Sipping tea in Darjeeling....

I recently got back from Darjeeling. If you have not been here before, I highly recommend it. Darjeeling is a hill town at the base of the Himalayas in India. I was invited to a conference by Fulbright that was very close to Darjeeling. So given the chance to spend a couple of extra days, I headed out to Darjeeling to check out a view of the Himalayas. I am glad I did. It has always been a dream of mine to see the tallest mountains in the world and as expected, I was not disappointed! Kanchenchunga Mountain (the third tallest mountain in the world) can be seen in clear view. Here is a pic of the road leading to Darjeeling. A refreshing change to be out of the smog and in some pretty cool weather.We drove up in Land Rover type vehicles, winding and curving all the way up to about 8,000 feet. Here is our first view of the mountain....

The town of Darjeeling is located on a hill almost at the base of Kanchenchunga. It was a great town. Lots of shopping, great tea (of course) as it is well known for and the people were extremely pleasant. I woke up very early the next morning to head out to see the sunrise as it hit the mountain. The pictures do not do justice to the majesty of this place. As the sun hits the mountain, it literally looks like gold is melting down the mountain. It was amazing and something that I will always remember well...







in the foreground on the edge of the hill, one can see Darjeeling town. That's where I was staying.

The mountain is also called the "Sleeping Buddha" because if you look at it closely, it looks like a person sleeping facing up towards the sky. Starting from the left one can see the Buddha's head, arms, belly, and feet. It is considered sacred by Buddhists, so the Indian government forbids anyone to climb the mountain anymore to maintain its purity.

Here are some more pics of several that I couldn't stop taking. It truly was awesome and very awe inspiring.
And yes, it was that cold....about 30-degrees Fahrenheit with quite a bit of wind. In town we met Kiran. He owns a tea house called "Hot & Stimualating Tea". That's not a typo, that's actually what the place is called. Kiran was a great guy and brought u s up to speed on the local music scene. So few of us sat in his tea house and chatted with him. He makes really great Masala Chai! So if you are in town, be sure to stop by Kiran's.


Overall a great place to visit. Good shopping too! Until next time...

Thanksgiving-Bangladeshi style

So Turkey day is coming up (Actually at the time I wrote this it came and went...sorry about the delay!) and I hope that all of you are getting some time with your families. Let me wish you a hearty thanksgiving and let me impart upon you our thanksgiving story…

So a group of us decided to see to it that there were Thanksgiving festivities here in BD. I mean I have a lot to be thankful for…I haven’t gotten sick (knock on wood), I didn’t get killed by a mob (see previous story), and lets see….well I am thankful to be having turkey in Bangladesh. They are not common here, particularly in Dhaka. Trust me, we looked all over and it is exorbitantly expensive to buy a gobble gobble out here. However, as luck would have it, Steve found a field that had a small group of four turkeys back in October. We have been eyeing these birds for about a month and finally decided to go out there make the owner an offer. The plan was prepare the bird from scratch….and I mean scratch.

Here is the bird in as is (I mean was) condition….

This guy told us that he brought these birds up from Chittagong (Southern Bangladesh) and was breeding them here. I don’t think he expected three Americans to come up to him and ask him how much. After much haggling, we bought “Hasina” (that’s her name) for $15. It was still pricey, but the sentimentality of being able to eat turkey on t-day was a good feeling. I can’t tell you out right why she is named Hasina, but lets say if you have been following recent political events in BD, you would understand. Lets just say "asinahay siay unningray orfay residentpay". I am going to let you do your research on that one….There was a HUGE and gorgeous male bird, but we didn’t have the heart to take him b/c we wanted him to reproduce for future turkey days to come.

Hasina….

After we got home and had her inspected (Saeed claimed we got ripped off) we had to prepare for Hasina's demise. Clother were donned that would be conducive for what was to come next. What started out as a peaceful afternoon for Hasina was going to go very wrong. Here is Saeed gently cajoling Hasina. She was so calm. The rest as you can guess is obvious. I will spare the pics and details. Tim did the honors with Saeed's help as Steve and I looked on.



















THE AFTERMATH:

In true Thanksgiving style we prepared the bird. Thanks to the Robinson's for their recipe suggestions! It actually turned out a little gamey but the seasoning was great. Saeed and Neela had never witnessed two guys preparing a turkey to be roasted in an oven so they got a kick out of the whole thing. Tim and I prepared the bird.
















And Voila...the final result... The rest is history...a great time was had and we got our T-day. There were about 7 Americans and the rest were from Great Britain.

Random pics...
For some reason Bangladeshis don't like to smile in pictures. Jabbar only looks tough! They got all dressed up on my birthday. Saeed even gave me flowers....is that an enamored look on his face?

My mother and father dressed up to go out to dinner...