Look at this picture closely. See that little bump over Jenna's shoulder? That would be Kachendzonga: the world's third tallest mountain. From this vantage, it looks like a harmless cloud, but in reality it is an awe-inspiring 28,169 feet.
This picture was taken at Tiger Hill, a famous viewpoint on the southern edge of Darjeeling. We woke up at 3:30 in the morning to catch a taxi along with Joe and Bea (our German friends we met on the train from Kurseong.) This pre-dawn trek to Tiger Hill is quite the draw. More than 300 people huddled around a concrete pavilion with us as we awaited the sun to rise. At first, all we could see were dark misty shapes in the ether. However, as the sun made its slow journey into the sky, we could see the mountains take shape. Luckily, the clouds that had plagued us thus far dissipated enough for us to get great views of Kanchendzonga and its surrounding peaks. Its east face bathed in a pinkish glow, the great mountain presented to us tourists an unforgettable sight.
In the local language, Kanchendzonga means “mountain of five peaks” and it has been worshipped by indigenous people in this region for millenia. Its ethereal power struck us immediately. We did not get an unobstructed view, yet it was sobering all the same. Jenna and I had just traveled to Pike's Peak during the summer while visiting Jenna's sister Mara in Colorado Springs. We traveled to the top aboard the Cog Railway and had marveled at the views and landscape below. Yet, Pike's Peak is barely half the height of Kanchendzonga at 14,115 feet tall. (Indeed, nothing in the West rivals the Himalayas. All 100 of the tallest mountains in the world are in Asia!)
We left Tiger Hill content. We would be leaving Darjeeling later that day for Sikkim, an Indian province still further north. Our contacts in Kolkata had told us before we left that the views of the mountains would be even better there than in Darjeeling. After our dawn excursion, we were finding that hard to believe.
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