Atmospheric Interactions


Toast & Tea, Cream Cones, Cocoa & Jolly Jesuits.....

It's quite difficult to put into words the awe-inspiring vista that struck us upon opening the curtains this morning. The clouds were still around - but in between the highest clouds and those filling the valley floor, we saw enough of Kanchenjunga to leave us gasping for breath. For you Trekkies out there, we'd felt we'd been living in a bit of a holodeck world for the last few days (ie. in a cloud) so we had no idea of the scale of the monster lurking just across the valley. And then, there it was....

To give you an idea of the size of this mountain (and the others around it aren't much lower), imagine taking Grouse Mountain and stacking it upon itself over 8 times! The "Grind" would take on a whole new meaning.... Kanchenjunga is the 3rd tallest mountain on Earth and, at 28,156 feet, is only about 800 feet lower than Mount Everest.

I'm not sure where the original saying "if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes" originated....but it certainly applies here. There's rarely that feeling of being socked in (even when you are) because the clouds appear to be constantly commuting to somewhere or other (or as Amber quite brilliantly put it...God appears to be pulling his socks up). Here's hoping his socks spend some time in the laundromat because we want MORE of those mountains!

Yesterday, as we wrote in the previous entry, did not provide atmospheric conditions designed to bring joy to those having a soft spot for Cancun! However, I'm sure some of those romantic-era poets would have been quite inspired. After quaffing some "aloo paratha", pakoras & lassis at a funky little restaurant (Fiesta), we walked up to the Chowrasta (the town square). This open area is surrounded by shops, has a bandstand and a little park at the far end. Of course, you'd never have known at the moment this picture was taken....how cool is that?....reminds me of some of those paintings of Victorian-era London fogs....'cept I doubt any of those Victorians would be indulging in displays of public hugging!


Being in the clouds did not, however, prevent us from observing the oddly co-dependent relationship that seems to exist between the local constabulary and the hotel next door...


While we were checking out the Pleasure Hut, much to my embarrassment, we ran smack into Father Kinley....towing along 3 young Swedish guys who were staying at the school. The father (biological not priestly) of one of the Swedes had gone to North Point and his son wanted to check it out....and brought along a couple of his friends for good measure. They had been here for about 10 days and just loved it. Given we had now spent at least five minutes chatting to these guys, of course, the weather had changed completely....so we decided go for a walk together around the Mall (a very mini version of the Sea Wall).

While walking around we were able to look down into the valleys stretching away toward the towns of Kalimpong (3 hours away) and Lebong (about 20 minutes). The hills are incredibly green, with little cottages amidst the tea gardens for as far as the eye can see. It reminded us, strangely enough, of the English countryside - but on much steeper terrain - so maybe with a bit of Switzerland thrown in, as well.


I'd had a good talk with Father Kinley the day before, but this was the first opportunity Amber had to chat to him. We both were left very impressed - he's obviously a guy who cares greatly about his students (we were constantly being waved to) and, on top of that, he has a great educational & business background - MEd from the University of Manitoba (we gave him our sympathies!) and an MBA from India's top Management School. Apart from all that he's a super nice guy with great energy and very funny, to boot! So...I'm really looking forward to working with him this week once the school starts up after the Diwali holidays. We're meeting up with him & Father Van at the school today for tea at about 3pm and then they're going to take us over to the sister school, Loreto (where my Mum spent a few years). Don't worry Mum...lot's of pix will be taken...and we'll see if some of the older nuns (must be ancient by now!) remember you!

After we left Kinley & the Swedes to attempt the gargantuan task of booking tickets on Indian Airlines, we had to get our bi-hourly tea fix. So...back to Glenary's for their "Signature" brand...combined with a macaroon for Amber and a cream cone for me (it became the "Cone of Silence"...because it was soooo good, I had to stop talking and focus on the devouring). We came back to Glenary's for dinner (they have a formal restaurant on the third floor, the bakery/cafe on the main, and a "resto-bar" on the lower floor). It was the resto-bar ("The Buzz") that drew us for dinner....complete with a live band which produced everything from Santana to Supertramp.

By the end of dinner, it must have been about 9:30...which meant we were falling asleep! I have no idea what causes this bizarre time shift in wake/sleep patterns comes from...maybe it's the mountain air??? Besides, it's not a bad thing....there's absolutely nothing to do after 10!

OK...it's now around 11am on Monday...I'm sipping a hot cocoa..and it's brilliantly sunny...except the infernal clouds are blocking the Monster! Here's hoping their rush hour commute ends soon....'cuz we want to go to Tiger Hill...even at the un-Godly hour of 2am...fingers crossed!

Posted: Mon - October 27, 2003 at 11:12 AM      

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