SO I went to Darjeeling this weekend. Absolutely amazing and as you might guess, I have tea and tea cups for all. I was hesitant to go as it takes a billion hrs by train to get there but then 7 yrs in Tibet was on TV and I felt it was a sign I should go see the Himalyas.
I took the narrow gauge steam railway to Darjeeling (another 7 hrs on top of the 14 hrs it took me to get to the initial train station!) but it was terrific to crawl slowly up through the Himalayan foothills. I hung my head out the window like a dog and enjoyed the clear mountain air. Particularly refreshing after so much time in the polluted streets of the city.
Then the next morning I went to Tiger Hill observatory by jeep. As you ascend along the mountain, the vegetation gets shorter, the frost thicker, and Tibetan prayer flags wave over your head. Then all of a sudden the snow capped Himalayas are before you. I absolutely gasped when I saw them. I am truly a Romantic at heart (in a Shelley-Wordsworth, not Byronic sense) and so the wonders of nature do really get to me. I took dozens of unartistic photographs of the peaks. Unfortunately it is foggy in the winter and Everest was obscured though I was able to see Nepal and the highest peak in India.
To return to earth I took a shared jeep. Truly a death defying experience. At numerous points I wished that I had written my final will and testatment as the rickety contraption hurtled down the narrow mountain roads through the dense fog. Bouncing along in the seatbeltless vehicle as we honked our way around corners and narrowly avoided the puja celebrating pedestrians dancing along the Tenzing Norgay Road, I really did think that this was the most foolhardy thing I had ever done. At one point, one of the other passengers (who did appear to be a local inhabitant who had gone to Darjeeling to buy vegetables) stuck her head out the jeep window and started vomiting profusely. None of the other passengers acknowleged this episode and the driver did not slow in the slightest which made me wonder if perhaps this was a common event as the jeeps careen along the winding mountain roads. (Charles, while Darjeeling seems romantic, I would not recommend the trip for you as the motion sickness potential in traveling there is unavoidable.)
I have true Darjeeling tea for all. Do you like stronger or more delicate teas? I got some of each. I went to this excellent tea shop where you get to try all sorts of brews and seasons of tea, just like a winery! Excellent fun. I also got dad this Tibetan mountain hat that will keep him warm and make him look rather like a Communist rebel. Also Tibetan influenced objets pour tout le monde.
