Drinking Tea in Darjeeling

Arriving into Siliguri in the morning the sun is already doing its best to keep reminding us we're in India. Jeeps are already waiting to take us to the cooler climbes of Darjeeling. It takes a few hours to wend up the mountain paths to the centre of town. Initial impressions are of a sprawling city cutting an ugly scar into the hillside. In retrospect it is quite a nice compact town. The bakery is the first port of call for a late lunch & of course a cup of tea.

Japanese pace pagoda, Darjeeling

The afternoon sightseeing activity comprises a walk to the Japanese peace pagoda. This is extended a little by an unintended detour as its still somehow possible to hide a temple on a hill. We time our visit well as the monks come out to perform a couple of laps of the pagoda & then into the monastery for some chanting. We also enter the temple & there are spare drums to join in which is a replaxing activity apart from my low tolerance to kneeling for any length of time.

knitting

The next morning the whole group walks out to the Tibetan refugee self help centre. A community project that began in 1959 and is full of, mainly old, Tibetans producing hand crafted goods.  The full range of the wool process can be seen, from spinning, to dying, knitting and carpet weaving, alongside leather goods and painting.

Next up, a visit to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, which for no obvious reason is situated within the zoo & entry requires you to also buy a ticket for the zoo.  Here lie the remains of Tenzig Norgay, the first man up everest with Hilary plus a selection of gear from various expeditions in the past 60 years - those pioneers really were in a different league.

Snow Leopard, Darjeeling zoo

The zoo specialises in animals of the region, & with a number of different big cats it is a strange mix of excitement to see such amazing animals as the snow leopard & clouded leopard & hypocrisay at supporting an institution where these creatures are restricted to a fraction of their normal habitat.

Kachenjunga from Tiger Hill

Starting at 4 am the next day to get to Tiger Hill for sunrise & a view of the Himalayas, in particular the worlds 3rd highest peak of Kachenjunga.  Luck is on our side as the few clouds that linger by the time we leave at 6 have cleared by the viewpoint on the return journey.
There is still time to fit in a trip to Happy Valley tea plantation to see the process of the hand picked tea leaves being dried, sorted and packaged for export - Happy Valley provide all their tea to Germany, Japan & the UK (exclusively to Harrods)

1st pick, 2nd pick & blend Tea, Happy Valley Darjeeling