Tea Town

After crossing into India from Nepal we headed for Darjeeling - the quintessential colonial hill station (at least before Indian independence from Britain). Nowadays it is local politicians who want independence from the West Bengal state and to press their demands they called an indefinite strike in the region just before our arrival - no shops open except pharmacies, no restaurants and armed police at all intersections.

Nevertheless we managed to wander through some of the tea plantations as well as visit the 'highest zoo in the world' and the Himalayan Mountain Institute which Sherpa Tenzing helped establish and run and which holds some fantastic artifacts such as three of the four flags raised by Hillary and Tenzing on Everest's summit (the UN flag is elsewhere) and equipment from pioneering Himalayan expeditions (battery heated socks?).

One of the few restaurants that would provide food to us was the restaurant attached to the ever so elegant Elgin Hotel, a colonial era building set in a rose fringed garden overlooking Darjeeling. Given our surroundings High Tea was the order of the day (with the finest Darjeeling Orange Pekoe Tip tea of course).

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