Monday – 19 January 2009
Finished the last minute packing and had a light brekkie before paidng the hotel bill. We had just brought down our bags when the taxi arrived, so we said goodbye to the Hotel Himal Ganesh for the last time and headed to the domestic airport past the still festering piles of garbage.
We arrived at the domestic airportand checked our luggage onto Buddha Air flight for Bhadrapur and ventured into the departure hall which was very disorganised with announcements being made over each other. We moved closer to the one gate and waited for our flight. Which was on time. We caught a bus to the plane and boarded a new aircraft, which was small, but most importantly had two working propellers. We took off for the 45 minute journey, which must be one of the most spectacular flights in the world, following the Himalayas with views of Everest etc. We landed at Bhadrapur on time, which was very reminiscent of Kerala and there was definately no need for my down jacket. Unfortunately then having to wait nearly 45 minutes for our bags to make a very short distance, but they both arrived and we left the terminal and got a taxi for the border at Kakarbhitta, along the way the driver asked where we were going and then gave us a price to take us the whole way to Siliguri. So we agreed – lot easier than Taxi, rickshaw and bus. We progressed through Nepali immigration at Kakarbhitta and across the river to the Indian town and immigration of Panitanki where we also sailed through the immigration process and continued on the journey to Siliguri where the driver dropped us close to Hotel Hill View where we got a basic double room with attached bathroom (no hot water) for Rs450. It is basic but the manager is helpful. Only problem is the mosequitoes which seem to be everywhere, so we dropped off our bags and bought some mossie coils and then ventured in search of food (it has been a long time since breakfast). We headed towards the bus/train station where there were loads of foodstalls, settling for some dosa’s and walking back to the main street, waiting while some freshly made puri’s were cooked for us. We had a walk around the area and then went back to the hotel to light the mossie coils which didn’t seem to make a difference so we headed back out in the other direction finally coming across a small shop selling Mortein “quick Kill”, so we went and fumigated the room and then had to sit out on the verandah while the smell and smoke dissipated to something less radioactive. We went to Eniment Restaurant (no chicken or eggs due to the Bird Flu outbreak) which is in the hotel next door. We retired after a long day of travelling, hopefully our room will stay mossie free. The streets are still very busy and noisy so we hope it quietens down a tad as well.
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