Darjeeling by Eliza
Saturday
Let's seeee.... yesterday we met up with Jessica, Ruth and Matt at 10:45 at the book store. Got a couple more books. After that, we headed off to the zoo/Himalayan Institute of Mountaineering (HIM). It was a pretty lengthy walk through Darjeeling. Not a lot of traffic on the streets, thankfully. The zoo was small but pretty nice. Yaks, a bear, deer, leopards, and we even heard a tiger roar. Not the most pleasant sound. The HIM is connected to the zoo. It was small but it had a lot of interesting things like Hilary's original equipment when he first summited Everest and a cool set up comparing the mountains in the world. The Himalayas are hugeee compared to.... the entire world. After that we saw where Tenzing (I think that is spelled correctly?) was cremated and a statue. We left that area and started to walk towards our next destination. Got a bit lost and ended up at this ski lift type place. It looked like the scariest freaking thing I have ever seen. Like all my worst fears combined into one. It looked as though it is now defunct, thank the Lord. Anyway we met a couple guys who directed us in the right direction. Finally we found it. Unfortunately climbing up to it meant a steep walk through lots of tea bushes. Once again, all my worst fears combined into one: hiking and heights. I'm kididng. Hiking is fine... Problem: I onyl brought flip flops here. I overpacked and had no room for sneakers but whatevs. Anywhoooooo what then? Oh. Our destination, which I have not yet mentioned,w as the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Center. A realllllly amazing place. It's part orphanage, part elderly home type thing. First we stopped at the shop. I got an amazing, huge wool, handmade wool sweater which I have been wearing non-stop. Jess got a traditional Tibetan dress. Ruth got postcards. Matt got gifts I think. Outside while everyone else was in the photograph place I met some adorable little Tibetan orphans. A camera is like a magnet to every child here. They seriously flock to it. One little kid literally grabbed it from my hands and ran around taking photos. I was so scared he was going tod rop it. He took some good ones. One girl made fun of my freckles. Then they became quite preoccupied with dissassembling cassette tapes.
Time for a new paragraph. Yeah.... hmmmm... oh then we went to the little workshops scattered throughout. First we went to this room with 5 or 6 old women weaving sweaters and scarves and things on the most amazing looms. Obviously handmade, very old machines. It was really fascinating to watch them make what would later be something like my sweater. Next we visited a man and a woman painting what would perhaps be postcards? I dont' know. It looked very tedious though. Next we saw the leather and clothmaking.... the men's workshop. 6 or 7 men with manual sewing machines making hats and things. One guy was making amazing little pin cushions in the shape of children's shoes. Up the hill a ways was the carpet weaving. Again they had looms but rows and rows of them. Next door was the room where they keep all the yarn. Thousands of balls of all different colored yarn. It smelled amazing. They have chemical and vegetable dyes too.
We got a little lost a gain after that but finagled our way back down to the street where we caught a jeep. Kind of funny. The jeep was obviously not a taxi but a privately owned one but the guy was more than happy to give us a lift back to the cneter of town. He didn't except anym money for it either. He said, "Just don't forget me!" He was cute.
Wow mind blank. Oh Phil and me went back to the hotel for a delicious dinner (we hadn't eaten since breakfast which, by the way, contained BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Afterwards we watched the beginning of Shark Boy and Lava Girl (ummmm yeah) and I attempted some crosswords in a book I got and then I passed out because I was sooooo exhausted.
Oh my dear goodness gracious me: the most important facttttttt. I . Won. Monopoly. It was brilliant. Phil will be so mad I mentioned this but I said I would.
Sunday
Woke up. Had another bacon-filled breakfast. Also for breakfast: wheat bread with cheese. Delicious. When was the last time I had cheese? At the Arni's, that's when.
Met up with the others at 10. They have a great view point on top of their hotel. We could see the 3rd highest mountain in the world. Starts with a K and I can't pronounce it. It's realyl beautiful. I bet I could see it if I looked out right now. Everest, K2 and then this one. Pretty sweet. Lots of photos.
Thennnnn we walked. Walked walked walked. I almost ogt hit by a motorbike legit. We saw the train station. Probably take a train tomorrow in some fashion after Tiger Hill. We ended up at this monastary where Jess's friend worked for awhile (in the orphanage teaching English). Very beautiful. Took some photos with some monks. One monk in particular was very accomadating. We saw their prayer hall which is massive and has gigantic metal statues of Buddha and other gods. Then he got us some tea which was actulaly really delicious. Usually I hate tea (unless it's from Starbucks because I like it wihtout milk or sugar and they always add milk AND sugar) but I had two cups of the stuff. The monk was 18! He decided when he was 15 that he wanted to be a monk for his whole life. He is from Ladakh but he lives here now.
Walked back. Went our seperate ways. Phil and I had lunch. Then we went to the Natural History Museum. Cute little place, inexpensive. Very small. Lots of nasty snakes and things in jars. A massive crocadile. Massive beetles collected from around Darjeeling. Yuck.
Now we are here. Later we are meeting the other volunteers to arragne Tiger Hill for tomorrow morning, to have dinner, and to play a rousing game of Monopoly before an early bedtime as we have to get up before dawn for Tiger Hill.
Fun thing: there is a movie theater here. It is showing Casino Royale. I'm trying not to think about it. Ummm there is also a mall involved. Yeah, trying not to think about it. Just not enough time.
Let's seeee.... yesterday we met up with Jessica, Ruth and Matt at 10:45 at the book store. Got a couple more books. After that, we headed off to the zoo/Himalayan Institute of Mountaineering (HIM). It was a pretty lengthy walk through Darjeeling. Not a lot of traffic on the streets, thankfully. The zoo was small but pretty nice. Yaks, a bear, deer, leopards, and we even heard a tiger roar. Not the most pleasant sound. The HIM is connected to the zoo. It was small but it had a lot of interesting things like Hilary's original equipment when he first summited Everest and a cool set up comparing the mountains in the world. The Himalayas are hugeee compared to.... the entire world. After that we saw where Tenzing (I think that is spelled correctly?) was cremated and a statue. We left that area and started to walk towards our next destination. Got a bit lost and ended up at this ski lift type place. It looked like the scariest freaking thing I have ever seen. Like all my worst fears combined into one. It looked as though it is now defunct, thank the Lord. Anyway we met a couple guys who directed us in the right direction. Finally we found it. Unfortunately climbing up to it meant a steep walk through lots of tea bushes. Once again, all my worst fears combined into one: hiking and heights. I'm kididng. Hiking is fine... Problem: I onyl brought flip flops here. I overpacked and had no room for sneakers but whatevs. Anywhoooooo what then? Oh. Our destination, which I have not yet mentioned,w as the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Center. A realllllly amazing place. It's part orphanage, part elderly home type thing. First we stopped at the shop. I got an amazing, huge wool, handmade wool sweater which I have been wearing non-stop. Jess got a traditional Tibetan dress. Ruth got postcards. Matt got gifts I think. Outside while everyone else was in the photograph place I met some adorable little Tibetan orphans. A camera is like a magnet to every child here. They seriously flock to it. One little kid literally grabbed it from my hands and ran around taking photos. I was so scared he was going tod rop it. He took some good ones. One girl made fun of my freckles. Then they became quite preoccupied with dissassembling cassette tapes.
Time for a new paragraph. Yeah.... hmmmm... oh then we went to the little workshops scattered throughout. First we went to this room with 5 or 6 old women weaving sweaters and scarves and things on the most amazing looms. Obviously handmade, very old machines. It was really fascinating to watch them make what would later be something like my sweater. Next we visited a man and a woman painting what would perhaps be postcards? I dont' know. It looked very tedious though. Next we saw the leather and clothmaking.... the men's workshop. 6 or 7 men with manual sewing machines making hats and things. One guy was making amazing little pin cushions in the shape of children's shoes. Up the hill a ways was the carpet weaving. Again they had looms but rows and rows of them. Next door was the room where they keep all the yarn. Thousands of balls of all different colored yarn. It smelled amazing. They have chemical and vegetable dyes too.
We got a little lost a gain after that but finagled our way back down to the street where we caught a jeep. Kind of funny. The jeep was obviously not a taxi but a privately owned one but the guy was more than happy to give us a lift back to the cneter of town. He didn't except anym money for it either. He said, "Just don't forget me!" He was cute.
Wow mind blank. Oh Phil and me went back to the hotel for a delicious dinner (we hadn't eaten since breakfast which, by the way, contained BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Afterwards we watched the beginning of Shark Boy and Lava Girl (ummmm yeah) and I attempted some crosswords in a book I got and then I passed out because I was sooooo exhausted.
Oh my dear goodness gracious me: the most important facttttttt. I . Won. Monopoly. It was brilliant. Phil will be so mad I mentioned this but I said I would.
Sunday
Woke up. Had another bacon-filled breakfast. Also for breakfast: wheat bread with cheese. Delicious. When was the last time I had cheese? At the Arni's, that's when.
Met up with the others at 10. They have a great view point on top of their hotel. We could see the 3rd highest mountain in the world. Starts with a K and I can't pronounce it. It's realyl beautiful. I bet I could see it if I looked out right now. Everest, K2 and then this one. Pretty sweet. Lots of photos.
Thennnnn we walked. Walked walked walked. I almost ogt hit by a motorbike legit. We saw the train station. Probably take a train tomorrow in some fashion after Tiger Hill. We ended up at this monastary where Jess's friend worked for awhile (in the orphanage teaching English). Very beautiful. Took some photos with some monks. One monk in particular was very accomadating. We saw their prayer hall which is massive and has gigantic metal statues of Buddha and other gods. Then he got us some tea which was actulaly really delicious. Usually I hate tea (unless it's from Starbucks because I like it wihtout milk or sugar and they always add milk AND sugar) but I had two cups of the stuff. The monk was 18! He decided when he was 15 that he wanted to be a monk for his whole life. He is from Ladakh but he lives here now.
Walked back. Went our seperate ways. Phil and I had lunch. Then we went to the Natural History Museum. Cute little place, inexpensive. Very small. Lots of nasty snakes and things in jars. A massive crocadile. Massive beetles collected from around Darjeeling. Yuck.
Now we are here. Later we are meeting the other volunteers to arragne Tiger Hill for tomorrow morning, to have dinner, and to play a rousing game of Monopoly before an early bedtime as we have to get up before dawn for Tiger Hill.
Fun thing: there is a movie theater here. It is showing Casino Royale. I'm trying not to think about it. Ummm there is also a mall involved. Yeah, trying not to think about it. Just not enough time.
posted by Eliza and Phil at 3:34 PM
4 Comments:
Wow! What great things you're doing! Hope the weather works out for Tiger Hill.
Love,
Mom
P.S. No room for sneakers?!
I am even more envious! Win at monopoly?! (I do not remember ever finishing a game). Uncle Chan will need to play with you also.
Oh, our weather went from the balmy 60's back down to normal, 30's and 40's.
love, b. grandma
Darjeeling sounds great. Though I am worried about your feet. It sounds kind of cold to be wearing flip flops. Then again I know ones feet can be very resilient. I have certainly put mine through hell.
Love aunt Sara
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