Darjeeling and then some

On Saturday afternoon, Trina and I took an overnight train to Darjeeling. We were in AC three tier, which means there were three beds stacked where we could sleep. We met a guy from England who is travelling around Asia for a year. He was in the same compartment we were in.
When we got off the train, I could see the difference in the way people looked. Even though we were in the same state, it felt like a different country. People looked more stereotypically "Asian" and less stereotypically "Indian". We got a share jeep to Darjeeling (about a two or three hour drive up into the mountains from the train station).
I was surprised to find that Darjeeling is actually way more Westernized than Kolkata. I had thought that since Kolkata is such a large city, it would be more Westernized. But Darjeeling is way more tourist-oriented. Also, I think the weather had something to do with it. The locals (guys and girls) wore jeans and hoodies. It felt like walking around an American college campus...
Our first two days in Darjeeling, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We went around in jeans and a t-shirt and took pictures of the Beautiful mountains and of the tea plantations. The last two days weren't so nice; they were cold and overcast. We got up at 3 a.m. on the second morning to go to Tiger Hill to watch the sun rise over Everest. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy and we couldn't see anything... So I've seen the Himalayas, but not Everest. We did see Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest peak and India's highest mountain. It was pretty stunning. We also went to see gompas, Hindu and Buddhist places of worship. One of my favorite things we say was the Buddhist Japanese Peace Pagoda. They built about 300 of them around the world, including some in the US.
I'll try to put some pictures up tomorrow.
We left Darjeeling and had a painless trip back to Khardah.
Last night Trina and I went over to Piya and Kajals' houses. They live in the same little compound. They had us take lots of pictures of all the little kids who live in the compound. They gave us bananas and deep-fried cookie-type-things that were left over from a recent Puja. They also showed up photo albums from last year. Its crazy how young they look. Then Piya asked us if we'd take a picture of her in this black and red skirt she had. We said sure and she proceeded to spend at least 15 minutes putting on make up and getting all ready for the picture. Kajal dressed up as well, in these really tight white capris and a white t-shirt that said "Roxy" and a jean jacket. Trina and I were both amazed that they put so much effort into getting ready for one picture. They did look gorgeous though. We were joking with them that they look older than me. Kajal turned 15 today and Piya turns 15 in a couple weeks. They seriously did look a lot older though... Quite different from how they seem when we're out playing football and they're wrestling with the boys.
I was in Darjeeling when I got the news of Obama getting elected. I had just woken up (it was Nov 5 here) when my mom called me to let me know. The power came back on in the hotel in time for us to see Obama's speech - magnificent. I'm so glad!! When we got back to Khardah the next day, I bought six newspapers with front page coverage of the election - three in English and three in Bengali. I meant to get a Hindi one too, but when I looked later I realized I hadn't. The 6th was the first day the Indian press could cover the election because by the time the results came in, it was already 9 or 10 am here on the 5th. Anyway, I will keep those papers for the rest of my life so my kids and grand kids can see a primary source from when America elected its first Black president. It seemed a little unreal from Darjeeling, where there was no one to celebrate with. But I am so glad!
Today we had school, played football and went to Sealdah. Trina left for Goa. She's been here almost the whole time I have, so its weird to have her gone...

~m