Monday 9 April - our flight back to Delhi was scheduled to leave Bagdogra at 1315 and the 100 or so kms was tipped to take a "minimum of 4 hours". So that meant an earlier start - breakfast at 0630 and off at 0700. As we have come to expect the morning was misty but the road at that time was not too crowded.
One of the things that we had been looking forward to after the polluted air of Hong Kong was the clear air of the Himalayas. That was perhaps the greatest disappointment - dust and diesel fumes are a trademark of India cities and I am afraid that the sinuses have taken a bashing since we arrived !
We were making good progress all the way down apart but once we crossed into West Bengal things slowed down. Clearly the border region is sensitive judging by the amount of military traffic on the roads. But in the town of Siliguri things almost ground to a complete halt.
In the end we reached the airport in 4.5 hours which probably was not too bad for a Monday and in plenty of time for check-in and a vegetable curry in the Workers Co-operative Restaurant at the airport. The flight to Delhi was uneventful but the connection to HK entailed a 8 hour wait !!!
One of the things that we had been looking forward to after the polluted air of Hong Kong was the clear air of the Himalayas. That was perhaps the greatest disappointment - dust and diesel fumes are a trademark of India cities and I am afraid that the sinuses have taken a bashing since we arrived !
We were making good progress all the way down apart but once we crossed into West Bengal things slowed down. Clearly the border region is sensitive judging by the amount of military traffic on the roads. But in the town of Siliguri things almost ground to a complete halt.
In the end we reached the airport in 4.5 hours which probably was not too bad for a Monday and in plenty of time for check-in and a vegetable curry in the Workers Co-operative Restaurant at the airport. The flight to Delhi was uneventful but the connection to HK entailed a 8 hour wait !!!