sleeping trains

tonight i went to the train yard where the darjeeling toy trains go at the end of the day to be maintained to shoot some video. it was really beautiful to see all the trains being taken care of, the fires being tended to and the steam rising off the trains slowly. it was a good last night in darjeeling. i'm going to miss the mountains.

Train Policeman (video still)

Steaming Trains (video still)

birthday in darjeeling

today was my birthday. we wandered around the market, the rain would come and go, the sun came out, laura gave me flowers, egg rolls, beautiful light, wind, sunshine, rain, sunshine, melted candles, balloons popping in the street late at night.

Laura's Flowers

return to mirik

going to be jumping around a little bit here and there with these updates... i've been behind in blogging: busy, going to north sikkim, not having internet access, etc. etc.... but today i went back to mirik. graves, fog, abandoned rooms, thin bridges, ribbon dancing.

Flags in Fog

Graves

Food Stand

Men Walking Through Fog

Bench

Girl

Graffiti

Bridge Woman

sunrise

today we woke up at 4 to watch the sunrise over tiger hill. there were hundreds of people there gathered to watch. the clouds were hanging around but the second the sun came out everyone gasped and screamed all at once.

Sunrise

Gathered Crowds

Sun (Video Still)

Two Women

Sunrises

Man in Front of Mountain Backdrop

Wall Hanging

Ladies

mirik

Today we went to Mirik. On the way there we stood on a hill and could see Nepal just on the other side. It was beautiful and surreal. The weather was humid, cold, sunny and cloudy all at once. One of my favorite types of spring days. Girl scouts, families seeking peace and quiet, balloons, graves, a wedding, parks, purple horses, tea gardens, sleeping men, and then finally it rained all the way home to Darjeeling. 

Vendors

Newspaper Reporting on the Fire

Forest

Family from Delhi

Balloon

Candy Wrappers

Fingernails

Purple Horse, Blue Eyes

Girl Scout

Man Resting

Boats

Boys

White Flowers

White Saree

Tea Garden

Looking Toward Nepal

because it was there

We went to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and the Darjeeling Zoo. The walk there was long and the roads were being filled in with fresh asphalt, the flowers are starting to grow here and the clouds started to lift and we could see a little bit of the mountain. At the HMI, I met the curator, who is also a great painter, Chandranath Das, who was nice enough to let me photograph in the museum, his paintings, and he took us through his favorite parts of the collection. When I asked Mr. Das about Tenzing Norgay, the great sherpa who was one of the first people to climb Mount Everest, if he ever asked him why he wanted to climb mountains, Mr. Das said Tenzing's reply was, "because it was there."

Rhododendrons

 Moss

Painted Wall

Road Worker

Policeman

Newt Habitat, Zoo

Mountain Climber Plaque

Chandranath Das, Curator of the Himalayan Mountaineering Insitute

Climber Diorama

Entrance to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Painting by Chandranath Das

Woman Looking Out of a Window

Darjeeling Clouds

the toy train

Today we went on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Toy Train. This train is a Unesco World Heritage Site. The train we rode on was an original steam engine train. It's presence in Darjeeling and in this region is iconic. It was incredible to see this sort of machine that has been running for over 100 years in its orignal form, cutting through the towns and landscape of this region.

Joy Ride

Passengers

Young Boy

Photographing

Window

Steam

Steam Engine Landscape

Heritage

Woman Seated

Passengers

Train Operator

Train Leaving

Girls Talking

Orange Shawl