Darjeeling

Well we made it overland from Kathmandu to Darjeeling, but now are a bit stuck...granted a nice place to be stuck in! Two and a half weeks ago when we decided to do this trip we tried to book train tickets that were from just South of here all the way down the East coast to Chennai where we could catch a short train and then a bus back to Ooty...However, the train was fully booked with a huge waiting list. Our only option was to wait untill 5 days before we wanted to go, when they release a batch more tickets at 8am. This is for foreigners and last minute travellers and is called TATKAL. Unfortunately again, we were in Nepal 5 days before we wanted to leave and nobody in Nepal knew what Tatkal was. We decided we would have to wait a couple days and book tickets in Darjeeling. We have arrived to find that the Darjeeling Train Station is on strike.. for at least a week, and the travel agents are not so helpful and assure us there are no train tickets available for weeks! Daves been researching all morning, and says we could make our way to Calcutta and then fly to Bangalore and then take a long bus home! We are not quite sure about Calcutta as its at least 24 hours by bus! Ha ha..I'll stop boring you all with travelling adventures... Darjeeling seems nice, and full of good food. I think we may go to the zoo today, which has a good reputation and then sample some teas. We're just leaving to have breakfast and decide on the best plan of action, I think a pancake and a mug of Horlicks sounds pretty tasty.