Darjeeling - Day 2

On a clear day, you can see the Himalayas from Darjeeling, including Kanchenjunga which is the 3rd highest mountain in the world. During this time of year the view is very hazy. Lucky for us, the view cleared for about half a day after 20 days of no view. We had picked the right day to go up to Tiger Hill to see the sunrise. Tiger Hill is usually full of very loud tourists. Interesting enough, the tourists there went to see the literal sunrise. So although the third tallest mountain in the world was in front of them, they all chose to look right to watch the actual sun. Once the sun came up, they all left and didn't wait to see the mountains light up.

Kanchenjunga and the Himalayas from Tiger Hill

View from Tiger Hill

Sun rise from Tiger Hill

 After Tiger Hill we stopped by a couple monasteries. One in particular was very interesting. Prayers were happening when we were there, and we were able to walk in the building while the monks recited prayers and played all kinds of instruments. I also met a cute puppy which loved getting some attention.

View of the building where prayers were being held

A monk walking around the monastery

The monastery puppy

View of the Himalayas from the monastery

Leaving the monastery

After the monastery we were ready to get back to the hotel and have breakfast. By then it was probably only 7am. The owners of the hotel are Tibetan and have a Llasa Apso (a Tibetan breed) named Doma.

Doma the Llasa Apso

For the rest of the day we mostly relaxed and had lunch. I had some really good chili garlic noodles at a Tibetan restaurant below the hotel. Joel returned from his trek early, so we all decided to try to get high tea at the Windamere. Unfortunately they were booked, but we did come across another monastery on observatory hill with lots of monkeys.

A baby monkey playing in the prayer flags

After our failed tea attempt, we went to an American style bar and found some pretty decent macaroni and cheese for dinner.

Darjeeling - Day 1

On our first full day in Darjeeling, Joel went trekking and Matt and I did some sightseeing. We started out at the local zoo, which is supposed to be one of the best in India. It has a snow leopard breeding program and focuses on exhibiting Himalayan animals.

Zoo entrance

Darjeeling is very hilly, so the zoo itself is very steep.

One of the zoo paths

The zoo has several red pandas

Orchids grow on many of the trees

Inside the zoo is the Mountaineering Institute where people train. It also has a museum that covers some of the Everest expeditions that left from Darjeeling.

The Mountaineering Institute

After the zoo, we toured the Happy Valley Tea Estate which produces green, black, and white organic teas.

Happy Valley

This is where they dry the tea

Fans apply cool and hot air on the leaves

After the tea estate, we had momos and took a gondola ride down one of the valleys.

Momos in a leaf bowl

Women picking tea leaves

Bamboo holding up new construction

Baby goats at the bottom of the gondola ride

After the gondola ride, we headed to the Tibetan refugee center to look around.

Prayer wheel

Tibetan prayer flags above the buildings

Chandigarh > Delhi > Darjeeling

Matt, Joel, Timm, and I left for the Chandigarh airport only a couple hours after getting back from the wedding. Unfortunately, our flight to Delhi was delayed a couple hours which means we would miss the only connecting flight of the day to Bagdogra (the airport near Darjeeling). We bonded with a woman who was on the same flight and was equally annoyed by the inconvenience. Because we were going to miss our connection, we needed to figure out where to stay in Delhi. The woman recommended some areas to stay and eventually ended up negotiating a great hotel rate for us at a place she sends her musicians to stay. She used to host a travel show on BBC, but now makes her living as a professional musician.

After getting to Delhi, we headed to a really nice part of town to stay at our hotel. The service was great, and we killed some time walking around Khan Market and getting dinner.

After catching up on our missing sleep, we unfortunately had to leave Timm in Delhi and headed to the airport. The flight to Bagdogra was only a couple hours. The airport is run by the military and is really old. They do not have electronic signs to list the flights, and the baggage carousels are tiny. See photo below.

We got in a jeep like car and started the 3 hour ride up the hill to Darjeeling. There are beautiful tea fields immediately outside of the airport. We also saw many craftsmen carving the local Teak wood. The drive was very pleasant and had some great views. We went from an elevation of 413 feet to 6700 in Darjeeling (Tahoe city is about 6200). Our driver took us to a restaurant in Kurseong on the way which had excellent momos. Momos are a Tibetan food that are essentially Chinese dumplings.

Once we made it up the hill, the weather was much nicer. We checked into the Dekeling Hotel where they brought us welcome tea and allowed us to check in whenever it was convenient.

Some photos from the drive up:

Buildings on stilts

Dry river

Bike rickshaws

Cows on the road near Bagdogra

Political flags hung by the residents

Chandigarh - Wedding festivities: Main event!

After we all got ready, we headed down the street to the hotel where we had been having all the other wedding festivities. N was sent away to the venue with her shadow (sort of like a bridesmaid, but I really have no idea). I believe this part was just for photos.

A and his sister posing for a photo

After posing for some photos, we all jumped in cars and drove about 20 or 30 minutes to a venue called the Oasis. None of us were prepared for the event that was about to happen. We arrived at the venue, and it was spectacularly large and ornate.

The entrance to The Oasis

Decorations at the entrance

Us at the entrance to The Oasis

One of the outdoor seating areas

The inside of the venue

From left to right: One of the many tv screens showing live video of the event, a professional photographer to take a picture of you, and the entrance to the inside.



To the left is a giant tent, in the center is where they were printing and framing photos on the spot. There is also a boom camera towards the left to film the event. To the right are the snack stations.

The outdoor tent was huge. It's hard to capture how big just the tent was in the photo.

 

 

 

There were several photographers and videographers, including a sports style boom camera. There were a ton of waiters serving a ton of different types of appetizers and drinks. In addition there were snack trolleys dotted around the venue, as well as a dozen additional snack stations.

Indian taco appetizer

Pani puri - a common street snack which is a fried shell filled with a mixture of flavored water

Snack station - some sort of pancake

Another snack station

Meat snack station

BBQ chicken snack station

After we hung out and ate and drank for a while, we all went out on the street. At that point, A got on a white horse with a little boy, and as he processed through the street, people danced in front of him. There was also a band full of horns and drums playing the entire time. This procession moved very slowly as people had to dance a lot.

The band before the celebration started

The crowd dancing in front of the horse

 

A on the horse 

After reaching the entrance to The Oasis, more ceremonies happened. I'm not sure exactly how many, but at some point the men exchanged marigold necklaces with each other and then the women. We exchanged necklaces with someone on the other side. So if you were with the groom, you exchanged with someone with the bride. You would dance, exchange the flower necklaces, then hug.

Joel being lifted up after exchanging his necklace

Me exchanging a necklace

 

After that, A got off the horse and walked in a procession to the giant stage. The giant stage had four people on it who peformed dances.

The stage

After that, a procession started to get the bride who had no been a part of the horse procession or marigold exchanges. The bride then had her own procession to the back of the stage.

The bride's procession

After the bride and groom were both behind the stage, they were lifted up to the top on a platform that was cranked.

 

The bride and groom rose up from behind the stage

The bride and groom exchanging their own flower necklaces
 



At this point, the family and close friends of the bride and groom got up on the stage and danced. There were also millions of rose petals being shot in the air. There was at least a couple inches of rose petals covering the ground by the end.

 

Rose petals in the air

At this point, the ceremonies stopped for a while and the guests took a break. At some point we all went inside to eat dinner. There were dozens of dishes to choose from, and several desserts.

The bride and groom

Joel

 

 

The bride and groom sat for more pictures with their shadows

At about 2am A reminded me that he and N were not actually married yet, and that we had another hour. There was one final ceremony where the bride and groom were actually married. This involved the priest again as well as purifying and walking around a fire.

 

The actual marriage part

The invitation

The inside of the invitation

Invitation

Inside of the invitation