Strikes and Darjeeling!

Had a disastorous trip from Mughal Serai to Silliguri, i've now resigned myself to the idea that i cant cope in the sweat box sleeper class, so i've been taking the AC trains. Only for a strike to hit the whole of India and for us to get stuck in the middle of nowhere for 9 hours with the AC off, i must have lost a stone in sweat. I finally got in at 00.00, 11 hours later than expected...I was at a station 2 miles out of Silliguri and the autorickshaws were trying to price fix and were asking for too much. So i got a cycle rickshaw (A chap who has adapted a bicycle to be a bit like a chariot), it took us 40 mins to cover the uphill 3km. I even tipped him i thought he was going to have a heart attack at one point...After spending the night in Silliguri i was awoken at about 6 by the hardest monsoon rain i've ever seen. Once the rain had stopped i got a share jeep 88km to Darjeeling. I'm staying in quite a nice place; good food etc apart i requested the cheapest room they have, which is a dusty shoe box. The shower is a bucket of water and I dont mind the squat toilet but I tried to use the sink as a bidet only for it to fall off the wall....I hope they wont notice...
I met a 42yr old Polish guy named Robin, who's pretty crazy. The views are amazing from the roof of the hotel. There is a lot of cloud cover but i got glimpses of Kanchengjunga the 3rd highest mountain in the world and Everest. Robin and I went round Darjeeling yesterday, he chain smoked his way through 40 cigarettes in one afternoon! We then went to a bar in the evening and ran into 2 English guys and a Dutch girl. Robin got so plastered that after watching Uruguay cheated out of a victory that it took me over an hour to get him back to the hotel. He kept trying to fight dogs, was a little weird...Anyway the weather is good now so i'm going to see if Robin has sobered up and meet the other people from last night. There is a zoo that is supposed to the best in India; It has the only collony of Siberian tigers in India and snow leopards. There is also an Everest mountainering institute which i may pay a visit...I'll upload some more photos in Kathmandu as the Internet connection isnt fast enough here. I'm hoping to meet some people and do the Annapurna circuit in Nepal, maybe detouring to do the Thorung La pass to the highest lake in the world. Have to work that one out...Anyway love to all, x