Darjeeling and Sikkim

I wound up staying in Calcutta for 3 days, 2 nights but itched to get out of the city considering how hot the place was. The temp was smoking hot with temperatures easily passing 100 F. with plenty of humidity. Heading up to the himalayas and Darjeeling area of northeastern India seemed the place to go. Myself as well the friends I made from my planeride from Bangkok, Hayden and Lee, got sleeper seats at the tourist office in Calcutta. Our tickets were of those specially allotted for foreign tourists, otherwise one has to sometimes wait weeks to get train tickets from what I have heard. We took an overnight train with sleeper seats next to some other tourist from Japan and France. Train trip took about 10-11 hrs to get to New Jalapairi. From there 5 of us rented a jeep for the 3 hr trip up to Darjeeling. Was a very slow and bumpy trip heading up into the mountains of Darjeeling, also very cloudy obscuring much of the sights but making the visuals a bit surreal at times. Could have taken a 8 hr toy train that goes super slow up through the mountains, but after being in the train for over 10 hrs, didn't feel it necessary to sit for another 8 hrs.


Darjeeling was a beautiful Indian city with a population of over 110,000 people. Famous for its tea plantations, there were tea shops all over town selling varying qualities of local tea for good prices. Also a big community of Nepalese and Tibetans making for an interesting contrast with the Indians of the region. Also many other Indians vacationing in the region, getting out of the extreme heat of Calcutta and surrounding areas. The weather was still continuously cloudy and foggy, obscuring many of the local mountainous views, however every so often the clouds would disperse and great views of the local mountain sides and valleys would be viewable.


I had set up plans along with Hayden, Lee, and the Japanese guys to get up early to go to Tiger Hill, a famous site in which one can get amazing views of the Himalayas, including Mount Kanchanjunga, the 3rd highest mountain in the world and not too far north of the area. Also potentially about to be seen is Mount Everest, 107 miles directly northwest. Unfortunately I missed my 3:00am wakeup time. I have 5 alarms on my wristwatch and didn't hear anyone of the them I had set. I wound up waking at 4am. However I heard later, as I had expected, that I really hadn't missed anything, since the sky was drenched with clouds and fog, obscuring any signs of the mountainscape.


Two other sites next to each other that I visited were the local zoo and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, right next to each other and about a 25 minute walk from the center square of Darjeeling. The zoo was really cool. Was able to see some snow leopards, clouded leopards, common leopards, red pandas, a bengal tiger, a himalayan bear, barking deer which I didn't hear bark, amongst other animals. Fortunately the animals were not stuck in tiny little cages, but had some limited space to run around in their enclosures.



The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute was an interesting museum chronicaling the history of climbing Mt. Everest as well as the other mountains consisting the Himalayas. Lots of pictures and exhibits of the evolution of gear used in mountaineering, from bare basic gear of the older days to the modern equipment of these days. Cool panoramas of the himalayas showing how vast and incredible the range is. Also on the premises is a school teaching all aspects of the science of mountaineering. I met one girl from Canada who had just completed a 30 day course, which including about 2 wks in the mountains of Sikkim and climbing a 17,000 mountain, using all the skills they learned.



After several days in Darjeeling I decided to head up further north to the Indian state of Sikkim. To go into this territory I needed a special permit which entailed filling out some paperwork and getting some necessary signitures and stamps from two separate offices in Darjeeling. I continued my journey to Sikkim with Hayden and Lee, a 4 hr trip which had about 12 of us crammed into 3 rows in a Jeep, Indian style. Special permits were necessary due to Sikkims close proximity to Tibet, Bhutan, and China and past political issues which have incurred. I had heard from others who had previously visited Sikkim that they considered it the most beautiful place they visited in India and Nepal areas. I had seen various pamphlets and other brochures referring to Sikkim as the possible location for Shangri-li, or the lost paradise on earth. However, like Darjeeling, the weather had already started transitioning into monsoon season, a little bit earlier than normal for the season. Most sources say the monsoon season doesn't typically start until several weeks later than I was there. However, it was very cloudy and foggy, with rain periodically during the days. The views that were able to be seen were quite spectacular, right up there with Darjeeling and perhaps a bit larger. We, myself along with Hayden and Lee, stayed the time in Gangtok, capital of the state. Mount Kanchanjunga is located in the northern part of the state, hence of was that much closer to the worlds 3rd largest mountain. Unfortunately, like Darjeeling, views of the mountain were not available at the time.

I wound up only staying several days in Gangtok, as the weather was rainy and I figured it wasn't really worth sticking around. Reading up and seeing pictures of Sikkim it looks like an amazing place with spectacular scenery, with much wildlife and great hiking. I definitely hope to make it back to the state sometime later on in life before it gets more well-known and filled with tourists. Saw very few white people in town, much less than Darjeeling. Plenty of Indian tourists however.

I was able to see one very interesting museum in the city specializing in Tibetan Buddhism and culture. Took me about an 1 hr walk in the rain to get there but it was well worth the journey. Lots of incredible Tibet Buddhist thangkas, ritual instruments, pictures, and Buddha figurines. Tibetan Buddhism is very big in the city so it was an appropriate location for the museum.