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For everyone following our blog, we thought it prudent to write one last blog and explain our abrupt departure from India.
In tandem with Matthew being very ill, we took a train to Delhi, which was five hours late, missed our connection to Mumbai, but obviously got a piddly refund for our 30 pound tickets! On top of this our hotel required us to pay in advance and took our money even though we never made it too Mumbai. Funnily enough when we rang and demanded a refund they suddenly had severe english speaking problems! And to top it off there was a bomb diffused at the station we were at on the morning of independance day.
Thus a quick trip to jet airways to enquire about flights lead to returning home the next day! We felt, as great an experience as india was, that perhaps in terms of relaxation returning to the UK and a week in the cotswolds would do more good!
Thanks you everyone who is reading for your continuous support and messages, it meant such a lot when we were so far from home xxxx
P.S. we will try and upload those toy train photos if we can!

Kalimpong

Sorry everyone, we have some superb train pictures to show you (sadly none of the Himalayas yet - mist mist and more mist!) - the blogger website is being very tempremental lately. So we left Darjeeling yesterday, sadly we did not get to see the zoo because of the rain, but we did get to see some more temples, which were fairly spooky because of all the mist!
Met some travellers doing a teaching placement in Kalimpong so we got a taxi with them, it was.... wait for it.... CLEAN!!!! The one and the only clean taxi in india i believe. We're staying in a great hotel! First night wasn't so great but because we were put in a room next too the owner who a) likes his beer and b) snores, great combo! But we've moved to a nicer room now. Last night was matt's mini heaven. Not only was Man U vs Reading shown in the lounge but the owner and his friends plus beers were strumming Beatles tunes all night long! Sad to say they weren't familar with the lost prophets tune that matt was showing them!
Matt's ill again, so i've been making him eat soup all day, he's back on the antibiotics so hopefully it'll clear up soon. This afternoon we went to a 'paper factory' which wasn't so much a factory has a house, but we did get to see the whole process and the beautiful end results! And then on we went to town and have been doing more present shopping!!
The owner has been great because matt is ill and has arranged us transport to the station on wednesday! This is doubly helpful because un-beknown to us it's independance day, and Kalimpong pratically closes down for a three day street party. Shame though cause we would've stayed for it but we didn't know when we booked our tickets. The second shame is owner's sister works at Dow Hill School and would've arranged a visit for us had we been staying longer!
Needless to say we're emailing the lonely planet with a glowing report! xxxx

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Darjeeling - Cuppa Anyone?

So we're being very lazy in Darjeeling at the moment, it has loads of quaint cafes and nice restaurants and whilst we write this we're munching currant buns and something called - heavy cake, it's very chocolately and very rich! Beyond the food, which is scrumptious! The shopping here is very very good, less conning and better quality, and we've manged to get quite a few pressies we hope you'll like!
Yesterday we went on the toy train to Ghoom, it was very funny and there was a lot of reditions of 'thomas the tank' in honour of my name sake! ;) We stopped at a war monument and the history museum of the toy train, but perhaps the funniest moment, as i'm sure matt will agree but i wont! Is when i tried to lean out the window for a nice cheesy photo and discovered, to my horror, that it was covered in pee!!! (Which if you haven't got the jist yet, is just sooooooo india!) So i spent the rest of the trip trying not to bend my knese and avoid trouser contact!
We went to the Darjeeling tea planters club, but... it was fairly empty and a bit expensive to join, then we got chased off the premisis for taking photo's! To be fair i did pretend i couldn't understand english until the lady has practically grabbed the camera from me! Well if they are going to be that un-charitable to poor travellers!
And lastly the fiasco of the travellers cheques, getting money anywhere in india seems to become an absolute nightmare for us, but when you have to bully the bank into accepting your passport as indentifiation you do begin to wonder!
So we're off to the zoo this afternoon and observatory hill. Perhaps the biggest shame is that we still haven't caught sight of the himalayas because of all the mist! The alarm has been set for 6am everyday in the hope of catching a photo!
We'll try and upload some photos now, xxx

Beth: What's your address, yes i should know, but remind me so i get i 100% right!

Dow Hill School

Unfortunately the porter wouldn't let me speak to the headmistress - whose permission i needed to visit the school. Neither would he let me anywhere beyond the gates to take photos. Our only option is to try and email or ring the headmistress and arrange a visit - otherwise this is the best i can do. So frustrating to come all the way to india and to be hindered by a porter on a power trip! Tried to ask some of the school girls, who spoke amazing english,

but they couldn't help.

Kurseong

So here we are, Lauren's heritage hotspot number one!!
Ridiculous train journey where this mean old lady would not let us change beds, even though she had a section with two free beds in it! Saying i had a cold and she was old and wouldn't be able to sleep. So we slept on a very very small uncomfortable bed while this woman snorted, coughed and splurted all night long! We now know why the british are known for our manners, cause we actually have some!!
For our friends who don't know, one of the reasons for coming to India was to see where my (Lauren's) family lived. Shimla was where my great grandmother went to school (St Bede's) and worked as a Pianist at the Gaitey Theatre playing for the old Black and White movies, she was the 3rd best Piano played in India! Calcutta was the home to some of my great aunts, and my mother was born nearby in town called Dhanbad. My grandmother and great Aunt Brenda made the trip from Calcutta to Kurseong, where we are now, on the famous Himalayan Toy Train to go to boarding school. Finally our next stop is Darjeeling, where according to my mother my grandad 'cruised' the local bars!

Oh Calcutta!

Contrary to the lonely planet and the general consensus that Calcutta is a less than desirable place, we love it!!! It is SO much nicer than Delhi, yes there is traffic, beggars and pollution but... it's just not as oppressive as Delhi, and thus we've been able to see some of the amazing architecture it has to offer. Our hotel was a complete rip off! We paid far too much for some Raj-era style service which actually just struck us as eccentric!! and somewhat terse!
The weather is also very very varied, obviously there is the mid-day heat but it's quite reasonable away from the lunch time hours. And the road system is backwards, quite literally at mid-day all the roads reverse their direction, it's really really weird and the only way we can actually cross them is by tailing the locals!
Anyway beyond the pictures there's not much to say cause it's only a flying visit. Off to Darjeeling tomorrow - more english weather! Yay!!!