Dear Diary,
In siliguri today.
The impression i had just when I entered was that this is poverty stricken. Honest feeling. People looked tragic, saw few young homeless guys without clothes and slippers talking to themselves.
No traffic rules, felt too risky to drive.
The hotel i am staying in has ‘hostel room’ a private room with shared bathrooms. Reminds me of college, the hotel looks very old, about 40 years maybe. The auto driver told me that its a very old and Good hotel.
The auto driver also told me how to go to gangtok, where to take the bus from, where is the market, where to eat etc. He was a sweet jolly person. He told me his driver’s licence was older than i am. 😀
In the evening i went to the market, things are dirt cheap here, they were so happily giving things to me at those prices, I could understand I didn’t bargain enough. They have somewhat jolly attitude, sweet talkers. I bought many things, in the colors JJ sent me 😀.
Having money is essential sometimes l, in a way that you dont feel restricted in exploring anything, i bought chai, saundeah and thekua also. Stopped in a bengali restaurant to eat.
You can still get items for rs 10 and 15 only in delhi or here.
It was lovely, aloo sabzi was just so real. And they gave misti dahi and some dessert in the thali.
People are really nice and very helpful here. The next day I took a toto (Rickshaw) to the place from where i could get a bus for the Bangladesh border.
the rickshaw guy was so helpful, he even bragined for me with another auto which can take me to the border point and when he said amount high enough he dropped me to the right bus and said 'ye bas 10 Rupaiya legal aur aapko fulbari chhodega, vahan see 10 raupaiya me ek toto le le jiyega'. I did that and saw the Bangladesh border, it's a thin line on the road which we cant cross, On the other side of that line there is bangaldesh military and people from Bangladesh.
Standing on the line are people from both sides talking to each other. But not allowed to cross.
During return also an uncle in the bus said to me he will drop me to a place from where i can take a bus for the bengal safari.
People are sooo helpful and really nice here. Everyone i met.
That's it from siliguri, Next is Gangtok.
Love
--panda-- ❤️