After a nice 2 days in Darjeeling it is time to go again. We head down to the shared taxi stand and see who is leaving soon. The jeeps are all standing next to each other with their destination written on a board propped up on the front of the vehicle. We see the sign Siliguri and ask how much it is, Rs 60.- or CHF 1.50 for a 2 ½ hour ride. We hand over our luggage and wait for them to find more passengers to fill the jeep. After a while they tell us if we want to leave right away we can pay double for our seat and sit only the two of us in our row. We do not hesitate for long and off we go. We do the round of the town 2 times with the drivers assisant shouting «Ho Siliguri » out of the window in case someone wants to go that way. We also join in and help them out shouting. We don’t find any more passengers though, maybe we have scared them off…
It does not matter, we begin driving down and easily collect enough people in the next villages to fill the jeep. No one has dared sit next to us, the assistant must be telling everyone that we have payed double to stay alone… We begin feeling bad seeing everyone crammed in the front and back seats so we suggest some of the new passengers to sit with us. At first they don’t seem to want to and then some give in. We pass some of the very big Tea Eastates like Maikabari (known for its organic tea), Margarets Hope, Castleton…
Further down we see many people walking along the road trying to find a ride to Siliguri. Most of the jeeps are full, so they might be walking for a while until they find room in on of the vehicles. We see some young men hop on the back of the jeep just in front of us. They try to hold on to something as the jeep swerves back and forth in the curves. They are probably not doing this for the first time.
From the pine trees in Darjeeling we are soon back to the lushious green vegeation of the the valley. The ride down is over in no time. When arrive in Siliguri we tell the driver that we need to get to an ATM before going back to the Ashram. The driver and assistant really kind to us and even wait to make sure the ATM works before taking off again!
It does not matter, we begin driving down and easily collect enough people in the next villages to fill the jeep. No one has dared sit next to us, the assistant must be telling everyone that we have payed double to stay alone… We begin feeling bad seeing everyone crammed in the front and back seats so we suggest some of the new passengers to sit with us. At first they don’t seem to want to and then some give in. We pass some of the very big Tea Eastates like Maikabari (known for its organic tea), Margarets Hope, Castleton…
Further down we see many people walking along the road trying to find a ride to Siliguri. Most of the jeeps are full, so they might be walking for a while until they find room in on of the vehicles. We see some young men hop on the back of the jeep just in front of us. They try to hold on to something as the jeep swerves back and forth in the curves. They are probably not doing this for the first time.
From the pine trees in Darjeeling we are soon back to the lushious green vegeation of the the valley. The ride down is over in no time. When arrive in Siliguri we tell the driver that we need to get to an ATM before going back to the Ashram. The driver and assistant really kind to us and even wait to make sure the ATM works before taking off again!
