Thomas Robertson
シェイ式蒸気機関車の前で、ロバートソン夫妻と菅建彦さん
As the muscular little Alishan Forest Railway (AFR) train pulled into Taiwan’s Chiayi Station in November, it took on the dimensions of a Time Machine setting out on a sentimental journey into the remote colonial pasts of two countries. We had arrived from Taipei via the Taiwan Shinkansen, traveling up to 300 km/hour, and then on an enjoyable luxury bus passing by the Tropic of Cancer and on into the tropical zone. This contrasted sharply with my first trip to the Indian town of Siliguri, at the foothills of the Himalayan Mountain ranges, and the only approach to my high school, Mount Hermon School in Darjeeling. What should have been an easy express train trip from Calcutta (now Kolkata) with my younger brother and sister, took on the dimensions of a dangerous odyssey by jeep, Ganges River ferry, and hop scotching onto 13 trains of different gauges: broad, medium, and narrow. The British Raj had come to an end eight months before (in August 1947) and, as I heard on the radio, the violent partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan continued to bring massacres on the mainline express trains.
As I prepared to board the narrow-gauge AFR train drawn by a small diesel locomotive, I was informed about the Japanese colonial origin of the engineering feat that created it to bring down giant timber from the mountains above. The downed trees were replaced by Japanese Sugi, Cryptomeria japanica, which continued the supply of timber. This immediately conjured up the British colonial origin of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway built to bring down tea that had been planted in the Darjeeling District. The DHR was designated a World Heritage Site in 1999. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/944/video Deforestation of the region was followed by reforestation with Japanese Sugi. I recalled my first sight of the diminutive Darjeeling Himalayan Railroad (DHR) locomotive in Siliguri puffing clouds of coal smoke and steam. The passenger cars were full with people of different ethnicities easily distinguishable by their clothing and physiognomies: Bengalis, Nepalis, and a few Westerners, Bhutanese, and Tibetans. The locomotive rested on unusually narrow tracks, only 2 feet (61 centimeters) apart. I thought, can this toy train really take these overloaded cars up the steep grade to Darjeeling?
As we rode the AFR train for 3.5 hours from Chiayi to the 2,200 meter-high Alishan Station 71 kilometers away, I was struck by the remembered similarities of the houses and shops against the tracks, hard-working farmers, tea gardens, innumerable tall betel-nut trees, flaming-red poinsettia, shear precipices, and rail switch-backs, loops, tunnels, and bridges. The DHR trip took 8 hours to travel the 80 kilometers from Siliguri to Darjeeling, first through the Terai jungle of rich foliage and towering tropical forest hardwoods. This is the home of India’s exotic animals: The one-horned rhinoceros, leopards, tigers, elephants, peacocks, and many more. As we climbed higher the train had to stop and reverse a number of times through switchbacks that crossed over the track we had just passed to gain altitude on steep hillsides. At these times the wheels of the locomotive would spin out of control, but train crew members standing on the narrow front platform threw handfuls of sand on the track under the wheels to give traction. As we passed through villages and hamlets, stopping at intervals to take on water and sand, the forward train crew stayed on constant watch for children, animals, and vehicular traffic that might come to harm. For much of the way, the tracks ran parallel to and frequently crossed over an old road used for animal-drawn carts and motor vehicles that shared the right of way.
In similarities and contrasts with the AFR trip, the DHR train passed lovely waterfalls and intermittent opportunities to look down on meandering rivers in the increasingly distant plains below. The scene became dotted with purple bougainvillea, scarlet poinsettia, and then exotic shades of orchid. It was springtime and as we drew near to Darjeeling crimson red rhododendrons and pure white magnolias were blooming in profusion, as were 4,000 varieties of Darjeeling flowers yet to be seen. We reached the highest point (2,260 meters) in mist-shrouded Ghum where the long yearning sounds of Tibetan trumpets were carried from a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. From there the train moved around a double-loop spiral and down below the clouds to Darjeeling Town (2,100 meters), the City of the Sacred Thunderbolt. I was immediately struck by the towering 8,586 meter-tall massive presence of Mount Kanchenjunga with its five jagged peaks to the North and only 50 kilometers away as the crow flies. Snow-capped mountain ranges extended to the horizon on either side.
Sunrises
The early predawn ride on the AFR from Alishan to Jhushan Station with our friends and many tourists from near and far was to share the beautiful sunrise over the Alishan Mountain Range. Walking up the stone steps to the viewing area, I saw many vendors offering food, drink, and souvenirs to the bustling crowd waiting for the exactly forecasted main event. On schedule, golden rays shot out from the fiery glow that quickly became brighter and brighter, triggering the rise of mist and clouds from the valleys below. A thousand photographs later, we went back on the train and walked past Hinoki Cypress (Chamaecyparis) and Sugi Cryptomeria to breakfast and more adventure. This experience called back my memories of a 15-kilometer trek with my brother John and good friend Bob Forsgren through the wet monsoon darkness from Mount Hermon School to Tiger Hill, at 2590 meters the highest point in the Darjeeling District. The trail climbed above the rain clouds and on arrival we saw no one else to share the experience.
The rising sun projected golden orange hues onto magnificent Kanchenjunga, Jannu, and Kabru close by to the North. Further North Chomol Hari Mountain did appear a beautiful and suitable bride for Kanchenjunga. In the distance to the West, we saw the peak of Mount Everest (8,848 meters), just visible over the top of Singalila Ridge between two other lofty peaks, Lhotse (8,516 meters) and the seemingly higher Makalu (8,462 meters). Tiger Hill gave us a commanding vista overlooking Darjeeling Town, great tea estates, the rivers of the Eastern Himalayas, Sikkim, Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and the Indian Plains far down to the South. Oceans of cascading clouds rose with the day and the fragrant resins of Sugi Cryptomeria were wafted into the air.
Thus are visions of past journeys from the tropics to the alpines, narrow mountain railroads created more than a century ago, shear mountain precipices, switch-backs and loops, families living by the rail tracks, a great diversity of flowers, variegated forests, tea plantations, early morning treks to the sunrise, giant mountain peaks, and more. Now, modern transportation and tourism have made these natural wonders accessible to people from all aver the world; but silent enjoyment has receded into the past. Tiger hill has joined Alishan and other remote locations with spectacular views in receiving more and more people who can climb up in trains, taxis, and jeeps.
