Darjeeling, India

We spent a week in tea covered hills of Darjeeling in the northeast of India. Darjeeling is quiet by Indian standards, but the calm was often broken by protests that are taking place daily on the streets of the city. The majority of people who live in Darjeeling are ethnically 'Gorkha' or Nepali--they are protesting in order to establish a state of their own. Anyway--what this meant for us is road blockades and business closures--we were safe at all times. Sadly, a teenage boy was run over by a military truck on accident one day. This created a riot which in turn shut down the city. To escape the chaos, we go into the backcountry and did a three day trek along the Indian/Nepal border, right in front of the world's 3rd highest mountain called Kanchenjunga. For once we had a view of the himalaya from outside the range, all of our time in Nepal was spent in the middle of the mts and we never got a view of them from afar. The sunrises/sunsets, with views from Everest to the far West to Kanchenjunga to the East, were outstanding every day as hopefully you can tell by the pictures below...

Thanks for checking in..

Our compulsory guide, Monay, the Nepali Charles Bronson

Sunrise over Bangladesh from India/Nepal border

Kanchenjunga at sunrise

Kanchenjunga at sunset...unforgettable!

View of Darjeeling, Himalaya in background

Sunset from hotel roof

Kori trekking in the clouds, Nepal side

Monk painting stupa on Indian side

Tea estate we visited..

Kori on Nepal side

Weighing raw tea leaves

Pickers bringing in their loads of tea from the hills

Scene along the trail