Blogs from Rimbick, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India, Asia

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Asia » India » West Bengal » Darjeeling » Rimbick May 26th 2014

It was an interesting trip from Kolkata to Radhikapur (North Dinajpur District near Raiganj) by train where 11 of us made so much noise that the TTE ( Train Ticket Examiner) remarked to another passenger that this 'lot' must be travelling in train for the first time. It just happened that the 'other passenger' happened to be one of us! We reached Radhikapur station in the morning mist of things which is really not the nice cold mist but that of pollution. We were warmly received by the extended family followed by all the pets (parrot, dog). Time flew as I learned to play football in the open field. We also played various board games. The occasion was to attend the festival at Swaminath temple. There were over 50,000 visitors on the occasion of Buddha Purnima ... read more
Lebong Tea Estate
Mountains and Mist

Asia » India » West Bengal » Darjeeling » Rimbick November 6th 2012

Well it's been a whirlwind since my last post. I think when I wrote I had just left the Ashram and was headed back to Delhi to meet up with Dad. So i'll start there, met dad after many hours of being delayed by various modes of transportation in the backpackers area of Delhi, much like Koh San road in Thailand. Lots of action going on, lots of hassling and bartering as well. We were able to pack a lot in in our two day stay, doing a tour of the spice markets, old delhi and the red fort as well as parliament and various tombs. On our third day we took a flight to Leh dad's dream destination which was we landed at an elevation of 11,000 ft. We had 6 days to explore this ... read more
Nubra Valley
Nubra Vally
Yaks

Asia » India » West Bengal » Darjeeling » Rimbick May 7th 2012

Two Fridays ago I arrived back from Darjeeling to Rimbick to learn that the monks were starting a week long Puja on the Sunday so I taught for one day before leaving again to see some of the other volunteers who I hadn't seen for a while. I was so fortunate to be invited by some teachers in Takdah to the opening ceremony of a small monastery. Although the monastery is small the last day of theopening ceremony would've been the biggest gathering of people in this small town in a long time. Hundreds of people turned up to give offerings and recieve blessings from Wangchuk Gurung Gurudev Tulku Rinpoche, a famous buddhist master from Darjeeling and another Rinpoche who I didn't learn the name of. I was glad to partially repay the kindness of my ... read more
Tea Girls
Entrance
Recieving Blessings

Asia » India » West Bengal » Darjeeling » Rimbick April 20th 2012

Makes about 15. Ingredients: 1 or 2 cabbages, 2 or 3 red onions, salt and something similar to salt which is apparently called wiching, oil, 200g of textured vegetable protein balls, bowl of flour, baking powder and 6-10 eggs. 1. Use flour, baking powder (quite a lot) and water to make dough. Knead welll and cover with polythene bag and towel and leave for about 7hrs. 2. About 2hrs before meal, put TVP and boiled water into a covered bowl and leave to soak. Chop cabbage into tiny pieces and then squeeze cabbage mince until it goes all mushy. Then chop onion into tiny pieces and mix with cabbage in a large bowl. 3. When TVP is ready, drain it, mince it and squeeze out all of the water. This is very important. Don't forget to ... read more
Section the Dough
Folding the package
Me and the momos in the upstairs kitchen

Asia » India » West Bengal » Darjeeling » Rimbick April 6th 2012

So far this April, the Darjeeling area has already experienced two torrential, afternoon hail downpours which have caused everyone to stay inside all afternoon. Both of them left the landscape looking like it had just snowed there was so much hail on the ground and building roofs. Last week was the annual Bhutanese buddhist masked dance which I was fortunate enough to be able to experience while staying with two teachers, Ty and Eden, in Pedong, a small town which is on Bhutanese land rented by the Indian Government. The monks at Samchen Dorji Gompa where the festival was held were such great fun and on the last night we had a campfire and sung and danced in the Bhutanese tradition around it. The masked dance is a drama that depicts stories from the coming of ... read more
Banana Chocolate Honey Sugar Lemon Pankakes and Chili Omelette
The Girls and the joker
Friendship

Asia » India » West Bengal » Darjeeling » Rimbick March 30th 2012

I'm sorry to all readers for how long it's been since I've made a blog. First my internet ran out because it was the end of the month, then when I tried to recharge the modem I had another difficulty. It should be working now but I'm in Darjeelign now so I'm just using an internet cafe' which I pay 50 cents for 1 hours use. Where to start ... I have already visited the other teachers' placements in Ghum, Darjeeling and Takdah which are all amazing in their own ways. The six girls in Takdah, placed at 2 schools and a buddhist college seem to be enjoying themselves so much which was so great to see when I visited. Takdah is a beautiful place surrounded by Pine forest and tea plantations. The School and buddhist ... read more

Asia » India » West Bengal » Darjeeling » Rimbick March 2nd 2012

I just wrote a whole big thing on Rimbick which I lost when I tried to publish it so this time around it may not be as well written. I'm sorry. Rimbick is so remote that I had to request it be added to the travelblog database of locations. I've been in Rimbick for 12 days so far and it's been amazing. The first night I arrived at 6pm, the dinner time at Sakya Choepheling monastery. I had my first nonvegetarian meal served to me in months! Tugpa is a kind of tibetan soup made with chunks of meat and thick doughy noodles. I tried my best to eat around the meat and aim for the noodles. The monastery has meat meals 3 times a week and I think it'd be a bit undernourishing to only ... read more




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