We spent the next three days relaxing in Darjeeling, which turned out to be a really nice vacation in the relaxing sense of the word. Friday October 3 I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to go out for a walk. Although all the shops weren't open at 6 am, there were a surprising amount of people out. I even saw a couple of joggers, which are pretty unusual in India. The hotel we stayed in was pretty gross and moldy at around 8 am when all the shops began to open I found a new hotel, New Mall Glory, which had a western toilet, clean bathroom, and a TV, for 50 Rs less (250 Rs) so I decided that we would switch for the rest of our stay. I went back to the old hotel and everybody was up and packed. We switched hotels and went to breakfast at Glenary's. We then went got a taxi to the zoo for 80 Rs each. The zoo was nice. They had leopards and tigers, the zoo are advertised to have the largest cages and nicest care of their animals in India. It was considerably modern although it was a bit depressing to see the animals caged up. They also had a collection of Red Pandas, which was neat to see. They had a large open atrium full of trees so you had to look hard to find them, which was like a game of eye spy. They also had an exhibition of climbers of Mt. Everest, including some of the gear that they used back during the first attempts. Needless to say it was all pretty archaic and I can't imagine using some of the tools displayed to climb Mt. Everest. We then went back to the town and had lunch then Will and Eric headed out to catch their train to Kolkatta. Andrew, Giana, and I decided to walk around and found Big Bazaar, a very odd new mall placed in the middle of this small mountain town. It had a large cinemas, coffee house, and chocolate store. It was completely empty. I don't know who would come to Darjeeling and sit in a movie theaters, but somehow they were still open. We then continued walking and found Chowk Bazaar which was a little bit more what we were looking for with small winding streets full of street vendors. Unfortunately the market was full of Chinese imports, all ****** made knockoffs. Andrew did find a man selling the traditional Gorkha knives and decided to buy two. What he is going to do with a 16 in blade I don't know... Although we didn't buy much, it was still fun to walk around and watch the people. Most of the vendors were all really nice and would talk to us even if we weren't buying. We had dinner at Fiesta, an oddly shaped brightly painted restaurant, but the service didn't match the friendly décor. We had a decent meal, nothing spectacular, then went back to the hotel to watch some TV. Saturday October 4 We woke up, had breakfast, and decided to try to find the Foreigner's Registration Office to get permits to get into Sikkim, the state directly north of Darjeeling which is in the state of West Bengal. Sikkim borders Nepal to the West, China to the North, and China (Tibet) and Bhutan to the East. Needless to say it can at times be quite a hot spot of India wedged in there. About 15 years ago there was a lot of unrest, but now things have calmed down. After walking in a big circle we finally found it and got a paper filled out which needs to be stamped by the District Magistrate. So then we walked 20 minutes down the hill to find out that it was closed... until Monday. There was a number on the door for the office at the border and they said we could just get a permit at the border. Typical Indian Bureaucracy. Although it was a small risk to go to the border without a permit and try to get one there, there weren't very many other options. There were also a group of French students studying abroad in Orrisa who were also on vacation. They were leaving on Tuesday to go to Sikkim. We talked to them for a while, I strangely find myself using my French a lot more than I thought I would coming to India. For some reason there are many French people who come to vacation in India, so it's kind of fun being able to pull out my rusty French. They said that they hadn't learned any Hindi, even after being in India for 3 months, and that they really regret not having something like that in their program. It was really hard for them to communicate with people, even simple things like bargaining. It made me really thankful for our program in Mussoorie and the language school; it's really useful while living here. We parted ways at their hotel and we found a little place across the street from our hotel which served beef. That actually was pretty common in Darjeeling and later, Sikkim. Because these states are mostly not Hindu, there many beef markets. We had some beef chowmein cooked by an older Tibetan couple who were caked in sweat and looked like they had been in that kitchen their entire lives. They were really friendly, but the place was pretty dirty and Andrew and I had upset stomachs after. We then went back to Goodricke Tea Shoppe and sat with a pot of tea while reading for homework. Then I realized that I had planned on going to the Tibetan Refugee camp and that it would probably be closed the next day, Sunday. So I grabbed a taxi for 150 Rs up the hill to the Refugee Camp. I was really glad that I did. The camp has an orphanage and a place to care for the elderly. There were kids outside playing basketball in the courtyard. Surrounding them are the workshops. The Tibetans raise money to support themselves by selling their own handicrafts, like weaving, knitting, woodcarvings, jewelry making, and carpet weaving. It was really amazing to go into the workshops and see all of these people crafting away. It was just like the Craft Center in Davis! I asked some of the older women knitting if they liked it here, and they said yes, this was now their home. She said she worked from 9-5 with breaks and a lunch, and they had Sundays and Mondays off. I then went into their shop where their sell their handicrafts and all the money goes back into the camp. I bought a cute wool blue jacket that is lined with the traditional Tibetan print (450 Rs/9$ US) and a natural color knitted wool scarf (130 Rs/5$ US). I was interested in buying an area rug but they were 300$ and had a waiting list until June, but they were really beautiful. I went back to Goodricke to find Andrew still studying. I bought some tea to take back home. You buy them by the oz. and the price varies depending on the quality of tea. Tea is broken down into first flush, second flush, and broken tea leaves. I bought of different levels for presents, and some for myself. I ended up with 16 250 oz bags for 1020 Rs which is about 40$. We ended the day by having dinner with Giana and walking around into more shops. Sunday October 5 Giana left at 6 am to catch a train back to Delhi. From there she went down to Southern India. Andrew and I spend the day lounging, watching TV, shopping, and drinking Tea. It rained most of the afternoon so we sat in Goodricke for a good while. We did some last minute shopping for souvenirs and gifts for people back home. There was an older lady who came into the shop every afternoon and by this time she recognized us and said hello. She noted that staying an extra three days in Darjeeling drinking tea, shopping, and catching up on homework is not a bad way to spend a vacation. I agree.
We spent the next three days relaxing in Darjeeling, which turned out to be a really nice vacation in the relaxing sense of the word. Friday October 3 I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to go out for a walk. Although all the shops weren't open at 6 am, there were a surprising amount of people out. I even saw a couple of joggers, which are pretty unusual in India. The hotel we stayed in was pretty gross and moldy at around 8 am when all the shops began to open I found a new hotel, New Mall Glory, which had a western toilet, clean bathroom, and a TV, for 50 Rs less (250 Rs) so I decided that we would switch for the rest of our stay. I went back to the old hotel and everybody was up and packed. We switched hotels and went to breakfast at Glenary's. We then went got a taxi to the zoo for 80 Rs each. The zoo was nice. They had leopards and tigers, the zoo are advertised to have the largest cages and nicest care of their animals in India. It was considerably modern although it was a bit depressing to see the animals caged up. They also had a collection of Red Pandas, which was neat to see. They had a large open atrium full of trees so you had to look hard to find them, which was like a game of eye spy. They also had an exhibition of climbers of Mt. Everest, including some of the gear that they used back during the first attempts. Needless to say it was all pretty archaic and I can't imagine using some of the tools displayed to climb Mt. Everest. We then went back to the town and had lunch then Will and Eric headed out to catch their train to Kolkatta. Andrew, Giana, and I decided to walk around and found Big Bazaar, a very odd new mall placed in the middle of this small mountain town. It had a large cinemas, coffee house, and chocolate store. It was completely empty. I don't know who would come to Darjeeling and sit in a movie theaters, but somehow they were still open. We then continued walking and found Chowk Bazaar which was a little bit more what we were looking for with small winding streets full of street vendors. Unfortunately the market was full of Chinese imports, all ****** made knockoffs. Andrew did find a man selling the traditional Gorkha knives and decided to buy two. What he is going to do with a 16 in blade I don't know... Although we didn't buy much, it was still fun to walk around and watch the people. Most of the vendors were all really nice and would talk to us even if we weren't buying. We had dinner at Fiesta, an oddly shaped brightly painted restaurant, but the service didn't match the friendly décor. We had a decent meal, nothing spectacular, then went back to the hotel to watch some TV. Saturday October 4 We woke up, had breakfast, and decided to try to find the Foreigner's Registration Office to get permits to get into Sikkim, the state directly north of Darjeeling which is in the state of West Bengal. Sikkim borders Nepal to the West, China to the North, and China (Tibet) and Bhutan to the East. Needless to say it can at times be quite a hot spot of India wedged in there. About 15 years ago there was a lot of unrest, but now things have calmed down. After walking in a big circle we finally found it and got a paper filled out which needs to be stamped by the District Magistrate. So then we walked 20 minutes down the hill to find out that it was closed... until Monday. There was a number on the door for the office at the border and they said we could just get a permit at the border. Typical Indian Bureaucracy. Although it was a small risk to go to the border without a permit and try to get one there, there weren't very many other options. There were also a group of French students studying abroad in Orrisa who were also on vacation. They were leaving on Tuesday to go to Sikkim. We talked to them for a while, I strangely find myself using my French a lot more than I thought I would coming to India. For some reason there are many French people who come to vacation in India, so it's kind of fun being able to pull out my rusty French. They said that they hadn't learned any Hindi, even after being in India for 3 months, and that they really regret not having something like that in their program. It was really hard for them to communicate with people, even simple things like bargaining. It made me really thankful for our program in Mussoorie and the language school; it's really useful while living here. We parted ways at their hotel and we found a little place across the street from our hotel which served beef. That actually was pretty common in Darjeeling and later, Sikkim. Because these states are mostly not Hindu, there many beef markets. We had some beef chowmein cooked by an older Tibetan couple who were caked in sweat and looked like they had been in that kitchen their entire lives. They were really friendly, but the place was pretty dirty and Andrew and I had upset stomachs after. We then went back to Goodricke Tea Shoppe and sat with a pot of tea while reading for homework. Then I realized that I had planned on going to the Tibetan Refugee camp and that it would probably be closed the next day, Sunday. So I grabbed a taxi for 150 Rs up the hill to the Refugee Camp. I was really glad that I did. The camp has an orphanage and a place to care for the elderly. There were kids outside playing basketball in the courtyard. Surrounding them are the workshops. The Tibetans raise money to support themselves by selling their own handicrafts, like weaving, knitting, woodcarvings, jewelry making, and carpet weaving. It was really amazing to go into the workshops and see all of these people crafting away. It was just like the Craft Center in Davis! I asked some of the older women knitting if they liked it here, and they said yes, this was now their home. She said she worked from 9-5 with breaks and a lunch, and they had Sundays and Mondays off. I then went into their shop where their sell their handicrafts and all the money goes back into the camp. I bought a cute wool blue jacket that is lined with the traditional Tibetan print (450 Rs/9$ US) and a natural color knitted wool scarf (130 Rs/5$ US). I was interested in buying an area rug but they were 300$ and had a waiting list until June, but they were really beautiful. I went back to Goodricke to find Andrew still studying. I bought some tea to take back home. You buy them by the oz. and the price varies depending on the quality of tea. Tea is broken down into first flush, second flush, and broken tea leaves. I bought of different levels for presents, and some for myself. I ended up with 16 250 oz bags for 1020 Rs which is about 40$. We ended the day by having dinner with Giana and walking around into more shops. Sunday October 5 Giana left at 6 am to catch a train back to Delhi. From there she went down to Southern India. Andrew and I spend the day lounging, watching TV, shopping, and drinking Tea. It rained most of the afternoon so we sat in Goodricke for a good while. We did some last minute shopping for souvenirs and gifts for people back home. There was an older lady who came into the shop every afternoon and by this time she recognized us and said hello. She noted that staying an extra three days in Darjeeling drinking tea, shopping, and catching up on homework is not a bad way to spend a vacation. I agree.
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