Now that the three of us have some time since we are not bouncing around from place to place...I am able to update. Being the trip planner means that you don't always get to blog or email since I always seem to be doing something else!!
Where did I leave off? Darjeeling...it has been to long I do apologize.
Our mountain trip was well worth it, no trekking unfortunately, to little time and with Tina's back we were unable to go. But in the future....I do plan on coming back so that I will be able to go trekking...a must if you like backpacking.
Darjeeling, the land of teas and mountains, was freezing of course, and a few strikes thrown in there as well. Remember Ghorkaland? Well here is my opportunity to explain. Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and the surrounding cities are part of West Bengal - one of the many States in India that includes Kolkata. The majority of the people in this area are Ghorka people originally from Nepal which was once a part of it before the new borders of India were drawn on them. Once you enter Darjeeling you see flags everywhere that say Ghorkaland, at first it kinda looks like an Indian flag because of the colors and then when you really look it definitely isn't. So why Ghorkaland? Well, West Bengal hasn't been the most efficient state government to these mountain people while profiting off of the tourist industry up there and the local Ghorka people not reaping the benefits of it. People have been fighting since the mid 80's - through strikes and talks - to create their own State in India separate from West Bengal. Many times the Ghorka fighters will call strikes where all the shops close, cars don't run, and whole cities shut down. It hasn't been working that well, and most people don't think that Delhi (capital government) and West Bengal will give them their own statehood....and there is rumor that things may get violent... I hope not. There is a very charismatic leader - whom I forgot his name - of the Ghorkaland movement who I have heard is a very powerful speaker and persuader...not good if things get violent. Anyway...enough of the history lesson.
I have to say though that after our early morning sunrise in Darjeeling to see Mt. Kanchenjunga (3rd largest peek in the world) at 5am there was a strike the same day and was unable to get a jeep back into town so we walked the 10km 6+ miles or so back into town. It is a good thing that we were already planning on walking otherwise that would have really sucked!!! We had a nice stroll back to the center of town...draggin Tina's limp butt JK! We did carry her stuff for her tho poor poopie.
The other interesting thing when we were in Darjeeling was the 'I love Darj' outreach. One day we noticed all of these people walking around town with these shirts that say 'I love Darj'. We found out that it was a Christian outreach venture where missionaries and local churches put on a day of random acts of kindness to the locals - free tea, flowers, and pony rides? Anyway, they had a evening show outside with music and skits and such and I felt like I was back at Christian camp. All the same songs song in English sometimes in Nepali, and kids running around on stage trying to do break dance moves...entertaining only because it was so bad :) but cute. It felt so wrong to be in a place that has so much spirituality, life, and sense of fullness to be blindsided by a type of Christianity that pushes its way of life on others. Way does Christianity always seem to be the Western way? And what about what the Indians have to offer?
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