Last weekend we headed to Darjeeling for the long weekend with 9 other people. Our group resembled the UN, not only because of the multitude of countries represented, but also because half the people work for the UN (either with UNDP or UNICEF). In all, we came from 8countries: the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Iceland, Ireland, India, and the US. And Armenia was also represented thanks to Armen and Nyree.
On Thursday morning we all met inside the domestic terminal of the Delhi airport (which is much improved and now looks like a real airport) for our flight to Bagdogra in West Bengal. 3 hours later we landed at a civilian/military airport and hopped into the 2 rental cars that would stay with us throughout the weekend. We headed to Siliguri, a nearby town, for lunch and a stop at the liquor store. The following day was Independence Day, which is a dry day across the country, so we had to stock up.
We took the long route to Darjeeling and stopped at a lake in Mirik along the way. The ride was lovely, but cloudy and rainy. We soon learned that we were unprepared rain, except the German and the Japanese. How's that for stereotypes? Fortunately, there are plenty of people willing to sell you umbrellas so we were able to stay relatively dry. We finally arrived at our hotel in Darjeeling around 9pm after a quite scary car ride through the mountains and lots of fog.
The next day we walked 9km to the nearby town of Ghoom. We took the scenic route and through little mountain-side houses and shops. It was pouring down rain when we passed by a small house with a sign in the window saying "Tea & Coffee" and thought it was a good time for a break. We weren't sure if we could all fit inside this house, but we did. All 11 of us. We were served tea through a little window that connected to the kitchen. The house was definitely a bit lopsided and it took some getting used to. After the tea break, we made our way to Ghoom where we visited Ghoom Monastery. Afterwards, we were met by our cars and headed back to Darjeeling for a late lunch.
The following day we took the toy train to Kurseong. It took 3 hours to make the 30 km (~20 mile) journey from Darjeeing. The train is so slow that you could easily run along side it. Half of us actually missed the train in Darjeeling, so we traveled by car to Ghoom and joined the rest of the gang on the train. Finally in Kurseong, we wandered around for a bit before stopping for lunch. Finally, we made our way to Makaibari Tea Plantation for a tour of the factory and grounds and of course, some tea tasting.
Most of the group left the next day so they could make it back for work on Monday, but Armen, Nyree, Ani and I stuck around for one more day. Initially we planned to head to Sikkim, another state in region, but decided against it because of the travel time involved and the cloudy, rainy weather. We spent most of the day and evening hanging out at the hotel, with a little venture into town for lunch.
2 comments:
Sounds and looks like y'all had fun, despite the rain. I like the photos where only color stands out...how did you do that? Very cool...
These photos are thanks to a cool function called Color Accent. I think it's available on all Canons. It lets you select one color to highlight and everything else is in black and white.
I just learned about it on the trip and now I'm obsessed!
Post a Comment