And now I've even been in the room Alexandra David-Neel stayed in at the Himalayan Hotel Kalimpong - didn't stay in it, just having dinner at the hotel with Laura and Australian friends who were staying here, nearly broke the bank!..there it is upstairs on the right - half of it obscured by the tree - the other half completely in shadow! But I'm happy!
Got the visa the very next day so took the night train, rickshaw, jeep to Kalimpong where I'm staying with Laura who I met in Sikkim at the International Trust for Traditional Medicine. This too is a beautiful old colonial house. We walked to Delho the next day - the hill on the opposite ridge to ITTM to have lunch with Alison, another English Buddhist who has lived here for 10 years.
This is Delho from the window of ITTM -it's the hill to the left of the tree in the middle ground. I know you're all wondering how can I be climbing all these hills - oh my, it's a glorious challenge!Anyway, Alison made us spinach and cheese momos - my favourite food; the cheese is even made here in Kalimpong.
..and we drank chang, the local millet beer... talk about mellow (I knew now the secret of Mrs Pala in Sikkim!)
Tomorrow Laura and I are off to Bhutan for a day or two we hope - not sure if we'll get across but the border is relatively close to here and the place is so enticing!
First though, we have a yoga class followed by activity time with the local children. Please check out the ITTM website http://www.ittm.org/ You can sponsor these local children directly from there if you are interested. Laura, as coordinator manages this. She is a volunteer so ALL your sponsorship goes to the children.
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