Darjeeling Continued

Sunrise in Darjeeling

The next day we woke up at 4:30 am to watch the sun rise. It was really beautiful and we could hear the morning call to prayer for the Muslims and later on we could also hear flute music and chanting from the Tibetan boarding school that is in the area. It was all rather surreal and even though it was rather chilly and we were all tired, it was worth getting up early just to see the sunrise.

Part of the Buddhist Temple with its stone carvings and Buddha statues

After breakfast we all piled into the car and drove to a Japanese Buddhist Temple located in Darjeeling. The temple area was marked by a large stone pillar with Japanese inscriptions guarded by two stone lions. Upon entering the temple we took our shoes off and climbed up the stairs to emerge into a small room with a shrine. Two people sat on each side of the room and hit drums while the chanted. Those of us who came into the room sat on the floor with smaller drums and pounded out the beat with the monks who were there. When leaving we held out our hands and the monk gave us a small handfull of sugar pellets as a blessing to eat (the prasad in Hindu worship).

Buddha carvings at the temple

We walked around outside the temple area and marveled at all the ornate stone carvings of Buddha that were etched into the sides of the temple area. There were also golden statues of Buddha interspersed with the stone carvings depicting Buddha's life. I loved looking at all the artwork surrounding the temple and seeing that Buddhism was important to many of the inhabitants of Darjeeling.

Kate picking tea in traditional Darjeeling clothes

After leaving the temple we went to a tea plantation because Darjeeling tea is one of the most famous in the world and comprises about 15% of India's tea. We got to see the bushes where they pick the tea and Tiffany and Kate dressed up in traditional Darjeeling clothes. Alongside the tea plantation were vendors selling snacks and veggie momos (very similar to Chinese dumplings). Momos were very common in Darjeeling (probably because it is very close to Nepal) and I had the best momos I have ever had next to the tea plantation (Dad, these momos were 10x better than the ones in Chicago).

Riding the skyway

We hopped back into the cars and drove to the skyway where we took a skyway up and down the mountain. Some of the people in our group were extremely nervous about going on the skyway because a few years ago it broke and people fell to their deaths. Even on the back of our tickets it said that if you are maimed you can receive 100,000 rupees. We all made it safe and sound and proceeded on to the Darjeeling zoo where we looked at all the animals like the Bengal tiger and the red junglefowl (yes Chuhu, I got a picture of your red junglefowl). There was also a small museum there with artifacts and information about all the climbing expeditions to Everest and some of the other Himalayan mountains.

Wolves at the zoo

Comin back from the zoo, we were all starved and quickly ate something before we started shopping again. We stayed out pretty late to explore around (I actually found beef burgers and wanted to eat one but Erik told me I would be ostracized from the group if beef touched my lips...argh, peer pressure). We met a man from Madison, Wisconsin outside one of the eateries and he had been traveling all around Asia for 6 months every year since he dropped out of high school. He had networked with many people across Asia and his stories could fill a rather thick book. He said that we were the closest he had been to home in awhile so he quite enjoyed talking to us about our experiences in India and how we missed America.