Darjeeling Himalaya - is that a landslide scar behind you?

Nov 18 

Happy Birthday Dad!

I am settled in at Hotel Perfect in the Karol Bagh area of Delhi - it is about 20 minutes via the Blue Line metro to the Kebab place - I might see if I can convince people from the group to go this evening. At the same time it seems like there are a lot of places around the hotel that might be worth checking out. My breakfast this morning on the roof top terrace at the hotel was lovely - although there seemed to be a lot of hawks circling.

Roof top terrace. 

Karol Bagh to Connaught Place - the blue dot is Hotel Perfect, The Hans Hotel is at about the edge of the photo/map where the blue line leaves Connaught Place at 4 o’clock (imagine Connaught Place as a clock). 

So now that we’ve established that - and it appears the roof top terrace has a strong wifi signal - here comes the photo dump - starting with the morning we left Darjeeling. 

Before we left Darjeeling (Nov 15) - I went for a brisk walk for some photos. The streets were quiet on the way down to the railway station, and by the time I was walking back (8am ish) it was looking more lively. I am still trying to catch my breath from that walk. 



Kanchenjunga from the railway station. 

Railway station- the fuzzy/smokiness of the photo is because the engines still run on coal - for that authentic feel. 🙄

Darjeeling was the first city to be electrified (in the area or in India - it wasn’t very clear). Ironically, we experienced a number of power outages while in Darjeeling - possibly since it was first it didn’t get the best infrastructure. Actually, our guide was explaining that Darjeeling was planned by the British - but the plan was carried out by the Indians - imagine Hollywood director and a Bollywood cast and crew. 

The streets are steep!

I thought taking the staircase short cut would be a good idea - gah - still gasping for breath. Notice the water pipes on the left... sometimes these were close to the electrical conduits. 

Our Darjeeling digs. 

Steep road on the way back to Siliguri (we had 5? Stops at slides/falls/washouts that were all very interesting to everyone. 

Here’s an example of where slope movement has washed out the road (now repaired) but wrecked the tracks - not yet repaired. 

There was a tree across the road that had been cleared/cut - assymetrical rings!


Walking up the road. 

Our names were in the local paper! Obviously...

Our escorts and James (for scale). 

A monkey - making for a great shot of Coronation Bridge across the Teesta River (stop 1 on Nov 16). We were told about the monkeys and that they were particularly aggressive - we had to mind our ‘dangly bits’ which brought on a lot of giggles - mostly we need to be careful that straps and such from backpacks were stuffed inside something. 

Teesta river heading to the Teesta Megafan, and then Brahmaputra (and Bangladesh). 

There are a lot of signs in India - a lot of saying a on the road with varying degrees of correct spelling and grammar - the road safety signs are hard to catch (especially from the back of the mini-mini-van), but I did get some of the others. There is a large military presence in Darjeeling region - with four borders - and all at varying degrees of stability - it’s understood why there is so much military activity. 

Leesh (or Lish) River or it’s the Gish River (you know Lillian’s sister). The Lish and Gish rivers are relatively small catchments and most of the large boulders and gravels end up here - instead of the Brahmaputra. So a major enterprise is gravel/boulder collecting which is then sold in Bangladesh (lots of silt and sand there - no gravels/boulders needed for building). So rocks that might be worth 100 rupees in Siliguri - are 1000 or even 10000 rupees in Bangladesh. It is a mixture of a formal and an informal economy. Machines and vehicles are not allowed on the floodplain or in the river - but no one is policing it. And you need a permit to remove material - but your permit might be for 5 tonnes and if you remove 5000 tonnes, no one knows/notices. The rocks are brought to the road and loaded into trucks which drive to the border where they are loaded into different trucks.  Who knew sediment transport could be so lucrative. 

Probably my favourite ‘falling rock’ hazard sign I have ever seen. This was the stop where the monkeys swarmed Anne. 

Road sign sponsorship is a thing here. Ambuja Cement is a pretty major cement company - but it seems like there are a lot of major cement companies. I have seen this image a couple of times - it was on the side of a couple of buildings in Maharashtra state (Deccan trip). I didn’t think hydropower plants could be so lovingly held. 

Lover’s Meet - overlook of the Teesta (right) and Rangit (bottom) rivers. 

Now down at the actua rivers. 

Very rounded cobbles - my foot for scale. 



Looking down - the Teesta. 

View from Kalimpong. 

Receiving my field trip participation certificate- this whole conference was big on certificates...  This was after our last dinner together in Kalimpong (Nov 16). 


Sunset on the Himalayas from the plane (Nov 17).