My wife and I visited Tiger Hill while staying in Kurseong (The Travel Lodge, in September, October and November, 2001).

We arranged for a Local Taxi Owner to take us up one morning.

We were picked up at 4.30 and set off towards Darjeeling. When we got to Ghoom we turned right and went up and up and up. I'm glad we weren't walking!

It is recorded in the Victoria School, Headmasters Diary that groups of boys often trekked to Tiger Hill from School. They bred them tough in those days.

The place has now become a big tourist attraction. There were thousands there.

It just so happened that there was a religious festival on that morning. (90 percent of those there had come to see the sun rise.....part of those religious festival rites).

There is a large pavilion there now. It is quite large and has 3 rows of arm chairs. Coffee and tea can be bought. There are very large windows through which you can see the whole mountain range.

The pavilion is run by the Gurkas or Sherpas, I can't recall which.

It is surprising to some to find that Mt Everest is but a small mountain that is just visible to the eye. This is because of the distance that Tiger Hill is from Mt Everest, and the curvature of the earth.

The colours when we were there were beautiful . The mountain gleamed in the dark and then slowly went from a dark colour through various colurs that were mainly rose-tinted.

I wouldn't have missed it for the world. But, I don't think that I would want a repeat performance. In my younger days, yes!