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We were lucky that we got a reasonable view of Khangchendzonga and the snow peaks through the clouds on our arrival in Darjeeling as soon after the weather turned and we were immersed in the clouds and could not see across the valley. It didn't take us too long of staring out into the mist and rain to decide against another trek and count ourselves lucky for the fine weather that we had on the Annapurna Circuit.

We spent a few days in Darjeeling discovering the city – it was much larger than we expected, a lot of the colonial charm seems to be slightly lost as the city has developed around it and the streets are jammed with share jeeps revving engines and honking horns. However, in amongst this the main market street (no vehicles allowed) was still very interesting with a couple of cafes where you can sit and sample tasty Darjeeling teas. We became very fond of Joey's pub, an old style British pub full of character where we were reminded of pubs in the UK before the smoking ban in the slightly overpowering smoky interior. We managed to wean ourselves off Dal Bhat and found a couple of very nice restaurants serving good North Indian curries – much richer than what we are used to but very tasty.

Having opted out of trekking in the rain, we decided that we would go down to Calcutta earlier than planned to give ourselves a bit more time to see the city and get some work done. However, when we got to the train station we discovered that all of the trains were booked for weeks in advance. Luckily we found out about Taktal tickets, which are tickets for immediate travel released two days in advance and charging a healthy surcharge. In order to secure these tickets, we had to venture out in the pouring rain first thing in the morning. We arrived at the train station soaking but were pleased to secure ourselves a place at the front of the queue. However, not long after a couple of lads appeared and informed us that they were first as they had a piece of paper shoved under the shutters. As this seemed to be the way things were organised, we relented. There was a big panic as the office opened and a great rush to get the Taktal tickets through as soon as possible after 8am. Thankfully, we were successful and happily walked away with tickets in 2nd class AC sleepers leaving from back down on the plains in Siliguri / New Jalpaiguri (NJP).

We left Darjeeling by around 10am, fairly early given that our train did not leave until 8pm in the evening. This turned out to be a good move as the traffic into Darjeeling brought the roads to a virtual standstill, our jeep wouldn't start a couple of times and we had to change a tyre. All in all the journey took a long and uncomfortable 4 hours with 14 people crammed in bouncing down the rough roads. Once we arrived, we managed to get our bags crammed in and got our first ride in a tuk-tuk since our last trip to India more than 5 years ago. We arrived in NJP station around 3 so had 5 hours to wait for our train - there was not much to do but we got comfortable and the time went quickly people-watching and reading.

We were very impressed by our train and were definitely travelling in style. Our air-conditioned sleeper car had 4 person booths separated by curtains. We were sharing a booth with an older French couple who did not speak English so we dusted off our schoolboy/girl French and managed to get along fine. The beds were comfortable and we slept well on the 10 hour journey waking just as we pulled in to Calcutta at 6am. It was a real joy to travel on the trains after all of the bus journeys in Nepal – it was clean, cool, comfortable, spacious and perfectly on time.

We had been slightly dreading the arrival and chaos on arrival in Sealdah station, but were pleasantly surprised by a hassle-free exit and easily found an ambassador taxi that did not seem to rip us off too much. So we arrived at our hotel by 7am and left our bags and went to explore Calcutta until our room was ready. Sudder Street, the main backpacker area is right beside the Maidan, a large open park area. So we had a walk across there to the Victoria Memorial - a beautiful and impressive marble domed structure built to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. We had a walk around the gardens and were amused by all the business executives power-walking in trainers, shorts, and sweaty t-shirts - this was now well after 9am so we were a little surprised they were not all at work already. We have since discovered that nothing gets going here until at least 10.30am.

Our first impressions of Calcutta were very positive - there was not nearly as much rubbish, pestering and depression as we had been led to expect. We were also quite taken aback by the scale of all the buildings and streets, so much bigger than anything we have come across since leaving the UK. On the way back to the hotel, we caught the metro; another novelty for us. There is only one line going north/south across Calcutta but the Metro runs very efficiently and is crowded but clean, cool and great way to get around.

Having booked into our hotel which unfortunately for the first night only had a room with no windows available (slight prison-cell feeling); we went to the office that Drew was to be working at to find out details and meet the people. It is a medical charity providing street clinics and education to the street children, slums and lepers. The office is slightly bigger than we expected with plenty of computers and even more IT problems. They seem delighted to have Drew here and are hoping for big things. Heather had planned to work for Mother Teresa whilst in Calcutta but was offered some teaching work with the same organisation which seemed ideal. So we wait to see what the next week will bring...

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