Wednesday - Room at the Top

An extremely disturbed night as we were both worried we'd sleep in. The alarm went at 3.30 and a beary eyed bunch gathered on the car park to board 4x4s for the 45 minute drive to Tiger Hill. The road was extremely twisty and narrow and it was very cold and dark. Even though we were both wearing several layers of clothing the cold was intense and made R very grumpy. Our guide bought the super deluxe tickets at the entrace which gave us access to a viewing room. The all-round windows were not really big enough for sitting and seeing everything and most people stood at the windows. As the sun rose we were all hoping that the cloud would part and give us a view of Everest and Katchangunga, but it was not to be. We drove back to the hotel via one of the Buddhist monasteries in Ghum where we were treated to a demonstration of horn blowing, not terribly tuneful.
Back at the hotel R went back to bed while D had breakfast and then walked back down to the station to watch and photograph. The idiot manages to drop his new camera which is hit by a car and wrecked. Oh goody. At least we packed a spare. Things get a little worse when D wakes up after a lunchtime snooze to find his arms covered in small blisters. Is this a reaction to the anti-malaria pills? After lunch R headed off with some of the group to visit Hayden Hall, one of the Darjeeling Society's charity projects. D had another snooze and caught up later. We were shown round the creche, workshops and classrooms by Noreen, a very charismatic lady. We met children, staff, mums and dads, it's a terrific cause and they do it very well. Ended up in the shop of course, lots of buying went on! On our way back we spent half an hour on the internet looking up the details of our insurance cover. Meanwhile the blisters had disappeared and been replaced with a blotchy scarlet rash.
Heartless R refused to photo the evidence and went off for dinner leaving D to suffer. She did return with another member of the group, Fiona Ford, who is a GP. The diagnosis was an allergy probably caused by dust and an anti-histamine tablet and a bottle of beer were prescribed. These worked quite quickly. In the meantime the suffering continued as the television showed Ireland beating England in the ODIs.