Day 129 (Mon 13 Nov) - Darjeeling (Tiger Hill)
Flaming early start this morning (3.30am) for our trip to Tiger Hill.
Traipsed to the nearby tourist office in the dark to get our jeep. Passed through a sleepy Darjeeling. Well everyone apart from the tourists and the jeep drivers were still sleeping. The town was crawling with 4WD vehicles all heading towards Tiger Hill.
Got to the ticket barrier just outside Tiger Hill where Jo purchased some tickets that would allow us to sit in the viewing building. Still pitch dark as we strained our eyes to see anything at all from the viewing building. Luckily we'd managed to bag some seats right at the front by the windows.
To say it was busy would be an understatement. Indian tourists at the best of times are hardly quiet but with such an early start and with the cold they were clearly trying to wake up and keep warm. It was pandemonium!
Slowly the horizon began to display a blush of colour. Soon we could see a bright orange fiery ball begin to rise. Because of how high we were and the fact that the sun was rising over the Indian plains we were actually looking at sunrise from above. Most peculiar.
The mountains and Khangchendzonga in particular, were absolutely spectacular. We could even make out Everest in the far distance.
We watched mesmerised as the sun's light slanted across the mountains ( [1] 5:54am, [2] 6:09am,[3] 6:18am ) with sleepy Darjeeling in the foreground. We stayed around even though after the first ray of light hit the mountains the Indian tourists all jumped into their cars and roared off. They were missing a treat!
We took our jeep back to Darjeeling, stopping off at some temples along the way.
Got back to our hotel and slept until the early afternoon. Jo started to feel unwell at this point with an upset tummy.
Sarb pottered off to the internet cafe whilst Jo rested in bed and Disco read her book out on the verandah.
Had some G and T's out on the verandah and since Disco was also beginning to feel unwell we decided to skip dinner.
Traipsed to the nearby tourist office in the dark to get our jeep. Passed through a sleepy Darjeeling. Well everyone apart from the tourists and the jeep drivers were still sleeping. The town was crawling with 4WD vehicles all heading towards Tiger Hill.
Got to the ticket barrier just outside Tiger Hill where Jo purchased some tickets that would allow us to sit in the viewing building. Still pitch dark as we strained our eyes to see anything at all from the viewing building. Luckily we'd managed to bag some seats right at the front by the windows.
To say it was busy would be an understatement. Indian tourists at the best of times are hardly quiet but with such an early start and with the cold they were clearly trying to wake up and keep warm. It was pandemonium!
Slowly the horizon began to display a blush of colour. Soon we could see a bright orange fiery ball begin to rise. Because of how high we were and the fact that the sun was rising over the Indian plains we were actually looking at sunrise from above. Most peculiar.
The mountains and Khangchendzonga in particular, were absolutely spectacular. We could even make out Everest in the far distance.
We watched mesmerised as the sun's light slanted across the mountains ( [1] 5:54am, [2] 6:09am,[3] 6:18am ) with sleepy Darjeeling in the foreground. We stayed around even though after the first ray of light hit the mountains the Indian tourists all jumped into their cars and roared off. They were missing a treat!
We took our jeep back to Darjeeling, stopping off at some temples along the way.
Got back to our hotel and slept until the early afternoon. Jo started to feel unwell at this point with an upset tummy.
Sarb pottered off to the internet cafe whilst Jo rested in bed and Disco read her book out on the verandah.
Had some G and T's out on the verandah and since Disco was also beginning to feel unwell we decided to skip dinner.
posted by Jo and Sarb at
11/13/2006 07:33:00 am
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