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Itinerary - Gap-Experience-Lepchas - Africa and Asia Venture

Itinerary


We fly, to Calcutta or Kolkata, where we meet Tendup Lama, who is AV's representative in Darjeeling. Depending on the timing of flights, we will normally have a day in Calcutta. We may visit:

  • The Victoria Memorial
  • The busiest bridge in the world (over the Hooghly river)
  • Mother Theresa's ‘Mother House'.

That night we catch the train. Calcutta stations are fantastically busy and bustling and quiet periods are like rush hour at Waterloo. Your sleeper berth takes you to New Jalpaiguri, the station for Siliguri and the Himalayas, in time for breakfast. But Indian trains are good fun, sociable and interesting and you could find yourself holding the baby for the family next to you, listening to musicians, watching the cobbler at work or talking to transvestites! After that, dull moments are sometimes welcome


From Siliguri we take a bus to Teesta and the Wayside Inn where we do the Orientation Course. In a stunning steep-sided valley with the town of Kalimpong about 3000ft above us, we discuss:

  • Nepali (the standard language in these parts).
  • The Lepcha people, their origins, customs and culture
  • Safety, health and security
  • Teaching techniques for teaching English.

We usually visit Kalimpong and attend a Lepcha cultural festival - a great introduction to these unique and generous people.


After the course we will take you and your partner to ‘your' village home for the next three months.

To get there we go up through the forests - some quite ancient with lichen bearded trees and wild magnolia and red rhododendrons - up to about 7000ft before descending to around 5000ft where the villages are.

We call the valley around which the villages lie ‘Shangri La' - almost untouched, but now with some electricity and, amazingly, a mobile phone mast! But practically no roads, so Lepchas will greet you to carry your bags to your home, a wooden house with a separate kitchen. You and your partner will usually have your own space within the house, and each has a ‘loo' and shower, always outside the house.

You will get to know your hosts and their children really well, and they will cook for you, making you very much part of the family. You can help them with cooking, ploughing, milking cows and goats - whatever! You eat what they grow so this is real green living, as you may not yet have done it! The gentler pace of the sun and seasons dictates life.

Since your host is often an important member of the village he/she will be your link with the rest of the village


At the centre of each Lepcha village is the Lepcha Night School. Designed to keep the culture, traditions and language alive, these tiny one-room buildings are used to teach Lepcha language, dance and music.

You teach Lepcha children (and some adults) English before and after school at the night school (1-2 hours in the morning), 1 hour in the evening.

You teach Lepcha and other Nepali children English at the local government or catholic school (10 am to 2 pm).

You will be taught Lepcha language, dance and songs and perhaps archery in the evenings (1 hour)

Most students will be 4 - 11 in the night school and in local Primary schools. The standard of English varies from poor to excellent.

Facilities are rudimentary. Benches, blackboard, chalk and a chair for teacher. You will be called Sir or Miss. Children respect older people (you!) but can be quite cheeky and are very competitive.

Lepcha Night Schools are usually within 5 or 10 minutes of your house. Local schools are sometimes as much as 45 minutes walk away.

Weekends are yours to do as you please. You might take the children to the river for a picnic and a game of cricket; or organise an AV party that includes Lepchas your own age. And, of course, there's always Kalimpong to visit for cafes/bars, shopping and stocking up on essentials.


The safari has two parts and the first part two options - you choose:

Part 1 Option 1: Six-day trek into Sikkim, to Dzongri La, at around 15000ft, on the slopes of Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest mountain. This is a stiffish trek, but not as fierce as it sounds. 3_ days to get there and 2_ to get back. Your rucksack goes by Yak.

Part 1 Option 2: Four days in East Sikkim, based in Gangtok and visiting by jeep monasteries, gardens and other landmarks, then two days in West Sikkim viewing scenery and some very important monasteries

Part 2. All together now! 2 days rafting down the Teesta, a fairly gentle river, camping overnight beside the river.


Now is your chance to explore India - this vast and varied sub-continent - although you are also close to Bhutan and Nepal. The list of things to see is endless, but how about:

  • Watching the dawn come up on the Ganges at the holy city of Varanasi? Or at Rishikesh, where the Beatles meditated (and there is said to be good rafting nearby)
  • Seeing a Bengal tiger in the wild - quickly before their threatened extinction - in Kipling country where he wrote the Jungle Book? Or perhaps Snow Leopard in Ladakh?
  • Visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar?
  • Looking at one of the many carved temples - at Mahabelipuram, Khajurao, Ellora or many others?
  • Floating down the backwaters of Kerala on a houseboat?
  • Being an extra in a Bollywood movie?
  • Basking on a beach in Goa?
  • Riding an elephant up the path to a castle in Jaipur, the ‘Pink City'? Going on a camel trek in the desert at Jaisalemeer, spending the night in the desert under the stars.
  • And of course visiting the Taj Mahal? You cannot really leave India without having seen this extraordinary monument to love.

Of course, if you run out of time you can always extend you insurance, change your flight (your ticket will be flexible) and give yourself more time. As long as you keep in touch and travel with someone else we will do what we can to support you.


Your ticket is booked to fly out from Delhi, so you do not need to go all the way back to Calcutta.

In Delhi are shops from each Indian state, silks, silver, gold, saris, jewels and more ordinary things. Have fun!

Dates and Costs l Facts l Apply

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