Happy Valley - Darjeeling

The Road to Heaven

Hurtling down the road at breakneck speed, dodging cows, bicycles and pedestrians that appeared without warning from the darkness and then jolting to the side as our jeep turned a hairpin turn up the poorly maintained, narrow mountain road to Darjeeling, I began to mentally calculate the odds of making it to the hotel alive. I might have asked my driver for his opinion, but he was busy steering one handed as he chatted on the phone. I put it at about 3 to 1 against.

This being the case, I began to prepare for a survival situation. Fortunately, Carrie was trained as a combat life saver, so that would be useful. I also began to steel myself mentally for climbing back up to the road with a concussion and one or two severed limbs. Did I remember how to pray? Let's see... 'Our Father, who art...um, full of grace. Thanks for the shot at life and everything. Listen, sorry about the tequila and resulting actions. Maybe see you soon. Amen.'

Happy Valley

By the time we were drinking tea in a shack the next morning with a Czech, some Aussies, and a somewhat crazy old woman, Darjeeling was quickly becoming my favorite place in India so far. We had just finished our tour of the aptly named Happy Valley Tea plantation, and the Czech was telling us she would prefer to ride on top of the jeep so she could jump off if it decided to topple over the cliff. It was a charmingly terrible idea.

Having paid the old lady for some bootlegged top-shelf tea, we were on our way to see the Tibetan Refugee Center, have tea at the posh Elgin Hotel, drive to foggy Tiger Hill (at apparently the worst time of day to see scenic vistas), visit some awesome Tibetan monasteries, watch a political rally for a free Ghorkaland, pay our respects to the holy, shrine covered Observatory Hill, and return to watch some Diwali celebrations from our window.

Unfortunately, my camera stopped working for the weekend, and my g-phone pictures don't really do the town justice, but the mountains and smiling people made for a great time this weekend.