Darjeeling

We spent a good part of the day in Darjeeling itself. It's quite a
lovely mountain town, though I hear it has gotten busier and busier
over the past few years. The first activity we did was go to the zoo
and the Himilayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI). The zoo had some
interesting animals, including a tiger and a couple red pandas, but
the highlight was the HMI.

It was set up right after the first successful summit of Mt. Everest
by the Nepalese man who made the journey with Sir Edmund Hilary, and
whose name eludes me at this moment. There are many cool artifacts
from the different journeys and attempts to climb the world's largest
mountain. After, we visited the Tibetan refugee village just outside
of town. Here a number of Tibetans live and work. We saw an entire
room where Tibetan rugs were being weaved on a dozen or so old wooden
looms- it was very interesting. They have a shop where you can
purchase the goods they make and help support their village. After
making a few purchases, we went back into town to do some more shopping!

Prakash took us to a pashmina shop. You so on little stools while a
man sits crosslegged on a slightly raised platform just in front of
you. His assistant grabs dozens of beautiful scarves from towering
shelfs full of folded ones lining the tiny shop. They unfold the
cloths so you can see the amazing colors and embroidery. The
artisanship that goes into these is just stunning. After struggling
with having to pick out just a few, we then set forth on finding a
price. I think we did ok, but probably could have gotten him lower.
Next we hit a curio shop filled with wonderful items with everything
from 20 rupee key chains to exquisetly crafted silver and jewel budda
statues. I bought a Tibetan necklace made from yak bone and a book on
all the Hindu gods. Most of the people in this region are of Nepalese
descent rather than Indian as Nepal is so close. So many of the items
in the store were also from the surrounding areas.

We hoped in the car and headed down the mountain in time to catch
dinner back at the tea estate. Darjeeling is a magical little town
tucked away in the mountains. I highly recommend visiting if you ever
get the chance.