Darjeeling

Darjeeling was a little of heaven on earth for all of us.  After hectic life in Varanasi, this was the perfect place for some down time, great views, and relaxation.  Getting to Darjeeling takes a bit of time, as it is 3 hours up a mountain, 3 hours of windy, bumpy roads.   The hotel had great views, which ended being the only thing that kept us there in the end (no hot water, no water to flush the toilet, and people knocking on our door selling scarves at 7:00 am).  The town itself it not big but filled with friendly people, fun market stalls, tea shops, and knock off North Face stores. 

There was a lot to enjoy in Darjeeling besides the views (though that always helps).  The cooler temperatures forced us to buy a couple of warmer things, but usually I used it as an excuse to buy fun Nepali knitwear. 

 

 

Tibetan Self-Help Refugee Center

There is a large population of Tibetan refugees, as it is close to the border and a safe place.  This wonderful center was started to give those refugees training and capabilities to make a living.  Now, after multiple years of being open, it has remained a fantastic safe, productive zone for thousands of refugees.  There are rooms for weaving, spooling wool, dying wool, wood carving, knitting, and other handicrafts.  There is also a basketball hoop for many of the orphans to play on when they’re not in school.  We visited this shop/center and fell in love.  We talked to some of the people, learned about the handicrafts, and watched as rugs and sweaters were being made.  One man, whose name escapes me, was a phenomenal woodcarver and told us all about his woodcarving and the tools we uses.  Some of his story was lost in translation, but it seemed to Mike and I that he had come when he lost his parents, when he was very young and had stayed at the center ever since. 

Tiger Hill

We took a jeep (after some complications getting and bargaining for the jeep…I ended up yelling at someone who I thought was being unfair.  It was a shortcoming that came with waking up at 4:30 am) up to Tiger Hill to see the sunrise.  From this one point you can see three of the five highest peaks.  The most prominent being Kangchenjunga (3rd highest in the world) and Everest being the hardest to see (but we saw it!).  The sunrise was beautiful, but not as beautiful as the sun rising on the mountains.  It was absolutely breathtaking and made me a little energized with excitement.  It’s just something about mountains.  We took lots of pictures, hoping some would do the view justice.  I know I shouldn’t complain, but it was cold up there!  I was all bundled up and still was chilly. I’m not sure I’m ready for even March winter in WI when we come back!  We stayed, admiring the mountains until our jeep driver forced us to come down. 

 Momo Lessons

I have found a new favorite food: momos.  It is a Tibetan food that is just delicious, so delicious in fact that we all took momo lessons one morning.  It took about three hours from start to finish (we made a lot!) and ended with all we could eat momos and soup.  Don’t you worry, we plan on teaching anyone and everyone that wants to learn when we get back!  Essentially it is flour/water dough that is professionally wrapped around a mixture of cabbage, onions, ginger, salt, and whatever veggies you want.  Then it is all steamed for 15 min. to perfection.  You can fry them after that, but steamed are way better, hands down.  The woman in the picture you do not know was our main instructor.  The one of us eating was at our favorite Tibetan restaurant that we went back to about four times.

  

Tea

Darjeeling is known for their tea and have many tea houses carrying it.  We went and played cards at one shop, only for the electricity to go out at 7 and have to finish by a torch (flashlight).    The picture of me is at Glenary’s, the bakery/breakfast place we hit up a couple of times with excellent views.  I’d highly recommend it.  Pot of tea for 40 Rs (80 cents). 

 

 

 

Random Shots:

1. We were in Darjeeling for Republic’s Day, so there was a parade and dance event that we caught glances of. 

2. St. Andrew’s Cathedral

3. Monkeys guarding St. Andrew’s Cathedral

4. A cool statue on top of a high building that I got a kick out of

5. Mike and I in the midst of Buddhist prayer flags.  The top of Observatory Hill was COVERED with them, quite the sight of color.   6. The flags in action.

  

7. A Buddhist temple that we stopped at on the way down from Tiger Hill.  (7. the gate, 8. the actual temple)

 

The Himalayan Zoo and Mountaineering Institute

What a great combination: sweet animals and climbing!  My kind of place.  These two were interconnected strangely enough, but both absolutely fantastic.  The animals were some of the coolest animals I’ve ever seen (especially the birds…talk about colorful pheasants!)  and the mountaineer institute was a collection of articles, pictures, materials, maps, dairies, etc. of lots of history making climbs.  They even had an entire section on Everest. 

 

The animals: 1. Bullhorn Sheep of some type (can’t remember the name, but Mike took loooots of pictures of it) 2. Himalayan Black Bear  3. Red Panda (Mike’s favorite) 4. Siberian Tiger (we had to go back to the cage to find this one, it was camouflaged well!)

Varanasi

Varanasi is like looking into a fish bowl of other people lives, watching every aspect of daily life and death.  You could sit in one spot in the ghats (different sections of stairs that lead into the river) and see someone brushing their teeth, someone bathing, someone going the bathroom, someone being cremated, someone doing laundry, someone fishing…you get the idea.  The Ganges River that goes through Varanasi is considered a holy river to both the Hindus and Muslims in India.  Being cremated in it is supposed to end the cycle of reincarnation and set the person free to rest peacefully.  Thus cremations at certain ghats is a huge business or ordeal, and they have it down to a science.  They know exactly how much wood to use to make sure the body is cremated completely but not using excess wood.  There are different qualities of wood that are at different price levels, sandalwood being the most expensive (bits of facts I found interesting, sorry if it is too much information).

Anyway, Varanasi.  The river is considered holy so everyone wants to do everything in it.  There are ghats that go down to the river and serve different purposes (burning ghat, bathing ghat, etc.).  My major observation while here, besides being scarred for life of seeing too much man thigh, was how much the river takes a beating.  It makes me cringe.  There once was a large dolphin population which is quickly diminishing because of the pollution.  People throw everything in the river from statues of goddesses, plastic, manure, you name it.  Mike quoted an interesting fact while we were there.  Healthy bathing water has 500 faecal coliforms (bacteria)/100 ml of water…the Ganges has 1.5 million faecal coliforms (bacteria)/100 ml of water.  If that was too much science for you, the point is that the Ganges River has 3,000 times more bacteria than healthy bathing water, yet hundreds of people (men, women, and children) bath in it every day.  It’s incredible and makes you wonder of all the diseases the water carries.  Mike and I brainstormed different studies we’d like to do on the river (talk about nerdy biology conversations), but there is so much going on and so much effects that seem to be ignored in the river ecosystem. 

Enough talk, here are some pictures of the daily life we saw a glimpse of:

There are shaving stalls everywhere.  I wish I had a beard just so I could feel cool as I sit in a street in a green chair getting a shave.  Maybe not. 

These are bike ricksaws carrying ridiculous loads.  This is just the beginning, you’d be amazed at what they can carry. 

 

Fishing poles at the ghats  (not sure what fish could survive in this water nor what diseases they’d carry). 

I took this for all the nurses in my family. They do laundry in the ghats and this was  hospital scrubs drying on a slope.  I can’t imagine they are what hospitals in the states would consider sanitary.  There were surigical masks, surgery coverings, and scrubs.  The second one is saris (the dress Indian woman wear) drying. 

It was the end of a festival so hundreds of people came to the Ganges to drop in these statues of godesses made of straw, plastic, paint, and other materials into the water.  Again I cringed for the poor river. 

The buildings are really, really close in Varanasi and create dense alleyways that you are for sure to get lost in.  The alleys themselves are backed with small temples, cows, goats, and even more people. 

We went on two boat rides when we were there.  Boats are a huge business here.  It was extremely foggy as you can see on all the pictures, but it added a certain aurora to the city.    The paddler usually has many interesting facts to share in broken English. 

   

Animals were also everywhere near the ghats, which added to my concern for the river with manure pouring into it.  There was one ghat that was mostly water buffalo and goats were literally everywhere.  Luckily I got a picture of my favorite goat, who single handedly convinced me Mike and I will have a goat in the future and name it Baba (old man in Hindi). 

We took our first cycle ricksaw ride here in the midst of CRAZY traffic.  I seriously don’t understand how there are not accidents every time we go somewhere.  It boggles my mind.   

  

Then there were just some pictures of us that were fun.  We’re still alive and well! 

      

Agra

We had a bit of trouble with Agra.  The first time the train was supposed to take us Delhi—>Agra in about 4 hours.  It took 9 and the Taj was closed by the time we got there.  We had to leave that night for Varanasi, so we just saw the Taj from the rooftop.  The train ride was so delayed because of fog, but it got to be unbearable when it stopped for long periods, for unknown reasons.  The main issue with trains is that you never know what is going on.  There is no loud speaker or friendly conductor going around you letting you know it will be 5 hours late.  You just have to guess and infer based on other stops. 

Long story short, Mike and I fit it in between Calcutta and going to the farm.  The train was only a couple of hours late this time and we spent the night and saw it in the morning.  It was well worth the wait and extra trip.  The Taj just leaves you breathless and wondering who the heck had the time and abilities to make it.  Pictures do it better justice than my rambles:

The gateway:

A peek of the Taj Mahal:

There are two symmetrical buildings on either side of the Taj.  The one on the west is still an important meeting place for Agra’s Muslims and to the east the jawab was probably used for extra accommodation.  They were beautiful and had fantastic domes and decorated arches.  There was a security guard that wanted a picture with Mike.  He had a huge gun, so who were we to argue? 

 

The details of the Taj and the tilework were incredible.  They had precious gems inlaid into elaborate flower designs, both on the outside and on the tomb. 

It seemed like nothing in the design work was left unnoticed or unplanned.  The domes were detailed and the arches had beautiful script and different angled marble.  There were also really cool birds (that we see everywhere in India) flying in and out of trees that added to the serene effect.