Darjeeling is absolutely magnificent. (Just for geography sake, Darjeeling is in eastern India in the Himalayas, about two hours from the border of Nepal.)

I cannot tell you guys how much I love it here. The fresh mountain air, the hills, the crazy fog, all of it. But the best part, the true GREATNESS of the place, is the people. The Darjeelingers (Darjeelingese? Darjeelingis? I have no clue but I like Darjeelingers best) are the most warm and welcoming people that I have met these past four months. I have been able to feel invisible, to be anoynymous, to just… blend in. This is awesome considering that in every other place that I have been in India, I’ve received full rock star status and treatment. Here’s a snap of some girls that sold me the hat I’m wearing-they were smiling like this even before the photo was taken!

Although I have only been here for a few days, I have to say- almost everyone I see just seems so….happy. Perhaps it’s because Darjeeling is so far away both geographically and mentally from what so many of us consider the ‘real world’. It’s easy to get caught up in the way of life here. The Clinton-Obama campaign, all the usual hassle of Indian travel, my student loan payments… it all just seems so far away. Even now, as I’m typing this, there is jazz-funk being played in the cyber-cafe. Where am I?? India? Sure doesn’t feel like it. The crowded streets do kinda look like it though.

Because Darjeeling is so different than other parts of India, it’s been tough trying to ‘tout’ tourists. See usually, when you arrive in any place in India off the bus or the train, you are literally SWARMED with men trying to give you a rickshaw ride to a guest house, cause they get a fat commission (tip) for bringing you there. But in Darjeeling, when I was dropped off (there is no bus stop, you just get out on the main road), get this-no one, not one single person, approached me. I could ask all the directions I wanted, all with very helpful responses, but no one pushed me to go anywhere-it was out of the twilight zone.

I found a guest house, and without much charming on my part, they agreed to my tout deal. (I recruit tourists, if I get people to stay there, I get a free night stay). Have I mentioned how much I love these Darjeelingers…err.. people from Darjeeling?

But now the problem was how to find the tourists. Without any bus stop to tout at, I sat down on the main road and watched for white people with big backpacks. For a while, I saw no one-in fact, during most of my time in Darjeeling, I saw very few tourists. The season wouldn’t really begin until next month I was told. I did happen to make a friend and he waited with me and watched for tourists. Here he is in mid-gum chew.

Finally I saw two big bags and a guidebook-bingo. Ahh! Two South Koreans! I have met more South Koreans in India than any other nationality-I love ‘em! They were very happy to get some sort of directional assistance, and I took them to my guest house, where they promptly signed in. They’re happy, I’m happy, the guest house is happy-happiness all around I tell you! Here are my friends-

I kept my eye out for big backpacks, but saw no one else fresh off the jeep. Anywhere else in India this would have been a totally different show, and to be honest I was looking forward to competing ‘touting’ with the male Indians, but no such luck here.

And can I just say I am so glad I didn’t have to rub alot of strangers hands- I was not looking forward to that.

I head off to Sikkim either tomorrow or the day after. There are so many places I want to visit there, but I need to get some more information about which places are open to tourists and which aren’t. Then, prepare yourselves for picking out where I’m heading to in Sikkim! North, south, east or west…