Darjeeling

Darjeeling is the "quintessential hill station", its cooler temperatures (afforded by its 6000ft elevation) and mountain setting explaining why the British summered here to escape the rest of India's oppressive heat. It looks a bit like someone spilled a town down a lush green mountainside, and planted a bunch of tea trees around it (yes, tea does grow on trees). We spent the last week in Darjeeling (our last week in India) and had a most enjoyable time, though tinged with a bit of frustration...
You see, despite being in prime position to view the Himalaya to the North and West, we saw none of it. Clouds, bloody clouds, obscuring our precious mountain views, the main attraction for us really. Don't get me wrong. As I said, we enjoyed Darjeeling. But imagine going to King's Island and discovering that all the roller coasters are closed for the day. You could still, theoretically, have an enjoyable time: swinging on the viking ship, driving the antique cars (I love those things), eating coneys and ribs and ice creams galore. But it just wouldn't be quite right, would it? What's King's Island without riding the Beast? You'd be frustrated, your longings unrequited, right? Well that's what it was for us in Darjeeling. Frustrating. We went to the Zoo (saw red pandas; they're cute), walked the towns meandering and often steep streets, visited the Himalayan Mountain Institute, and enjoyed some fabulous Tibetan foods, like MoMo's and WaiWai (I guess they like to eat things that you say twice). But, alas, no mountains...frustrated...until the last day.
We awoke ready to head down the mountain (to sleep closer to the train station and escape the cold, temperatures in the 30's and 40's F), ready to accept our fate of leaving without so much as a glimpse of peak from town. But when we looked out our window, lo and behold, a clear sky (no cloud, bright sunny day) and, could it be... a mountain! We rushed out the door to the nearest viewpoint (where previously we'd only imagined peaks through the pillowy clouds), and before us stretched a snowy cirque of Himalayan peaks, with massive Mt. Kanzchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world at 26,100+ ft, most prominent of all. It was a wonderful and rewarding sight, as if the mountains came out to reward our patience and bid us farewell.
A lovely, laid back, mountain town in the West Bengal(who dey)Hills. Everything about Darjeeling was refreshing: the cool, thin air, the friendly locals, the lack of touts and stalls preying on foreign tourists, the proper pizzas at the italian/french bakery. All in all, Darjeeling was wonderful to us.

Back in Delhi now, all set to fly to Paris tonight (talk about culture shock). It's almost December... Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving (no turkey for us, but a whole tandoori chicken)... in a few short weeks, we'll be coming home!