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2010-06-04
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Diary - 2008 September (India)

2008-09-20 to 2008-09-22

Back to Darjeeling

The flight back to Siliguri was as easy as was the drive up to Darjeeling again. Nonetheless my mood was very bad: The Oktoverfest in Munich starts this time without me! All my friends are there, but me! :-( Happy me my dad brought some cans of Munich beer, so I will survive! :-)
As I do stay with my dad in Darjeeling it's the first time I stay in a posh hotel! After sitting in my car or all these shoe boxes I have to admit, it's quite a good feeling! :-)

2008-09-15 to 2008-09-20

Kolkata

Well the flight was good and so was the meal they served.
I met up with Netty and Mike in Kolkata again, met friends of them from Calcutta rescue, which is a NGO for helping the poor people in Kolkata by feeding the kid and provide free medical treatment.
The kids where so sweet and it was time to go something good in the world so Netty, Mike and me decided to provide essentials for school - they don't even have enough paper books to make their homework, neither pencils or pens nor rulers or sharpeners. We really wanted to spend some money but that's not as easy as it sounds:
We were negotiating with a lot of shops the prices for all the stuff and after for us endless 1,5 h discussion we had a price we were willing to pay when they told us we have to wait for another hour for half of the books and the pencils they don't have at all! Well, this was the point, where we said we can f... ourselves alone!
As I was meeting my dad by the next day brave Netty and Mike started alone for a new 'do-something-good-buy-goods-for-kids-in-the-jungle'-challenge where they indeed

managed to organize all the stuff we were thinking of plus some more!
Good and brave Netty and Mike!!
My dad and me had two nice days sightseeing and meeting the rescue people in the evenings.
Havin' a big party the last day people were passing out and so I left Kolkata without saying good bye to my two new friends.
Plans are there to meet up on Indians west coast, where the party should go on! :-)

2008-09-15

Airport problems

After some nice days in Darjeeling I brought Netty and Mike down to Siliguri where they took the train to Kolkata (Calcutta). I for myself had to take my flight the next day (because of some arrangements for meeting my dad) and therefore had to find a secure place for my car. Just therefore I calculated in one full day. But I forgot again that India is not Germany! :-)

So I got to the airport, bribed some taxi drivers by givin' them a free ride and gave donations for the next festival on site, where I wanted to leave my car. After speakin' to the security guards that I wanna leave my car on a particular parking place I felt well prepared. Everybody now new me, everybody got something from me, everything should be in order - that's what I thought so far! :-)
I was prepared, that I will be not allowed to sleep in my car on the closed airport parking place, so after being asked I moved for the night in a nearby hotel. But the hazard started the next day: After placing my car on my place from the day before, checking in, relaxing and reading on the airport for some hours, just about 30mins before boarding I got approached by head of airport security, asking me to move my car, because it's not allowed to leave it there! Hey man, there is even a sign, how much it costs to leave it there! I spoke and argued to quite a lot of people which led me to the airport manager just leading to a very late and guarded move of my car to another secure place - whatever that should be. First petrol station wanted 200 rupees per day, so we went on, next petrol station didn't want me to put the car there at all. Poor guard who was with me, telephoned all the time with the manager, that time is running out and we don't have a place...
Next attempt was the local police station, where the chief officer told me it's ok, I just have to write a letter, that I am ok with leaving it at the station just to tell me later (of course I had to wait about 10mins that he ends his super important phone call), that I cannot leave my car here! Hey, are they all stupid!? :-) Well, I decided that I does not want to miss my flight and was agreeing at the first petrol station to pay 100 rupees - which is a lot considering that I paid just 150 for a room with shower! Well, welcome to India! :-)

2008-09-07 to 2008-09-14

From Varanasi to Darjeeling

On the way we had to stay in the middle of no way and as it was mentioned to be the poorest and most dangerous region in whole India, we decided to rather book a cheap hotel room than pitch a tent. All the water (Monsoon) around was making it hard for us to find a dry place anyway...

In a village where we ask for an hotel or guesthouse the owner of a house finally made up, that indeed he has a hotel and we can stay at his place! What an easy way of making money! :-) Of course the meal we ordered took him more than 2 hours to produce and after Mike mentioned that he's an IT Specialist he had to fix the laptop for the owner until midnight, although we wanted to go to bed early, because of the next 400km we still had to go.
Not to mention that after the brother of the owner finished our bottle of whiskey he was all but sober and we became his gods... Alcohol is a devil! :-)

Late we went to bed just for a cruel meeting with the armada of Indians best mosquitoes - it was a cruel night in which we all just slept about 3 hours. Best conditions for the streets in India! :-)

We managed to run away without a long-time breakfast and headed north. Street conditions became so bad that it really took us the whole day to arrive in Darjeeling in the night. Finding a hotel was easy and we slept - with two blankets, because it's very cold in Darjeeling (2000m altitude) - until the noon!

We enjoyed the temperature, had good and long breakfasts and learned more about how to make tea - I didn't know, that the secret process of fermenting the tea is just putting it on the floor and wait until it becomes brown by the current of the air...

The nights we spent with some beers and whiskey and our guitars (no, I still cannot play) singing and havin' fun!

2008-09-02 to 2008-09-07

144 hours drinkin'

Meeting Netty and Mike and my liver started to cry! It was a very funny week, full of drinkin' and havin' fun with the two. Eventually we met Sam, whom the two of them knew from 'working in a bar in Laos' - well the fun went on! :-) Twice Mike and Netty postponed their train to skip it after endless nights in the German Bakery and the Shanti Rooftop to join me in my Landy for driving up to Darjeeling.


	Start: 2008-04-10					Oli on his way from Munich to Hong Kong				End: 2010-05-12