Hello all.
Our christmas packs are nearly ready!
I have been given special clearance to inform you that the packs will consist of 3 wonderful teas in gorgeous little 50 gram tins, beautifully presented in a windowed cardboard case, with an infuser and a sample, and a pretty bow.
We have the tea, the boxes, the tins, the ribbon and the infusers. All we need are the sticky labels. Not long now... we bloody hope.
On with the delayed blog...
Day 11.
There was an interruption from a cacophony of trumpety noises at 3 am-ish. We never did get to the bottom of that noise. Me and Chubs breakfasted early whilst Sam slept more.
Chowrasta is the name of the main square in Darjeeling. Spend any time there with a nice steaming glass of chai and you will see the Darjeeling people being themselves, buddhist monks in flocks, wealthy indian tourists on ponies, many a stray dog, cheeky monkeys, a naff 'dress-as-a-nepalese-person' photo booth, and possibly an incredible view to Kanchenjunga (3rd highest mountain in the world - cloud dependant). A few metres off this square, down the busy pedestrian street, a marvellous institution mothers Western tourists in Darjeeling. Glenary's. A bakery and cafe and internet cafe and bar and posh restaurant and club all in one. And they serve the closest thing to fry up's you could wish for (including 'bacon' - a square of a bizarre salty meat-esque substance). And they play a Boyzone album on repeat. Which is just ideal.
Patrick was wearing his dark rimmed glasses with a nice trim beard and a lumberjack shirt, thus -
(artists interpretation)
And then another westerner walked in WITH EXACTLY THE SAME BEARD, GLASSES AND LUMBERJACK SHIRT.
Which was great……….
THEN ANOTHER ONE WALKED IN WHO LOOKED EXACTLY THE SAME. There were 3 clones. Quite simply one of the best mornings of my life.
Not much tea activity. So i will summarise.
Cheapy Darjo tea with fry up. They put it in a pot and give you a really small cup, so it ends up over stewing if you don't drink it fast. Very silly. Much needed laundry done by lovely hoteliers. Put black spots in particularly conspicuous places to signify washed garments. Very silly. Big money change. Tibetan cuisine. MOMOMOMOMOMOMOMOMOMOMO. First visuals on a fluffy vest (see note 1), Sam misses his bird, Tried to purchase a fluffy vest for 103 rupees- they were having none of it. Pat and Sam saw some robed Tibetan Monks in a mall on a big electronic weighing machine, picture that if you will.
We then rendezvoused for a tea tasting at the Goodricke's (see note 2) Darjeeling outpost, which is just a small tea vending area as their big scary HQ is in Calcutta.
We sampled their
Margaret's Hope 2nd flush, their Castleton muscatel and their Castleton China special and their Thurbo FF and their Badamton Autumnal. We did a little test to see how good our tasting was getting. I failed where as Sam and Pat nailed it. All were delish.
Went to natter with some tea brokers at the bazaar (lower darjeeling) about BIZNISS. Lots of bull-excrement to wade through (literal and metaphorical). Wow, they could talk. But got somewhere in the end, and obtained some great samploids.
Night was bloody nice, as we were joined by the deeeeelightful Germans from Makaibari and 2 uber nice Americans we met at dinner. Merriment was had. 2 beers were enough to get us tiddled, so we sauntered home past a great variety of dogs.
Until next time....
Note 1. Fluffy vests.
First witnessed on previous India voyage. Would love to have some photographic evidence, but alas, there is none. Basically, a sleeveless garment, which is usually fluorescent coloured, and very fluffy, like an unsheared sheep. The young, hip lads wear them. Usually paired with flared jeans adorned with every possible mod imaginable (extra pockets, sewn on badges, complex embroidery, rivets, dangly bits etc etc). Boy does it look groovy.
Note 2. Goodrickes Group.
Own many many tea plantations. The largest producers/distributors of Darjeeling tea. Many of the high profile tea estates are owned by Goodrickes. Yes they are.
