Darjeeling: It's Transcendent.

Tomorrow we leave for Hyderabad (our South Indian excursion) so I figure I've got to get this blog out while I still remember what it is to be cold. 

(March 16-19)

Our group hopped off for the weekend with Sujoy, Arundhati, and Vinayak (the Dover Divas' host parents and brother) to the previously British hill station of Darjeeling. Let's start with getting there. The Salt Lake Crew walked into the bustling Sealdah train station like Flik from A Bug's Life walking into Bug City. We experienced our first Indian sleeper car, which was an adventure in itself. After a few rounds of Goosebumps and having a hijra solicit to us (google it), we hit the sack. The next day we hopped in a few jeeps and drove for hours up crazy hairpin turns--definitely the most psycho roads I have ever seen, any roads elsewhere pales by comparison. Sujoy raved and raved about the wonders of Darjeeling, of the hills and mountains, and indeed, the immediate surroundings proved truth to his words. According to him, 80 percent of the appeal of Darjeeling is the geographical makeup. This begs the question, what constitutes the other 20 percent. Old World Charm of course, Sujoy will tell you over and over throughout the weekend when admiring any sort of architecture or city planning. The British just don't make 'em like they used to (primarily because they were ruthless rulers and were rightly thrown out).

Old World Charm

Darjeeling is completely different from every place I have been in India to date. For starters, it's cold. The ethnicity of the people there looks more eastern (like Nepalese) than south Indian. There are a great deal of tourists, a few Europeans and Americans but mostly Indians, and the effect this has on the city is very interesting. Darjeeling is kind of cosmopolitan already because of the British history, but nowadays it is westernized enough to cater to those tourists, but still very much maintains its own culture without getting overly commercialized. It's just the perfect balance! Also, it's very developed with very little visible poverty, comparable to a European town.

It was a pretty packed weekend. We woke up at 4:30 and 3:30AM respectively to watch the sunrise with the mountains, which let me tell you, sure is something. The Kanchenjunga (3rd highest mountain in the world) is astonishing. You can't see it so well during the day because it is too foggy, so it is very much worth it to wake up so early. After the sun rises, we enjoyed a myriad of adventures throughout the day: A plethora of Buddhist monasteries and temples, a sick zoo (sick as in gnarly) that had a spot with a tiger across the path from a wolf pack (add that to favorite spots on earth), a cable car that goes over the tea fields which snapped eight years ago and killed people, etc.

Hills of tea

AHHHHH

Just a morning jaunt with my monkeys

You can see the shadow of our cable car... and we didn't even die

Kangchenjunga barely visible... but visible nonetheless

This is getting too long. I'll summarize. Darjeeling is like heaven on earth. It is crazy beautiful. Everyone seems happy there, and how could you not be?

The only graffiti I saw was a wall tagged with "I LOVE DARJEELING".

This next part is really more for my benefit, but feel free to read through it. Favorite times:

-Rapping to Encore/Numb remix at the gas station on the way

-The moment I realized all the clothes I brought for the weekend were purple (subliminal messages courtesy of my hair)

-Experiencing the abundance of old world charm around every bend

-All those minimuffins at that restaurant with the waiter in the argyle sweater

-Bartering in the markets (I'm a pro now. Not in my wildest dreams!)

-The market in the cemetery, one of many momo stops

-Ending the cable car ride perfectly alive

-Exploring and our whole youthful group meeting that dude from Wisconsin

-Frolicking in the the tea fields

-Initially unintentionally then very intentionally photobombing the people in front of us at 5AM

-Flat tires which cause us to dance to Aaron's Party (Come Get It) on the side of the road

-ANYTHING SUJOY SAID AT ALL

-When the sun turns orange and the mountains emerge from the morning fog and you are surrounded by wonderful friends and an unbelievable view

-Walking through the forest trails on the hill and knowing it doesn't really get better than this.