My first view of Mt Everest!

In the small mountain town of Darjeeling, rush hour traffic is from 4:00-5:00... in the morning. People come here from all over the world to get incredible views of the Himalayas. So, at 3:30 AM, taxis are already lining the streets and warming up their engines, and by 4 am, a hundred taxis full of half-awake tourists are making the bumper-to-bumper drive up to Tiger Hill - for a sunrise view of Mt Kanchenjunga and Mt Everest. Mt Kanchenjunga, third highest mountain in the world, and Everest is only 107 miles away (as the crow flies), so it's a beautiful view! Even from my place high on Tiger Hill, I had to look upwards to see the peak of Kanchenjunga in the distance. I felt small, even from miles away. As the sun began to rise, sunbeams hit the mountains first - creating a silver shine on the snowy peaks. The sight was truly majestic!

Mom and I went for a ride on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railroad. It's called the Toy Train because it's very tiny, and the train shares the narrow, winding mountain streets with jeeps and cars. I was surprised at how close buildings and cars were to the train. If you stick your head out the window on one side of the train, you'll probably get smacked in the face by a post of somone's front porch, because the train passes within an inch or two of many of the buildings. If you look out the other side of the train, chances are you'll see the steep mountain hillside, dropping off for hundreds of feet below the tracks. My favorite views from the train were of the expansive, lush tea estates that Darjeeling is famous for, and of the Tibetan prayer flags that line the road, blowing in the breeze. Families of monkeys play in the trees and hang out on the sides of the roads - monkeys seem to be as common as squirrels are at home!

Last week in Meghalaya, I was able to see something truly unique. The villagers in that region creatively grow their bridges instead of build them. They take the roots of large trees and gradually twist them together and train them to grow across rivers. Eventually the roots grow large and strong enough to hold many people, and these types of root bridges are hundreds of years old! Mom and I hiked to one famous root bridge - a double-decker root bridge, with two layers (one above the other) growing across the river. The bridge is at least 500 years old, and is strong enough to hold 50 people at a time. A waterfall upstream provides the water that flows under the bridge, and many local villagers utilize the shallow pond on the other side of the bridge for washing laundry, or swimming. The hike to the root bridge is insanely steep, with miles of small stone steps and pathways to make the trip up and down the mountain incline a little easier. I estimated that most of the steps were about 6 inches tall, and only 8 inches wide - my toes definitely hung off of them as I made the downhill journey. With these steep steps, one is able to gain or lose considerable elevation in a very short distance. And, as if to demonstrate how amazing the locals are, many villagers carrying huge, heavy baskets did the climb in half the time as me. And at one point, a lovely old woman veritably pranced down the steps past me. But hey, if I went up and down 10,000 steps every single day (actual number, no exaggeration), I'd probably be prancing too :)