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Tagne 2001 |
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Dan's DiaryDay 42 - Wednesday 8th August 2001
Andy's alarm went off at 5am. It was 5:20 by the time I finally managed to get up. I got dressed and a visit to the bathroom revealed the return of traveller's diahorrea. I threw the things that had been unpacked from my rucksack back in before taking everything downstairs to the coach. Before long we were packed, and we left the hotel, this time avoiding the overhead cable. We drove through Chandigarh, which had many other people up and about despite the early hour. Rickshaws, cyclists, walkers, cows, cars, lorries and buses all filled the chaotic streets. We hadn't been going long when our coach was flagged down at a police checkpoint. They spent ages checking the driver's paperwork before they let us on our way again. We arrived at the railway station at 6am. It wasn't half as busy as it had been on our previous visit at the start of the expedition. The porters in their uniform of red shirts soon found us and were more than keen to help. They took our luggage to the platform and Narinder went with them to keep an eye on it all. I accompanied Andy to the waiting room at his request because he wasn't feeling too good. A woman just inside the door who pointed out his mistake swiftly reversed his entrance into the ladies' waiting room. I led Andy to the gentlemen's one and then went to find Jon to tell him where we were. Shortly afterwards Andy and I moved along platform one to be with the luggage. The train arrived at the platform just as Andy dived into the toilets. We loaded the luggage on the train and found our seats in the lovely air-conditioned carriage. Jon went to fetch Andy and soon returned with him. There was hardly room for all of our luggage as the overhead racks were already full. The train left at 6:50am. Narinder and Alan were desperately trying to clear bags from the gangway while the waiter fought to get into the cabin to serve tea and biscuits. Narinder and Alan ended up in the adjacent carriage, which was half empty, with all the bags that wouldn't wedge behind the seats of ours. A uniformed officer walked the length of the carriage sticking fluorescent stickers on people's bags and luggage. He asked us if it was our luggage at the end of the carriage and I told him it was. He ordered me to finish my tea first and then he would come back to stick little stickers on them. He was back before the tea had time to cool so I went with him anyway. He went through the bags saying "This your bag?". "Yes" I replied, but soon got fed up and started nodding or grunting every time he asked. "Your purpose here?" he asked probably wondering why I had so many bags. "Daniel" I replied thinking he wanted my name. Realising what I had said I went to correct myself but before I could he said, "Return to your seat please, sir." The rest of the train journey was spent in fear of the uniformed officer's returning and taking me away for my sheer stupidity. I finished taking tea. Andy was still not too well and was soon back visiting the toilet. The waiters soon cleared away our trays and brought us water and newspapers after the train briefly stopped at 7:30, to drop something off. The paper had barely been opened let alone read when they started to bring round our meal. I had the non-veg option again, which was omelette, peas and chips in a foil tray, with tea. As the train continued southwards so I started to snooze and the rain started to fall. Come 10am, the train had started to slow as it pulled into the suburbs of Delhi. Slower and slower the train moved past the dirty back alleys. "Your attention please," said the voice on the intercom. "This train will shortly be..." before the whole carriage erupted and people started standing up and collecting their bags. The voice continued against the bustling noise in the carriage "...arriving at its destination, New Delhi Station". We waited until the carriage had emptied and then got off the train. An Eco-rep was there to meet us. We got all the rucksacks and kitbags off the train and were just checking that we had everything when one of the train staff brought us a bag we had left onboard.
The porters at Delhi station weren't slow to spot good customers, and were soon swarming around us, putting up to two huge rucksacks on their heads. We followed the heavily laden, red-coated porters through the crowded station up over the many railway lines and platforms. We descended the steps into the car park and walked across it, avoiding the large puddles. We were back in the land of the green and yellow auto-rickshaws. These were far more nostalgic than the black ones that lived in Manali. The Eco-rep took us to a waiting private mini-coach and the drivers loaded our luggage. The sweat started to drip, just standing there watching them - it was 33C and 89% humidity. We clambered in the bus and the driver set about joining the queue to get out of the car park. The parking fee was paid to a man in a booth and we were allowed out onto the main road, which was frighteningly busy. We drove past Connaught Circus and the parliament building. Shortly afterwards we pulled off the road and drove up to the porch of a rather large building. The driver stopped in front of the main doors and a plaque that read "The Park". At first I thought they had made some mistake about where we were staying but we were smoothly ushered into a posh reception area while the hotel's porters attended to unloading our bags. Inside it was plush and cool with the air conditioning set at just the right level. We said goodbye to Narinder who left in the bus to go to his more basic accommodation at the IMF. We sat in the lobby for a bit and had to fill out some forms for the hotel. We gave our flight details to the Eco-rep, who then left us and we headed up to find our rooms on the 8th floor, numbers 807 and 808. The porters soon arrived with a couple of trolleys containing our luggage and then some more staff brought a third bed into the larger room for me to sleep on. We lay on our beds and watched TV. Rahul phoned sometime later to say that he had brought the IMF debriefing session forward to that afternoon so that Narinder could head home, and that if we wanted him to organize a trip to the Taj Mahal it would cost US$40 per person. After a long discussion and several phone calls later we decided to take him up on the offer. At 2pm we went down to the hotel restaurant for lunch. Everything was very expensive compared to what we had been used to paying. Steve had some sarnies and I had burger and chips while the other three pushed the boat out and went for the gourmet buffet. Andy and Alan went to change some money but returned shortly afterwards not having found anywhere that would give them US dollars. We returned to our rooms and got ready. I fished out Narinder's ice-axe from the kit bag because I realised he'd forgotten it. We took two auto-rickshaws to the IMF building, about a fifteen-minute drive away. The driver wanted to give us a tour of the city but we politely refused. He also wanted more money than we would give him but eventually he took what we offered and it can't have been too bad because he said he would stay and take us back for the same amount. Inside the IMF building we got shown into a large air-conditioned room. Narinder arrived next and I gave him his axe, which he was pleased to see. Rahul and another Eco-rep turned up and were pleased to see us again. At 4pm the Deputy President of the IMF entered the room and walked around the table shaking us all by the hand. Cokes were ordered while the deputy talked to us about our visit to India and the ascents of Tagne and Sagar. We were each given an IMF T-shirt and cap as a gift. We left the IMF building at 4:40pm having said our final farewells to Narinder who was heading home. We also organised for Eco to pay the IMF the peak fee for climbing Sagar as we didn't have enough of the right currency, and we arranged a time to leave for the Taj Mahal in the morning. The same rickshaws were still waiting for us. The driver tried to sell us an hour tour and even showed us postcards of what we would see, all while he was driving. We kept politely saying "No thank you" and eventually he got the message, not least because we were all tired after the early start and because it was raining. Back at the Hotel we watched more television. Heavy thunderstorms filled the sky outside, the torrential rain hiding skyscrapers just a few blocks away. Was this the monsoon? A member of the hotel staff came and made our beds and gave us a goodnight leaf - a leaf on which someone had written goodnight in gold pen! The thunderstorms had stopped by 7pm so we went for dinner. Jon decided not to join us after his big lunch, and just munched on a packet of biscuits that we had left over from the expedition. The other four of us went to the Kwality Restaurant, which was a short walk around the corner from the hotel. It was expensive (1700Rs) but not as extortionate as our lunch. I had a nice piece of chicken in tomato and cheese sauce with rice and naan bread. The others indulged in coffee and ice cream for afters. Come 10pm we headed back to the hotel through the still warm and sticky streets. Telly was watched until we fell asleep.
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© Copyright Steve Jolly 2001. |
