DAY 25 : INDIA : Darjeeling

Weather : clear, windy, showers, 14o

 

Today is our last day in Darjeeling.

 

 

We opened the curtains this morning to this amazing view of Kanchenjunga - the view we all hoped for yesterday when we visited Tiger Hill (at 4.30 am!)

 

 

A postcard with the mountains more clearly defined as we actually saw them. Some of the hotels advertise Kanchenjunga Facing Rooms. A fabulous surprise for us!

 

 

We met Dawa, our ever-faithful guide, in town for a walking tour. Our first stop, at my suggestion, was a Tibetan curio shop where the owner preceded to show us all his fascinating jewellery. This was a large piece with 3 inserts of different Hindu gods all with inlaid turquoise, red coral, rubies, sapphires and other precious stones. Exquisitely fine work.

 

Then we walked up the Mall, a pedestrian walkway that circumvents the hill. There are only a few signs of British Raj India, as I mentioned before, but this Oxford bookshop has a long history in the town. This is the part of the Mall known as the Chowk, or meeting place, for young lovers and the elderly.

 

 

St Andrew's, an Anglican church with Nepali and English congregations is situated near the Mall. It was built in 1847. Unfortunately it was closed as I would have loved to see the influence of the 2 congregations.

 

 

 

 

We walked along the path, with spectacular views of tea plantations below..and met a few unexpected personalities along the way.

 

 

 

Hotel Windamere (sic) is also a reminder of the past. It was originally a guesthouse but was converted into a hotel in 1939.

 

 

It has attractive gardens and sunny areas to enjoy the views.

 

 

It is now owned by a wealthy Tibetan tea plantation owner but the interiors have been kept in British Raj style.

 

 

We were interested in all the photos and memorabilia and even found an original poem and photo of Rupert Brooke (1913), who had spent some,maybe inspirational, time at the guesthouse.

 

 

Our next request was a tea tasting. Many of the tea plantations have stores to promote their products. We tried 9 teas from Golden Tips. We bought some green tea and an infuser for our trek.

 

 

There is a Shiva temple near the railway station - very colourful in contrast to the sooty station and the makeshift housing nearby. Although Hindu, it has the appearance of a Tibetan temple. Dawa said that in Nepal many of the temples will be decorated like this as well.

 

 

 

We saw a flurry of monks in bright saffron walking into Glenary's, sheltering from a sudden shower.

 

 

Glenary's cafe downstairs also has some British memorabilia.

 

 

Their bakery section was the only seller of Easter eggs - not a big seller in this now Buddhist/ Hindu population. India celebrated Good Friday as a holiday yesterday but there is no overt signs of a Christian presence as in the Buddhist and Hindu communities, except for several Christian boarding schools. Dawa, a Buddhist, has never been inside a Christian church. We had to explain the significance of Easter eggs when we gave them to him. I know that this is true of many of us and Mark and I have had a very multi-faith holiday, so we are in a privileged position.

 

 

We had organised the hotel car to collect us at 3. An essential service for this hotel as it is situated high above the town. The fog has rolled in and we are suffering another (daily) blackout, but as everyone says "This is India" - anything can happen.

We are packed and ready for an early start tomorrow morning to fly to Kathmandu. We have recovered from our initial trek and are optimistic that we'll be able to 'Climb every mountain and ford every stream' or else "Another one bites the dust" will be our theme song but I'm hoping for the former.

 

M&M

mm_smith@bigpond.net.au


PS After a month of Packed to the Rafters re-runs we are happy to report that Ben is finally over Mel's death. We are now following Masterchef - Hindi-style.
We've had no email access so apologies to family and friends.

DAY 24 : INDIA : Darjeeling

Weather : foggy, sunny, 18o

Today we had a full sightseeing day in Darjeeling.

 

 

Our activities today were situated in Darjeeling, Tiger Hill and Ghoom.

Altitude in feet.

 

 

Our guide collected us at 4.15 am to take us to a Darjeeling tradition - sunrise on Tiger Hill, which if the weather is clear gives a brilliant view of the Himalayas. We joined the thousands of tourists waiting in anticipation for the sunrise and appearance of the spectacular panoramic view. But today the fog didn't lift. How lucky that we'd had such clear skies on our trek.

 

 

Hawkers were out selling hats, gloves, coffee, postcards, DVDs etc. It all had a party feel despite the cold and disappointment of the fog.

 

 

Traffic was parked cheek by jowl - early cars had arrived from 3.30 am. It always amazes us that traffic can clear in seemingly impossible conditions.

 

 

Our first port of call this morning was to view Tenzing Norgay's home - a famous son of Darjeeling. His 1953 Everest achievement is commemorated on the front the house. He died in the 1980s.

 

 

 

The Toy Trains of Darjeeling are legendary. The original railway track from Siliguri,which is near to where we got off the train from Varanasi. It was built by the British in 1881 to ferry passages to the hill district to escape the insufferable summer heat on the plains on tiny tracks on narrow winding roads. The journey took 9 hours- and still did until 2010 when a landslide collapsed a section of the track. Now it is a tourist and local train travelling small distances. It is so popular tickets have to be purchased several weeks in advance. It is particularly popular with Indian tourists as nearly every Hindi movie has a song sequence with characters enjoying the train ride.

 

 

Baba and Megma's first attempt at a silent Hindi movie.

 

 

We took the train to Ghoom, which took 40 minutes. There was a ten minute stop-over at small eco-gardens, where women dressed in traditional hill tribe dress greeted us. These were the outfits women wore on the tree plantations.

 

 

Dawa was anxious to take us to a Buddhist monastery in Ghoom, built by a Mongolian monk in 1850. (Note the fog rolling in!) This monastery is dedicated to the 'Future Buddha' as opposed to the Past and Present Buddhas.

 

 

 

 

It was an impressive monastery - highly painted and furnished. It is a main centre for the Buddhist sect of monks, identified by their yellow hats. They are the only sect that don't marry.

 

 

Lunch was in a restaurant in Darjeeling - Glenarys. It is one of the only remnants of the British colonial past. Built in the nineteenth century as a sophisticated tea room for the ex-pat community. It is still a lovely place to eat but is now popular with local families and tourists.

Darjeeling boasts a very professional zoological gardens, displaying native animals and birds and a breeding program to ensure their survival.

 



 

Types of pheasants

 

 

Red pandas

 

 

 

Leopards

 

 

Wolves

 

 

Black bears

 

 

In the grounds of the zoo is the Himalayan Mountain Institute, which trains guides and climbers and also has an informative museum.

 

 

Tenzing Norgay's grave is in the centre of the courtyard with a corresponding statue. In fact a Sydney couple, staying at our hotel, are doing a documentary on him and are interviewing and filming in the district this week.

 

 

By the time we reached the comfort of our hotel, Cedar Inn, we had been out touring for 12 hours. A very interesting day and a guaranteed good night's sleep. This is the notice at the guard's box at the entrance to the hotel. There are so many hilarious signs and road awareness alerts that keep us amused all day.

M&M

P.S. 9751 hits on our blog to date! Thank you for your interest whoever you are.


mm_smith@bigpond.net.au
　

DAY 23 : INDIA : Darjeeling (rest day)

Weather : foggy with intermittent sunshine, 20o

 

 

The next few days will be full of early mornings so we took it easy today recovering from our aching muscles. We visited downtown Darjeeling with the police traffic island only complicating the already restricted flow through narrow winding alleyways.

 

Unexpected traffic.. heavy loads usually carried by elderly women.

 

 

 

Another visit to the Post Office - a rare occurrence this week as there are so many holidays - Hindu Holi and Christian Good Friday...and parcel office closes at 3.Parcels stitched and then candle wax is melted to make several seals.

Medicated and ready for tomorrow's 4.30am start!

M&M

mm_smith@bigpond.net.au

DAY 22 : INDIA : Singalila Ridge Trek : Stage 3

Weather : windy, clear, freezing to sunny and foggy afternoon.

 

Today's walk was from Sandakphu (3,636 m) to Rimbik - 16 kms.

 

 

Eureka! A clear morning - perfect for Himalaya gazing - and not so common an occurance. Lucky us. We could see Everest to the left and the Sikkim range to the right.

 

 

 

 

 

Sharing the joy with many others, including another Dawa, who is very engaging guide, with his family business based in Newcastle. Adopted as a child from the Buddhist monastery in Darjeeling he has returned, with a great passion for his life - in the Himalayas and great love for his family in Australia.

 

 

Downhill all the way today, which suited me but Mark finds taxing on his knees. We walked through a lot of bamboo forests - home of the Red Panda - none in evidence today.

 

 

 

Lunch at  Sherpa Lodge - half way down the mountain - early lunch, in fact, because we'd made such good time. Feeling a bit jelly-kneed.

 

 

Rhododendrons everywhere. Colourful flowers grown outside all the hillside houses.

 

 

Play-time at a local school. These primary school students will have to walk 2 and a half hours on the steep paths to and from the next stage school next year. Twice a day - we are doing it once in a lifetime and suffering. No school buses and only basic facilities for these tiny government schools.

 

 

Long climb down.

 

 

Exultant that we had finished in good time at Rimbik - not without incident, Mark slipped and twisted his knee on the way down. Our driver collected us and we drove the winding road back to Darjeeling (60 kms - 3 hours). We had amazing views of the hillside villages and farms of Sikkim - too hazy for a good photo. Sikkim was only annexed to India in the 1990s at their request because of their disillusionment with their monarch.

M&M

mm_smith@bigpond.net.au