Darjeeling

I'm spending most of the time wandering around that little town. All the main streets are parallel, connected with stairs and steep lanes. The weather is chilly at morning, comfortable at daytime, and becomes cold afternoon and freezing at night. Carrying that heavy bag with me is starting to pay off, at last, all that thermal clothing really does a good job. The sky is very foggy, so not much is seen from above the hills of the city, of course not the snowpeaks.
Today, I went to the opposite side of the town. On the way there's a big combined Buddhist-Hindu temple, which gave the name to the town ("Dorje" is Tibetan for enlightment, "Lingam" is a symbol of Shiva). This was really beatiful and special - thousands of prayer flags surrounding Hindu buildings. People inside are repeating texts from scriptures, and ring the bells that hang from the gates each time they come in and out.



The park around is a really nice place, too. Lots of monkeys...
Tea plantations down the hill can be seen from the street. The town is famous for its tea, there are lots of shops offering different tastes and blends. The classic one was good for me :)



The zoo isn't very big, but very it's very clean and the animals look well-treated. (Although that jackal going from side to side in his cage seemed like he has more interesting things to do, but what the hell...)
Red panda:



In the end of the zoo, there's a Himalayan Mountering Institute, lots of material and exibits concerning the mountain climbing and Everest expeditions.
Yesterday, I booked a flight ticket for Nepal. Tomorrow I should go back to Siliguri and get on bus to the border, a town named Kakabitta. If everything goes well, I'll spend the night there and fly to Kathmandu the next day. I really don't have much information about Nepal, some stuff from the I-net... but as I've discovered, guidebooks don't help as much as local people and other tourists. Challo Nepal... :)