Shillong

A friend and I went to Meghalaya for the weekend to a resort in the Shillong area. It was incredibly peaceful, though we did not see the famous waterfalls due to the late rains. We realized just how dry it was when a wildfire came within yards of the hotel. My friend woke me up from a nap and said, "So. . . I don't think it's a problem yet, but there's a fire coming towards the hotel that the hotel staff is clearly monitoring. Think we should get our bags ready?" I groggily went out and woke up very quickly when I saw that there was, indeed, a wildfire very close. I called the front desk of the hotel to see what the procedure should be and the person who answered the phone said, "Don't worry madam. The staff is watching the situation. We'll notify you if anything changes."

Hotel staff fighting the fire with a garden hose and sticks.

View of the lake from our hotel. The water levels were extremely low.

Ok. Interesting. I knew there was no way to call the fire department-- it did not go that far out of town. We watched as the fire crept closer and closer, gathering our things as we witness the staff start beating the fire with sticks and use a tiny garden hose, which had a small impact, but not much. They managed to turn it away from the hotel, but we watched as the fire roared around the lake, which is why the bottom photo looks misty. Not the adventure we were expecting.

Darjeeling

Three friends and I traveled to Darjeeling, a small town that was the summer home to the Brits, located on the side of a mountain in northern West Bengal. When clear (though I didn't see it), the view of the Himalayas is stunning. Most famous for its tea plantations, it's a fascinating glimpse into the melding of Tibetan and Indian cultures. To get there, you fly into the flatlands and then careen via taxi up the side of a mountain for four hours. Darjeeling is a wonderful small town with a neat zoo, amazing momos (dumplings), tasty tea, and hotels that require a climb of five flights of stairs. I hope I get to go back.

View of the Himalayas from Tiger Hill.

Shoes of the Buddhist monks outside of the temple.

Part of Darjeeling.

An old railroad provides a nice trail for these young monks to head to school.

Bells outside of a Hindu temple in Darjeeling.

Tikal

I bounce around the world a lot, and I recently visited the Maya ruins in Tikal, Guatemala. This was before the "end of the world" in 2012, but the local tour operators were already laughing about the plans the tourists had made at various sites to visit just in case it proved to be true. The photos below are of the main temple at the site. I wish I could show the scale of these wonders, which are huge. No one knows exactly why the site was abandoned, though they do know that there was no natural flowing water in the area-- the Maya had to collect water in giant cisterns during the rainy season.

 Carving inside one of the side buildings depicting one of the gods.

Main temple with living areas on the far side. This temple was not hollow.