Off to India!

Fun story! Our flight departed Kathmandu, Nepal airport for Bhadrapur with time to spare. It actually left 10 minutes early! I'm sure most of you would agree that a flight leaving on time is rare enough, but to leave early?! I thought we were off to a great start. After 50 minutes in the air, we landed at our small destination airport about 35 km from the India border. We gathered our bags in the steamy hottness only to learn there was a bandh in the town. This means strike!!! No taxis were available to transport us. Our choices were a 3-hour rickshaw ride to the border or a 30 minute motorcycle ride. Not a difficult choice with all things considered. So there I was! My red, 60-litre trekking pack was strapped to my backside and my blue backpack carrying my laptop was strapped to my frontside. As soon as my right leg straddled the bike and my left foot left the ground, my skinny Nepali "motorbike taxi" driver was off. Wind in my face! Two choices were before me: 1) hang on for dear life; 2) sit back and ride. I chose both!

We were a motorcycle caravan of three consisting of 1 American co-worker, 1 Nepali co-worker, and me. My driver liked to be in the lead! It was a beautiful but bumpy ride and a looming rain cloud followed us for the duration of our 25-minute journey. Thankfully, the rain stayed until evening.

At the border post for Nepal and India, a very primitive place, we passed through Nepal Immigration and then Indian. Not a computer was in sight! Everything was done by hand and all record of those entering/leaving the country were catalogued in large ledger books. Did I mention it was hot? It was hot! All rooms were open in the hopes of capturing a cool breeze. What a life!

We hired a taxi to drive us the 1 hour to Siliguri, India where we spent the night, then traveled the remaining 3.5 hours to Jaigaon the following morning. We drove by numerous tea estates. Beautiful! The best tea in the world comes from these parts!

More to follow on Jaigaon soon! Internet access is limited to a small internet cafe that runs very slowly. . .oh well. . .at least we have continuous electricity in India!