Traveling to Darjeeling through Kolkata captures all the adventure without the trauma of basic tourism in the subcontinent. You can catch one of several trains, both day trains and overnight, from the Kolkata Sealdah train depot up to the New Jalpaiguri station.

We arrived at Sealdah one hour before departure and found the correct track. We had to wait a few minutes for in-coming passengers to disembark and for fresh linens to be hauled aboard. After slipping our bags under the seats, reading novels and gazing out the windows as the heat of the city faded, we shared supper snacks we brought along (talis, and always carry safe water!). After folding down the middle section, we were able to settle comfortably into our bunks. There was a sense of cozy privacy, with fresh-laundered sheets and a blanket that was actually welcomed as the air conditioning effectively cooled the compartment during the night. Early the next morning, just two hours from destination, we dashed off the train to purchase steaming hot alu paratas (potato stuffed fried pita) and bananas from a cart, much to the envy of slower and sleepier bunkmates.

New vehicles awaited us as we disembarked from the train. We traveled along well-built but narrow roads, winding through tea plantations, tall forests and the foothills, paralleling the famous toy train tracks. We were dropped at the Darjeeling market taxi stand to walk the final 2 kms up the shop-lined streets to the clean, airy Andy’s Guesthouse, just below the TV towers and right above the central plaza. Run by English-fluent Christians, Andy’s cost approximately $8 for a twin-bedded double looking over the ridges of Darjeeling and out towards Sikkim. Breakfast was $1-2 extra and served in a garden room. The Andy’s rooftop view of sunrises and sunsets on the Himalayas and a rainbow over Bhutan was priceless.

We observed that most tourists in Darjeeling are Indian shoppers, gourmands or honeymooners. The well-kept zoo with snow leopards, tigers and black bear, next to the Mountaineering Institute, was not crowded nor was the wonderfully peaceful Lloyd’s Botanical Gardens (est. in 1878). The Tibetan street vendors’ and Pashmina shops were bursting with buyers, who had also escaped the heat of the plains. Restaurants were inexpensive with a wide variety of Western and Indian dishes and tasty baked goods reminiscent of the British Raj. Also available were Tibetan Mo-Mos (vegetable or meat stuffed steamed dumplings).

Darjeeling has a famous train. The 11 am - 2 pm "joy ride" toy train was worth the $8 fee for a leisurely journey along the mountain slopes to the great loop, with many stops to fill the tank with water. We passed vegetable markets in buildings close enough to buy carrots, peered out at misty hillsides, glimpsed waterfalls cascading into valleys and endured a few cinders as the 1889 engine chugged up to Asia’s highest station at Ghoom. There the velvet seats in our "Mark Twain" bogie were reversed so the steam locomotive could push us, sitting forward now, back to the Darjeeling terminal.