4/21 -- Toy Train Ride, Himalayan Mountain Institute and Zoo

We took the bus to a train stop and got a 'joy ride' on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge train also known as the Toy Train. Our seats were assigned -- half go forward and half backward and we were in the middle facing a family visiting from Delhi. The seats were also narrow and the train was packed--apparently it is a very popular jaunt. We stopped for 10 minutes at a war memorial and got a chance to walk around a bit. At the end, we took a few moments to look at the railway museum.

Going around a corner, I leaned out the window for this. The
houses and retaining walls are easily within reach much
of the time.

Housing (above and below) is perched on steep hillsides,
like here, but much denser.

Jim

Sign in the museum

Above and below, off the train, views of the neighborhoods.

The vans picked us up and drove us all the way back toward the hotel and south to the Himalayan Mountain Institute and Zoological Park. The Zoo fronts the Mountain Institute, so we walked through and got a look at some rare Himalayan creatures including red pandas and both snow and clouded leopards. The cat cages seemed a bit small and a couple of the cats were pacing actively. Apparently, however, this is one of the better zoos in India. We also saw a peek view of a Bengal Tiger, sleeping.

Red Panda -- This is the first zoo to breed them in capitivity
and successfully release the offspring to the wild.

Leopard Cat -- looks like a leopard, but domestic cat size.
This one was doing the most frenetic pacing in a smallish cage.

Temminck's Tragopan -- a pheasant variety

Above and below: Himalayan bear, walking and showing off.

Snow Leopard

Common Leopard

Black Panther

Clouded  Leopard

The buses had to park far away and were slow getting to us, so
several of us started to walk the 2k back to the hotel and found
this intriguing cafe along the way. Lisa from our group is on
the right.

Our hotel is some where in the distance, near where the hill
turns a corner. If you blow it up, look for a yellow building
with a green roof near the hill top on the left.

After we got back, we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves and I had a Balinese massage at the spa here.  It combines acupressure, reflexology, standard massage, and aromatherapy, and I found it a bit too intense at times. However, it did seem to get some of the more resistant knots out of my legs.