De-railed

Up at 5 a.m to make up for the lost time and take jeep out of Darjeeling to the town of Ghoom. The road follows the toy train track which weaves and wanders all over the road making driving difficult. Compounding the difficulties are thousands of Bengali tourists coming in Jeeps the other way form the morning pilgrimage to Tiger Hill to watch the sunrise over Kanjunchunga mountain. Jeep takes an eternity to reach Ghoom an eternity in which I remember I have left my gloves in the hotel so have to return back. Another hour to travel back the 8 k.m to Ghoom pick up the gloves and then jeep it back again to Ghoom to find a total traffic jam this time caused by hordes of Bengali tourists waiting for the toy train to do a circle of Batasla loop. Arrive in Ghoom at 9 a.m in livid state and begin to conclude that the toy train track should be struck off the U.N.E.S.C.O list and dug up.
Back to doss house, change and peddle at furious pace up the 1000 meter climb to Tumling before running out of legs and pushing up the super steep rock paved track. Tumling fantastic and stay again in Shikara lodge were I position myself in the wooden kitchen next to the hearth for another evening of watching cats, being fed and chatting to the guides and teachers of the student groups.