Excerpt: Himalaya by John Keay
...Visitors to Darjeeling are urged to rise early. From this ramshackle city slung across once lush hillsides at the northern apex of the Indian state of West Bengal the best chance of a close encounter with the world’s most spectacular urban backdrop comes at first light. Even then you may be disappointed. Kangchenjunga (Kangchendzonga), our planet’s third highest mountain, is like the tiger in the forest – ever out there but not readily spotted. Or more accurately, it’s ever up there. Instead of straining towards some…