It is nice to be India again, particularly for the food and tea!  Nepali food was quite lacking.  Although we were able to get some good Japanese food and other tasty stuff while we were there, the local dishes lacked pizzaz and we always waited so long for food—even for something as simple as muesli with curds.  We gladly welcomed our culinary return to India; for lunch today we ordered some tasty channa masala (garbanzo beans in a tomato based sauce) and chicken sheek kababs (ground meat wrapped around a skewer and grilled or fried—kind of like a sausage and REALLY good).  Our food was on the table in less than 15 minutes.  We were so amazed and then we remembered that we weren’t in Nepal anymore.  On the downside, India is definitely much more littered and unsanitary…I won’t go into details about trying to find a bathroom yesterday with the help of an old Tibetan lady from the restaurant we were at.  I forgot how it can be hard to find a toilet in India.  At least that was one thing Nepal had going for it.

Anyways, where we’re at right now is Darjeeling, a name you may recognize from the tea bags sitting in your cupboard at home.  We’ve had a good time here so far.  It’s mellow; the shops on the top of the hill where we’re staying all close around 8pm, but that’s ok because we’ve been mellow too.  When I say mellow, I mean lazy couch potatoes.  Ok, so maybe not lazy because Matt is working on conquering a cold and not couch potatoes because our room doesn’t actually have a couch, but we have been watching a lot of tv.  I guess you could just say we’re filling our quota for the next month or two and making up for this past month.  We were able to catch an episode of The Office, some BBC, and lots of movies.  Luckily for me, there has been a pleasant variety of chick flicks on the two English movies stations, so that’s mostly what we’ve watched (The Breakup, Just Like Heaven, Uptown Girls, Meet Joe Black).  However, I think our favorite flick was the oldie but goodie, Kindergarten Cop.  After all, who doesn’t like watching the Governator?  I know what you’re thinking right now…“That is a lot of movies, sheesh.”  But before you think we’ve gone completely inactive after the trek, let me add that in our two days here we’ve also enjoyed some of Darjeeling’s pleasantly good attractions: the zoo, the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, and a tea plantation.

The zoo was small, but gave a chance to look at some amazing animals up-close.  Immediately after entering we saw the most amazing birds—generally labeled as exotic pheasants (I can’t remember the specific names).  My favorite one was covered in flame-like feathers.  The most unique feature, however, were the feathers on its head that had a helmet-like appearance (think Darth Vader).  It was hard to get a decent shot through the fence because it kept moving, but here’s the best one we got.

We also got to see some Himalayan black bears playing around, a couple of lions, wolves, and three varieties of leopards, including the rare snow leopard which had an unexpectedly thick tale.

In the middle of our zoo circuit we made a stop at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute which is adjacent to the back entrance of the zoo.  The institute houses a museum of all things Mt. Everest including information about the Himalayan range, newspaper clippings, photographs, and artifacts from famous expeditions, such as Tenzing Norgay’s goggles.  Matt had visited the museum the last time he was in Darjeeling, but I think we both appreciated it more having just completed a little trek of our own (even though our trek was nothing compared to an expedition to Everest).  It was humbling to see a scale model of the Himalayan range and realize that the mountains we circled on our trek only make up a miniscule part of the grand range.  In addition to the museum, the institute offers various mountaineering courses and has had many alumni and instructors who have made successful Everest attempts themselves—including founder Tenzing Norgay.

My favorite excursion, however, was to a tea factory.  The tea is so nice and hot here—it’s great!  It’s the best tea I’ve had on the trip so far.  Most of the places we’ve gone make the tea with loose leaves and serve it in a little silver pot with a little strainer to stick over your tea cup when you pour it.  It definitely beats a tea bag, especially the lousy ones they throw in a cup of “hot” water in Nepal.  And what’s a good cup of tea without some good baked items—also the best of the trip so far.  This morning we had a delicious sweet scone (crispy on the outside and so soft on the inside) and a currant loaf with our tea.  Matt says that besides the railroad the baked items on the hill stations are the other good thing the British left behind.  I must say, they’re pretty tasty!  Yesterday, Matt and I walked down to the Happy Valley Tea Estate to see just how the tea is processed before it gets into our cup.  We went on a simple little tour with one of the factory workers.  In a nutshell, how they make tea is: 1.) Pluck it  2.) dry leaves on a table 3.) dry leaves on another table with a little heat 4.) dry leaves though a really hot machine 5.) roll leaves with another weird looking machine 6.) sort out the little leaves from the big leaves, roll the big leaves again 6.) lay leaves out on a table for a couple of hours while they change color from green to brown 7.) sort out the sizes (and quality) of tea leaves with a tri-level shifter shaker machine. 8.) pack leaves and sell to tourists or ship to Calcutta where it is auctioned off.

I loved the tour because I drink so much tea and was excited to see where it comes from.  According to our guide, all tea comes form the same plant (black, green, Darjeeling, etc.) and it is the processing (drying, fermenting, adding stuff) that makes the different varieties.  So that’s the down-low on the tea and Darjeeling.