Toy Train

Tuesday, 17 April

Having missed out on travelling up to Darjeeling on the Toy Train, we went for a short local trip on it. This is very tourist orientated and uses the old steam engines rather than the diesel ones they use on the long trips. Apart from being more powerful, these are more reliable, our trip was slightly delayed whilst they carried out some repairs

and 10 minutes after departure we had to park in a siding for some more

You can see from the picture above how the track runs along the road (yes, this is the main/only road into Darjeeling).

A quick stop at the Gurkha War Memorial which is at the top of a loop (the track goes round and over itself to climb without doing zig-zags)

and off again to our destination, Ghum, all of 8km from Darjeeling. This is about 200m higher than Darjeeling and for much of the time is enveloped in cloud, hence it was nick-named Gloomy Ghum.

A 30 min stop here to visit the Railway Museum, not much in it but well presented

Map showing how windy the route from Siliguri (bottom left) to Darjeeling (top right) is

And back to Darjeeling.

Our afternoon outing was down a steep winding path to the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre. This was started in 1957 when Tibetan refugees from the Chinese invasion first started arriving in India. Two generations on, most younger Tibetans who were born and educated in India are integrated into the local community leaving the carpet, wool and leather workshops to their parents and grandparents. Darjeeling is probably the second largest home for Tibetans in India, the first being Dharamsala (to the west of Nepal) where the Dalai Lama is based. It is sad seeing how many of the older generation cling onto the hope that they will be able to return to a free Tibet. After 50 years, this seems increasingly unlikely despite high profile campaigns by Hollywood celebs and others. The harsh reality is that relations with China are too important for any government to take a real stand. Best hope is that China improves its human rights so that Tibetans don't feel the need to escape and those in exile are able to visit their homeland.

Tomorrow, Kalimpong.
Cheers
Roshan