Adventures in Hindustan

Darjiling, India

Many of the girls moved on today, but Betsey, Teresa and I have stuck it out another day. We had planned to get up before dawn (4 AM) to take a jeep to viewing point called Tiger hill. When I woke at 5:07 there wasn't time for the jeep but we viewed Sunrise right from our own porch and it was spectacular on an unusually unclouded day.

Enough so that ,peaking out the clouds on the edge of grey, was a whiter crest, the tip top of Khangchendzonga--the 4th tallest peak in the world and the highest mountain in India. We decided that a trip to the top of the hill might be worth it even now. So we went, and it clouded over more, but the way back down brought us a thousand prayer flags and two fantastic monastries to view. At one of the latter I was able to spin prayer wheels, fulfilling a long held child's fantasy from my parent's stories of Nepal.

We came back for a breakfast of Nepali bread (a slightly leavened round bread) with jam and honey and some rockin mashed potatoes. That was followed by an afternoon nap.

To top off a day of monastry viewing, Teresa and I walked the town (munching on coal-cooked corn with lemon) until we reached the Bhudia Busty, a gompa perched on the side of a hill facing the hidden crest of Everest.

written by

Drie on May 2, 2008 from Darjiling, India

from the travel blog: Adventures in Hindustan

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Darjiling, India

A few more days in the quaintest of towns. Several fantastic days (and one not so fantastic day) with quality group meals, and lots of walking about. We all decided to visit one of the more 'quality' tea plantations recommended to us by local tea experts so we headed out one early morning. Turns out quality equals very far away and hard to get to. We began walking down a road...and kept walking all the way down the winding path into a deep valley for some 4 hours. The views were beautiful and the company good, which made it worth it even though when we finally got there the factory was closed and we had to get a tour of the empty place.

The trip back up turned into quite a humorous debacle. Not thinking things through, we had not confirmed that there was a way back OUT of the valley that didn't not involve walking back up the same hill for 10 hours. But after several cars refused to give us a lift and about 20 minutes of uphill battling we were starting to realize the danger of incomplete planning. Luckily (as I was confident of the whole time, though not most of the girls) we were picked up by a taxi for just 20 ruppees a head. phew. A very relieved trip back was followed by some tasty momos and quality cup of Darj tea.

written by

Drie on May 5, 2008 from Darjiling, India

from the travel blog: Adventures in Hindustan

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Kalimpang, India

My final few days were spent in a town called Kalimpong. Lacking the romantic heights of Darjeeling (its in fact several thousand feet lower in altitude), this cute town makes up for it with wonderful nurseries and Tibetan shops (both are wholesale centers for the larger region). Kalimpong is also unique, according to all guide literature, for its cheese (yep real cheese, not paneer) and lollipops (more like milk tootsie rolls).
We went searching for all these things, and found them (in some cases after much walking).
One especially spectacular find was a beautiful hotel up the hills with its own planted grounds. Stretching onto the side of a hill and with the feel of a cloud forest, we wandered amongst orchids, lilies, honey suckle and a thousand other flowers I couldn't name. The hotel had cute little cottages amongst the plants and overgrown bouganvillea. My Bible (ie lonely planet) informs me that these are $60 a night. When I come back for the honeymoon I'll stay here.
On these sightseeing ventures we were accompanied by Teresa's aunt who is in the Navy and flew in to visit her. It was interesting trying for the first time to introduce India to someone new and come to conclusions about our experiences. It was more difficult to do this than I had thought and I sort of dread having to try and answer questions about my experience once I get home.

Denver, United States

India pulled her final joke on me flying from Bagdogra back to Delhi. Waiting in the airport for my plane to get in I started to feel chilled and exhausted. As I hunched over in my plane seat--regretting that Indian airlines don't provide blankets like their trains do--I knew I must have a fever. And stumbling into my hotel seeking the best air conditioned room they had, I knew it must be a bad one.
After checking in, I collapsed onto my gratefully clean and airconditioned bed, and went into a semi-delirious sleep, forgetting until later to check my temperature (it would hold steady around 103.5 for the whole night) or take any medicine. I rose once around 9 PM to stumble into the hotel restaurant to buy a water bottle.
As morning rolled around, I realized I had some 12 hours until I had to be at the international airport and a fever that was still making me woozy. With little money left (I wanted to leave the country dead even), little minutes left on my phone left, a heavy bag, and 100 degree weather outside, I called Nick (a family friend who had stored my extra bag for the last couple weeks) and begged to crash at his apartment for the day. And that's what I did.
Arriving on a rickshaw that didnt give me change because I lacked the energy to insist on it, I collapsed onto a friendly expat's mattress for the next 5 hours. In the end the fever broke and I had time for one last dinner and swimming pool visit with Nick and his roomate before heading out.
But what a last day in the country. Oh, India what a bitch you can be. Oh, well. In the end, I got to the airport and THIRTY hours later (filled with a few BA red wines and the first real sandwich in monthes) I arrived back in sunny Colorado. Here I am, four days later, back home. And not a cow in sight.

Adventures in Hindustan

a travel blog by Drie

the highest peaks

Darjiling, India

quality

Darjiling, India

the last ventures

Kalimpang, India

one last trick

Denver, United States