Mr. Monk(s) and the Wells Family

Darjeeling: part two. The Wells Family squeezed into a little car to visit monasteries near Bhutan. 

First up was Ghoom Monastery, located 8,000 feet above sea level. The monks are close to the heavens, even if they don’t believe in the concept.

A nice monk let me spin the prayer wheel to ring the monastery bell. Monks seem to love me lately.

Prayer books inside

Paintings inside the foyer

After three hours of extreme potholes, we arrived in Kalimpong, another city with a Buddhist monastery. 

This one had real monks who lived there, and we got to peek in the door as they had their daily ceremony, which consisted of chanting and playing 20 different xylophone/triangles/gong-like instruments. Charlie and I tried to explore the monastery more, but a monk freaked out when we tried to open a locked door. Awk.

Click below for lots of pretty pictures and to see a photo of my new best Nepalese friend:

Prayer wheels spinning in the wind

My new friend, who begged me to photograph him then asked me for 10 rupees “for letting me take the photo.” I gave him some Orbit gum, which my parents deemed insufficient. So then I gave him twenty rupees, and now we are BFFs.

On the drive to the monasteries, we saw tons of signs and graffiti that said “We want Ghorkaland!” The area around Darjeeling used to be part of Nepal, but the Brits annexed it in 1815 and it became part of India. Now the area is in the state of West Bengal, but the people who live there want a separate state, Ghorkaland, so they can have more autonomy. Fun history lesson!

And that concludes the Darjeeling goodness. Now curl up in some blankets and drink some Darjeeling tea.