On top of the world

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Yesterday evening I was waiting in the lounge outside my room for a while and reading my lonely planet to figure out where I was going to go when another American wandered into the hotel. He had just arrived by jeep and so he and I met up with another kid that he had taken the jeep up to Darjeeling with. He and I are quite alike, so weve had some interesting discussions. Were both really into photography so we have had a lot of interesting discussions centering around photographic things. I convinced him to come with me this morning to Tiger Hill so that I would have someone to go with with the carrot of being able to use my tripod with his beast of a medium format camera.

So today I awoke at 3 am to be able to see sunrise over the Himalayas. I can safely say that it was completely worth it. It was a bit cold at first, but I had bundled up and was quite comfortable. The sunrise was amazing, and I took close to 100 photos. I have no idea whether the colors came out right since the computer I'm on right now has terrible contrast. But I humbly submit a few of the photos from the morning jeep ride to Tiger Hill and our time on the mountain.

After shooting for a while we took the walk back to Darjeeling which is something like 11 km, or 7ish miles for englishly inclined folks. Im glad I brought my tripod but it made the walk back to Darjeeling a little painful. After getting back we had a very pleasant breakfast at Glenary's, with several pots of Darjeeling tea being consumed. Jasper, Bryce's friend tried to wake up in time to meet us for the jeep but was locked in his hotel (bummer for him). But he still has a week or two here, and I envy him to no end. I wish I had months and months here and didnt have to leave in a few short hours. It pains me to think that in less than 24 hours I will have to leave. This is definitely my favorite place in India so far.

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