Day 8 & 9 -Darjeeling, India

On Thursday I felt a lot better. The weather was still cold, and with no heat in the room, there was no where to go to get warm!

So - since I felt better - I set off looking for a sweater and a scarf. This has turned from a site seeing tour - to a survival course!

Found a nice wool V-neck sweater for $4.00. Bought it - put it on - feeling better. Now looking for the perfect scarf. Just couldn't find one I liked - so just bought a 6-foot long scarf for a dollar. I had, also, liked my thick wool socks so much I went and bought another pair for 40 cents.

For breakfast - I saw a street vendor with a large wok type pan, and he was cooking eggs and warming a fresh roll, then put the egg in roll, wrapped in "sterile" newspaper and handed it to a customer. Looked so good I ordered one. He put in a few onions, tomatoes and of course green hot peppers, and heated up the bread. It was delicious, and cost 20 cents.

A good breakfast and warm clothing. This is turning into a nice day.

At lunch time I came back to his stand, and he had noodles fried in the wok with vegetables. I ordered it but declined on adding the egg. The plate he put it on was disposable but not paper.. No - it was made of several large leaves that had been formed into a saucer in a hot press!! Leaves!
He, also, had little bitty plastic forks that were disposables also. The noodles were great. They cost 20 cents also. After dinner I ordered hot tea - very good for a dime.

On Friday, dressed in my nice warm clothes, I visited the Himalaya Mountain Climbing Institute, and the Mount Everest Museum. It was very interesting. On the track back to town, I stopped at a little shop sticking out off the mountain that advertised "good coffee"! That's unusual... good coffee. I had a cup on the porch overlooking the valley - nice - but the coffee cost a dime more than LUNCH yesterday!

I returned to the same stall I had eaten at the day before and had supper. This time I went for the whole thing. I told him to add the egg.

Then I went to find out how to get to my next destination - Sandakphu, elevation over 10,500 feet, - that took all afternoon, and a lot of walking up steep hills.

When I returned to the hotel the electricity and internet were off all over town, and I was exhausted, so I decided I would stay tomorrow, update the blog, then set off for Sandakphu Sunday.

It's been a good two days.