"I never thought I'd say this, but I miss the cleanliness levels of US gas station bathrooms."

Just in case you're only here for the pictures, due to the time-limited nature of our wi-fi, this post won't have any. We hope to have some tomorrow, but given India, heaven only knows what will actually happen. Anyhow. Moving on.

I don't think either of us have ever been more glad to leave a place than we were to leave Kolkata. This was not a good introduction to India, though we're kinda feeling like the fact that we survived it (and even had 3 meals without any unpleasant side effects!) means that we can survive anything. The train station (which was far more grand than the airport, by the way -- the international airport in Kolkata consists of several short, non-descript buildings with pretty much no services except taxi, bus, and atms) was horribly difficult to find, but had one thing going for it -- an "upper class" waiting area. As we had decided to be snobby Americans and get AC1 tickets, we were able to utilize it. It had chairs, bathrooms that were (only marginally) less gross than the ones in the rest of the station, and, in an unwelcome development, at least one cockroach that we noticed. We jumped. The Indian family near us laughed at us.

The train was actually pleasant and comfortable, with Western toilets that even had toilet paper! I know I spend a lot of time mentioning bathrooms, but that's because that's been one of the constant reminders that we're not in familiar places, and so, it has stood out. But anyhow, we slept reasonably well and arrived in New Jaipalguri, the transfer point to Darjeeling. We were picked up by a driver from our hotel (while we waited for him to deal with something or other, at least 8 cabbies came over, attempting to lure us to their cars. I stopped counting after that.) who took us to another train station so we could experience the famous Toy Train. The drive was...harrowing, to say the least, so the train was nicer in that respect -- I didn't feel like we might go off the curve, given that we were on tracks. However, it put-putted along at about 8-10 km an hour, which meant that the second half of our trip took 3 hours. This was made more exciting by the fact that we were in a car full of very celebratory 30-something Indian men, who spent the whole time drinking, smoking, and yelling joyfully, as if they were 18 and had just discovered alcohol for the first time. They also had small muffin cake things that they insisted on sharing with us. They also attempted to get Mu to drink or smoke with them (not me, though), but he declined. :) By the time we arrived in Darjeeling and got to our hotel, we were drop dead tired, cold, and hungry. Thankfully, our hotel had room service, a heater, and hot tea.

Our hotel here, in stark contrast to the last one, is very nice. The room is clean and comfy, there is actual hot water (though a limited amount of it), there's room service and tea, as mentioned above, a yummy breakfast, and hot water bottles for heating one's bed (and snuggling with). We were also able to arrange tours for today through it, so all in all, we feel very taken care of here. The downside is that it's quite cold -- the room is away from the street, which is good for noise, but bad for getting sunlight. Also, the electricity situation in Darjeeling is...fascinating. There are seemingly random power outages, which Mu thinks are due to the place being under capacity for the amount of power it uses. So, our lights went on and off multiple times last night, and the heat with them. The blankets were quite warm, though.

Darjeeling itself is pretty nice, as long as one doesn't mind car horns. It's smallish (110, 000 people is Lonely Planet's estimate), and very crowded because the area it's in is rather small. There are narrow, winding roads everywhere, and it's super hilly, with some rather steep streets and stairs. There's lots of tea growing all around, and a million tea houses (one of which we're in right now, in fact). There's also a mix of cuisines -- Indian, of course, but Chinese and Tibetan are also common. I've discovered Tibetan dumplings, called momos, and have been convincing Mu to share some with me at every meal (not that he needed much convincing, they really are delicious!). Today, we saw the sunrise at Tiger Point Hill (pretty, but super crowded and, obviously, early), went to 2 monasteries (very different feel from Thai Buddhism, less gold and more fabric, but still very neat to see), drummed with a nun at one of the monasteries, and visited a tea garden (briefly, since it was the end of the day and we were getting hungry). In keeping with our "wats and animals" theme, we also went to the zoo, which focuses on endangered local species. It was small but mostly well done -- many of the animals had quite extensive habitats, and there were only a few that seemed really cramped. We also saw red pandas, who are adorable! They look like stuffed animals running around, all cute and fuzzy, with awesome markings on their faces (I lied, there's one picture in this post). The zoo also had the Himalayan Mountaneering Institute museum, which had a lot of neat stuff, including a bunch of things owned by Tenzing Norgay, the sherpa who first summitted Everest with Hilary.

Now we're taking it easy, and tomorrow will be a day of meandering, souvenir shopping, and relaxing. I've already had approximately 4.5 pots of tea, and Mu even had some, and I plan for this to continue tomorrow. :)