Day 7 Darjeeling 5th July 2009

0330hrs, Some one was knocking on our room door. I was thinking, who the hell is it?
Opened the door slowly, defense up and ready for anything, Suddenly…… it was an Indian boy standing in the darkness mumbling ……….
tiger hill 0400hrs go down. Hahahah suspense I forgot we were suppose to go catch sunrise at tiger hill today. Hahahaha….
Got ready and went downstairs. It was raining. Actually it was raining the whole night last night. Hopefully can get to see a good sunrise la. Got up the transport and headed to Tiger Hill.

Reached there, it looks like it’s gonna be a very slim chance the clouds will clear. But I expected it already so didn’t feel too upset about it. The place was filled with Indians from various parts that are also on holiday. Everyone gathered at the point to see sunrise .. We were there at about 0450hrs… the sky already bright but no sign of any yellow or orange … we walked around for a while to soak in the coldness… Wahhhh so cold la Cindy is wearing her marmot sweats sponsored by our dearest Izar and Irma and inside another long sleeve and her pashmina and she still screaming cold… her legs shivering… wahahahahha …. Took some pics and short video of the Microwave station at Tiger Hill and decided to head back to the jeep as we don’t think that the sky will clear anytime… another time for a great sunrise…


Sunrise? But its damn cold!!


See the man behind me with scarf around his head.

Next stop was Santen Choling Buddhist Ghoom Monastery … saw 3 young monks in their red robes getting ready for the day… other that that Indian tourists…. Cindy had to go pee and saw whole load of shit in the toilet cubicles lying in the toilet bowls in the individual cubicles…. Seems there isn’t water available for flushing …. Yuckkie!!! So she surveyed and went into the
“cleanest” of them all….


Dog sleeping at the monastery


Raining and lock out.. hehehe

After exiting the Monastery we saw a make shift hawker selling samosa and some fried vegetarian jumput2 got some before we hopped on the jeep to our next destination. Not to mention the samosa and jumput2 was tasty and costs only Rp15 … But one thing for sure that we found out, they really like salty food….

Last stop is Gorkha War Memorial, as the driver only gave us 10mins for this excursion and having to pay Rp5 we just decided we will just stand around and wait as the visibility is like 10m … foggy and misty and cloudy you name it… After that we headed back to our lodge and awaited for the next excursion at 0930hrs… So what else after arrival… Zzzzzzzzzzzzz….

0915hrs knocking on the door again and as expected it is the young Indian boy with the driver reminding us of our excursion… okay okay we come down shortly… No problem the driver replied….

1st & 2nd Stop – Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park & Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) .. We struggled our way up the “treacherous” up hill slope to the entrance…Wow we both already panting, how la to go trekking like that…kekekek …


View from the treacherous hill


Luckily have my lafuma wind and rain coat..



had to pay the entrance fee stated Rp30/pax… But than the ticketing officer ask for Rp100/pax, hmmm so Ramli asked isn’t it Rp30/pax and pointed to the sign above the counter…and he pointed to his left… Tourist Rp100/pax… oh ok than…. This fee entitles entry to both places so I guess is not so expensive…
First animal that greeted was the Himalayan black bear… alone and prancing up and down its open enclosure… kesian dia…. When it saw us he looked at us and let out “klirk klirk klirk” ….


The Himalayan black bear

Hmmmm move on an carry on to the other inhabitants for the zoo, we saw bucking deer, leopards, tigers, Himalayan wolfs, clouded leopards, some parrots and that’s about all… but we are just curious why they construct the caged enclosures so high that it is so difficult for visitors to see the animals…. And all the way is up and down hill…

HMI museum showed personal belongings of what the first summiteers used when they ascended Mount Everest back in 1953, Mr Edmund Hillary accompanied by Sherpa Tenzing Norgey’s . The main museum has a model of the Himalayas showing the peaks from the highest to the lowest… and mostly are other mountaineering stories of the many other summiteers…

We walked our way back to the jeep and found that our driver and his jeep wasn’t there…didn’t panick… walked pass one green jeep and was asked by the driver if our jeep was 4399 and informed that it has change to his jeep… ok than we just wait and ordered some black tea to await the other 3 Indian man whom was with us for this excursion…. There in the jeep sat a little girl so adorable…. Myself and Ramli attempted to make funny faces at her to make her laugh.. but after 10mins or so we gave up… she didn’t react to anything …

Met a friendly Indian man namely Mr Dhrubajoyti Gogil from Assam awaiting his son and wife whom was at the Zoo and HMI… He was too lazy to follow thus sat at the make shift tea hut to wait… had a chat with him and knew that during his son school holidays they were suppose to make a trip to the smallest country in Asia : Singapore… But due to the H1N1 situation the son of 9 yrs didn’t want to go so they change their trip to Darjeeling and Gantok instead…. We exchange our contact details and he invited us to visit Assam and told us not to worry about anything… we just need to get there .. and we told him to visit Singapore in 2010 when the casinos will be ready… and hopefully the H1N1 situation will ease off by than…. Hopefully we will meet again … took a pic with them for memory…. Nice people..


Mr Dhrubajoyti and family


While waiting for the 3 indians.

Tea garden was next, the view if the tea garden was wow… but would be much more fantastic if the fog could ease… But still we ventured to the tea garden and attempted to take some photos… climbed back up to savour some Darjeeling black tea and malmos (vegetable dumpling like gyoza) Tasty!! I finish my share of 3 before Ramli could eat 1… kekekek the tea was nice and different but too bad they don’t come in tea bags so we couldn’t bring it with us on our journey….


Tea Garden view


Ramli looking far...


My turn lo...


Finally a pic of us.


Vege Momo again with Darjeeling black tea


Yummy right..


Vege Momo and Black tea

HMI rock climbing training ground… Nothing much as its raining so most of the places are closed.. just a small rock named Tenzin Rock for Ramli to try and climb up for a price of Rp20 only.. maybe about 3 storey high… he climbed up so fast and make it look so easy… I didn’t try
cause I’m afraid to fall and scratch my face… wahahahah


on the way


His conquest

After was a drive uphill to Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre, but was closed as they are preparing for the celebration of Dalai Lama’s birthday… Then visit to a Japanese Temple with a peace pagoda at the same area.. And than to a art gallery of a late Mrs Ava Devi … Nothing significant happened, only manage to talk to the little girl in the jeep whom was the drivers daughter. Her name is Doh Doh, 3 years old … took a pic with her and than headed back to lodge…


Misty... the peace pagoda.


tall tress...


spider web collecting rain drops


Doh Doh ... Cute...

Wanted to cook Maggie for lunch but as usual no power… haiyo… again… Last night already cut off for about 45mins… So decided to finish logging in our “adventures”for the day and solat before heading out to look for late lunch….

Spent about 2 hrs at the internet café to update our blogs and some of the pictures which took up so much time as blogspot can allow uploading of 5 pics each time only and than we have to sort it out etc… When we finish it was about 2000hrs and when we walked out to the cold night, most of the shops has closed. Walked towards the city centre and try and get some snacks before we headed back to cook some more Masala Maggie.. We tried the taco noodle roll Rp15 (made up name by Cindy) and Ramli had the fried noodles Rp 15 serve in the plate made by leaves (paper Marché) and the burger looking bun with the same noodle and salads Rp10… One bite into the Taco noodle roll!! Yum yum… And the burger tasted very yummy too.. With freshly shredded vegetables with tomato sauce and self concocted chilli sauce… Finger Licking good and cheap cheap cheap!! Wahahahah

Tomorrow we will be heading to Gangtok the capital of Sikkim by taxi jeep which is about 100km+ away from Darjeeling.. Another squeezy and bumpy ride to our next destination.. Hopefully the weather will be slightly better…