Ascending the unravelling mountainside, a sheer drop into endless tea fields to our right, countless potholes and uneven road beneath our wheels and a former British hill station retreat ahead, our feelings were mixed as we climbed ever higher into the shrouding mist. Having recently slumbered off the Darjeeling Mail, an uneventful night train (much to our surprise) from Kolkata, carefully picking our way through the sea of beggars that awaited our arrival at New Jalpaiguri train station, we hastily clambered into a jeep bound for Darjeeling, at the very foot of the Himalayas. To lay my eyes upon the snow capped peaks of this range has long been a dream of mine, and Darjeeling seemed an ideal place to dip our toes into our first Himalayan experience. However, as we climbed the mountain into the
... read more
