Far from the swirling cities, a trek in high tea and peak country

January 09, 2005|Suzanne McDonald and Bob Roklan, Globe Correspondent

DARJEELING -- This small, dense, lush Himalayan town is most famous for its tea, but it is the region's lesser-known allure that continues to seep into our memories.

Narrow switchback roads climb the smog-draped hillsides, and taxis packed with people negotiate the sharp turns. Others of the city's nearly 100,000 residents hike up the long stairways that shortcut the roads.

Multistory buildings slung along the 7,000-foot mountains look a bit shabby, but life seems more relaxed here than in many parts of this teeming country. The British established a ''hill station" here in 1835 to escape the heat of the plains, and the famous tea still thrives in many of the manicured estates they started. It is sold, too, from roadside stands or shops along sloped pedestrian malls.

Tourist attractions here include the zoo (with a small selection of endangered species such as a red panda and snow leopard) and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and its Everest Museum. The museum was established under Tenzing Norgay, who, with Edmund Hillary, was the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest, in 1953. Skip Tenzing Rock and the Ropeway, however; just days after we bypassed the ski-lift ride overlooking tea fields, four tourists were killed when the cable snapped.

In addition to tea estates, Darjeeling is dotted with well-kept Tibetan refugee centers. The best to visit can be reached on a hiking trail. Four Tibetans fleeing the Chinese invasion started the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre on Gandhi Road in 1959. Today, it supports 750 people, mainly by producing handicrafts. Most famous of these are wool rugs colored with vegetable dyes. Visitors can wander through the workshops and chat with young adults and elderly people at their vigorous work.

Our mission, however, is to trek in the Himalaya (which is the more correct name for the mountain system). The Maoist insurgency in Nepal has pushed many trekkers to India, although the infrastructure for teahouse, or hut-to-hut, trekking that Nepal is famous for is virtually nonexistent in India. Of the 32 trips described in Lonely Planet's ''Trekking in the Indian Himalaya," only five can be done without a tent. Although porters are available, we want to minimize the load and are carrying our gear. Only one trek seemed to provide both food and lodging each night.

Following the Singalila ridge, which separates eastern Nepal from India, this trek is blessed with fabulous views of Mount Kangchenjunga and more distant but equally heady views of Everest, the world's third-highest and highest peaks, respectively. Lonely Planet considers this an easy trek. Inside the Singalila National Park are small villages that cater to trekkers with platefuls of rice and dal (lentils) and Tibetan bread.

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