Beaverlac over New Year 2010

With the fire behind us, fields of white flowers like bubbles greeted us. At night the Blue Moon rose and we watched a partial eclipse - a wonderful way to welcome 2010!

Beaverlac over New Year

on the way to Beaverlac the mountain was on fire. The helicopter and the ground crew had it nearly out when we came through, though the Pass had been closed most of the day.

The lovely little hamlet of Dhortre where the cobbled trail heads to the base camps of Kanchenjunga and Everest.














From 47C in Delhi to 12C in Dhortre was quite a drop and I was under prepared having left my warm shawls in Delhi at the Potala hotel.The traditional Nepali kitchen was a delight and I'm thinking to emulate this at home! The terraced gardens, the welcoming people and the superb scenery all worked their spell. It is a place I'd really love to spend several months. Even winter!! Ranjit, Sonia, Ranjit's mom in a beautiful white sari, Sonia's parents and myself outside their house before I had to leave and begin my journey to Delhi to make the train trip to Deer Park on the opposite side of the Indian Himalaya.

On the way to Dhortrey in the Himalaya near Darjeeling we encountered many land slides but the worst was this one - the road had disappeared entirely! We went over enormous loose rocks and the drop was a long long way down. The next day there was a front end loader shifting the biggest rocks and the 4x4's were waiting nervously to cross an area we had traversed in far worse condition the day before...

Darjeeling, my daughter in law and the beautiful Kanchenjunga mountain

A family photograph in the living room Ranjit's mother's home, a photo of the shrine room and then, the view from the balcony of the boarding house of Darjeeling, the Toy Train chugging up to Batasia Loop and Ghoom all this and more lent a special poignancy to this trip. The wonderful clouds and the mist curling round the hills, and then, as I left to return to Delhi, the clouds parted for a few minutes and there was my beloved Kanchenjunga serenely towering over the clouds. Third highest mountain in the world she rules the eastern Himalaya by mystery and magic.

Darjeeling - the Hill Stations West Bengal

Ranjit and I flew to Bagdogra Airport from Delhi. From there we took a Mahindra four wheel drive up the mountain to Darjeeling. The monsoon was still bucketing down and we slithered and slipped our way up the back road to the Queen of Hill Stations. We stopped just past Batasia Loop and climbed up to Ranjit and Sonia's apartment. She is a small delicate, lovely girl who makes Ranjit look tall! I tower over her and felt very conscious of being a St Bernard amongst Toy Poodles! So here my little family is Ranjit and Sonia and the next day we were to meet the rest of my new family. Darjeeling was cool after the heat of Delhi and I slept well under the plush blanket on my bed. Ranjit's fears that I would be unable to cope with an Indian toilet were proved groundless - as I had told him countless times they would be. Strange how far removed others views of oneself are from those which we hold ourselves :-)

The chaos of Delhi buildings which look like the they washed up from the flood plains of the Yamuna and the organised hyper energy of the traffic, horns asking and answering questions as the drivers weave and veer from side to side of the road, often directly into the path of oncoming traffic. I always feel relaxed in Delhi traffic- it talks a code and makes frenetic sense if you really pay attention. But what would a taxi ride be without breaking down? Ranjit and I sit in the shade of a tree stared at by one and all. This is the first time I've realised I stand out in the crowd in India. I've always felt as invisible as at home before.....