First day in paradise

The estate can only accomodate about 20 guests at a time, so staying
here is rather intimate. We each managed to get our own room. Mine was
just amazing. About 500 sqft, with all wood floors and 20 foot tall
ceilings, the room had a very colonial style. What's wonderful is that
of is not faux-colonial- it's all pretty authentic, down to the silver
tea pot brought to my bedside each morning. All the guests meet for
breakfast and dinner- kind of like a big dinner party. Our first night
there were only about eight people. Neenah, was our very accomodating
host. She runs a tight ship and makes sure the guests are always happy
by giving orders to the numerous staff always about. She dined with us
at all the meals, and gave us lots of tips for things to do during our
stay, always with flexibility for us to do things to our liking at our
own pace.

After breakfast and the factory tour Lexi and I went for a guided hike
down to "camp". It's about a two hour hike down the mountainside to
the river where they have a quaint, rustic little lodge, available for
overnight stays if desired. Not only did we have a nice young woman
lead us on our hike through the tea fields, but also there was a jeep
that followed us so that we could have lunch when we arrived. It was
all so reduculius and foreign to me, to have someone, or many people
in this case, to be of service. Later in the day when I was siting at
my desk writing and someone brought me tea on a tray, I just started
laughing (after they left, of course). I'm just not used I having
anyone do anything of that nature for me, ever.

At the bottom of the hike in camp Lexi and I sat down for a
rediculously good lunch of grilled fish, two kinds of salad, quiche
and bananas foster for dessert. I also enjoyed a delicious beer. And
instead of having to hike all the way back uphill, they insisted in
driving us back. I actually had been looking forward to a good uphill
hike, but I wasn't yet willing to disturb the apple cart, as they say.
We did, however, stop on the way and do a short hike through the woods
and across a 100 year old suspention bridge into Sikkim, the northern
neighboring state (with some political searation from the rest of
India), tucked in between Nepal and Bhutan.

This was a lovely way to spend my first day at Glennurn. At dinner, we
decided that we would go to Darjeeling the next day. I, however, after
hearing that a couple of the guests had hiked there earlier in the
week, made it known that I was going to walk. Lexi concurrently
decided to get a ride and meet meet me there. I went to bed excited
for my trek through the mountains, even though I would be leaving at
6:30 in the morning.