Darjeeling

I don't know what was more dramatic, the sudden drop in temperature (the three hour jeep ride to Darjeeling was all uphill, climbing to aheight of 2070m) or the change in facial features from dark skin and tashes to slitty eyes and yellow skin!

The drive was amazing, taking in the dramatic hill stations of Ghoom and Kurseong, as the 84km road wound its way this way and then that through the beautiful West Bengal hills. What was noticeable though was the way our naughty bits shrunk back inside our torsos the moment we stepped out of the jeep and onto Darjeelings icy cold roads.

We opted for a posh hotel, complete with toilet paper and "hot"shower, and immediately set about ordering a coupla bottles of cheap Indian vino to warm our extremities. Needless to say we enjoyed an early night wrapped up deep in the folds of our very own feather duvet!

Darjeeling really is a beautiful place - the ultimate Indian hillstation sitting precariously in the foothills of the Himalaya. Above the town tower five of the range's seven highest peaks in a spellbinding 250km stretch of snow-topped mountains.

Home to the world's finest tea (and 81 tea estates in fact), we were keen to savour the taste of a fine cuppa and headed down, through the winding paths, to the Happy Valley Tea estate. Here we met Kusum, a third generation tea picker, who possesses an extrodinary wealth of knowledge on the worlds' loved brew. Soon we found ourselves sipping"Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Five Second Tea", a truly remarkable cuppa that does exactly what is says on the tin - takes five seconds to brew!

Next up, a look at the excellent Himalaya museum and the less than impressive zoo, before tantalising our taste buds with fine Tibetan fare. Hmmm, those "momos" sure are good! Mind you, the Nepalese and Thai tucker runs it a close second!

At 4am we awoke to the rude noise of our hotel phone ringing. Time to pull on the hiking boots and cold weather layers as we head up toTiger Hill, some 14km away, for the daily sunrise that illuminates the jaw-dropping summits of Everest (8848m), Lhotse (8501m), Makalu(8475m), Khangchendzonga (8598m - India's highest peak), Kabru (6691m) and Janu (7710m). The walk back ain't bad either!

Busying ourselves by spending vast volumes of cash on proper cold weather gear ahead of first trek proper - a six day jaunt with yaks through the snow of west Sikkim up to Mt Dzongri - which kicks off our 15 day visit to the sub-continent's most northerly state."