darjeeling

i'm in darjeeling, and it's kind of the most amazing place i have ever been in my life. after a 2-hour autorickshaw ride to the train station and a 16-hour train journey (on which jojo got an uninvited massage from a hijra - the indian equivalent of a drag queen), i really wasn't looking forward to the 3+ hour jeep ride up into town. but as soon as we started to climb the main road, the view was absolutely gorgeous. i didn't care that we had 18 people crammed into a jeep that could comfortably seat 8, or that we got a flat tire on the road, or that one of the passengers was a screaming baby who only stopped crying if the driver played hindu devotional music at full volume... the views of the himalayan foothills made me smile like an idiot for the full 3 hours.

we got in last night, and from our hotel room, we can see mt. kangchendzonga - the third highest mountain in the world. this morning we woke up to the sound of tibetans chanting at 5am, and spent 6 hours wandering around the mountainside, taking shortcuts through tea plantations, stopping to chat and have chai with tibetans on the side of the road when we got tired. one of the boys who made us some tea asked us about george bush. when we told him that we didn't like him, he said, "good. that man thinks he is king. but he's really a snake. he's a king cobra!" it's really amazing how many people hate bush and the american government - i haven't met a single person since i've left the u.s. who thinks that bush is a good person (or even a halfway decent person).

anyway, tomorrow we're going to see the sun rise on tiger hill, then walk back and stop at some gompas (tibetan monasteries) along the way. rumor has it that one gompa around here has the original tibetan book of the dead, but they only show it to you if you get special permission. we have an official letter of introduction from CIHTS, explaining that we're students of tibetan philosophy, and jojo's teacher has friends all over darjeeling. i'm really excited to find out what we can see tomorrow.

monday, we go to sikkim.