Darjeeling 2

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4/5/10: We woke up with extremely sore calves and front legs muscles. The trek down really took its toll and I could hardly move. We wanted to go shopping for some Tibetan antiques so we had some veg momos for breakfast followed by some cake, hot chocolate for me and coffee for Jacinta, if you couldn't already tell we had a craving for sweets. We waddled down the hill as it hurt so much to walk properly. We visited a dozen stores that day and ended up buying a rare stone book more than 100 years old (paid 8000rs), a big timber prayer flag blank that is used to print out prayer flags (paid 7200rs); this was a nice rare piece with amazing craftsmanship as everything had to be carved in reverse, a singing prayer bowl that hums when you strike it and then rotate the timber handle around the outer edge (paid 1200rs) and not to mention the good old timber prayer wheel that looks quiet old but no way of telling how old it actually was (1000rs). So we spent a bit of money on some really nice things which was fine by us because we needed something to collect the dust at home.

5/5/10: Today was spent packing and shipping all the gear we had bought the day before. Something we take for granted back in Australia is cardboard boxes; do you think we could find a decent box in Darjeeling? We had to settle on a box that was older than the antiques we were sending home. I had to take the whole thing apart and remake a small box into a bigger box; try doing that, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Once boxed and packed we had to walk through the rain back down the hill to the post office where our parcel man would stitch a cover around the package then wax stamp the seams for a tamper proof parcel. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to find out if we can get to Nepal as the borders have been closed for 3 days, this forced us to stay in Dajeeling longer due to Maoist strikes. Even though the street food is nice here we were getting sick of eating it momo's and egg rolls. We went to a pizza shop for dinner and even though it was a lot more expensive than what we normally spend on meals the fresh made pizza base cooked in a fired wood oven was just what we needed, they were so nice.
6/5/10: We didn’t do much today; it was basically just waiting around until we could find out if we could go to Nepal tomorrow because of the strike. The rest of the day was eating cake and pizza again that night.

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