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Chennai-Assam express.guest post
Chennai-Assam express. Longest train we have had... ~60 hours. Train is good way to find new friends and to communicate with other peoples. In this train we have eaten allot of different types of sweets that was offered to us. We also made at least 4 new friends from various places - Kolkata, Darjeeling, Barpeta (Guwahati).
Sunrise at Tiger Hill
Today my morning started at about 03:15 to get in time for sunrise at Tiger Hill (Darjeeling) from which you can get spectacular view of Kangchenjunga - third highest mountain in the world. Mount Everest is also visible, albeit not so clearly (and for good reason - from Tiger Hill it is about 170km away).
Every morning thousands of people gather here to witness how morning sun illuminates sides of this massif. However not everyone gets such an opportunity, as clouds often block the view. Today conditions were perfect.
Visiting schools
Our newly acquired friend, who is teacher in one of the village schools, invited us to see his former school and one where he works now as a teacher.
Everyone at school knew we were coming, albeit, on short notice. As principal told us, if he would have known sooner that we were coming, he would prepare program for the whole day.
After meeting most of the teaching stuff, answering lots of questions and tea with snacks, we visited every classroom, told students our names and other general information. This process repeated for both schools. We were presented with traditional assamese scarfs - Gamosas. This is tradition in Assam - already each of us have 6 pieces, each with different design.
Unforgettable
While on train from Chennai to Assam, we met a guy who invited us to stay with him, and we happily accepted. We had the honour to stay in a small village with local family for a few days and I will never forget the assamese people and this wonderful period.
Town's name is Borka, and it is situated not far away from Guwahati (very big city). There are no hotels or any tourist-friendly place, but people are exceptionally friendly.
We arrived on the first day of Raas festival, which (here) lasts 10 days. Because we arrived late in the evening, we just ate and went to sleep. Next day we went to Guwahati to cinema and visited some temples. During next days we visited two weddings and every evening went to see festival.