Weather Woes

We are still in stunning Darjeeling, our last real day in India (tomorrow we will travel all day and night; Thursday we will shop all day; Friday we depart at 2:35 AM). The main draw of a trip to Darjeeling is the tea and the view of the mountains. We are fully immersed in the tea culture now - we had tea at a fancy hotel ( On Kerri's camera, we have photos as Lord and Lady of the Manor. She got the role of Lady. Hmf.), we bought tea for our lucky family members, and I hiked up and down the sides of the mountain to inspect tea leaves (lovely photos of that, here).

However, the mountains are absent. It seems that the monsoon is a full two weeks early this year. The building clouds we witnessed yesterday on the drive in will take up residence here for THREE MONTHS STRAIGHT! So I am 6 miles from Mount Everest (even closer to other Himalayan mountains) and I CAN’T SEE IT!!!!!! This is frustrating in the extreme. If you’ve ever taken off in an airplane and made your ascent through puffy, cumulous clouds, you’ve seen as much of the Himalayas as Kerri and I have. Argh. I can’t BELIEVE this. The entire time I’ve been here, all the Indians who have inquired about our itinerary have tut, tutted their way through the list of destinations in the plains - but when I mention Darjeeling, they suddenly smile and say, "Yes, yes, this is the perfect time to go!" Liars. Not this year!

I am making do with the splendid beauty of the green tea-covered hills whenever the clouds part, and reminding myself that, just yesterday, I thought it was new and exciting to be fully ensconced in clouds. Guess I’ll have to return here sometime!