Eastern India 2

The train to Darjeeling from Calcutta is a sheer delight. You get off at the foot-hills and get a jeep to go up the hills to the town of Darjeeling. It is a steep and dangerous drive. Darjeeling was established by the British as a cool hill station and is a main tea center. Most people living here come from Nepal and is really cold. There are really old hotels that are nearly a hundred years old. The old world charm of the old British Raj is still kept alive in the manners and architecture.

You can get all sorts of old knick-knacks in the markets. Darjeeling is a gateway to the high mountains of the Himalayas. Sherpa Tenzing came from Darjeeling. There is a mountaineering academy that teaches all the skills necessary for climbing Mount Everest and the other high mountains. The local people cart gear up the mountains and you can trek to Rimbik which goes along an old trade route that is used by the villagers to carry goods on their heads up the mountain. There are memorials or stupas along the way. You climb up into the clouds and stop off at a village. Try some fermented beer which can be quite strong.

You can climb from eight to thirty thousand feet high up the trekking tracks. At the end you can stay in a mountain hut and do the final trek in the snow to the high mountain top. If you are lucky you may be able to see Mount Everest or the five sacred peaks.

Arunchal Pradesh has only been opened up to travellers recently and you need a permit to trek in this area. You need a four wheel drive vehicle to get around. The drive is hard and the roads are terrible but the scenery is breathtaking. If you stop at a river, you can go fishing in one of the most isolated spots on earth. YOu drive as far as the road can take you, then walk to the village of Adi Pasi. Cross over suspension bridges that hang precariously over narrow gorges.

Five hundred people live in the village of Adi Pasi and the villagers are said to have come from China centuries ago. The villager trap rats, birds and fish. They pound the rice by hand and the women have to collect fire wood to cook their meals. The Pasi people maintain their tribal traditions due to their isolation. Rats are a delicacy in the village and if you want to get married you have to take two dried rats to the girl's father. If he takes them you can get married.

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