Darjeeling

We arrived in this amazing place late yesterday after a night train from Calcutta.  I managed to carve out my sleeping bunk amongst eight very loud and playful Indians who enjoyed each others company enough to stand at the side of the bunks for most of the night.  Their little girl of about 5 was sleeping in the bunk above me and kept reaching her hand down and hitting me on the head.  After about three of these I was ready to be the ugly American only to realize that she was completely asleep.  Nothing like opening your eyes to see an Indians back side and having the occasion slap from a 5 year old to relax someone on a long journey.

All of that was worth it to get to this fabulous place.  They call it the gateway to the Himalayas and everything about it seems to ring a bell with me.  Darjeeling is really a series of small villages precariously perched on the sides of steep hillsides and cliffs.  I promise you there is not 10 square yard of level ground in the entire place.  On a clear day you can see the see 4 out of 5 of the worlds tallest mountains including Mt. Everest.  Kachenjunga, the worlds third highest mountain is very close to Darjeeling.  All can be seen from Tiger Hill.    I’m staying in the Old Bellevue Hotel which was built for the British at the turn of last century.  It’s very run down now but you can still see how grand the place must have been in it’s day.  The British Raj used Darjeeling to escape the summer heat in West Bengal.  Today however, it has no heat!  And its pretty damn cold up here.  There are 6 inches of wool blankets on the bed which make sleeping fine but that late night trip to the bathroom is an eye opener.    The people here are very western and are mostly Nepali and Tibetan looking.  Very different from their countrymen just a couple of hours away.  It really makes you wonder when you are listening to the music in the shops and the morning prayers how diverse we really are as a world.  The thought did occur to me to buy a space heater and spend some more time here.  It’s just that kind of place.