Wednesday, April 23, 2008

India - A Country of Extremes

From the desert... to the mountains... I think that's the line in some 'back in the school day' song. Tiff and I escaped the heat, and flew from the deserts of Rajasthan to the crisp, cool mountains of Darjeeling, the old British-colonial hill station at the foot of the Himalayas. Famous of course for their Darjeeling tea, Tiff and I watched ladies spry as mountain goats scaling the steep hills to hand pick the tea leaves. Only women pick tea, apparently, as men have not enough patience and mess up the picking! Here, I try my hand at it. Sure enough, I over picked, or mis-picked, and was shortly hereafter removed from the tea-picking premises.One of the most interesting findings were the people. It was like one big set of "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" understudies, with a distinct mix of Indian and more Chinese looking residents strolling around town. The town borders Nepal, China, Bhutan, thus, the Chinese influence. Above, a young monk makes a breakthrough on the path to enlightenment and excitedly runs to find the other monks, so he can rub their noses in it, thereby forfeiting all the day's gains. Oh well, easy come, easy go.This shot, entitled Happy Buddha's 3G SIM Card, was taken at another one of the many Buddhist monasteries we visited, and reminded me of my dad, at the intersection of spiritual and technological connectivity. The Dalai Lama is widely revered in this part of India and here Tiffany pays her respects.We awoke at 4am to drive up to Tiger Hill for the famous sunrise. It was a little misty, but we could make out 4 of the 5 peaks of Mount Kanchendzonga, the 3rd highest peak in the world (after Everest and K2). On a clear day, we were told, you can see Everest from Tiger Hill as well. Even on this misty morning, the views were breathtaking; we watched the brisk wind blow away the clouds just as the sun broke the horizon and everybody cheered as the day's first light spilled out and the mountain peaks revealed themselves.Tiff was quite the celebrity around town. After signing on as a pledge donor for multiple kids on a school fundraising drive, she quickly gained renown as The White Girl With Loose Pockets and was trailed like the pied piper by little rug rat schoolchildren wherever we went.Our final stop was Lake Tsomgo in Gangtok, at 12,400 ft. elevation and a few hours drive from Darjeeling. Gangtok is only about 15 miles from the China border and we saw heavy military presence wherever we went, and had to get special permits to enter. A great way to finish off India, we hiked through the snow covered trails around the scenic lake, and contemplated all the diversity and wonders that we'd witnessed in this country. Tiff found a similarly blond-haired friend, one of the many yaks available for riding around the lake.
For the record, my shoes apparently have poop magnets attached to their soles. Tiff caught me on camera here discovering Zach's First Yak Poo. As far as summarizing India, I can categorize my experience by the approximately 5 different types of poop in which I stepped over the course of our travels (somehow Tiffany danced around all of it). I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say, the drier the better. Camel and elephant poop (encountered in the desert) trump cow and yak (with the urban humidity and mountain moisture). And human is always bad.

On that note, we are off to New Zealand for a welcome respite from overpopulation. Humans - 3.5 million, sheep - 50 million. Or something like that.


I wonder what sheep poop is like...

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