Darjeeling has proven not good for getting blog comments. So I go to Sikkim.

You need a government permit to go to the region of Sikkim and so Esther and I trekked back and forth up and down steep Darjeeling hills to the magistrates office (after going to the tourist office for the paperwork - on the other side of town) to get our permit. And met Scott on the way - another volunteer from Calcutta that we knew. He just got back from a five day "walk" around the mountain valleys. And has decided to join us to Sikkim. And so we go, a merry group of three. But we loose Anita and Christoph. For good actually, as I won't see them again before I go home. Only I'm not ready to say goodbye to them, so it's looking like I'll just have to go to Austria. Some time. Some day.

But tomorrow, Sikkim. Pending whether or not we can catch a jeep there. Darjeeling has shut down for the most part. It was difficult today to find a place that was open for food, and so it was a rather hungry day for me. But I've just had a giant bowl of potatoes so don't worry - I'm happy.

It turns out that it was not a young girl that was killed yesterday, but a young boy, in the seventh grade. Apparently a military truck backed up into him, and his friends jumped out of the way but he was not able to escape in time. The area, full of tension over issues of separation, quickly formed into a mob and smashed the truck windows and overturned it. Riot police arrived at the scene and it looked like there was going to be a confrontation between the police and the mob but a group of at least 100 women formed a wall between the two groups saying no violence and both sides backed down. With no violence.

Still the city is shut down. And it seems like a good time to leave. Not that I feel any of the tension directed towards me. To me, everyone is so kind - the kindest people I've met. Really. I get a puzzled look on my face and people stop and offer to help without me having to utter a single plea.

Today Esther, Scott, a guy named Will, and I walked to the Tibetan Refugee Center here in Darjeeling. It was a truly amazing center offering refuge to the thousands of Tibetans that have been displaced (imagine fleeing across the Himalayas. I have difficulty being in an unheated room here, let alone surviving a trek across the world's largest mountains) since the Chinese invasion (genocide) of Tibet. The center houses the people, provides schooling and is a handicraft center so that the people can make goods, sell them, and provide a living for themselves.

And once again, it leaves me with inward thoughts that put my life and troubles and worries in perspective.

I have seen a lot these past few months. I want my friends and family to talk them all over with. Sometimes they seem to much, and me not enough. But other times - other times not. Anyways. You are all in for beers (more likely a whiskey) and long talks when I'm back. There will be no escaping it. I'll corner each one of you individually and spew everything jumbled and mulled out in one single sitting (without a bathroom break).

I personally can't wait.

But until then, Sikkim, 20 days, wool socks, and my one yellow sweatshirt.

And again, I'm not sure if there will be internet, but I will do my best.