I have now been back from India for two weeks. I must say it was an interesting trip. India is quite the place to visit. As my friends from there had told me there are going to be more people than you are use to. That turned out to be so true. Most of the people spoke good English and even the newspapers and magazines were in English. So it was easy to communicate and figure out how to get around. But the number of people was overwhelming. And in the big cities like Mumbai and Delhi there was just so many people, cars and noise. Driving there was a trip. They all have their mirrors turned back against the car so as not to have them knocked off. They get within inches or less and just honk their horn. The first two nights we stayed with my friend's brother and his family in Mumbai. It was a good way to start they helped us with getting use to the food and showed us around.
We did get to see a lot of India. We saw the Taj Mahal, many shopping areas, the Himalayas and lots of poor people. The little girl in the picture is begging in front of the biggest mosque in India. I don't think you would see that at a major tourist attraction in America.
Once we got to the countryside in the town of Darjeeling there were still lots of people, but it was much more laid back. You could actually look, ask questions, and shop without being hassled to buy right now. It turned out the the fall is when it is best to see the Himalayas but we did have one sort of clear morning after a rain the previous evening. This time of year the haze from the valley just moves up the slopes of the mountains and makes it very hazy and overcast most of the time. The picture of the mountain is the third highest peak in the world Kanchenjunga at 8585 meters.
Darjeeling is well known for it's tea. The picture is of the youngest picking tea and putting it in the basket. Only women are allowed to pick tea. They claim the smaller hands of a women do not damage the tea plant. They need to pick 7 to8 baskets of tea a day for 53 rupees. About $1.05. When the basket is full they walk down the road to the station where it is weighted and they are given credit for what they picked. The tea shops in town are kind of like visiting a winery here in America. They tell you about the various grades and show you how to properly smell the difference. The youngest purchased some Darjeeling tea, in bags. Which the owner told us was tea dust. I did bring home some good tea but have not tried it yet.
I would like to go back again and see the mountains after the monsoon season. I think if I stay in any of the big cities I would stay in the more expensive hotels and take a tour to see the sites. Out in the country it is much more relaxed and easier to feel at ease.
The country does have very good cell phone coverage, Internet and good local airlines. But is has very bad air pollution, you only drink bottled water, and lots of trash. But they do keep things fairly clean they have plenty of people to clean the streets etc. Just not a good system to get rid of the trash. So they burn a lot of it which adds to the bad air. However Darjeeling had outlawed plastic bags and were attempting to work on the plastic waste problem. Everyday they had a small group of folks who swept the streets by hand and put the trash in a wagon. However the trash was just burned or dumped down some hill side outside of town.
I took 360 pictures so this is just a very few.
Later.
