Yesterday after a long travel day (4am to 8pm), we arrived in Darjeeling. Its much different from the other Indian towns we have visited, as the touts and beggars bother you much less. Plus, its in the mountains, so great views abound (although its often marred with trash). This morning, we went to Happy Valley Tea Plantation for a tour. It was quite interesting to see how tea was grown and processed. We didn’t see much of the processing but did see the growing. Also, we saw the picking of the tea leaves. Only women pick tea leaves and do it for 8 hours a day, the compensation is only 40rs (about $.90). Not much if you ask me.
The tea that is grown there is sold to twinnings……so we have drunk that before and will do so again. The main tea that they sell is “super fine tippy golden flowery orange piko.” What a crazy name but it was quite tasty to drink. We purchased some for a true tea lover in the family (although I am pretty sure the tea lover doesn’t read this blog).
who is this anonymous tea lover? If it's me, I read, I read! (I just don't always comment) If it's Rosey, well, I have no idea if she reads….
Michael's sistah who is drinking Twinings earl grey right this minute
most of the tea loving blog readers will get tea. but only one gets the stuff from where we toured.
Well, I guess all the tea loving blog readers won't be getting any tippy golden flowery tea…Darjeeling sounds nice and the Plantation sounds interesting. But–your journey there sounds awful and I know you were exhausted.
glad you had a safe flight…
keep those updates flowing, we all look forward to the travel news of the day by the seymours.
love
dad, mom, wags and pj