Makaibari Tea Estates, Kurseong

Before I get into our experience at the tea estate, I want to write about our sleeper class train ride from Kolkata to N.J.P (New Jalpaiguri). Sleeper class is the lowest class with a "bed". Since it was a 12 hour ride we thought it would be best. We decided against a significant increase in money b taking a more private, a/c compartment. If you travel to India, feel free to choose a more comfortable class but it is a worthwhile experience to take sleeper once but bring a lock for your bag.

Each open compartment has 6 "beds" (two, triple bunk beds) and a bunk bed across the aisle. In the 6 bed area, one the middle bed flips down to be a back rest for all the people to sit with while not sleeping. This is very hard to describe the layout and I don't have a good picture to show. Anyway, before it is time for bed (decided by the gods I guess), everyone sits on the bottom bunks talking, eating, and horking. This is where you meet interesting Indians. Unfortunately, from what we heard there can be some really interesting rides. The "highlight" of our trip was this one horrible guy who seems like a jackass (language barrier) and was horking all night.

The beds are hard and a bit dirty and its a must to lock your bags but we couldn't find a good spot so mine ended up under my head. This meant I could not straighten my legs. Despite the rocky sleep, the mosquitos and the horking, the trip went by pretty fast. We spent a uninteresting night/day in Siliguri and then were off to Kurseong by shared jeep (shared jeep means 13 people plus a child squished into one jeep. Unlike many, our jeep did not have anyone holding onto the back). We did not stay in town but a tea estate close by.

Makairbari Tea Estates is an Organic, Fair Trade tea plantation that grows Darjeeling tea and considered one of the best in the world. They have been organic before it was cool, 40 years. The man behind the successful estate is Kumar Banerjee. A eccentric fellow who we got a chance to meet and hear is philosophy. Despite some arrogance, he has his heart and mind in the right place. He seems to be very supportive of initiatives to improve the community around him. He felt somewhat paralyzed by the political system around him and coined my favorite way to describe India, Organized Anarchy. He is true. There are very few kept rules and it's tough to create change.

We stayed two nights in a homestay in one of the villages that surround the estate. The villages around rely heavily on the estate for employment and wealth. The family that we stayed with was the family of the homestay organizer, Nayan. Nayan and family were extremely nice, welcoming, and pampering. We were served tea whenever we asked or whenever we sat down. The food was amazing and plentiful. The first night, we asked to watch the mother cook to get some tips. She made Momos, which are delicious, dumpling like, Tibetan food filled with vegetables (or chicken). We helped roll a few and pinched a few closed. The cooking area was a bit different. The kitchen did not have many counters. We were cooking on the floor perched on little wooden seats. Everything was clean, it was just mostly done on the floor. We had a great time spending time with the whole family and eating together (actually, they waited until we were done before eating). They also brought us millet beer which taste like watered down sake as it is made from rice. It was an interesting taste but I had enough after my two cups.

We did some fun stuff while we were on the estate. The first day, after lunch, we went on a hike down the hill to see the tea plants and the tea pluckers at work. This nice guide names Passan gave us a tour and afterwords talked to us for a long time about our future plans in a state o India called Sikkim.

It was a great hike and Randy got some nice pictures. Although it is a hike for me, these women do it everyday. It seemed like there was a lot of women working and a lot of men standing around or "supervising". It seems that tea plucking is women's work. I don't really understand why carrying wood and water up the hill also seems to be there work too. Anyway, it makes for amazing pictures because the women are so interesting while the men are much less interesting looking.

The second day, we had an amazing breakfast consisting of Aloo Paratha (potato baked into bread and fried) with a think Dal (lentils) dish. It was one of the best breakfasts I have had in India. We keep trying to replicate it but have not come close to succeeding. This was followed, eventually, by a tour of the tea factory. We did a lot of waiting around.

In the factory, they dry the leaves, then dry them some more and then they sort them for quality. This is the most amazing part. They have the dust, them some other parts, then the tips, then the Golden Tips. These tips are the most expensive. They also have different prices and qualities for seasons and the first pluck is always the most expensive. There is a room in the factory where a group of women sit and sort. I don't know what they are doing but they manage to sort a bunch of dried leaves. At the end, they clean the machines and sweep the floor etc. and the dust that remains goes into tea bags. Enjoy!

We went into the town of Kurseong that day but it was pretty disappointing especially since the day we went into town was there weekend/break day. That night, two volunteers on the estate and a German fellow who was staying at the homestay, came to our homestay for dinner. We had a great time and they even brought us a few bottles of kingfisher beer.

The next day, after some more waiting we went on a hike of our own and then rushed to Kurseong to catch the Toy Train to Darjeeling. This is a small train consisting of 4 cars that climbs the mountain. It was an engineering marvel when it was constructed and now it is solely for tourists. The idea of it is cool but the views are not great when its cloudy. Despite this little description, the train was canceled for the day so we had to take a jeep up to Darjeeling on the worst road I have been on so far. I hear there are plenty of worst roads but this one was pretty bad.

Staying on the Makairbari tea estate was definitely the highlight of the trip so far for me. I am expecting it to be a highlight even after we do a lot of other stuff. Great food, great people and a beautiful place. We could have stayed a week if it wasn't so expensive.

I am writing this post a few weeks after the experience. We ran into our guide from the estate, Passan, in Darjeeling as he was taking a tour around. We then went to Sikkim (the place he talked to us about) and we met him and the whole Makaibari crew. It was a nice moment and exciting to see people you thought you would never see again.

I have found that there is an unspoken rule between travelers. You say 'bye' but never a heartfelt goodbye that you would say to someone you are never going to see again. You always just expect to see them in another town. I think it keeps things easier. Most of the time you don't make strong bonds but when you do it is better as a traveler to say "see you later". Seeing the people from Makaibari is just an example of one of the rare moments when you actually see someone again. It's exciting.

Avidan

Kolkata, India

This may be a surprise to many but our flight from Delhi to Kolkata was the easiest flight I have ever taken. I also assume it will be the easiest thing in India for us. Since our bags were already checked through, we were motioned to the front of the queue. This took about 2 minutes and our bags were gone. We went to security and walked right through with the only slow down being the security guard asking me if they use the same process in the Toronto Airport. We boarded the plane and arrived on time and in good shape. It was a bit shaky as you could see a storm in the distance with bolts of lightning. Cool but scary.

I like Kolkata better than Delhi. This might just be that it was the first city but it seemed a bit easier. Nonetheless, it is tough. The same poverty and the same hassling still goes on. As well as the pollution. Sometimes you feel like your head is next to an exhaust and you are breathing that air. We didn't do much the first few days as we were getting used to how to travel, the city, and the fact that Randy already got sick. This did not help our already paranoid feelings about the food.

You are warned time and time again about the food. It is debilitating to enjoy food and a country when you are scared about getting sick. After about a week of the food, I think our stomachs have adjusted a bit better but that fear is still there. It is hard to justify not eating the street food when lots of the restaurants are just street food with tables and chairs. Despite all this, the food is amazing! Everything we have eaten has been great.

The highlights of Kolkata are not really centred around the sites. We went to the magnificent Victoria Memorial, which looks like the Capitol Building in Washington, but the inside museum was boring. The highlight was the grounds around it. The real highlight was it was away from the streets and the honking and the overwhelming amount of cars. It was peace and quiet (kind of). The grounds around the memorial are filled with Indian couples on romantic dates. We didn't stay till dark but supposedly the couples get a lot more heated when the sun goes down.

The next day was the best day in Kolkata and, so far, the best day of the trip. We started off at the flower market. The flowers were nice and interesting (Randy has some cool pictures) but the real draw was that nobody bothered us. They were selling the flowers to other Indians and were not trying to get money out of us. It was so refreshing to be left alone to wander. The only thing they bothered us with was wanting us to take their pictures. Another bit of fresh air (not literally) from the city.
We followed this up with a trip to the Benur Math Hindu temple. Unfortunately, we did not check when it was open and it closed at 12 and opened again at 3:30 pm. We arrived at 12:30. This meant lots of time to kill in the crazy heat. We wondered into this College affiliated with the temple looking for a cool place to sit/nap. There we met these very nice Indian students who were just relaxing. We talked to them for a long time and they offered to show us a good place to eat lunch. Lunch was tasty and they even were aware enough to give us a spoon. Everyone else in the small shop just used their hand (only your right hand). We went back to their dorm room which was surprisingly small. It had 5 beds in the tiny room. Each bed had a wooden frame and a very thin mattress. Did not look comfortable. We traded stories and presents, they dressed us up in Bengali clothes, and then they took us on a tour of the temple. I know I am going to see a lot of temples so it was nice to have a guide for this one. Well actually 4 guides. It was great talking to Indians that are interested in talking and not our money. A great experience.

This temple tour was followed with a short boat ride to the other side of the Houghly where another temple stood. It was Sunday so there was an extraordinary amount of people coming to the temple for prayers and offerings. Many go to wash in the extremely polluted river. We wanted to sit and watch the sunset but annoying Indian teenagers, excited by white people, kept coming over to make stupid comments. We were eventually surrounded with them taking pictures of us. That was enough for us and we left. The traffic outside the temple was ridiculous. Backed up for kilometers going in to the temple grounds. After some trouble, we made it out of there and made it back.

A cold shower is the nicest thing after a long day.

That night, we met a nice Israeli couple and talked with them for a long time. I nice end to Kolkata. We leave today for Siliguri in the North; get out of this heat and get away from the city. It is an 11 hour trip over night. We have a bed (bench) but we have been told that it is quite the experience. I am excited to leave the city.

Avidan

India--Avidan

My first post from India.

India is a hard place to travel. This is what I have been told by countless people. It is certainly true. What I wasn't expecting was how overwhelmed I would be with it. There is one thing to read about it and a very different thing to feel it. Poverty and beggars are painful to experience in such tight places and in such force. Sidewalks are not for pedestrians but for beggars, food stands, and people to sleep. This means you have to walk on the street and almost get hit by the multiple different modes of transportation from foot rickshaw, to bike rickshaw, to auto rickshaw, to plain ol' boring taxis. All of which try to get as close to use as possible. They also all have some kind of horn which they use with out mercy. It is a scary event walking through the cities. This is without all the people. Half the people are walking to where they have to go and the other half are trying to get your money. Taxi, food, souvenirs, clothes, or anything else. This is why it is so exhausting and demoralizing to be in an Indian city.

In Toronto airport, we were greeted with a man in handcuffs with a police escort. He was going to be on our flight. My mind immediately expected a ConAir, Air Force One kind of action sequence where I was the hero that saved the day. No such luck and we landed in Brussels and continued onto Delhi with no further incident. It was interesting to see the Indian/Pakistan border from the air. It was just a line of bright lights that went for miles.

We landed in Delhi ready for our trip. A small conflict in the airport with where to put our bags but we made it to our hotel and back the next day with no trouble.

The trouble came from walking the streets of Delhi near our hotel called Main Bezaar. Overload for your senses. The people of Main Bezaar, that is the store keepers, taxi drivers, and tourist offices, can easily smell fresh meat and they are merciless. Although they didn't get our money, they got our spirit. After a long walk to a tourist office that we had no desire to go in. we were beginning to dislike anyone that made conversation with us. It was a long day that did not leave either Randy or myself particularly like Delhi. The explanation mark was the bike rickshaw driver that wouldn't leave us alone. We wanted to go to a certain place but changed out minds. Unfortunately, you can not explain to these people that you don't want to go anymore. you can only talk about price. He followed us for a good 15 minutes with us changing directions multiple times and he doing the same despite having to turn his rickshaw on such a crowded street. You feel badly but just want to run. I feel you dislikes the city you land in.

Avidan

Amsterdam--Avidan

Hello all.

This is my first post ever. Blogging is new for me. When I was in Israel I worked on a website updating it and adding articles. That was a bit of blogging. You can check out that at www.green.org.il/eng/

Anyway, after working and living in Tel Aviv, my flight home to Toronto had me stop in Amsterdam for 5 days. I don’t have any pictures as I didn’t have a camera at the time but I have some fun experiences to talk about.

Amsterdam has a reputation for drugs and prostitution; the “free” city (if not country) where you can do whatever you want. This reputation is both somewhat untrue and debilitating in the eyes of the government who is in the process of buying up the Red Light district windows and turning them into windows for artist to display their art. They have also begun to restrict any new Coffeeshops from opening and cancelling licences to coffeeshops that break any rules. This is all in an attempt to improve Amsterdam’s reputation in the eyes of a certain demographic. While the government is doing this, Amsterdam is filled with tourists. I went during the low season (winter) and there were still many tourists.

From talking to people, anyone who hasn’t been to Amsterdam doesn’t understand the Red Light District. This is an area of Amsterdam comprised of many blocks and alleyways. On ground level, there are lines of windows. These windows are more like doors. Inside these windows are girls dressed in bikinis on display with a red light shining from behind. Most of the time they are just standing and often smiling but sometimes they will bang on the windows to get your attention or make eye contact and gesture for you to go to the window. If a curtain is closed they are working (or not there). If there is a blue light in the window then the person in the window either used to be a man or is a man. Areas are also sorted into preference. This means that older women are in a different area from Asian women or the bigger women. Any kind of fantasy is available but you certainly will have to pay more. The girls are checked regularly, practice safe sex, and are all business. There are also many cameras in the area so that the girls are kept safe and don’t try to take a picture. Your camera might be destroyed. You have 15 minutes to do your thing but most people don’t make it. After all, the girls are professionals.

The coffeeshops are interesting. They have their own set of strict rules. Firstly, marijuana is not legal in Amsterdam. It is decriminalized to carry up to 5 grams of marijuana on your person for personal use meaning not in public (unless you are smoking on a coffeeshop patio). This also means that trafficking is illegal. You may be wondering how coffeeshops are able to get their marijuana if it is illegal to grow and sell it. This is the ridiculousness of the whole situation. It is illegal but no one is going to stop you from doing either. No coffeeshop will admit they buy any from anywhere, “it just turns up on my back step”. They still have rules about how much a coffeeshop can have on its premise even though it couldn’t have possibly have gotten that amount of marijuana legally.
Next, you are not allowed to drink alcohol in a coffeeshop. Makes sense, I guess. You are also not allowed to smoke cigarettes in any establishment in Amsterdam. This INCLUDES coffeeshops. One could be in a coffeeshop, smoking marijuana and your friend would have to leave and go outside if he/she wanted to smoke a cigarette.

We are not done yet. Some coffeeshops have two parts to them. One is a “normal” bar and the other the coffeeshop where they sell marijuana. You are allowed to smoke marijuana in these bars. This gets around the loophole of not being able to smoke and drink in the same place. One can go to the coffeeshop, buy marijuana and sit at the bar.

That concludes the drug and prostitute portion of this post.

Amsterdam is a great city. The city centre is compact with trams and buses available to take you most anywhere. The service is extremely good compared to Toronto. There are also about 500,000 bikes in Amsterdam and about 50,000 bike thefts a year. The infrastructure for bikes is amazing in Amsterdam. 40% of the trips taking anywhere are taken by bike. This is not just in Amsterdam but the entire Netherlands. This is how our cities should be modeled. They should be build for people and bikes, not cars.

As you may know already, I am pushing hard for change when it comes to the environment. Amsterdam is a great example of how our cities should be planned to minimize cars and maximize efficiency.

I spent a good portion of my time wondering around the city with my very informative friend from Vancouver who has been living there for 3 years already. I did the three main museums in the city. The Van Gogh museum was amazing as it followed the life of Van Gogh. The Rijksmuseum was boring for me. It had a lot of Rembrandt pieces which, to me, are not very interesting. The final of the three was the Anne Frank House. This was a nice little museum but it was a bit too touristy and modern looking for my liking. I also went on a very informative free tour of Amsterdam. The company is called New Amsterdam and they have free tours all over Europe.

If you have any questions about Amsterdam, I did go to other attractions too. Five days is probably enough time to spend there.

Avidan