Family discovery in the Himalayas

What an amazing week it has been, despite talking to my GP last night long distance and discovering that nothing has moved on the new medication front and still feeling incredibly frustrated by it all...

We're now in Kathmandu and it's hot as they gear up for their New Year 2079 celebrations - that just blows my mind! It's really sad to see the effects of the 2015 earthquake on the temples and the city as a whole, but our introduction to Nepal has been welcoming and informative and the buildings are still beautiful amidst the scaffolding.

This past week has been a whirlwind of family discovery. We started in Darjeeling trying to find my Great Grandfather's tea estate, but without a name, it's like searching for a needle in a haystack. There are some 90 tea estates! It was

wonderful to get away from the town and noisiness and watch the tea pickers in the sunshine though.

We then had a short pitstop in Gangtok in Sikkim just because and nearly got stuck when heavy rain flooded the river and broke some of the bridges! It was lovely to be welcomed as the first British tourists they have seen for two years.

After Gangtok, we arrived in Kalimpong and met up with new found family. That was really special. We visited Dr Grahams famous school where my Nanna went 100 years ago and St Joseph's Convent where my Grandpop's sisters went. We found my Great Grandfather's estate - which called into question whether he did live in Darjeeling - and my Great Great Grandmother's grave along with her boyfriend's! The villagers who remember my Great Grandfather, were able to give us bits and pieces of information, but there is so much more to discover. It's rumoured it takes two days to ride around the estate on horseback. Unfortunately the Indian government claimed the land from my Grandpop's sister who remained in India and now use it for farming. The villagers don't hesitate to ask us why we never claimed the land and sadly because my Great Aunt has now passed, we don't have answers for them. I was gutted we ran out of time and the mist was descending rapidly. We did learn that most of the bungalows from the estate were burned to the ground in the 1986 riots when the local people wanted independence from West Bengal. This was another piece of devastating news, along with the fact that nobody seems to know where my Great Grandfather's grave is. I think I have more questions than answers from this trip!

Staying in the Mayfair Himalayan hotel which my relatives used to own and run was some consolation. I tried to soak up as much of the history as I could despite the hotel being full of conference types. I definitely would have liked to have seen it pre Mayfair ownership.