We arrived in Siliguri, a dump of a dust town in north West Bengal, after a decent enough over-nighter rail trip from Kolkata and quickly made the decision not to stay! Instead we jumped aboard a jeep and headed east to the tiny town of Jaigaon where you can cross the border into Bhutan for 12 hours without forfeiting the mandatory $200 a day tourist tax.
But by now we should've guessed all was not well - we were the only"westerners" heading in this particular direction - just as we were dreaming of feasting on Bhutanese fodder! Nope, you see the muppets who make up the Bhutanese government decided six months ago to close the border (to Phuentsholing) rendering our detour useless.
Still, being the kind of duo that has to make something outa nothing, we managed a few "illegal" pics of the border before the guards noticed the flashing of the camera and chased us down through the market! And that night, determined to sample some Bhutanese booze, we sent our servant boy across the border to fetch some authentic rum! Ahhh, and we eased ourselves to sleep with the unusual taste of alcholic vanilla staining our pallets! Another long journey that would take us to Darjeeling was ahead of us for the next morning.
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