Days 4 & 5 went very well here, so I have less to write! The sun finally made an appearance yesterday morning, and it felt great! I started off the day walking to the Japanese Peace Pagoda - a lovely walk along narrow roads and huge cedar trees! The Peace Pagoda is a very nice place, complete w/ Buddhist drumming and a gleaming white monument with various frescoes around it. The Indian tourists there were pretty obnoxious - I was tempted to flip them off at one point, but I refrained. After all, we were at the Peace Pagoda...
Next I asked directions to the Rock Garden, and a young teenage boy was heading that way anyway. Well, not all the way there, but enough to show me the way! I paid him 20 rupees for his efforts, and proceeded down, down, down to the Rock Garden waterfalls. After several switchbacks, a dubious short cut, and one muddy sneaker, I made it to the falls! These are the ones that everyone said was too far to walk to. I don't think it took me more than two hours, but it did take a toll on my knees! So instead of hiking back up the 1500 feet (elevation) and 5 miles or so to Darjeeling, I decided to chat up the momo guy at the waterfall (momo is a popular Tibetan dish that you can find almost anywhere here - kind of like a dumpling). He took pity on me and talked to a couple of the drivers (local guys that have to put up with driving the obnoxious Indian tourists around from place to place), and walllah! It only cost me 100 rupees (about $2) to get a ride back to the top! More proof that it's not WHAT you know, but WHETHER or not you're willing to eat the local food!
Oh I forgot to mention that the main falls were definitely nice, but I got to see two MORE waterfalls by simply jumping the rail where you're not supposed to and taking a scary little trail further up! Beautiful - and no injuries to report!!
Well, back in Darjeeling, I rested my legs and had a wonderful South Indian meal delivered to my room. Well, once I had switched hotels for the third time, that is - four hotels in all this week!). The last two have been wonderful, though, and I can't complain.
Today also started off with some sun - I was down to my t-shirt in no time, just like yesterday! In fact, if I ever come back to Darjeeling, I'm coming in the summer time. I just can't stand the cold! So today I went in search of the Bhutia Temple, but it was locked up when I got there. Nice views from the courtyard, though. But the best part of the day was the unmarked trail I found! After continuing on from the Temple, with only a vague idea of the direction I wanted to go, I stumbled upon a beautiful, mid-ridge, lateral trail with jungle on one side and nice views on the other! It was the "day trek" I'd been looking for!! After a few miles, it came out near the entrance to the zoo. Who knew?? This trail's not listed in the guide books. I asked a local guy about it and he said it's called "Love Rd.". Perhaps because it's kind of isolated? I don't know, but I sure loved it!!
On the way back to Darjeeling, I had some local food from a hole-in-the-wall place (2nd time today!), and briefly walked through Lloyd's Botanical Gardens. The Gardens were OK, but nothing special. Then several switchbacks and staircases back up to my hotel! All in all, a good day!
Tomorrow I leave for Siliguri and the overnight bus to Dhaka. I should arrive there early Monday morning.
Thanks, all, for reading these entries. I've certainly enjoyed writing them!
--Larry
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