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Published: March 20th 2009
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A trip to the Zoo
Darjeeling is a strange place, so beautiful as you approach it but once you are in the mist of it you become lost in quite dark little streets and alley ways with very few views. There are many sets of steep steps connecting one street to another in a kind of exhausting short cut. Always the dilemma, do I take the steps and will I make it to the top, or do I go the long way, winding left and right up the face of this bloody mountain. Am I sounding a little over Darjeeling? I think a change is in the wind!
As you will have already gathered, in Darjeeling you can’t walk anywhere without either going up or going downhill and the trip to the zoo was a downward one. This is good apart from the fact that in the back of your mind is the knowledge that you have to walk up all the way back again!
It was probably the warmest day we had, the sun was shining down benevolently but the cloud still clung obstinately to the mountainside - will it ever lift to give us an unrestricted view?
It was
an enjoyable walk to the zoo though as the gradient wasn’t too bad.
The entrance fee to the Zoo, which includes the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, (H.M.I.)was only 30rp. but not for us, that’s locals price. Ours was 100rp. which I didn’t mind paying as I am sure that we earn well over three times what they do anyway. It’s a cute little zoo with the best tigers I have ever seen - I love tigers. I also discovered that snow leopards have the thickest, bushiest tails ever. Difficult to see in the photo as I think he was laying on it!
The H.M.I. was interesting too with lots of memorabilia of Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmond Hillary. We were not allowed to take photos, sorry.
On the way back we stopped at the tiniest little place for a drink and a plate of fried Momos. They are little dumpling filled with vegetables and usually steamed, but we had them fried - delicious.
A few mornings ago.
We had a day of giving out clothes earlier this week. First there was the grandmother and her two grandchildren that the Major had found in the street, then in the afternoon we
all went to the local public hospital to visit the maternity ward. As we walked in, the first thing I saw was the entrance to the emergency department. Oh God, please don’t ever let me need to go there! Then we were led up the stairs to the ‘C’ section ward. And the rest you can see from the photos. There are no cribs for the babies, they sleep rugged up in bed with the mother. All family members are there sitting on the bed, no chairs, and food is brought in by the family too. Although it looked chaotic, there were no babies crying and everyone seemed very happy. And lucky me managed to get a cuddle! This made me miss Seth something awful!!!!
Later that afternoon, we decided that we needed a little spoiling so went to the Elgin hotel for tea and cake. Lovely.
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Jackie
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Fantastic photos
Loved this blog Beverley. The zoo animals look great - content and well fed. Loved the little tea shop, brought back memories. Even the hospital looked colourful, but like you I wouldn't like to be anything other than a visitor. Keep it up. Jackie xxxx