Darjeeling, West Bengal

This past weekend a group of us went to Darjeeling. You may recognize the name from the tea, the famous toy train, or the movie, The Darjeeling Limited.

We were at the airport at 5am Friday morning, and arrived in Bangladore at 1:30. We then had a 3 hour car ride to Darjeeling. What I didn't realize was that 90% of the car ride would be going up, up and up the side of the Himalayas. Darjeeling is a 'hill station', hill town, and was much much cooler than Hyderabad. It was a nice break from the heat.

Darjeeling is know for it's tea, and we were greeted at our hotel with masala chai and were sure to visit the tea fields (left picture). It was a holiday, so no one was working the tea fields. Below is a pic of me sampling some green tea.
















Early Saturday morning we visited the Japanese Peace Pagoda. As we walked up to the temple we heard drumming. When inside, we were invited to drum along. Shoes off with a drum in hand, all of us followed the leader's beat, while she chanted along. I wish I could have taken a picture of the shrine we were sitting in front of, but no cameras were allowed once you were in the room.





Below is a picture of the beautiful colors one of the several monk monasteries in Darjeeling. When we arrived, their prayer session had ended and a flood of boys ranging from about 7 - 25 years old, all in burgundy cloaks, flooded the level. Anup chatted with one of the boys in Hindi, and he explained to Anup that he had been there for 15 years, and it was the greatest decision he had ever made. This boy couldn't have been older than 20 years old. He lives (and will live the rest of his life) at the monastary, but is able to leave to visit his family at their home.




The Tibetan Refugee Self Help Camp was our last stop on Saturday. Here Anup played basketball with some of the teenagers while Gina and I were getting silly faces made at us by a 4 year girl.

This camp has helped Tibetan orphans to elders, and has trained over 1600 people in various crafts. The products that are made here are the center's main activity and all profits go towards the center. It was here that the 13th Dalai Lama spent his exile in India, between 1910 - 12.








Sunday morning, Gina convinced us all to wake up at 4am :) and make the trek to Tiger Hill. On Tiger Hill you are suppose to be able to see 4 out of the 5 tallest mountain peaks...on a clear day. We watched the sunrise over the mountains, with about 300 other people, and unfortunately, could not see the peaks. It was still fun, and I have to say, I've never really watched the sunrise before.