The wonders of Darjeeling...

As you know, we decided that we would take a few days off and go to Darjeeling. Its 9 hours on the train and then about a 3 hour jeep ride up the mountain. God really answered prayer on the train there, after some weird, nasty experiences on the trains to and from Goa, we really asked God for a safe journey and no creepy neighbours and he provided 4 lovely Christians from Africa, and then 2 nuns joined us in the morning! So we were off to a good start. We got to Siliguri where we got a jeep to Darjeeling. The journey up was crazy. The roads are so steep and windy, some of them literally turned at 180 degrees. But it was good fun and despite the mist, the views were beautiful.

The roads got bumpier and the air got colder as we went higher up, and eventually we were there, right in the centre of Darjeeling. After trying to adjust to the 35 degree heat of Kolkata, to then go to 12 degrees felt pretty cold!! The houses are the cutest. They're all small and colourful and lined with beautiful flower pots.

How cute is this?!

Day one (24th) consisted of going on a long walk to find a Tibetan refugee centre but ended up only finding a monastery.. Which was pretty cool in itself... But not as cool as the monkeys surrounding it! 

The monastery. 

One of the monkeys. 

After we found out we were very close to the refugee centre but it was closed for the day, we walked back up the hill and on the way passed two guys carrying a cupboard and a wardrobe- it looked so funny from behind! Walking furniture! 

The 'walk-in' wardrobe!

When we got to the top we went for a walk around the stalls and little shops. They're all so gorgeous and sell such colourful, pretty things!

That evening we had our very first cup of Darjeeling tea. I had one called Orange Pekoe. It was really good.

The next day we chose a different path to walk down and explore. This one lead us to a view point which did have a lovely view but it was so misty we couldn't see very far. 

This small trip to Darjeeling has opened up my new favourite subject for photographs- Old people. They're like works of art!!

Anyway, when I was done asking random old people for photos, we went exploring and came across a Hindu temple/ monkey sanctuary surrounded with thousands of flags. It was pretty weird, people walked around the temple with incense sticks praying and ringing different bells for the various gods. 

Me outside the temple.

Just a small section of the flags!

We didn't feel too comfortable in the temple so we went outside to watch all the monkeys playing around. It was funny when they stole the food the people laid down for the gods.

Me with the monkeys.

The funniest thing I've ever seen a monkey do.

After this we went to lunch and then got cup of tea no.2. This time it was a spring tea called Phuguri. 

Naomi and I drinking tea

We then went looking for the church Anu got married in. And we found it- St.Andrews church. Its beautiful. 

Later on we went looking round the the stalls again and bought a few bits and bobs. The power cut out a few times as Darjeeling hasn't paid any bills for like 2 years so all their electricity is very temperamental! Before dinner we went to the tourist information place to book a car to take us to tiger hill at 4am the next day to see the sunrise and then went and had cup of tea no.3 - Puttabong (My favourite).

On the 26th we got up at 3.50 and met the guy taking us to Tiger hill. It took 40 mins to drive there and then a 10minute walk to the viewing place. 

Boy peeking out of where you buy tickets from.

We went into one of the lounges when we got there but it was so full there was no way we would be able to see anything. So after a while we decided to go outside and brave the cold to see if we could get a better view. It was packed down there too but we spied a toilet block that people had jumped onto the roof of so we pushed past loads of people and made a jump for it! It was such a shame that it was so misty. You're meant to be able to see mt. Everest but we could barely see anything. We did see the sun rise, but this is what it looked like:

The bottom line is, we were watching the sunrise, on the famous tiger hill, in Darjeeling- Even though it wasn't as good as we had expected, just being there was amazing in itself. 

After watching the sun rise we went to a war memorial where there were a group of people dressed up in the traditional clothes:

We then went to a massive monastery called Druk Sa-Ngag Choeling Monastery. About 3000 monks live there... It is massive and sooo colourful.

The monastery

The view from the monastery 

Us with some of the monks

We got back to where we were staying at about 8.30am. Crazy to think we had done so much before breakfast! 

The view outside the monastery. 

After going for breakfast we went and had our very last cup of tea. This time I had a classic Indian tea called Eastern Glory (Assam leaf tea). 

After tea we decided to try again to find the Tibetan refugee self help centre. And we did! It was really good, the people working there were amazing at what they did. Everything they made was by hand on old looms and sewing machines and stuff. 

(this also meant I got to take more pictures of old people....)

Walking back up the hill when we were done here was exhausting. I'm not the fittest of people anyway but because of the altitude it was 10x worse! We went back to the hotel, picked up our bags and went to catch a jeep back to Siliguri where we were met by Pastor Robert who welcomed us into his home. We rested there and had some mo mos (You must try these if you haven't already), played with his gorgeous 4 year old daughter, watched Ellen get attacked by a small dog, then got a taxi to the train station where we boarded our sleeper carriage and sat and wrote diaries. We weren't so lucky with the company on the way home. A very weird Indian man was on the bed just across from mine. He sat there with his huge hairy belly out rubbing it and staring at me. I think he tried talking to me at one point but I really didn't want to communicate with him in any way. Urgh. He kept putting his dirty, thick toe nailed feet up on my bed too. He eventually moved thank goodness and I just put my sheet over me and prayed he didn't return in the night! I swear I had nightmares about it. Not gonna miss weird Indian men staring at me with absolutely no shame. 

We did eventually make it back home safely and after showering went straight to bed. I'm gonna miss Darjeeling, a definite must to go back to. It was so lovely and relaxing and the people there are all so friendly and generous.  

So from today its 9 more days until we fly home. I can literally count them on my fingers. Mixed emotions all round I think. Its gonna be such a busy last week and a half and its gonna fly by. I'm not looking forward to saying my goodbyes, especially to the children at school. But I'm so ready to go home and see my wonderful family and friends. So excited to see people in person and not just on a computer screen! I'm a bit nervous about going home as I don't fully know what to expect, to me England has been at a stand still whilst I'm here but I know things have moved on and stuff has changed. Its gonna be a bit of reverse culture shock too but I'm sure I will settle back in in no time. Going home also means decisions about the future have to be made. But I know God has a plan. And all my trust is in that in hope that I make the right choices and follow him in all that I do. '...For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up' - Galatians 6:9. 

I may do another blog before coming home but it totally depends on how much time I have. If not I will do one at some point when I'm home! Can you believe I'm writing those words already?!

See you soon!

H x