Day 131. Darjeeling - Siliguri

This morning showed the promise of a fine day. The distant clouds had partially lifted and the distant mountains partially revealed themselves. 


View, at last from the hotel. 

Unfortunately this wasn’t to last. After breakfast we said goodbye to our Thai friends and swapped contact details, we also scored 4 more coffee bags. Result. 
We set off in dry conditions but it wasn’t long before we were on the roadside donning our wets. It became very misty and difficult for me to see, fortunately the traffic was fairly light for the most part. 

After a while we heard the distant sound of the train hooter, we soon caught it up and snapped some pics. 



We passed the train and about 50m past it the track crossed the road. What possessed me to cross in front of the train I’ll never know but anyway I was committed.
 Unfortunately for me as well as the usual slippery roads and track there was a large chunk of road missing running along the track, as I said I was committed by now and had to go. We hit the track with a bit of a lean on and sure enough the front wheel started to follow the track, I gave it a bit of gas and we lurched over the track the front wheel gripped again but we were way out of shape and almost sideways by now. Then we went into a massive tank slapper and I was sure we were going down, I just tried to steer us away from the edge of the road and a precipitous fall. I don’t know how we stayed on but we did. 
I’ve got a decent bruise on my calf, apart from being tossed around on the back Robyn was ok. 
Phew that was close. 
The train passed by and the driver gave me a chastening finger wag, but with a smile. Lesson learnt. 

Further down the road we heard the tooting of a train again. So we stopped and waited for it to come. This one was coming up the hill, towards Darjeeling. 









We arrived in Siliguri a bit 2nd hand and pretty wet, Siliguri is manic with tuk tuks and motorbikes everywhere. We stopped to find a hotel on maps.me and then set off along a busy thoroughfare, lots if stares and thumbs up from young guys. One guy came up on our left very close. I didn’t see this, but next minute crash bang and down he went, a tuk tuk entering the street cramped him up and he had nowhere to go. 
I just saw the aftermath in my mirror, no way for us to stop as we were jammed in amongst other vehicles, so I hope he’s ok. 

Maps.me let us down today for the first time I think. The hotel we selected I entered in and off we went, perform a u turn in 500m, easier said than done but ok, did that, after about 200m, perform a u turn in 500m. I don’t think so, with the wet weather, starting to feel hot and sweaty, I can hardly see through my foggy glasses and constant horn tooting I saw a hotel and headed for it, basic but ok. 

So all in all a fairly eventful day. Rain adds a whole new layer of intensity to motorcycle travel here. 

Comments

  1. Audrey Larsen25 September 2019 at 11:49

    Eventful ride! Well done Mark on manoeuvring your way through it, phew.....take care.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rick25 September 2019 at 14:21

    Thanks for helping me relive Darjeeling - shame about the weather. I remember the tea-shop and the mall area very well. Great spot. Mark stop riding like a local or should I say obey the golden rule in that area of the world "Might is Right" (trains are bigger than bikes.....). Assam is a wonderful area also - heading that way?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Robyn 27 September 2019 at 05:10

      I had had this conversation with Mark about the hierarchy of vehicles on the road and where we sat in the hierarchy- nearly bottom, dogs, pedestrians and push bikers are lower. Buses rule. I have seen buses passing trucks knowingly going head on with a truck and the truck getting out of the way. It has taken Mark a little while to come to terms with the order of things. Best purchase ever - the air horn, it’s great.

      Delete
  3. Mark25 September 2019 at 17:57

    Hi Rick. Yes you’re right trains even small ones are bigger. We are heading in as direct route as possible to Moreh to cross the border on the 4th. Thats sounds like plenty of time but the going is slow. Hopefully we’ll have a day or two to explore.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mark25 September 2019 at 17:59

    Thanks Audrey. It was a fright thats for sure.

    ReplyDelete

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