A Trip to Sikkim, Darjeeling and Kolkata- part 2

Here are a couple pictures taken along the trip to Darjeeling. The rivers are muddier than normal due to the monsoon rains and water levels higher too. Some of the rivers and streams looked pretty dangerous.
The first night near Darjeeling was at a tea estate "Glenburn". This was a little painful to get to, but once there it seemed a bit like heaven. The owners are a wealthy family who took it over some years ago and decided to use part of it as an inn or resort. They have done a very nice job of providing luxurious spaces for the guests and the views are fabulous. We got a tour of the tea factory in the afternoon of our arrival. There were about 6 or 8 other guests. Since this is monsoon, they were not full, but by October they will generally be full until March.
The tour of the tea processing factory was interesting. As suspected, tea is a highly manual business, though they have several machines to do processing once the leaves are picked.
We learned that they have two basic plants- one from China and one from Assam- another Indian state to the east. The plants grow fast so they pluck the leaves 4 times a year to make different kinds of teas. Plants from lower altitudes are different from higher and the weather makes a difference too. So when you buy "Darjeeling tea" it may be a mix of the two types of plants plus a broad mix from plants in different areas, then there are the seasonal differences too. A little too much to know about shriveled up leaves. There are about 80 teas estates around Darjeeling too. Apparently, the samples are sent to Kolkata for evaluation and grading and then sold. The next morning we awoke to find a view of some snow covered mountains to the north- one of them is "K.....", which we will just refer to as the highest peak in India. We got different numbers for its height. One place said 28,000 ft another 26,500 ft. It kept appearing and disappearing behind the clouds. We enjoyed our day of luxury amongst the tea plants and then moved on the Darjeeling town for 2 nights. We could see the town at the top of the neighboring mountain- it was almost always in the clouds. Unfortunately, Janet picked up an infection that affected her joints and intestinal track for the next few days.
Darjeeling has gotten crowded and a bit over run with tourists. The roads and traffic were a nuisance too. The hotel here was reasonably nice, but not luxurious. It was damp, rainy, cloudy and a little chilly here during this part of monsoon season. It rained every day with moderate to light showers- but not all day long. During the heaviest rain we visited the zoo and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute which is mostly about Everest with much about Tenzing Norgay who lived in Darjeeling for many years. The zoo was a little sad, but we saw a snow leopard there and a pretty impressive Tiger who seemed to like the way we looked- he kept starring at us. We were to go to "Tiger Hill" about 4:30 AM to see the sunrise if they thought the sky would be clear- you can see Mt. Everest from there even though its pretty far away. However we decided that since the weather was very iffy, we did not want to get up that early and Janet did not feel well either. Jim road The DHR for about 2 hours while Janet rested. This is the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway which was built up the mountain around 1890 and continues on with its little steam engines. It was designated a world heritage site around 10 years ago because they have maintained it pretty much the way it was for a long time. Today you can take some short trips to see it operate and see some views. Of course, the views were of clouds this day! It was amusing at least. Since we did not get to ride the train at Ooty, this was a good substitute. The cost of the "joy ride" is about 240Rs each which is very expensive considering that a one way ticket on the normal train to the same destination appeared to be about 2Rs (5 cents).
We found a good bookshop in Darjeeling and a couple good crafts shops. We also visited a Tibetan self help center where refugees live and work. They are known for their wool rugs, but we did not like the designs too much.
Overall, Darjeeling was a bit too crowded for our tastes, but interesting to see.
We left for Bagdogra on Friday the 10th. The ride was rough again. We made the short flight to Kolkata but were quite tired by the time we got to our hotel near the center of the city so we did not go out until the next morning. Of course, as mentioned in the earlier post- or car was stopped once near Bagdogra by guys collecting for "Puja", but this time (maybe it was twice), the guide explained that they should not be stopping tourist vehicles for this and they let us pass without damage.
Janet did not feel well and decided to have a doctor visit while Jim went to see the railway museum, but it was closed. We think this day was the end of Ramadan, so it was a holiday for many businesses as well as for Muslims. The doc said Janet was pretty much over a viral infection. One thing we have noticed is that many things are designated as "viral", but then they prescribe antibiotics for them anyway.
In the afternoon we visited the Victoria Memorial. This is a massive white marble building dedicated to Queen Victoria. It is quite pleasing to look at, but considering that she was the foreign Empress of India, it seems a little inappropriate. Still it and the grounds are nice. Calcutta was the capitol of British India for quite a long time until New Delhi was built. The city has many British influences and a number of pleasant neighborhoods. It is also hot and humid most of the year. We visited some textile shops in the late afternoon, but the shops were packed (literally) with others trying to buy. There is no way we could compete with the Indians for the attention of the shop staff- except that they know we will bargain less hard.
It started to rain that evening and Janet returned to the hotel while Jim went off to a building complex housing many craft shops from all over India. This was fun and interesting, but also tiring.
Our last day was spent at the hotel and going back to the shops found by Jim the previous evening as well as visiting another textile shop found by Janet. We were tired and did not stay too long. We headed to the airport and got there to find huge lines of people going through security screening- it was the worst we've seen in India. We just got to the gate as our plane was boarding. The flight was full and because we got there a bit late we could not get seats with more legroom, but we did get aisle seats. Our driver awaited us when we arrived in Bangalore and Ziggy and Zoe were fine and did not seem to miss us all that much.
This was probably our last trip while in India as we are to return to the US in October.