Sadly today we had to leave Bhutan and
as our flight wasn’t until 14:00 we could have a fairly lazy morning. After breakfast we wandered around the
grounds; the hotel was built for the coronation of Wangchuck IV in
1974 and some of the chalets look
absolutely fabulous, although we think we probably had the servant’s quarters as I
can’t imagine any of our Royal Family staying in ours.
Tenzing and our driver Pom, who looked permanently worried but was a brilliant driver and could manoeuvre the vehicle
in the tightest of spaces. Interestingly his reversing camera had “warning, the image may appear reversed” on it – what possible
use is that?
A last stop to take a photo of the
airport.
The outward flight wasn’t nearly as
exciting as the inbound but nevertheless we flew very close to the mountains.
It was only a half hour flight to
Bagdogra but even so we had a snack and a drink.
I think this pretty patchwork is rice
in various stages.
Only in India would you find a man and his bike sitting next to the runway!
Our new guide Sunesh was waiting for us with the obligatory welcome scarves. This time we had 2 saloon cars so the other 4 went in one and Ian, me and Sunesh in the other. He's half Nepalese/half Bhutanese, born in Malaysia as his father was in the British Army and he used to be a trek guide in Nepal.
The drive up to Darjeeling was long and tortuous, I shouldn’t
think much has been done to the road since Independence (1947). It's very
steep and twisting and in many places only single track although they are
attempting to widen it in places. When you get to Kurseong, about 32kms
from Darjeeling, the road runs alongside the railway track. When the
railway was built by the British in the 1880s there were no roads or houses but
since then little towns have sprung up all along its length. Sometimes
the railway just crosses the road and runs the other side for a while and then
crosses back again. It’s diesel at this point but the steam Darjeeling
Himalayan Railway shares the track further up the line.
The Elgin Hotel was once the summer residence of a Maharaja and still evokes the 1910s
