We leave Calcutta and start to head further north, we have left James and Andre and picked up 5 new people including Sarah which is brilliant. It is so great to see her when she finally arrives after her nightmare of a journey. It is really fun meeting lots of new people all the time but nothing compares to meeting up with friends from home and seeing people who are just as excited to see you as you are to see them.

So we head off for Siliguri and the plan is to do a bush camp on the way and then camp again in Siliguri at a tea plantation. However the roads here are the worst I have seen in India so far and progress is slow. Therefore we did not make either of the intended stops where we had wanted to. Our first night we found a good spot to camp, then police arrived and thought about whether or not to let us stay, they kept leaving and returning, so we set up camp, had dinner and went to bed. By half 10 the big boss arrived and said we couldn't stay there and we needed to move. So we packed everything up, got back on the bus, and drove to the police station where we camped in their grounds. It was so frustrating having to move, but it was certainly an experience and I am learning that that is what India is all about.

Our second day is even slower, we did a 2 and half hour stint and only went 40km another 2 hours and only 17km. So we are still 175km away from Siliguri when we decide to find a hotel on route to say in. Everyone is much happier with this decision than trying to find another bush camp especially as we now have another long drive day tomorrow and no one really got a lot of sleep the night before.

Eventually we arrive at the Tea plantation near Siliguri where we are leaving the truck for a week and heading off on Jeeps up into the mountain roads. The Tea plantation is amazing and we can see all the women in the fields picking the leaves and all the men in the factory sorting the picked leaves. When the jeeps arrive we head off up the mountain roads to the beautiful city of Darjeeling.