The road to Darjeeling

*Wrote this a few days back on my phone, just haven't had wifi to post it. We've been in Darjeeling a few days now, will update at some point.

Our journey began with a 5:30 taxi to Anand Vitar station in Delhi. The sun rising through the dusty haze was beautiful, and the familiar smells of wee and poo wafted through the open windows. Delhi is really hot even at 6am so by the time we fumbled around the station and onto the train we were already a sweaty mess. We had plumped for the posh '2AC' class, a reserved, air-conditioned sleeper carriage where the beds are stacked just 2 high. We were naively surprised therefore to find ourselves sharing a 4-bunk compartment with another family of 6! We did not venture into the the unreserved bit but I imagine it was like a a hotter version of world war one.

29 hours, many naps and half a bottle of hand sanitiser later, we arrived in New Jalpaiguri and agreed a price with a taxi driver. 1km down the road we were handed to the drivers 'good friend' who thankfully had a less terrible (if not 4WD) car and seemed to be able to drive it. 3 hours of incredible cliff-side rally stage later, winding up through multiple hairpins and bustling hillside towns we arrived in Darjeeling!