Long travel day into India 1/4

We reached the border at 8 after a shitty night of trying to sleep. We went through Nepal immigration then crossed the bridge to India for .25 of a mile downing the 3 oranges we had from Nepal (not taking fruit across the border again!). We jumped on a local bus w only the Rupees Andy had from his last visit. No ATM in this town. They said we could pay when we reached the town but I’m not sure what they were really saying since everyone is just yelling. We jump on the bus and get off in Siliguri to get a taxi to Darjeeling. Our taxi backed into a group of people really hitting one guy. another dude laughed like yeah it happens. Yes, human life is precious. Andy said 1B minus 1 (people). Hehe.

They packed the taxi over limit which meant Andy and I were crunched in the back of the jeep. Not what we wanted after being in the bus forever. The ride was over 2 hours up the mountain of switchbacks to 6400 ft. The road was barely big enough for two jeeps much less the trucks that were trying to pass construction.  I guess this isn’t the end of dangerous roads. We saw some big monkeys along the way running across the road.

22 hours after Kathmandu we reached Darjeeling. The town is on a steep hillside w roads that wind all over the place. It really is quite beautiful up here w the mist in the trees. We saw the toy train pushing up the hill along the road- check. The people are an interesting mix of Indians, Tibetans (there’s a refugee center), and Chinese. We didn’t know where we were going and we were irritated for not having eaten a solid meal since yesterday for breakfast. We checked into the first place we looked at and headed for linner. We had an Indian feast and Hieniken to go w it. We attempted to walk around and we were so tired it didn’t work so we hung out at the plaza where kids were playing and a soccer match was being aired on the outdoor screen. We did a little tea tasting and realized it’s not as fun as wine tasting plus it all kinda tastes bitter (probably from all the sweet milk tea we’ve been drinking).

Now we are tired and need to stay awake until at least 7. We’ll probably walk around tomorrow and hopefully get some views of the Himalaya. We can barely see the peaks in the distance. They almost look fake- kinda like in Pokhara. I think we need rest before we can fully enjoy the area.