Darjeeling, the world capital of tea!
Darjeeling! The sweet land of the tea.
With our morals up again, we headed up to the train and then to the foothill of Darjeeling.
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| A break half way up the mountains |
When you arrive at the station, you see the jeeps teaming up, waiting to carry the passengers up to the Gurka city or Gurkaland. These are shared Jeep, that can carry up to 6 people in the back, sometimes they try to squeeze a few more, so try your best to avoid crowded jeeps.
They departure from Siliguri, the nearest town and are more expensive to go up than to go down, thanks to the power of gravity. It takes a couple of hours, but the scenery is great. The air gets cleaner the more you go up mountain and the breeze a bit colder.
This jeep stops a couple of times at local stalls for refreshments and bathroom visits.
Once we arrived to this amazing little mountain town, we felt in a different country. Gurkaland is another country for the gurka people. Still fighting for recognition and autonomy, the gurka people don’t recognise themselves as Indians. Actually, Darjeeling is more of a melting pot of Tibetan refugees, Nepalese and Bhutanese cultures, with the uniqueness of their own culture.
Historically, this area belonged to the Chokias, the kings of Sikkim till 1780, and then it was annexed by the invading Gurkas of Nepal. It was a British colony with strategic military importance. The place never settled peacefully and still, nowadays there are confronts and problems.
But the people were generally kind, polite and very friendly, very honest. Another great difference, apart from the religion and gastronomy, that once more, resemble the Tibetan and Nepalese culture, was the architecture. It was radically different from everything we saw so far, with a lot of beautiful chalets, pretty squares and a few catholic churches and Tibetan Buddhist monasteries.
Around the city, there are several tea plantations, of the world famous Darjeeling tea. Between the beauty of the city, the charm of the culture and gastronomy and friendliness of the habitants, we had the massive Khangchendzonga, a 8598 meters high mountain, sparkling in white snow when the days are clear.
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| The Khangchendzonga mountain on a cloudy day. |
I feel I’ve reached the end of the world, it feels so far from home…. close to the Himalayas.
We got a hotel room at the hotel Tranquility. Probably the best quality/value place we had stayed so far. It was clean, comfy and had the most amazing views. We could see the Himalayas from our window!
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| Hotel Tranquility, with views to the Himalayas |
I was not counting on the sudden weather change. Before we entered the jeep it was around 38ºC and now was around 10ºC during day time and less at night time. I didn’t even have cloths for this weather!
So we were forced to go out for some emergency shopping, but things are so affordable there and they actually have a lot of cool stores, with really nice clothes. I got a purple vest with Dalmatian print and a few other things to use as a pijama. It was very cold and humid and my body didn’t adapt to the new contrast.
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| I became a regular at Hasty Tasty! |
For a vegetarian, Darjeeling is a haven! With Indian, Tibetan, Nepali and Western options at very interesting prices. And let’s not forget the hot chocolate and the super aromatic tea! We went to Hasty Tasty daily, a vegetarian restaurant at the top of a hill, with views to the mountains and hills. The food was amazing, vegetarian only and you could see the chefs preparing it, which adds to the hygiene level.
The days were passed mostly strolling around the hilly streets, searching for the warm of the sun and exploring the differences in this hilly city.
My travelbuddy took a trip to the tea plantations, where the plantation, culture and harvest were explained by a guide. I stayed at the hotel, resting and sleeping. I had been tired from all the last few months moving around. But I was greeted with a bunch of Organic pure Darjeeling tea. It smelled to good!
Next day… A visit to the Budhist stupa/monastery at a top of a hill near by. This is the Bhutia Busty momonastery in Darjeeling city. It belongs to the red Buddhist Lamas and it’s adorned with thousand if not million of prayer flags all over the complex.
The Prayer flags suggest a strong Tibetan influence in here
To get there we had to go up the hilly little streets, but it’s well worth it. The monastery is amazing, everything you imagine a Tibetan monastery would be.
We quietly observed the devotees offering incense and burning candles. There were not only Buddhists around, but people from all over the world, respectfully walking around in absolute admiration, although most tourist were Indians. We were lucky to be in Darjeeling at the very low season, because not only the hotels were cheaper, but most interesting places were basically empty.
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| Monkey families who live in the hill monasteries |
This has been one of my favorite places in India, so far. The people are so nice and welcoming as well as respectful and kind. The food is amazing and the variety of dishes was a plus, to break from the everyday spicy Indian food. Here were were going mostly Nepalese and Tibetan style everyday. Less spicy but very rich and delicious, perfect for the cold weather.
We decided to spend the last day strolling around on the streets of this amazing colonial mountain town. Bought a few things on the stalls along the main street, observed the stray dogs sunbathing, the poneis in the square and tried to keep all these great memories in our hearts, because this was a place to stay for a longer time, and when the weather is warmer.
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| Sunbathing dogs |
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| The center square |
We took the famous sharing Jeep down the hill and once more, as soon as we got to Siliguri, the realization that we have another whole month ahead of us before our flight and the fact I didn’t want to be in India anymore was an absolute consensus on going to Nepal for our last month.
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