Mountains & Birds

Leaving the forts behind its back to Delhi for a night and Yippee a choice of food. Much as we love chicken curry and they are all different, a choice is lovely. When last here the air was clear but now Delhi is in one of the worst Smog Pollution times, glad we did our sightseeing on the last visit. A rubbish tip in Delhi is really huge and I have never seen so many Black Kites, thousands of them around the tip. The drive from Delhi to Jim Corbett National Park is a real eye opener of small towns and rural life, with some very rough roads. 6 hours for 250km. Overladen trucks with sacking bags stuffed full twice the width and height of the vehicle. Tractors pulling everything, donkey carts and every other conceivable form of transport. When a road is widened, they just chop of half the house, leaving jagged brick edges and what were once rooms are now balconies. Bit of a shock on our first safari in Jim Corbett, apparently a few days prior the government put up the camera charges on entry to the park, from 400 INR to 2000 INR each – ridiculous. The place we are staying has a no TV policy to “preserve the ambiance” (fine by us as we don’t watch it) but instead they had loud disco music and Karaoke for hours…… We are in a Gypsy (like a Jeep) for the whole time here in Uttarakand, pretty cold so wearing many layers. The roads are so windy and twisty – after all this is the Himalayan Foothills. Stunning scenery but narrow roads and mad beeping drivers so nowhere to stop for photos. First stop is a small village called Pangot, but instead of going the main roads we go through all the back dirt tracks as great birding. Amazing road, lots of new birds, incredible scenery and interesting road with lots of landslides (scary)… These roads are also a bus route which would not be for feint hearted. Even the stinging nettles here have bigger stingers.  Plenty of interesting sights along the way. Pangot down to Sattal for more birding and then up to a town called Manila. Our guide Prashant and the driver were amazing and found us so many species of birds. A great trip but exhausting. Local stores were a bit like going back in time. Looking at local shops and garage, quite basic. On our return to Delhi for a flight to Bagdogra (near Darjeeling) we had booked into a cheap hotel near the airport. The taxi driver could not find it and was getting cross, Steve went wandering around where Google said it was but could not find it. Tried to ring, number disconnected. Eventually we did find it, no sign, a different name on a piece of paper in the window and hidden down a back lane. Nice enough place as only 17 AUS and close to restaurants. Our cab to the airport in the morning also gave us worry when he put our bags on roof but did not tie them down. Luckily they stayed there although a few sharp stops had us worried. He also then took us to the wrong terminal – we told him T2 about 4 times but he went to T3 as international, he just assumed we were wrong with our terminal request and flying international. Lucky we left plenty of time as that added 20 minutes to a 3km journey. Got fantastic view’s of the Himalayas from the plane but useless photographs. Our homestay in Darjeeling has a great view of Kangchenjunga and the Himalayas – or it would be without the smog. So much pollution, mainly from burning rubbish and crops. Interesting town to walk around – even more of a rabbit warren than the old Fort areas in Rajasthan. Tiny alleys only accessible on foot and many joined just by steps. The whole area is a mountainside and quite steep. Colourful though due to Diwali Festival, Also many houses here are tiled on the outside with bathroom tiles, unusual but colourful. 3am start to go to Tiger Hill Observatory – unfortunately the normal viewing platform fell down and the new one not open yet so have to compete with the crowds for a good view of the sunrise on the Himalayas. We were so lucky here that it was clear the day we went up and we could see Everest – even if only a tiny bit of it. The next day it was not visible due to clouds. So many good views of the Mountains, they really take your breath away and you can’t help but keep looking at them. Next day is the Toy Train steam engine, an historical rail line that is now purely a tourist attraction. Fantastic scenery but also just incredible how close people live and shop to the line – inches away, clothes hanging for sale, food etc. Not sure the smut from the train would really enhance the wares. Not only are the trains close to the shops but all over India I find it hard to believe  how close and at speed cars pass each other – amazing spatial awareness. Next to another small town where we had booked a bird guide for 2 days as some very special birds here. BUT when we get there guide cancelled. Very cross with accommodation as they did not tell us when she rang that morning. It was an expensive taxi journey to get there and back for what turned out to be no point in going – other than another amazing view of the Himalayas. We had not realised the taxi would cost so much when we initially booked as it was only 84km but it took 4.5 hours (very very narrow windy and bad roads).   Do not think I have ever been (even in the Alps) on so many hairpin after hairpin bends, some are also just dirt tracks.  Amazing road signs about speeding, really funny and so many different ones. Although they did give us the bird guide money back, to me they should have told us and allowed us to get all the money back and not go there. Her excuse was “I did not know you were serious about birds” – not sure why we would have hired a guide then…. We went through a place called Neeta which apparently flooded 2 weeks prior when a glacial dam burst causing a 20 ft rise in water levels.    Still it has given me plenty of time to catch up on the blogs and photo editing. Next stop birding in Latpanchur.   Here like Darjeeling the houses all have many pot plants, even up each edge of staircases. Steves phone keeps updating to Bhutan time which is weird. So now according to our phones we have been in both Bhutan and Nepal. Really attractive scenery with some of the trees showing autumn colours. Lovely Sunrise over a big river too from our homestay. We passed a hospital in the early morning, thinking it was no longer used as it looked derelict, but later we saw it was open and busy, it is the local hospital for the Cinchona Plantation (quinine) workers. Should not judge a book by it’s cover. Back to Bagdogra then Kolkutta overnight which would not win cleanest town of the year award. Off to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.  Don’t forget to look at the gallery for many  more interesting sights.