I spent my first full day walking around Darjeeling. Thankfully, the city center turned out to be smaller than I expected, however you’re often either walking up or down hill given the city is on the ridge of a mountain.

While I was trying to find Observatory Hill, a lookout point topped with Hindu temples and Buddhist prayer flags, I met George and Lee (or Leigh perhaps) from the UK. We found our way past the monkeys to the top of the hill, though there were so many trees and flags you couldn’t see much from it (a lower path that runs around the hill has the actual lookout point).

Since they’d been in Darjeeling a week already, they wanted to taste and buy some tea before leaving the next day. We each bought a small pot of a different kind at Goodricke’s, House of Tea. We made plans to meet up later for dinner at a Tibetan restaurant nearby.

The sunset over the mountains that evening was amazing.

After dinner, I joined Viet and Richard (two guys we met at dinner) for a drink at Buzz, a bar in the basement of landmark bakery/restaurant/internet cafe Glenary’s. The cover band was awful, however I was up for a Kingfisher beer. Unfortunately, they were all out, so I ended up with Foster’s, while Richard opted for the ultra super strong (and I kid you not), He-Man 9000. Only in India!

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