Darjeeling: all in fog
The gentle slopes of Darjeeling appeared to be rather tough at times (and tell me what is not with a backpack getting heavier and heavier with every new station). The guesthouse (Tower View) we picked from the wide selection in the both guidebooks was up the hill: a very basic, yet a very nice place run by a Tibetan family. The reception area also serving as a dining room for the guests and behind the bar – as a kitchen to the hosts- was the oasis of warmth, hot meals, cozy Tibetan bread and enormously big pots of tea. Here would young travelers from all over get together and exchange impressions, plans and recommendations as for prospective traveling…
Once we checked in, I took a very brief and just warm enough shower and quickly ran back to my room... With a great pleasure I picked up waterproof pants, jacket and the trekking shoes that all had been sadly staying idle in my closet for ages and with such an anticipation were put in my backpack this time. So happy I was to pack myself in all this winter-time attire.
How shall I say... it was not awfully cold... But a change after the soaked in the summer India, fog all over the place... n....ya... coming winter made their presence felt. The water was so cold that you wouldn't even be able to rinse your soapy hands properly. Everything you take out of the backpack and leave in a room for even a short while becomes cold and as if wet from inside... You would actually wonder how to brush your teeth as water in your bottle burns your teeth too. In such conditions, warm clothing is essential: you feel packed, protected, like inside a nest... irrespective to any major and minor weather changes.
All covered by the fog Darjeeling looked magnetically attractive: old British buildings and the spirit reminded me of Shimla... well, in a way Darjeeling is the Shimla of the North-East and it used to be the summer capital for the Bengali government. Despite might-have-happened sunrise at the Tiger Hill and the stunning views of the world's 3rd largest mountain Kangchenjunga... which all were canceled by the fog... I was celebrating the fog - it left for us much more to discover and gave a beautiful experience with a little bit of mystery attached... There was a particular style in that: combination of the old buildings and somewhat old-fashioned spirit and the trendy people... Resembling Copenhagen....
Despite the weather I found that young people particularly stylish in Darjeeling. In fact, the town showed the kind of style totally unknown in the rest of India. Pupils proudly wear their classy uniforms - cherry or dark blue jackets and skirts for girls and sleeveless jackets and trousers for boys. The girls look so beautifully girly in their white knee-highs and black ballerina shoes with a stripe and the boys look so trendy with their cheked Burberry-style scarves wrapped around their necks and prudently polished black leather shoes. Any overcoat tends to be worn unbuttoned so not to hide the nicest part of the attire.
A bit older young people do not give up the notion of style either... Teenage girls do look like their Norwegian counterparts (another region where young people tend to dress up irrespective to the climate): converse shoes or ballerina shoes, jeans, waist-long jackets. Trench coats are also popular even with those opting for the traditional wear: they make sure that's nice high-heeled sandals are there along with the bags and trench-coats.. Astonishing!!!
People were extremely nice in Darjeeling: they really notice you and are very interested in you, yet they let you be and rarely initiate a contact with you unless welcomed. I found it a completely new experience here in India to smile to virtually anyone passing by: a slowly walking elderly man, a young lady looking after a shop, a red-cheek school girl revising her notes on the way to school in the morning, a young boy dressed-to-kill.... and they all - young and old, men and women - do smile back with a very open sincere smile... The emotional exchange was so rewarding for me that I just felt like wandering those streets for ever - giving away a bit of my cheerful mood and getting some back.
Once we checked in, I took a very brief and just warm enough shower and quickly ran back to my room... With a great pleasure I picked up waterproof pants, jacket and the trekking shoes that all had been sadly staying idle in my closet for ages and with such an anticipation were put in my backpack this time. So happy I was to pack myself in all this winter-time attire.
How shall I say... it was not awfully cold... But a change after the soaked in the summer India, fog all over the place... n....ya... coming winter made their presence felt. The water was so cold that you wouldn't even be able to rinse your soapy hands properly. Everything you take out of the backpack and leave in a room for even a short while becomes cold and as if wet from inside... You would actually wonder how to brush your teeth as water in your bottle burns your teeth too. In such conditions, warm clothing is essential: you feel packed, protected, like inside a nest... irrespective to any major and minor weather changes.
All covered by the fog Darjeeling looked magnetically attractive: old British buildings and the spirit reminded me of Shimla... well, in a way Darjeeling is the Shimla of the North-East and it used to be the summer capital for the Bengali government. Despite might-have-happened sunrise at the Tiger Hill and the stunning views of the world's 3rd largest mountain Kangchenjunga... which all were canceled by the fog... I was celebrating the fog - it left for us much more to discover and gave a beautiful experience with a little bit of mystery attached... There was a particular style in that: combination of the old buildings and somewhat old-fashioned spirit and the trendy people... Resembling Copenhagen....
Despite the weather I found that young people particularly stylish in Darjeeling. In fact, the town showed the kind of style totally unknown in the rest of India. Pupils proudly wear their classy uniforms - cherry or dark blue jackets and skirts for girls and sleeveless jackets and trousers for boys. The girls look so beautifully girly in their white knee-highs and black ballerina shoes with a stripe and the boys look so trendy with their cheked Burberry-style scarves wrapped around their necks and prudently polished black leather shoes. Any overcoat tends to be worn unbuttoned so not to hide the nicest part of the attire.
A bit older young people do not give up the notion of style either... Teenage girls do look like their Norwegian counterparts (another region where young people tend to dress up irrespective to the climate): converse shoes or ballerina shoes, jeans, waist-long jackets. Trench coats are also popular even with those opting for the traditional wear: they make sure that's nice high-heeled sandals are there along with the bags and trench-coats.. Astonishing!!!
People were extremely nice in Darjeeling: they really notice you and are very interested in you, yet they let you be and rarely initiate a contact with you unless welcomed. I found it a completely new experience here in India to smile to virtually anyone passing by: a slowly walking elderly man, a young lady looking after a shop, a red-cheek school girl revising her notes on the way to school in the morning, a young boy dressed-to-kill.... and they all - young and old, men and women - do smile back with a very open sincere smile... The emotional exchange was so rewarding for me that I just felt like wandering those streets for ever - giving away a bit of my cheerful mood and getting some back.
posted by Olga Tikhonova | 1:40 pm
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