Darjeeling

Awoke to a glorious day blue sky,white soft fluffy friendly clouds,as opposed to the the moisture laden dark oppressive clouds of the previous three days.Finally there in all its glory is Mount Kanchenjunga the third highest mountain on earth and the principal purpose for my itinerary to include Darjeeling,as well of course the piquant black tea that comes in 2000 varieties.

So with spirits lifted I made my way down,down,down to the station to begin the laborious process of buying a ticket on the Toy Train,first queue at the ticket office,get sent to the station managers office,get sent back to the queue,fill in the form pay the fare and bingo there is nothing to it.So now I have a ticket for the afternoon joyride and up,up,up I climb back through the mall,the town square the laneway to the travel agent and buy a ticket for the 4 am jeep ride to Tiger Hill tomorrow,hopefully to see a magnificent Himalayan sunrise.

A cup of tea,yes of course Darjeeling! and then back down the hill for the afternoon train ride to Ghum,pronounced Goom,the toy train used to ply between New Jalpaigurli down on the plains and Darjeeling all 98 kilometers of it but since a landslide took out the track a few years ago it no longer does.

Mt Kanchenjunga 8586 meters

Darjeeling and Kanchenjunga

Clock tower

From the station

Toy train at Batavia loop

Colorful locals

Sadhus

Prayer flags on my roof

The Town

Street from my roof

Darjeeling suburb

Resident