DARJEELING, INDIA
Darjeeling is a weird town. It’s stuck on a ridge in the foothills of the Himalayas, two thousand meters above the pandemonium of Siliguri, and on a clear day you can see the third highest mountain in the world. It’s not always clear, though – some days the fog is so thick you can’t see ten feet in front of you.

You’ll hear a lot about how Darjeeling “isn’t really India,” and in a lot of ways it’s true – most of the people here are Nepali or Tibetan. India has so many ethnic groups that calling this one or that “not Indian” is absurd, but what gives the Darj a different feel is predominance of Buddhism. Prayer flags fly from the rooftops, hearty Tibetan cuisine is king and framed pictures of weird Buddhist folk-creatures hang from the walls of most restaurants. Many Nepalis are Hindu as well, but the only sign of Islam is the call to prayer belted from a lonely mosque on the outskirts of town.

But what makes Darjeeling really weird is the political situation. It’s all Gorkhaland, all the time and you can’t step out of your hotel room without being assaulted by coerced pleas for independence. We’ll get to that later.