October 18 - 24, 2014 
7 Days in DARJEELING
 
Where is Darjeeling?

Looking at the map of India, Darjeeling is located at the bottom of a little hernia shaped protrusion at the border of the Indian state of Sikkim. Sikkim in turn is bordered to the north by Tibet. Nepal is due west. Bhutan is due east. The town is sprinkled on a long backbone of a ridge at 6,710 ft (2,050 m). It became a sanatorium retreat during the British Raj era.
 
 
Himalayan Views
 
We reveled in the beautiful surroundings of this hill station town of Darjeeling. Darjeeling is not as serene as we previously imagined. The spell was often broken by incessant traffic noise, loud horns and police whistles. And the packs of dogs that lay paralyzed on doorsteps during the day, rule the streets at night.  
 
Darjeeling is also a lot larger than I had envisioned and spread out over several mountainsides. When the sky is clear, usually in the morning hours this time of year, breathtaking views of snow covered Kanchenjunga, the worlds third highest peak at 8598 meters (28,169 feet), Talung at 7349 meters and a string of others, make you forget about the incessant street noise. 

Our first two days in Darjeeling, we merely got a tantalizing glance of an occasional white peak poking up from the shroud of clouds. 
 
The wait made it more exciting when we eventually awoke to see the majestic Kanchenjunga as we opened the curtains at sunrise. The sky was clear blue and the view was breathtaking. We sat for a long time just to take it in.
 
The hillsides below us were covered in jungle and tea plants. They too hide from us behind mist that rolls in in the afternoon. Guess those conditions are the secret to the famous Darjeeling tea. 

Between hikes around town, we are got some serious research and planning done for the months to come. We were able to book a home-stay for the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland December 1st through the 5th. The high rated hotels and guesthouse were already completely booked and we felt lucky to get anything. 

 
Ramshackle Bazaar
 
There is so much to explore, not just the obvious, the tea plantations, temples and the like. We made our way down the mountain through the small streets and shanty markets. The slope to which all shops and other buildings cling, accentuate the haphazardness of the place. 

Narrow alleys are lined with tailors in square meter shops churning out colorful salwars. Rows of shoe makers set up shop between questionable doctor and dentist offices. Always something of interest and sometimes of disgust. A different world hides behind the chipped cement stairways and beneath the corrugated metal roofs often draped in plastic to shield from the rain. It is a common sight to watch men and woman porters bent under heavy loads often carrying 75 to 100 kg up and down the the busy streets. Woman wash their hair on rooftops in buckets of water. Woman visit with each-other between wash lines. 
 
We continued on our excursion and checked out Hindu, Tibetan and Muslim places of worship. There is even a small church bell chiming on the hour.
   
People of all backgrounds appear to live in harmony. We made it to the edge of town that borders the tea plantations. The tea plants are more clumpy than the hillsides of tea we observed in other parts of the world. Could be the type of tea or time of year of course. At that time, the haze had moved in and got we were unable to get good pictures. I had had my quota of steep steps and we made our way up, up and more up to our hotel for a rest. 



Joy Ride on an 1880's Toy
    
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway runs historic old trains on a 2-foot wide track on 48 miles of track (less than half of which are currently open). We decided to take a joy ride on the toy train 8 kilometers to a town called Ghoom (or Ghum), India's highest train station, then walk back (downhill) to Darjeeling.

We arrived at Darjeeling station and watched the coal fired steam engine run back and forth setting up the passenger carriages for two trains scheduled to depart at the same time. The train pulled by the steam engine is strictly a tourist train running a round trip to Kurseong. 
 
Our one-way tickets were for the regular service train pulled by a diesel engine. (It was filled almost exclusively with tourist too) We made sure to nab a seat on the right side in order to have the best view toward the valley.

We had a clear blue sky when we started but clouds rolled in and out later in the day. The narrow train tracks followed the road, sometimes on it, and sometimes next to the road. As the little train chugged along, we were rewarded with great views of tea covered hillsides and the communities of houses stacked along the edge of the steep terrain, the train missing them by millimeters. 
 
On the way we saw the imposing Yiga Choling Gompa. It has 30 monks of the Gelugpa school (yellow hat). The train chugged through the circuit which affords great views of the valleys to our left. In Ghoom, we got off the train. Most people take the 45 minutes to walk around Ghoom before hopping back on the train for the return trip. We opted to walk back. At times, we questioned our reasoning for walking back as we gasped for fresh air when we were next to heavy vehicle traffic. Afterwards, we learned that behind our hotel is a wonderful quiet road which also leads to Ghoom, Had we known, we would have taken that one back. 
 
Along the way back, we found a pretty decent place to eat. It was the luck of the draw. Mostly, it is hit and miss. But for me it's a big step in the right direction that, when I insist on NOT SPICY, the food actually arrives that way. 

  
Diwali, Festival of Lights (Religious Holiday Celebrated by Hindus, Jains, & Sikhs)
 
In preparation for Diwali, which starts on the 23rd, houses were getting draped with colorful strings of lights for the celebrations. Many business will grind to a halt for four days. A steady stream of honking jeeps made its way into town and beyond. The tourists here in Darjeeling are mostly from other parts of India. Our favorite Tibetan place closed early at 7:30pm
 
Last night the Festival of Lights was more like festival of crackers. The concussion of fireworks went in to the wee hours. Enough already ... But it was interesting to watch the businesses go through their little smoke and incense ceremony. Strings of marigolds were hung in front of doorways and storefronts. We planned to just stop at our favorite tittle Tibetan place for veg and cheese momos but found it closed for Diwali. I didn't think Tibetans celebrated Diwali;)
 
We followed the many Indian tourist through the arch of Diwali lights to Glenary's bakery, where we had been meaning to stop and eat since we first spotted it. We settled for some mediocre sandwiches, my main beef is with the lousy puff bread. 
 
People were in a festive mood but the streets became empty well before midnight, It was quiet except for the periodic burst of crackers which didn't bother us. 
 
 
Next Stop Karmi Farm
 
We are planning to head to Karmi Farm on the 24th for four days to really get away from it all. The owner, Andrew, was able to coordinate two other people to share a jeep with us for the long drive to his out of the way farm.

http://www.karmifarm.com/index.html

We made our third and last stop at the best restaurant, hands down, we tried in Darjeeling. The Park Restaurant is a great Thai place.