I'm hoping to go from calcutta - darjeeling, entering nepal
from the east. Is this possible/ any recommendations?
also i'm planning to leave via the west and onto delhi
maybe. any advice would be appreciated.
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Hi Pete!
We took the train from Calcutta to Darjeeling in Oct. '97
and it was the ONLY train ride I enjoyed. It was cool and
we slept most of the way. The train stops in New
Jaipulaguri-the middle of nowhere really, a station in the
midst of a dusty valley. When we got off the train, there
were tons of rickshaw drivers wanting to take us to the
jeeps that take you up the mountain to the Darjeeling hill
station. The only thing that sucked about the jeeps is that
they are diesel and on the way up (which takes about 4
hours) the fumes are terrible. I wouldn't take
the toy train-narrow guage train. It sounds
really cool but takes twice the amount of time. Darjeeling
is really wonderful though. I believe the jeeps are the
only way up to Darjeeling. After a few days there, we took
the jeeps back down. The jeeps stop and you take a rickshaw
who goes about 500 ft. as you cross the Nepal border into
Siliguri. We found an air-conditioned restaurant across from
the bus terminal that was a god-send in the dusty warm
valley. The buses are really tight so we bought the
equivalent of four seats per person. There were 3 of us so
we just bought tickets for the entire front cabin where the
driver sat. I highly recommend that if you go by bus. It
took us something like 17 hours. It sounds grueling but was
very exotic and adventurous. AS far as going to New Dehli
from Nepal-we flew so I can't help you there. Good Luck!