There was not much time in Kolkata, as we were already leaving town in the early morning to catch the one-hour flight to Bagdogra. Here the group got split over a few cars, which were to be our transport for the coming days in India.

The first leg of the tour did get us from Bagdogra up to Darjeeling with a lunch stop at Kurseong, covering an overall distance of a bit more than 70km, gaining about 1900m in elevation and taking about four hours (w/o stops).

As we were making our way up the Eastern Himalaya range, the air gradually felt cleaner and amazing views over the plain below opened up. As we got closer to Darjeeling (and stuck in traffic) we also got a first flavor of what was ahead of us tomorrow – the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway with its steam trains.

Over arrival we had a walk into town for a look around and a good dinner (incl. a great cucumber salad).