I guess I will put my 2 day stay in Dibrugarh down to being just one of those unique Indian experiences. May be some poor planning on my part and having differing expectations of what a homestay should be, combined with an awful lot of miscommunication. Whilst it all makes for a good story, I left slightly annoyed by the fact I’d wasted time and money and not taken a good look around at a tea estate (“TE”), despite staying opposite one for 2 nights.
Anyway, before that, I took my first rail journey of this trip and whilst I am coming back the same way on the Vivek Express, it will be dark at that time which had driven the decision to fly to Guwahati and start from there. The LTT Dibrugarh Express had originated in Mumbai and was due to leave at 08:45 to cover the 337km journey in just over 11.5hrs. I had tracked the train and it appeared to be running only slightly late so I planned on getting to the station at 08:00. On checking out from the hotel I couldn’t get an Uber and was told there was a bus strike so demand for auto-ricks and Ubers was high. Fortunately, I managed to get an auto-rick fairly quickly and was at the station in good time. The train wasn’t indicated however so I waited on the platform given in my Indian train booking/tracking app (which is superb). I got speaking to a couple of people including a gentleman on a train waiting at a platform who told me his dream was to visit Lords Cricket Ground. After lots of handshaking he was more than happy for me to take the picture below. It is an instant favourite.
Then panic set-in. Over a cup of chai, I was told that the train had left and then by someone else that the train was not running. Fortunately, I caught a station announcement that the train was arriving on another platform. The journey was very scenic throughout as the train ambled up deeper in to the north eastern region of Assam, eventually revealing endless tea estates for which the region is know for.
India presents a story at every turn, every adventure – each with incredible pictures to support that story.
A little late, we arrived in to Dibrugarh. The owner of the homestay had told me there was a strike and he couldn’t arrange for his usual rickshaw driver to pick me up. There was however no shortage of rickshaw drivers at the station and after the first asked for Rs300, when the owner had indicated it should cost between Rs100 and Rs150, I agreed Rs200 and within 15 minutes I was at the homestay. One of the beauties of having cell data is that you can check whether you are being taken in the right direction instead of some wild goose chase. I thought this was about to happen when the driver took a very dubious turn down an unmade road and stopped. I think he just wanted to check the place I was staying on the map and it appeared he had taken a correct short-cut, albeit a very uncomfortable one!
The home-stay felt tired, lacking the over-sight of it’s manager and was missing on a couple of the basics to make a stay truly comfortable, but I’ll spare you the Trip Advisor review! I had hoped to eat there twice but there was a mis-communication on the first night and that was an indication of what was to come. Instead, I wandered in to the dark streets and found what proved to be a very good veg restaurant and had a fabulous masala dosa. Afterwards, I headed across the road to a chai spot which had a number of people drinking tea and got speaking to a man whose Uncle lived just outside of London – in Birmingham!
Waking in the morning to a view over the neighbouring tea estate was very nice and I decided to wander in to town and end up with a walk along the banks of the Brahmaputra. The in-charge of the homestay offered to take me via his family home which was a lovely experience. I was then dropped off in town but Dibrugarh didn’t reveal too much to me in this short time. The walk along the Brahmaputra was relaxing and enjoyable but tainted by the amount of rubbish everywhere, which seems to be worse here than other cities. I could be wrong. It is a bit hard to understand people sat having a picnic surrounded by rubbish and then probably contributing their leftovers to the pile.
The detritus actually seemed to be largely made up of small paan packets which got me wondering if these companies could look to more environmentally friendly packaging. There were a number of “Clean, Green” posters around the city but not much attention is being paid to them.
The early evening plan was to visit the Bogibeel Bridge – the 2nd largest combined road/rail bridge in Asia – with the in-charge but that didn’t materialise and it was added to the agenda for the day after – my day of departure, together with a visit to the tea garden opposite. Breakfast had kind of been “set” at 09:30 and comprised plain omelette, 2 boiled eggs, 2 bananas and some pieces of apple. Perhaps more eggs that I could really handle and not sure why the masala and chilli wasn’t added as I had asked for the day before. Sitting in the little garden was nice as long as I kept looking towards one corner and not the extension work that was towering above me. The occasional fall of building material behind me did cause me to keep looking in that direction however.
I guess I should’ve thought about this, but the day was Sunday which meant the tea gardens/factories were closed. I was disappointed this hadn’t been mentioned yesterday by someone in the know. I did a quick search and found another one that appeared to be open and asked if a rickshaw could take me. A driver shortly turned up and I was told I could visit another place, currently closed but the security guard would let me in, for Rs1000. I declined. After that, I was then told that if I came out of the homestay, turned right, turned left, turned right half way down, I would then find a factory. I didn’t. I did walk to Ethelwold TE but the signs made it clear visitors were not welcome. The walk down the long lane with tea bushes either side was very nice however.
A little while later, I was messaged by the owner asking how I was getting on so I briefly described the situation. A few messages later and he said I could be taken 15 mins out to one estate which at least had a nice cafe but he couldn’t guarantee the factory was open. After a rather uncomfortable auto-rick ride, a little bit more than 15 mins, we arrived at the gates of a closed factory. The cafe was open, so I had a milk tea, nothing special, followed by a black tea – which I thought too weak – and some veg pakoras. 8 of them. Now, they were delicious – perhaps the best I’ve ever had – and that’s what Dibrugarh, the tea city, will be remembered for sadly. But at RS600 for the rickshaw ride to sit in a cafe at a closed TE, and feel it necessary to eat them all, with the knock-on effect of not wanting to have dinner even though I had 3 hours to kill before my train – it left me feeling disappointed in my stay.
The station was fairly quiet even with another train to Delhi leaving at the same time. On the platform I got talking to a gentleman from Nepal and then heard my name being called across the platform. It was a friend of the in-charge from the homestay. I thought he was driving back to Guwahati.
The Vivek Express – my home for the next 74hrs over 4,189km through 9 states, waited at Platform 2. It was pretty empty and we set-off, on India’s longest single journey, without any fanfare, other than my own excitement. My ID check happened early and the ticket collector barely raised an eyebrow that was headed all the way.
Once settled, I unpacked my fresh bed linen, blanket and towel (adorned with North East Frontier Railway…which might find it’s way home with me!) and settled down for the Arsenal vs. Liverpool FA Cup 3rd round tie. The stability of the connection wasn’t great so coverage was patchy but hey, I’m in deepest Assam, on an Indian train, and still able to get BBC iPlayer and a stream of quality as good as at home. And I saw both goals in the game. Both in favour of Liverpool. Result indeed!
