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Day 103: Darjeeling Tea Tasting


We all woke up and had couple errands to do after checking into the hotel: internet, ATM etc... Eric and Will had a train out to Kolkatta the next day, so they at least wanted to do some tea tasting while in Darjeeling. We headed down to Goodricke Tea Shoppe, which has multiple tea plantations around Darjeeling. We ordered 5 cups at 20 Rs each of different teas suggested by the man working there. We then passed them around to taste them and each of us picked a favorite and finished off that cup. It was fun to try something that none of us have any expertise in, and just guessing which one we like better. On the table they had a map of Darjeeling and where each type of tea was grown, so it was fun to see where the tea you were drinking came from. Of course the one that Andrew chose as his favorite the man told us had won some award like "The Best Tea in the World" or something, so now not only is he a natural born trekker but also a natural tea connoisseur... it just never ends. We then walked up and down the main strip in Darjeeling-Nehru Rd. It started to rain and get dark so we slipped inside Park Restaurant for dinner, which had Thai food (something that is strangely lacking in India). Andrew and I split a pretty decently priced cashew nut chicken (about 120 Rs). We then went back to Glenary's Bakery for dessert. It was 40 Rs for an ice cream brownie sundae (which is less than a dollar). So the boys all got that. I had an amazing warm chocolate chip muffin for only 12 Rs! We got back to the hotel and found out that we had HBO, but only Adam Sandler's "Click" was on. But somehow we all sat through it, then quickly feel asleep, exhausted.

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