That Darjeeling Feeling

Darjeeling turned out to be everything we hoped it would be - just colder and foggier.

We were in Darjeeling for five nights. The city sits at an elevation of 2100 m, so the 88 km jeep ride from the train station took three hours. From Darjeeling you can see the Himalayas, including the world's first highest and third highest peaks (Mount Everest nad Khangchendzonga respectively). Unfortunately for us, in the winter the mountains are often obscured by fog. We were able to get some amazing views of part of the range, including Khangchendzonga, but no Everest.

Since Darjeeling is so high up it is colder than everywhere else here. The temperature was between five and ten degrees celcius (with no central heating). Since the city is built into the hillside, we kept warm by touring around on foot, which involved climbing up all the hilly streets. In fact, we believe New Zealand's claim to the steepest residential street (Baldwin Street in Dunedin) may be incorrect after walking up some of Darjeeling's inclines.

While in town we visited a tea plantation, the zoo, and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. The Institute had an Everest Museum, which celebrated the pioneer climbers, as well as the Nepalese sherpas who make the trek possible. Being near the border with Nepal, Darjeeling has a large population of Nepalese descendants, and you're more likely to hear Nepalese being spoken than Hindi.

On Tuesday we embarked upon another 24-hour journey (including an overnight train) to Varanasi, where we are now. We had reservations about the city as we'd heard the beggars and touts are more aggressive here than in other cities. However, we've found it to be fairly relaxed here - or we're just growing a thick skin.

Our guesthouse is a two minute walk to the Ganges River and you can see the river from our rooftop restaurant (along with lots of monkeys who steal saris that are drying on roofs in the sun, and fighting kites). Walking along all the ghats (stone steps that lead down to the river) along the riverbank feels like a True Indian Experience. The Ganges is a sacred spot for Hindus, who believe it has the power to deliver happiness and salvation. Although the river is highly polluted (95% of which is due to cities along the river allowing raw sewage directly into the river), it still has a magical atmosphere. We've seen both wedding and funeral processions along the shore, as well as large burning ghats where bodies are cremated before the ashes are sprinkled into the river. These cremations are part of a public religious ceremony that anyone can watch. Within a 20 minute period we saw eight bodies being cremated on eight fires. Once again, out of respect, we took no photographs.

Interestingly not everyone is cremated. Children under 12 and pregnant women who die are considered to be "pure" and their bodies will go straight to heaven - so their bodies are weighted down and thrown directly into the Ganges. So no - we did NOT go into the river ourselves.

This morning we took a morning boat trip along the Ganges where we watched pilgrims who come to "Mother Ganges" to drink of her water, bathe away a lifetime of sins, or cremate their loved ones; locals also line the riverbank washing clothes, playing cricket, doing yoga, washing cows, or offering "puja" (blessings).

Our young boat driver was very informative and taught us much about Hinduism and its belief system. When he asked us if life in Canada is "a struggle", we weren't sure what to say. Compared to life for the majority of Indians, most Canadians have so many opportunities. Yet the poorer people here are generally so happy, since family and friends are at the core of their values - not money, vacations, or material possessions. So we told him that life for most Canadians is not a struggle, but some people turn their lives into a struggle by working to hard (he thought workaholics "in Delhi" are funny) or by having misplaced priorities.

Once again, India puts us in our place.