Hillary's Hill Station

Kalimpong, West Bengal, 10,500 ft

Its Thursday 5pm - I’ve just left the house, which is looking good, the upstairs has been cleaned just downstairs needs doing. Levine’s Pajero, which we have hired as a temporary vehicle - is over heating - had to let it cool down for 2 hours which in 40deg heat takes a while. It hasn’t been abused as we have only had it for a few days but it is in need of a good service - under powered… looks as if the head gasket has gone. Think we will have to find something else. Just left the house and the phone rings - dont need to worry about hands free here - Kolhi Singh has been captured in West Bengal.

Manage to get back to the office but the car is overheating again - steam coming from the top radiator pipe! news don’t you love it - mad rushing about everywhere working out what has happened and what we need to do. Firstly lives from ANI - the local feed point and then in the morning up to Kalimpong where he has been captured. The flights at 10 and then a 3 hour drive.

When we land and drive out from the airport we are faced with the typical Indian scene - lots of women picking tea leaves in a lush plantation - beautiful. Then we realise very quickly the roads and drivers are worse than the Punjab!!

Soon we start to climb and see beautiful vistas of the valleys:

And face the oncoming traffic:

Even have time to take a few shots:

And follow the local bus:

We get go up and up into the clouds along winding roads with glimpses across the valleys through the mist - similar to wales but more better - the clouds are warm!!

Kalimpong is a small hill station 10,000ft above sea level. It seems as if all the town have turned out for the spectacle as the are crowding the square opposite the police station. Good sport this - watching other people work!!

The Model City

Chandigra, The Punjab

Richard had warned me about the Punjab roads, essentially just an A road but with up to 5 lanes. Bikes / carts on the outside, cars, buses and lorries next and then overtaking down the middle - or more likely the other side of the road. Having large Tata lorries hurtling towards you, knowing their brakes wont be in good working order can be tense at times. Arun who is our driver, got us there safe and sound. Chandigra is India’s equivalent of Milton Keynes and thank god they didn’t do it as well. It is well organised and very clean compared to Delhi and just alot calmer. But I guess that is the capital city effect.

We’re here following the Hannah Foster case, her parents are here to make an appeal for the murderer’s capture. He fled the UK back to the Punjab 16 months ago and has dissapeared.

Find the hotel Picadilly which we were booked into - hmm perhaps one night only. That done we head off down the street and settle on Singh’s Chicken for dinner where they don’t serve beer. The manager sends out a rickshaw to the local offy or us. When he comes back the beer is served from a water pitcher so no one else knows - though it does spell like beer.

As my second piece from India, let alone with out all my own equipment, another long story, it doesn’t go too badly. Getting back into editing on the Avid is OK, after a few more stories I’ll be back up to full speed. Getting used to the new camera is also taking a bit of time as well, not having tape stock is strange and does take more management.. Just logistical stuff thats not really needed here but I do need to get my head around.

Biggest drama is the fact that to feed our package (1.5 mins) back to Delhi from the ANI office here will take half an hour. After that it gets fed back to Sky for airing. When I get all my kit this will be so easy - and without having to rely on other people as well.

Its been decided that we are going back to Delhi in the morning so I’ll be back in time for the families arrival with a clean house at least.

Getting It Right

Who knows what happened last night with the guards - I am still angry but have found another company - hopefully these guys will last abit longer - they will start at 4.00 today - I just hope the padlocks I brought from the UK I left yesterday are still around. I tried calling Group 4 to give them the contract but surprise surprise no answer.

The Floating Cottage

We all went to Tommy and Kitty’s house boat today. Beautiful and peaceful.

Kitty cooked a fantastic fresh fish lunch - just like being back in HK. Afterwards the kids fished off the side of the boat - didn’t catch any thing though and them we played dominoes - not that anyone cheated at all - Tommy! Good day in Chiang Mai.