Darjeeling - April 14th - 17thThe entire weekend in Darjeeling was spent hiking, drinking tea (Darjeeling is famous for its many tea plantations, and home to some of the finest teas in the world), and soaking in the beauty of the town. The native people of Darjeeling (of Indian, Nepalese, and Tibetan origins) were very friendly and accommodating.
We flew into Bagdogra airport - it was about 90 km from Darjeeling. As soon as we stepped off the airplane I was worried we were in the wrong place - that or they were wrong about the 90 km. It was HOT and I knew where we were going it was cold!
All 6 of us loaded into a Qualis - it is a SUV type car w/ a row of seating for three and then two bench like chairs behind that seat. We had to strap our luggage to the roof so the people in back could ride in comfort.
As we were heading out of town we asked the driver how long - he said 4 hours! Wow! We knew we had some mountains ahead of us. As we were packing the car we noticed that the spare tire didn't have that much tread on it. We then examined the tires on the car a little closer and they didn't look much better. We got even more nervous when on our way out of Bagdogra the driver stopped and picked up two more tires! In the end we didn't use them but it made us a little nervous when we started heading up the mountains.
One the towns we went through on the way to Darjeeling. Thought this was an interesting way of moving a chest!!
More views of a town we drove through on the way to Darjeeling.
The sun sets as we arrive in Darjeeling! The drive ended up taking about 3 1/2 hours but it went really fast. Some of the sites along the way were amazing. Only 30 minutes into our drive you could feel the weather getting colder as well. The roads up to Darjeeling were a little scary from time to time. The road is just large enough for two cars to pass so that made going around a corner very exciting (not necessarily in a good way)! But we made it!!
Along the way there were many funny signs - here is one I got that was a little blurry. It says 'Donate Blood in the Blood Bank Not On This Road'. Other signs said the following:
Hurry burry spoils the curry
Don't gossip let him drive
If you are married divorce speed
Enjoy your ride don't commit suicide
Safety first speed next
Be slower on earth than faster to eternity
Drive with care make accident rare
No race rally
Enjoy beauty of hills at low speed
Do not mix drink with driving
We got up at 4am (well actually 3:37am because the hotel made our wake up call a little early) to make it up to Tiger Hill for the sunrise! It was so crowded so we didn't have the best view of the sun first coming up but here is a shot after it rose high enough for us to see it over all the people.
And another shot of the sunrise!
Farzeen, me, Kristin, and Dan on Tiger Hill just after sunrise! It was the coldest here - it was more because of the wind - but it was probably about 43 degrees with a wind chill around 32 degrees. With it being around 100 degrees in Delhi that weekend it was quite a change for us!
View of Kanchendzonga in the background. Kanchendzonga is the third highest peak in the world and the highest in India.
More of Kanchendzonga. They say in the guide book on really clear days you can see Everest from Tiger Hill but I'm not so sure! Maybe with a telescope or something like that!
and more of Kanchendzonga...
This was the crowd behind us watching the sunrise. I would say about 10 minutes after the sun rose 75% of these people were gone. They didn't stick around and take in the view like we did!
Some kids huddled together to keep warm on Tiger Hill. Before this picture they were asking us to take pictures with them. Like when I was in Jaipur last trip - many times Indians aren't as use to seeing white people so they want to take pictures with them. Another funny thing that happen on Tiger Hill was several people asking Peter to take pictures of the sunset or of Kanchendzonga for them. Mind you Peter is 6'8" but I don't really think having him take the picture helps that much when the sun or the mountain are that far away! :o) But it was funny to watch the transaction.
After we left Tiger Hill - Peter, Farzeen and myself decided to walk back to town. It was a 13km trek but it was worth it! We saw some beautiful and interesting sites along the way.
Farzeen and I on the way back to Darjeeling.
Chickens along the rode. We saw a lot of chickens just roaming about in Darjeeling.
All the houses are right along the road so we saw a lot of what life in Darjeeling is like. None of the homes have running water in them so you'd see people out in front or beside their house taking baths, brushing their teeth, etc.
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway - one way to travel to Darjeeling from Siliguri is by the "toy train", officially known as the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR). The narrow gauge train gasps its way up from the railhead at New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling, 2,134m above sea level in about 9 hours. This was a big attraction in all our books but one look of it in person I had no desire to ride in it. It was small but nothing more than that - it looked kind of run down and dirty inside - so we just saw it from a distance!
There were also a lot of goats around the town - this one looked more like a pet - he was eating fresh vegetables and was tied to the post.
A soccer match going on early a.m. in Darjeeling.
Cute little girls that we ran into on our walk back to the hotel.
Saturday afternoon we visited the Himalayan Zoo - it was a really nice zoo. Above is Kinal, Dan, Kristin, Farzeen, and myself.
Clouded leopards
Bear
Monkeys
Beautiful Tigers!
Wolves
On the way back from the zoo there was a political speech going on right in the middle of town. There were mega-phones pointing out into the street and people standing around everywhere - including the middle of the street.
This is our group at High Tea at the Windamere hotel. From left to right me, Dan, Farzeen, Kinal, Peter, and Kristin.
View from our hotel.
Kristin, Dan, Pete, and Farzeen one of our many hikes around town!
Sites along the hike. This was some type of bicycle machine that was shaping steel or something to that degree - there were sparks flying.
Kids that were walking along side us for a brief point on our hike. They were taken with Pete and his height.
A lady and her goats as we were walking to the Tibetan Self Help Center. That was a pretty neat place. It was a gift from an American organization to the Tibetians who had been persecuted by the Chinese. FREE TIBET!
Pete and Dan played some basketball with some girls at the Tibetan Refugee Center! I was very impressed with the girls skills! They even knew terms such as 'check' and 'game on'! The girls lost in a close game 4 - 5.
Gary - a guy we meet while hanging out at one of our favorite bars - Joey's! He was traveling India for several months all by himself. He is from Jersey - not New jersey but Jersey - off the coast of England.
Pete and me asleep at the airport. On the day we were to leave, there was a government enforced strike of all public transportation in Darjeeling, so we had to leave at 4:30am to go to the airport. We arrived 8 hours before our flight so with nothing better to do, we decided to nap! There were bugs buzzing all around so we covered our heads to protect ourselves.
