Day 1, Darjeeling

NJP: Take cab not more than Rs 120-150 and take oldish looking driver. Don't fall for a young one. Call the driver Daju.

Darj:
Lunch: Penag's for momos, Tib food
Evening: Chowrasta, go for pony ride or next day, shop, look around, good coffee shops
Night: BUZZ, drink, music, food
Morning: wake up and go straight to Keventer's, sausage/meat platter etc.HOG!!
Day: go for sightseeing. Don't go to botanical garden, check monastries
If you want to shop, go to Mahakaal, or for T-shirts, just stroll around, and eat at Glenary's - very good baker
Night again, BUZZ again if you prefer or just get sloshed in your hotel, booze is cheap

The list was emailed to me by Remuna. Remuna had a lot to do with the trip. Sikkimese colleague and organizer of freebie home stays with her sister, guided tours by her cousin and intelligent conversations with her friends.

The list was important. Very important as we discovered through our trip. Daily calls from Rem (as she is fondly refered to back home) weren't just to say 'hi' but to make sure her instructions weren't written in vain.

We followed them. Mostly.

The overwhelming barrage of taxi drivers all wanting to get us to Darjeeling lead us to falling for a young driver. We did call him Daju.Younger drivers are prone to driving rash in order to impress young lady passengers, we were patiently explained. Daju meant big brother. We got to Darjeeling safely, despite the youth and his good looks.

Darjeeling was cold and wet. Much more than we had imagined while booking tickets in our air conditioned office in Pune cursing power cuts and cost cutting techniques that included switching off the AC every alternate hour.

Later, on the way to Pelling from Jorethang, we found out that wasn't the only cost cutting technique the office had thought up. A much more effective method was about to hit us hard. Pay cuts, we were told in a horrified phone call. We continued to Pelling, stayed in even cheaper places and dreamt about quitting.