I came to Darjeeling expecting it to be a bit of a change from the rest of India. Although I haven't seen much of India yet, there are plenty of other travellers here who inform me I was right. And it's a nice bustling little place. Being stuck in a little corner of West Bengal sandwiched between Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam and Bangladesh, it is a gateway for travellers heading in all kinds of interesting directions.

The feel of British colonialism is still here in some of the buildings, particularly the schools and the churches, even though this is the home for people of several other major religions too. I wandered through the tea plantations this morning and got an exclusive tour of the Happy Valleys factory, which is now shut down for the winter but normally supplies exclusively to Harrods, and has machinery that has been in operation since 1854.

But there was more than just tea and history here for me. For a start there was the zoo, which was a must see place because amongst the Himalayan wildlife they have is a snow leopard and a Siberian tiger. Unfortunately the latter was nowhere to be seen (I don't know how such a big beast could hide), but I witnessed the former jumping around its enclosure and playing like a domestic cat. Since it is unlikely I will ever see another living snow leopard, this was a big highlight for me and I watched it for nearly an hour. As I mentioned in a previous post, the snow leopard has barely ever been seen in the wild, and there are very few in captivity.

In the grounds of the zoo is a mountaineering museum, which was presided over for many years by Darjeeling's most famous resident - Tenzing Norgay Sherpa. As well as the many Tibetan refugees in these parts there are also many Sherpas, since they are not treated well in Nepal. Tenzing spent most of his life here from where he could see the world's third highest peak, Khanchendzonga. A glimpse of this holy mountain is another draw as well as the possibility to get a glimpse of Everest from one of the surrounding hills. This brings me to the Singalila Ridge - a four-day trek along the Nepalese border. I met Will from Melbourne, Australia; David from the Basque country, Spain; and Bill and Deb (brother and sister) from South Island, New Zealand who all wanted to do this trek. So a guide was arranged and off we went.

It has been a poor season for trekking in the Eastern Himalayas, with cloud hanging around most days, and the ridge walk was no different. Hence, although we got to see the world's third highest peak, we never got to see the first. It is probably hiding in cloud now for the rest of the season. But the cloud made for a very atmospheric walk, and what a strange feeling to be walking literally from border post to border post between the two countries with a mixture of Nepalese, Indians and Tibetans living in villages of almost English style bungalows. The highest point was Sandakphu at 3658m, the highest point in West Bengal. We had views at sunrise, but the cloud was against us for photographs, and the temperature had dropped considerably since I was last at that altitude, so a very cold night was spent up there.

Well I've had enough of mountains for the time being, as I'm sure anyone who has been reading all my posts has. A local youth in Nepal asked me one day what it was like to see the sea. Well, I haven't seen it for a while either, so the Bay of Bengal is calling, and I will leave the Himalayas to the grip of winter which will soon be upon them. I will leave via the narrow gauge Darjeeling Mountain Railway in the morning; locally known as the toy train. One of the oldest surviving railways of it's kind this is another big attraction for some visitors, but I will only take it part way to my destination because it is too slow for any practical purpose.