Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Tiger Hill Sunrise and Mount Kanchenjunga

If you are ever asked, “Would you want to get up at 1:00 AM to go view the sun rise up from behind the Himalayas?”, for pity’s sake, just say YES!  

We did get to sleep in - until 3:00 AM - to catch a 3:30 AM taxi from our hotel in Darjeeling for a 45ish minute drive up to the Tiger Hill lookout point. Official sunrise isn’t until 5ish AM, but we were glad the taxi was early, as a fair number of other folks kicking around in shoulder season thought this was a worthwhile outing. Tremendously clear skies prevailed the past couple days - which a local vendor informed us were the first in about a month - so we had clear views to the mountain peaks, as opposed to more commonly being obscured by clouds.

Mount Kanchenjunga is the third highest mountain in the world, after Mount Everest and K-2. Regional lore has it that this as where the yeti hangs out - except he’s actually thought to be a demon instead of the shy furry fellow portrayed in Western films. Knowing Who is the true God over all creation, we never gave the yeti a second thought, but just unreservedly took in the best  light show ever - starting with the brightest stars shining out from a deep blue velvet sky and morphing on through to full sunup  highlighting craggy snow-capped details of not only Kanchenjunga but also Everest and K-2. 
Words truly cannot express the overwhelming awe and thankfulness in the midst of this glorious unfolding of a new day’s beginning - a visible metaphor for hope and mercy, new every morning. But perhaps these pictures can replace a few thousand words (and you can click here for a random time-lapse video).


From Tiger Hill: Mt. Kanchenjunga on right, plus tiny Everest and K-2 to left

Morning crowd at Tiger Hill lookout
Looking from Darjeeling walking trail
View over rooftops along Darjeeling walking trail

Today we head back down to Siliguri to gear up for another full weekend, with Saturday Community Development Centre outreach bookended by Friday and Sunday meetings.
(Y’all come back now!)
-Cyndy

1 comment:

  1. over a year later and I'm still in awe at what an amazing morning we had.

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