Durga Puja in Kolkata, no tigers in Sunderbarn...

So, time for some updates from the road, huh?
Well...relaxing in Kathmandu, Nepal, now, but it was a long and eventful time before we got here....

After an amazing time spent in Kolkata, with an amazing pair of new friends - an Indian couple, living in Kolkata, who hosted Blondie at their home for 10 days! Well, the plan was to stay 3-4 days max, have a look at Durga Puja festival and move on...However, it turned out to be a great time, worth every minute spent there! Boma is a great tourist guide - amateur, who gave Blondie an in-depth insight into the festival and it's artistic and historic aspects! While Mohua, showed her the true religious meaning, Durga Puja has for Hindus. Apart of it, they spent hours chatting, discussing and exchanging views on different topics; cultural, social, historical, political...I think they covered all aspects of life...Blondie strongly recommends Couch Surfing!!! That's how the trio met!
They grew such good friends, that decided to spend more time together and took a trip to Sikkim - a northern state of India. Well, they actually met there...cause Blondie beforehand decided to take a 2 day trip to Sunderbarn Tiger Camp and Reserve, to spot tigers....However, it was pretty shit, as there were no tigers at all!!! Actually, apart of a deer and a wold boar - which you can practically see everywhere in the world, Blondie didn't get to see any other animals....Of course, the guide, seeing Blondie's chicken face, told her that of course there were deadly king cobras and gigantic spiders in the reserve, however nothing of such was actually spotted, so Blondie grew to to believe that the whole camp was a big fake! Well, it is not, as this is a well known tiger area, but probably fate decided that, since Blondie has a Lion of her own, she did not need to see a tiger...Well , fair played.
So, after the unsuccessful tiger trip, Blondie packed her backpack, which by the way is getting heavier every day - must be the humidity!!! and left for Sikkim. This time she got a front seat on an overnight bus, and it was quite alright! This time, there was no need for chocolate biscuits and Georgie...though Georgie is always there, at hand...of course, he doesn't even come close to My Lion, but in his absence, Georgie is doing pretty well putting Blondie to sleep...
Arrived to Siliguri, a town, from where Blondie caught a chicken jeep to Pelling, in Sikkim. In a 10 seater jeep, she traveled with 13 other passengers for long 5,5 hours...as well as she had been doing quitting smoking up to this time, this ordeal screamed for a fag, and indeed she plunged into one, or two...However, this is even more justified, since on this shitty chicken trip Blondie lost her beloved mobile, together with her Irish and Polish sim cards inside...aaaa!!!!!, and then, left her camera at the Sikkim border check point in Melli...well, this we can put down on her being blond, nonetheless, the thrill was even bigger as she realized that her camera was missing after few hours since crossing the check point! Tired, squeezed like a chicken and desperate Blondie smoked cigarettes and cursed her blond hair....The only console was Amrita, a young Indian girl traveling alone for few days as well, with whom Blondie made quickly friends and since Amrita didn't have a plan where she was going, she joined Blondie to Pelling.
On arriving in Pelling, she met Boma and together went to the Sikkim Police Station...if she had the camera she would have surely taken a photo...even chicken house looks way better! Bare walls, covered all the way in fungus, two beds, a table and two chairs. That was it! not even a telephone, sink, filing cabinet, absolutely nothing!!! And those, poor, brave policemen actually slept there!!! No more comment on this...
Anyway, the two brave cops called, from their mobile, Sikkim Check Point, where another brave officer, Lakshman sth, confirmed that he found the camera and it was waiting there to be collected!!!
As you can imagine, this wonderful news required a fag and a pint!!! And indeed, Blondie and Amrita celebrated the occasion accordingly!
The following day, Blondie, Boma&Mohua and Rose&Matt, an Australian couple met in Pelling, and another Indian couple, hired a jeep and went off on a day trip to Juksom and Tashiding, which was lovely and with absolutely amazing views of step cultivation and steep valleys and lush green mountains and lots of waterfalls and gompas and stupas, but of course Blondie didn't have her camera to capture all this!!!!!! Hopefully, Rose&Matt will send the pics as promised! Shit shit shit!!!
And the next morning, the whole group chartered a private jeep - the conditions were far from the chicken ones, since there were now 8 of them in a 10 seater...VIPs..., and got back to Siliguri via Melli, where the brave Lakshman proudly handed in the long lost camera to Blondie and even refused taking a little gratitude financial reward, saying proudly that this was his duty!!! Long live Lakshman!!!
And, this was the last Blondie saw her friends, as she took another chicken jeep, straight to Darjeeling - the land of tea.....