Gorumara was the first destination. It is one of the top five national parks in India. We had our own little cottage to stay in. It was quite luxurious. We even had a towel rack in the bathroom and warm water! There we sat at different lookout points while drinking tea and listening to the sounds of the jungle. We saw some elephants, rhino, monkeys, bison, various birds, and tons of peacocks. We also walked to a place there called Samsing where we waded in the stream by the waterfall. It was honestly the clearest water I’ve ever seen.
After Gorumara we went to a place called Gangtok in Sikkim (located near the Chinese border - a place we needed special permits to go to where no other tourists go). It was by far the highlight of the entire week. It was a small town surrounded by the Himalayas. We went to a place called Chungu Lake where we hiked on a mountain at almost 13,000 feet. Once we reached the little hut at the top, we had the most amazing view of the lake down below and the Himalayan mountaintops and hills for as far as we could see. The whole ride up to the mountain was a good time, partly because we had the coolest driver and guide, partly because Bryan Adams, Phil Collins and Michael Jackson were playing on the stereo, and partly because we were wearing long sleeved shirts and finally not drenched in sweat…not to mention the spectacular scenery the entire way up the mountain! Oh yes, and a few more things about Gangtok:
- We went to an Indian film and turns out movie previews are showed at intermission and not at the start. During intermission there is a beverage counter where you can buy cups of tea (of course). Oh yeah, and cell phones and talking is allowed during the show…quite a different atmosphere!
- We rode on some yaks by the lake.
- We ate just about the best Chinese food EVER. (It even compares with my favorite restaurant back home – good ‘ol Wah Kue's in Burien where my Grandma and Grandpa have gone for about 50 years.)
To wrap up our trip, we had just about the best car ride back from Darjeeling to Siliguri. We were in a shared car with five other Indian guys who enjoyed singing Indian classics to us and chatting. One of them was a high school teacher. I was next to him so I was able to chat with him easy. He taught at a private school for about 5 years and now works for a state school. Each class has approximately 80 students and sometimes up to 120. He says ideally it would be 40 but the government tells them they should be able to handle 100. Many of the students get to class over an hour early so that they may have a chance to sit in the front row. Transportation is a tremendous barrier to their education because many students who live in the villages where there is only one road are unable to come to class if there are heavy rains. They would have to truck through many swamps in order to get to school. He said that there is a really high dropout rate among the high school students and they are working very hard to decrease the dropout rate as well as to obtain a 95% education rate in the area. Many children, especially teenagers, drop out of school to work in the fields. Unfortunately many of the families don’t see and understand the concept that more children equals more mouths to feed, but instead more children equals more hands to do the labor and earn the family money. He also talked to us a little about the dual economy and the 'very rich' and the 'very poor'. I enjoyed talking with him and hearing his perspective as a teacher in a state school in India.
Scott made a great list of highlights from last week. So I'm just going to copy and paste a few things that I didn't mention for you:
- Watching people carry giant bags of tea from a backpack that you strap to your head...a head pack
- Hiking to the top of a Mt. at 13000ft in the Himalayas and seeing gorgeous views of Lake Chungu and the mountains, while wondering why all the other tourists are just sitting by the lake
- Having countless "photo shoots" with Indian tourists, while feeling like some sort of celebrity
- Drinking tea from a lookout tower overlooking the jungle at our hotel
- Getting a private serenade from the people sharing our jeep
- Dressing up like traditional Nepali's
- Seeing amazing statues of Hindu deities
- Watching countless Indian music videos
- Watching the sunrise in the Himalayas
- Seeing animals like the snow leopard, rhino, elephant, red panda and most importantly Peacocks!!
- Watching an Indian water light show
- Almost getting stuck in Gangtok
- Eating amazing pot stickers, chowmein and Samosas (no not smores) from a small hotel that didn't expect any tourists
- Fresh Darjeeling tea in a tea field
- Frolicking in a stream with our driver Matthias
- Baby elephants at Rhino point
- Visiting the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and seeing really neat artifacts from the original Everest summit
- Tibetan Butter Tea is nothing like I imagined Butter Beer in Harry Potter, it is mainly just butter with water
- Watching a cultural program in the shrubbery
- Learning that when the hotel offers you tea, even though they are making you late because they were not ready when they said they would be, it still means that they will charge you room service price for the tea
- Visiting the first ever Tibetan Refugee Camp
- Getting our picture taken with Indian Military and having them tell us we look "Superfantastic" while holding up the OK sign
2 comments:
Aww, It brings back so much good memories!
I sounds like you went to the zoo, and checked out the himlayan mountainering institue, went to tiger hill for the sunrise, budhist monestary and all the good stuff! Ahhh, you're bringing back so much fun memories I had! I absolutely love Darjeeling!
You only sang, like, MY FAVORITE SONG EVER! :-)
Fabulouso, Fleegies. As always.
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