Darjeeling’s main square, its centre, its heart, is called Chowrasta. You have to come here on Sundays to realize how popular it is. People come from all the surrounding mountains around, they travel for several hours to spend part of their afternoon there, sitting on one of the numerous benches, sipping the famous spicy chai tea. It’s easy for an experienced eye to distinguish by their costume Sikkimese from Nepalese women, Tibetans from Bhutanese and Indian tourists, often from Kolkata, who are cold here and put a scarf around their head, with a knot on top of it, just like an Easter egg. As for the kids, people hoist them on one of the numerous horses for a nice ride on the Mall.
It wasn’t very warm this morning on Chowrasta, at a time when shops start opening, the time of the first onlookers, hands in their pockets. At a time when you have the whole space to play when you have such a nice yellow ball like this!
Hi Francois,
I stumbled upon your blog whilst exploring future career options…
I am a young lawyer in Canada who quit my full time job a few months ago. I am also an avid tea drinker and always dreamed of traveling the world sampling all the different kinds of wonderful teas the world has to offer. Your blog was very inspiring….I had the pleasure of going to India last month on a humanitarian trip, but would love to go again, this time, following your lead, and visiting the tea estates and plantations! Great pictures, by the way!
Ellen
Hello Ellen, Thanks for your comments about my blog. Hope you’ll enjoy Darjeeling again soon, it’s such a lovely place and a tea lover destination !