My failed attempt at almost-Everest

It's been a busy couple of days in Darjeeling. Yesterday, we watched the sunrise from Tiger Hill, a high point outside of Darjeeling with 360 degree views of the Himalayas. Although it was a little cloudy, we had excellent views of Kachenjunga (the 3rd largest mountain in the world) and, if I hallucinated a little bit, the tip of Mt. Everest. In the afternoon (after a long nap - the sun rises here at 5 am), we hiked down to the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help center. The center houses 700 Tibetan refugees, and teaches them skills like carpet weaving and metal work. It was really neat, especially seeing the women working at their looms.

Sunrise over prayer flags on Tiger Hill.

Today we hired a guide and went on a day trek along the Indo-Nepal border. The hike was really beautiful, up in the clouds with amazing views. We made it about 6 km (all uphill, btw), with a stop at a hilltop Buddhist monastery, before it starting storming - torrential rain, hail, thunder, lightning, the works. We didn't have any rain gear with us, since we were only going for a day, so we got absolutely drenched. We were rescued by a 700 year-old Nepali lady who invited us into her house, let us warm up by the fire, gave us hot tea, and called a Jeep to come get us. By the time the Jeep got there, it had stopped raining, but we were all so cold and wet that we threw in the towel and drove back to the hotel. The experience was the closest I'll probably ever get to climbing Mt. Everest, and it was a big Fail. Jordan Romero, I am not. Despite the insane weather, it was a great, although short-lived, Nepali trek.

Nancy and I, in raincoats borrowed from a generous guide, attempting to stay dry under an overhang.

After we made it back into town and dried off, Jeremy and I wandered around for a bit. He came upon a monkey that was clearly not happy to see him, but he thought needed to be taunted anyway. Well big surprise, the monkey attacked him. Jeremy ran down a hill and the monkey turned on me, chasing me up the hill and actually grabbing onto my leg. I screamed like I was being murdered and it backed off and jumped up onto a nearby fence. I had to wait until a big group of people came by so I could safely walk past the monkey, down the hill, to where Jeremy and a policeman were having a big laugh at my expense.

Tomorrow we are leaving Darjeeling, and its over-population of monkeys, for Mumbai, the "New York City of India".