1 post tagged “darjeeling”
This morning, I awoke at 3:45 AM to meet the driver who would take me to see the sun rise over the Himalayas from Tiger Hill, about 45 minutes from Darjeeling.
I was a bit bleary, but I'd gotten a pretty good amount of sleep. I'd checked with the chemists in town, but none would sell me anything to help me sleep. I kludged together a solution that turned out to be quite effective: the Benadryl from my first aid kit, washed down with scotch.
There were a lot of people on Tiger Hill, as I understand there are most mornings. It's not the ideal time of year and not an incredibly clear day, but it was still a breathtaking view. Here are some pictures. (If I'm not mistaken, Mount Everest is the second mountain from the left in many of these pictures.)
The rest of the mountains remained shrouded in mist and fog all morning, and even the few we could see were swallowed up about half an hour after they first became visible.
On the way back to town, I saw two children dancing hand-in-hand on a flat rooftop with an eye-filling Himalayan valley spread out behind them. I couldn't get a picture, but I'm sure you can imagine it.
I did get a picture of the kids I found in a narrow, alley-like stariway leading up from one street to another.
They were playing what appeared to be a game very much like Chutes and Ladders, on a hand-drawn board. Unlike your average game of Chutes and Ladders, however, they were playing for money.
