Darjeeling - a home away from home

Who would've thought that we'd come all the way to India, and that our favourite place would be the one most like home - as well as being big on tea (they have 84 tea estates here), Darjeeling is cold and grey. And we absolutely love it.

After the sweltering heat of Calcutta, the cooler weather here is unbelievably refreshing - we've done away with our traditional Indian outfits for the time being, and swapped them for trousers, long-sleeved tops, jumpers and socks. We've even had the odd bit of drizzle, which gave me the perfect opportunity to whip out my attractive pink waterproof jacket. No photos unfortunately ;)

To get here we took a three hour jeep ride from a horrible little town called Siliguri. It was another one of those journeys with gorgeous views, sharp bends and steep drops, but luckily our driver was calmer and more sensible than previous ones. Halfway through the journey we stopped off at a little roadside cafe and had our first taste of momo, traditional Tibetan Himalayan dumplings that are stuffed either with pork, chicken or vegetables, and can be ordered steamed or fried. As you can imagine, since arriving in Darjeeling, we've made our way through all of these options, and our favourite is steamed vegetable momo from this lovely little cafe stall. We've been having breakfast here every morning too - spicy omelette in a bun, followed by a cup of chai. The omelette comes loaded with green chillies and shredded vegetables. Every morning the owner asks "Chilli, sister?" and i foolishly reply "yes, please!", only to finish breakfast with my nose dripping and eyes running, much to her amusement. It's bloody good though!


As well as good food, Darjeeling of course does good tea, and today Karl and I walked along to a nearby tea plantation to see how our favourite hot beverage goes from plant to delicious brew. When we visited the spice plantation in Kumily, we had a taste of just-picked tea leaves. They pretty much just taste like leaves, and it's actually quite hard to believe this is where tea comes from. At the Happy Valley plantation today, we were taken on a tour of the machinery used to dry, roll, sift, ferment and heat these leaves and create tea. We also spent about an hour walking around the plantations - unfortunately we choose a bad time as everyone was on their lunch break, so we didn't see any actual tea-picking. But once again, the views were incredible, even if it was a bit foggy. And we met some hilarious kids who ran around us shouting hello, before asking whether we had any chocolate. I really wish we did, I felt terrible saying no!


One of the reasons we wanted to come to Darjeeling is because you're supposed to be able to see the Himalayas from here. March and April are supposed to be the best time for this, as the skies are clearest, but alas it wasn't meant to be for us! For the past few weeks a thick fog has descended on Darjeeling, sometimes so thick that we can't see the building opposite our hotel! Although I am quite disappointed at missing a glimpse of the mountains, it's quite cool to be walking around in the clouds :)

We've been making the most of the cooler weather here to do more exploring, and on Sunday we decided to visit the local zoo. The zoo here is quite small and is mainly inhabited by animals local to the Himalayas, including mountain goats and red pandas. They also had the Himalayan Monal bird which, according to the little information display, cries 'Klee-vich! Klee-vich!" - needless to say, this has now become one of Karl's favourite birds. We also saw some the most adorable little monkey, who was keen to impress and entertained us with various acrobatics before cuddling up to its mum:


On our way back, we visited a beautiful temple, with lots of colourful shrines to different gods and goddesses, including one that was hidden in a little cave underground. What made the temple all the more beautiful and special was the colourful prayer flags that were strung up all around. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


Ah, I almost forgot! One of the most interesting experiences we've had since arriving here was a much-needed trip to the hairdressers for Karl. At first glance, it looked nothing like a barber shop. On closer inspection, it still didn't! The guy chopped away at Karl's mop with just an old comb and a pair of scissors that weren't at thier sharpest. We were dubious as to how it might work out, and for a while I was convinced I could see a bald spot appearing. However, it turned out to be surprisingly good - in fact, it was way better than some of the terrible jobs done by various hairdressers in Bow. It was followed with a shave, thankfully with a new and fully sharp blade. It ended to Karl's dismay (and my amusement) with a very weird head massage that consisted of much hair-ruffling, prodding and rather a lot of thumping! All for a mere R70 (one pound) - bargain!

Darjeeling has been a lovely way to end our trip to India. While a lot of other towns and cities have been hot, chaotic and noisy, Darjeeling has been cool, calm and clean, and I've felt really content here. I'd love to stay longer, but tomorrow we begin our journey back to Calcutta, and on Saturday it's off to Malaysia!