rubbish...until some other Brits saw us and took pity on us and
pointed us in the right direction. It later became apparent that Simon was
holding the map upside down which I suspect may have been the main problem.
Another discovery I made about the Indians is that they like to be helpful and
don’t like to admit they don’t know something so rather than admit they don’t
know then they will tell you any old rubbish so it pays to be be a bit wary
when asking directions.
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| The Viceroy Hotel |
The room in the colonially named Viceroy Hotel had the most
amazing panoramic view over the mountain landscape of Kanchenjunga and so the
first thing I did on arrival was order a pot of Darjeeling tea to drink whilst
admiring the view. In the early 1800s the Governor General, Lord Auckland had
his villa on the spot where the Viceroy hotel now stands and this was a centre
of the Darjeeling social circle but after the old wooden structure of the villa
fell into disrepair and was demolished in 2001 the 5 story Viceroy hotel was
built on its location. It was a nice clean hotel and unlike many had a sporadic
supply of hot water but it had absolutely no heating and the room was supplied
with candles for the electricity black outs. however it had a great location
and its hilltop location gave us a birds eye view of the comings and goings of the
town below.
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| Drinking Darjeeling tea and admiring the view |
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| The hotel didn't really have any heating... |
Darjeeling has quite a few very good restaurants but we
rapidly worked out that our favourite was Glenarys, again a throwback to the
colonial times with its ornate dining room, spectacular views and amazing array
of cakes not to mention bright red telephone box parked right in the middle of
the shop floor.
Another great place was the lovely Windermere hotel where it
was possible to order a very luxurious afternoon tea, to be had sitting in a
quiet lounge complete with open fire, on ancient comfy sofas with the walls adorned with framed pictures
and letters, all snapshots of Darjeelings history. There was some very interesting letters on display, correspondence between
various generals, viceroys and minor royalty, such as invites to social events
and events happening in Darjeeling at the time. If there is one place in
Darjeeling to visit which evokes memories of colonial times this was it. Again
the fixation with British street furniture was apparent, this time with a
bright red post box sat on the terrace of the hotel, the post office being a
British institution retained by India.
The central post office itself was opened in 1921 according
to the inscription on the marble plaque inside the building which also lists
the colonial dignitaries involved in its construction and its opening for
example H.A.Crouch Esq. F.R.I.B.A – the Government architect. The interior of
the post office looks as I imagine it would have on first opening although
perhaps back then it was a little less tatty round the edges. I had another two
weeks in India after the race and so I decided that I would try to post my
running kit, race trophy, sleeping bag and bits and pieces of running related
stuff home rather than lug it around with me so off I went to the post office.
The parcel man starts work at 10am so I had a 5 minute wait until I was told to
take my bag containing the possessions that I wanted shipped home to a table in
the corner of the post office. The parcel man then proceeded to squash the bag
and its contents down to a small cube shape that didn’t seem feasible (shipping
cost depends on volume as well as weight, however, if sending valuables try DHL
instead!) and wrapped
it tightly with
string. Next the parcel is wrapped in newspaper and then finally white linen
which is stitched up by hand and I was amazed to see such neat stitching
carried out by this large man. Smaller post offices ask you to take the parcel
to a tailor to get this wrapping and stitching in white linen carried out prior to posting.
Finally the seams are sealed with dods of red candle wax dripped on to the seal
from a lighted candle and the address label was also secured in the same manner
and then you take your parcel back to the post office desk to pay. It was interesting to
note that from start to finish the whole procedure took 40 minutes – so much
for nipping to the post office in your lunch hour to post a parcel!
The parcel itself took less than 3 weeks to
arrive in Aberdeen but by then my unwashed running gear was rather ripe…
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| The parcel man - with my running gear reading to be sent to Aberdeen |
Darjeeling is also home to the Himalayan Mountain Institute
and Darjeeling’s most famous former resident probably Tenzing Norgay who
summited Everest along with Hillary in 1953. The exhibition itself is primarily
about Indian achievements in the high Himalaya and houses many interesting and
historical artifacts such as Norgay’s
climbing gear. Norgay himself was director of the Himalayan mountaineering
institute up until his death in 1986 and the forecourt of the museum houses his
grave and a large memorial statue. Reading about the achievements of this
modest man, who could neither read nor write, had no idea of his own date of
birth, yet had the immense drive and strength to follow his ambitions in the
mountains
was far more inspiring than
anything the director of the 100 mile race had to say. One of the highlights of
the little museum was a huge scale model
of the full Himalayan mountain range housed in a glass case with many
red buttons on the outside of the case, each button labelled to correspond with
the name of a Himalayan peak. When you pushed the red button a little red light
would flash on the top of one of the mountains in the scale model indicating
the exact location of that mountain relative to the others and to rivers and
towns (not that there are too many of those in the Himalaya.) The Himalayan
Mountaineering institute runs courses for wannabe mountaineers and is
considered to be the home of Indian Mountaineering.
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| Memorial to Tenzing Norgay |
The Himalayan Mountaineering institute is located next to
the zoo so we had a quick look round and although it had a fantastic array of
Himalayan wildlife I found it to be as depressing as many other zoos that I
have seen. I know they do fantastic work in educating the public and in
preserving wildlife with breeding programmes but to see such beautiful
creatures caged in very small enclosures and pacing up and down feels so wrong.
Now i'm no animal expert but the rhythmic pattern of pacing and head swaying that the bear was demonstrating
looked to me as though he was showing clear signs of stress and his mental
health must be under question. All of the animals however looked well cared for
and their cages were clean but sadly for so many magnificent species such as
the snow leopard, Bengal tiger and Himalayan bear their habitats are under such
threat and their fur is so valuable that maybe the zoo is their key to
survival.
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| Red Panda |
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| Himalayan Bear |
Watching the sun rise over the highest mountains of the
world from the view point of Tiger Hill is advertised as one of the key attractions
of Darjeeling. Tiger Hill is approximately half an hour away from Darjeeling by jeep and having
witnessed the sun rise over the great mountains of the Himalaya when I was
at Sandakphu during the race I was keen that
Simon should witness it. However this time I was in for a very big surprise.
Watching the sunrise from this viewpoint has become not just an attraction but
a major attraction attracting some 1500 – 2000 people each morning in the tourist
season, the huge queue of jeeps setting off in convoy from Darjeeling in the
early hours of the morning and returning after daybreak in time for breakfast. I
let Simon fight his way to the front of the ticket queue while I took in the
spectacle of the crowds before joining the throng of warmly dressed people
walking up the hill in the dark to find the best viewpoint. Peaceful it
wasn’t…. especially when the sun rose and the crowd let out a cheer. Although
this had an almost carnival atmosphere at times I suspect my experience of
watching the sunrise in the stillness of Sandakphu may have been altogether
more inspiring.
Up on the hill above the town where the main square is
located along with the larger hotels there were more shops aimed at tourists
especially those selling Pashmina shawls and Tibetan clothing and artifacts.
The owner of one shop was happy to tell us about the different types of Pashmina
and the various quality of the shawls for sale. Pashmina wool comes from the
first “crop” of wool to be shaved from a goat and is often blended with silk as
pure pashmina has more of an open weave but the shop owner had pictures of hand
embroidered pashmina shawls that have been known to sell for 3 Lak, 1 Lak being
100,000 rupees (£1,300.00 approx). I settled for a 50/50 Pashmina silk mix
shawl. Pure pashmina is also an off white colour so any white pashmina shawls
for sale have been bleached white. Many shops sold colourful saris and skirts,
woven Tibetan clothes made of wool and hats and scarfs. This might be India but
this is at 7000ft and it was cold at night.
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| Pashmina shawls |
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| Shopping for Pashmina shawls |
It doesn’t take a genius to work out the main industry in
Darjeeling and what Darjeeling is most famous for
– Tea. Although indigenous to India the story
of tea in Darjeeling only goes back to the mid 1800s when a Dr Campbell planted
some tea plants in his garden in Darjeeling. These thrived and so the next step
was to expand to tea nurseries in the area. At this time Darjeeling was simply
a hill station but tea growing is very labour intensive so as the industry grew
so did the population of the town. In 1866 Darjeeling had 39 tea gardens
producing 21000kg of tea per year. Now Darjeeling has over 80 plantations
producing 10,000,000kg of tea per year. We spoke to the owner of a tea shop
where not only it was possible to buy a huge range of teas, it was also
possible to try them first and he explained that 3 tea crops are harvested in a
year. The first crop is called the “1
st Flush” and this is harvested
in the spring, the second crop is the “2
nd flush” harvested in the
summer and then finally the “3
rd flush which is harvested in the
autumn and of these the 2
nd flush tea is the superior. I bought some
white tea which apparently has a huge amount of antioxidents in it and also
some flowering white tea where the idea is that you put a bulb in the tea pot,
pour boiling water over it and some 8 minutes later the bulb flowers and you
then drink the tea. On being let loose in the shop I seemed to manage to buy a
ridiculous amount of tea – good thing that I drink a ridiculous amount of tea.
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| Tea shop |
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| Try before you buy |
On reflection Darjeeling is a pretty good introduction to
India and I really grew to like the place. It’s a lively friendly colourful town and it’s just like the larger
Indian cities in miniature in terms of levels of general filth and chaos, noise and colour
with all of the senses under assault but without the terrifying scale. It is an introduction to how life in India is lived very much on
the street and out in public in a way we in Britain with our reserve,
need for privacy and personal space struggle to adapt to. Cooking, eating,
washing, socialising and business are carried out on the street and at one
point we even saw a corpse carried on a stretcher along the high street in full
view whereas in the UK the ambulance or hearse would be parked up against the
back door of the house and the body whisked away safe from prying eyes, that
same level of squeamishness doesn’t exist in Indian culture where cremations on
the ghats of holy rivers still take place in public.
Darjeeling at night was a lively place with a holiday atmosphere with shops and
eateries open and street vendors operating by candlelight, with amazing rich
aromas of spices and curries coming from them, it was even possible to go for a
pony ride through the town if you felt so inclined. All the action seemed to go
on in the main square where there was a stage set up and performances with
singers and dancers seemed to take place every night. The main square housed
what appeared to be an off licence where I spotted monks appearing from the shop doorway
clutching brown paper bags. There was also a bookshop stacked to the brim with
books selling new and second hand books with the books on display in a sort of
semi organised semi chaotic manner, with wonky shelves looking like they would fall off the wall if another book was added to them. I think it is one of the best book shops that i have ever been into in terms of a random eclectic mix. The job advert on the wall also made me smile
“Wanted: Browsers – no experience necessary”
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| Street Market at night |
The centre of Darjeeling housed the Bazaar, a chaotic
ramshackle mixture of shops. In India the term bazaar means something quite
different to our gentile Christmas bazaars in church halls up and down the
country. In Indian bazaars the shops and stalls are cheek by jowl to each other,
spilling out on to the narrow winding streets in all their noise and colourful
displays with vendors doing their noisy best to entice prospective purchasers in. India is all about noise and chaos whether it’s the seemingly endless
mass of people moving through the streets, the dogs barking, the hooting of
vehicle horns and Darjeeling baazar was no different. This area of Darjeeling
was damaged in a fire earlier this year but other than looking a little charred
it did not seem to have stopped the thriving shops and stalls. Many stalls sell
food cooked on the stall and the small of this adds to the general bombardment
of the senses when you are walking around but many also seemed to sell sweets
and fizzy drinks such as cola. As far as I could see the obesity problem
affecting the UK was not apparent in Darjeeling but the sweet stalls appeared
to be populated by the children out on their lunch break so maybe its just a
matter of time. I was gratified to see that there was no McDonalds, Subway or
Starbucks in Darjeeling though. Further down the hill still was as area of
houses and dwellings, mostly in a chronic state of disrepair with chickens
running around outside and yet in amongst the filth of the surroundings women
were outside washing clothes and cooking pots, sweeping out houses and turning
out their school children immaculately dressed and clean. Despite the squalor
of their surroundings the people had a pride in themselves and their own
property.
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| Sweets and crisps - same as back home |
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| Garlic |
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| The food smelled so good! |
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