Tea Sippers

You’ve probably heard of dude ranches where people can go for vacation to ride horses and get a taste of the cowboy’s life with ranching chores. Seems the Darjeeling tea estates in the lower Himalayas are now offering the same type of thing for those who enjoy experiencing new things on their vacations.

Over the years, the Darjeeling gardens have been training tourists at no charge. Now that has changed. There seems to be a diversity of how you can take advantage of this new twist in tourism. At some gardens such as the Makaibari plantation, you can live with the workers, share their meals, help them pluck the tea leaves, and tour the factory where the leaves are processed.

At the other end of the scale, you can pay about $220 a night for a stay in a bungalow at the Tumsong garden. There you get not only the bungalow but meals, sightseeing, and transport from the airport about 60ish miles away, you also see the whole tea process from plucking to packing. Some students who receive actual tea training go on to set up tea businesses in their own countries.

Source: http://www.7days.ae/en/2008/08/26/indian-tourists-are-in-time-for-tea.html

Tags: health benefits of tea