Don't think twice

Darjeeling is an early town, so poker night it was. I lost. And had to dress like the most ridiculous backpacker in town as my punishment. Which is hard in Darjeeling. There were lots a funny dressed foreigners--my favorite being the guy in swim suit bottoms.
Mystical fog surrounding the peace pagoda. So calm.

The peace pagoda.


Tasting tea.
Tea house tasting round two.
Mist over town.
More tea.
Absurd backpackers, counteracting the caffeine with a beer.
Sonia getting henna.
Women picking tea on the Happy Valley Estate.
More tea leaves.
Yes, Harrods.
The five second tea lady's home.
Trecking back up to town from the tea estate.
Mmmmm.
Golden orange tea.
Sonia blowing on the leaves to catch the aroma.
The five second tea lady showing us the 8 varieties and how to know what is the best.
Tea leaves!!
The town.
The road winding below us.
One of the wider parts of the road...definitely would not have been riding on the roof with all the sharp turns and washed out potholes.
Watching the women (all the tea pickers seemed to be women) pick tea as we drove up the mountains.

It's allright.

The past four nights were spent in Darjeeling, a hill station in northern India, almost in Bhutan and Nepal. Although the foggy weather kept us from enjoying the famous views of the surrounding Himalayas and the supposedly-spectacular hiking, the three hour white-knuckle drive up the mountains was so absolutely worth it.

Darjeeling is famous for its delicate flavor and color. It only comes out just right at these high altitudes and, yeah, its pretty incredible. Think of the "Darjeeling" tea you get in bags at the grocery store. Now go and throw it away. Because it is not good. This is seriously the best tea I've ever had. Right now black is in season, so we had the opportunity to sample some fresh leaves. The tea leaves are put in the boiling water, and then strained through a strainer that goes over the tea mug. The liquid comes out a brilliant orange color, smells amazing and doesn't need any sugar or milk (even though some hot milk and sugar doesn't hurt).

The best sampling was at Happy Valley Tea Estate, where Harrods gets their specialty teas (colonialism?!). But seriously, we were able to sit in the self proclaimed "five second tea lady's" living room for about an hour and hear her explanation for how the tea comes to be so perfect. She showed us the seven or so main types and had us smell them. In sum, the secret to all these wonderful aromas is that the leaves here are happy! We sampled the black tea, which brews in just five seconds given its freshness and strength. Best tea of my life.

The rest of the trip was spent sampling other teas at several tea houses and exploring the town. It was a bummer that we couldn't go hiking given the weather, but I still really enjoyed the city. Darjeeling is pretty interesting--it's so far north and is heavily influenced by Tibetan, Bhutanese, and Nepalese culture. It was really fascinating to see all these different Asian influences kind or interact and even fuse together. Like, women wearing sarees who definitely don't look like the women wearing sarees in southern India. And then parts of town where I didn't even feel like I was in India because nobody looked, dressed, or cooked like Indians. So many awesome momos.

The town itself is sort of like a shabby chalet town--winding narrow roads, sort of ski lodge type architecture, even if a bit run down. I really appreciated the character, although I can't quite put my finger on what it was. Perhaps the mist gave the whole place a surreal, calm feeling. Or that we spent most of our time away from the honking busy roads. Or all of the Tibetan prayer flags hanging about made me feel more peaceful. Darjeeling is also impeccably clean. It seems that folks here are very committed to preserving the environment, even though at the same time, promoting the tourism so heavily straining the infrastructure and natural resources available here.

The last stop on the way down the mountains was a visit at the Japanese Peace Pagoda, a Buddhist monument build to advocate for non-violence and peace. Just seeing the pagoda rising out of the mountain mist was sort of surreal, peaceful and mystical in and of itself. I wish we had more time to meditate there--so inviting of reflection over the past four days and past nine weeks.

For a change of scenery, Sonia and I head off to Rajasthan via a 18 hour train ride in the morning to ride a camel into the desert and sleep under the stars.