We arrived in Darjeeling last night.  It’s a hill station smack in the middle of the Himalayas.  We’ve hooked up with a couple from France and have been traveling with them since Bodhgaya.

Darjeeling borders Nepal, China, and Bhutan, and as far as we’re concerend the last Indian stayed 50kms down the mountain.  It’s all Chinese, Tibetans, Nepalese here.  Needless to say, it’s cold.  Water is a luxury, and our guest house brings one big pail of steaming hot water every morning for us to take a shower.  Today we had the best hot shower ever.  You don’t appreciate hot water until you’re forced to scoop it from a pail at 3 celsius (with no central heating).  Last night we wore all our clothes to bed.  Lucky for me, it’s our anniversary :).

The view from our room is breathtaking.  We can see the surrounding Himalayas, and from the rooftop we can see snow covered Mount Kanchenjunga, India’s highest peak and the third highest peak in the world.  Mount K is just a mere 252 meters less than Everest, so to my untrained eye it’s the same.

Tomorrow morning we’re hiring a Jeep to see the sunrise over Mount K.  On a clear day you can see Mount Everest.

Fingers are frozen, must stop typing.

p.s.  Internet is far too slow to upload photos.  Will do so when we return to less than 7000 feet.