After a four hour delay in my flight from Gaya, and a three hour delay in my connecting flight from Kolkata, I was two hours into a car ride up to Darjeeling. I was going to ride on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway--a world heritage steam train over 100 years old, affectionately referred to as a "toy train" due to it's small size. It was one of the main reasons for going to Darjeeling. Well, fourteen hours into the trip to Darjeeling, with an hour to go, the driver's phone began to ring. It was my travel agent phoning to say that the train would not be running on the one day I had in Darjeeling. My allotment for December vanished.
My morning in Darjeeling started at 4:00am, despite my arrival late the night before. It was the coldest weather I'd met with in India, and it was still dark, but I put on as many layers as I could and headed out to meet my driver. We took the short drive out of town to Tiger Hill, and I made my way with a hundred other tourists up to a medium sized building on the top of the hill. Finding an open spot on the deck, I watched the sun rise. It was a clear day and the sun slowly lit the clouds below us, and Mount Kanchendzonga behind us. It was a beautiful sight to see.
As the crowds began to leave, I asked one of the staff members which mountain was Everest. I had heard that on a clear day you could see it. He pointed out the window to a tiny grouping of three mountains. Everest was the middle one, and I was now able to cross an item off my list of 30 Things to Do in My 30's--I had seen Everest with my own eyes.From there, I went to see Darjeeling's War Memorial, a monastery, Zoo, Tea Garden, and Art Gallery. Another highlight was seeing the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, which displays gear used in the first ascent of Everest.
Darjeeling was an unexpected treat, and I was lucky to have missed my train.
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