December 13, 2009

I am now in Darjeeling. I was going to wait until more happened before updating again, but it's going to be a while.The thing is, after riding a train for 16 hours overnight to New Jaigalpuri, I got into a jeep to take me the remaining 3 hours when some native Darjeeling(ins?) informed me that due to a political strike, there will be no services here for 4 days, starting tomorrow. My hotel is running (I found one when I got here), and they have a restaurant, so I do not expect to starve, but it sounds like I won't be doing much except writing and trying not to freeze (high of 55, low of 36, which isn't bad, but there's no heat in my room and really no insulation either since there's a hole by the door). But I have an awesome view of the valley below from my balcony.The ride up here was an adventure itself. Our jeep went up these incredibly windy narrow roads with traffic coming the other way and no guard rails. Drivers here are talented, albeit somewhat reckless. Luckily, whenever I'm in a situation where the traffic conditions should frighten me, I'm so tired that I don't care. Plus I'm used to the insane driving, and all the other tourists shrug their shoulders as well. Jumpin Jack Flash on your headphones makes the chaos more fun too.I hope to go on a mini-trek around the mountains here, but it may have to wait after a few days of solitude and reflection.Peace,Ben