Return to India

The border town in India was just a horrible little town and I was pleased to find a bus that connected me with Sunali where I caught a jeep to Darjeeling.
I was more culture shocked with my return to India than I was when I first arrived in it but that was perhaps due to where I went. The drive up to Darjeeling was a beautiful 3 hour drive. Arrival in Darjeeling was not nice, the whole place was constantly covered in cloud so that everything you owned became wet through – including your sleeping bag and bed linen. Also it was freezing cold and due to the cloud the views were non-existent. I met a woman on my last day there who told me that when it is nice Darjeeling is beautiful with tea fields as far as the eye can see and the mountains (including Kanchenjunga) in the background. I got up at 4am twice to see the sunrise and after a 2 hour jeep ride further north I saw nothing. I did eventually get to see the tea fields up close and had some tea with the women who sold it. People here are a mixture of Indian, Nepalese and Tibetan which makes for a very varied community and menu !

I spent 4 days in Darjeeling sampling as much tea as I could get my hands on and visiting the Tenzing Norgay Museum as he was from Darjeeling and his ashes are scattered here – worth a look if you are ever in Darjeeling.
After this I got the happy news that I was to spend a month in New Zealand as Jon was unable to get to India. I flew from Sunali to Delhi as soon as I could (for 30 quid) and then spent 2 days in Delhi with Debbie who I had seen in Varanasi and we had a lovely time. She seems to know half the population of people travelling in Delhi and its amazing who you meet who have also met other people you have met. Debbie had met Conrad who I had met in Pokhara, another guy had met Jane, a girl I met in Hampi and so it went on !
On my last day in Delhi something really good happened as I went for a leg wax (well a girl has to look nice for her man !) and it was done by a woman in her house. We started chatting and i was asking about her children etc and she said that she loves to shop and would I like to go shopping with her !! Not only was this fantastic fun but as she was there I got ‘Indian Prices’ for everything (about a 5th of the price I would have paid on my own). We went to a cloth merchants and chose 3 different kids of material and then went to a lady tailors and chose the design, and type of Punjab suits that I wanted and when I returned the following day they were all ready for me. I love them and they are actually pretty cool in hot weather as the trousers are wide fitting and loose.
It was fun to shop with an Indian lady though. When i return to Delhi I am going to pay her a visit to say thank you.
That night I got a taxi with someone I had met through Debbie and we headed to the airport. This guy was pretty interesting as he was 18 and had travelled the world. He was a very savvy traveller and had managed to survive in Europe for 10 euros a day ! that morning at 4am I caught my plane to New Zealand – well actually I caught a plane to Dubai first…yes i know that's the wrong way…and then Singapore and then Brisbane and then finally Auckland where Jon was waiting for me. Separate blog for New Zealand!