- Day 124, Shillong [Friday 4th April 2008]After yet more refreshing cuppas of rich, strong Assam tea we get a bus towards Shillong, a 4 hour journey out of Assam and into Meghalaya. Then we swap buses and spend another 4 hours climbing slowly up to Shillong, watching people through the wind...
- Day 122, Guwahati [Wednesday 2nd April 2008]We arrive 5 hours late into Guwahati, in Assam, at 11.30am. We pass the smouldering remains of a slum beside the railway tracks, a disturbing site. We later find out that the fire in the slum was started by a mosquito coil, and went on to cause som...
- Day 123, Kaziranga [Thursday 3rd April 2008]Our alarm goes off at 4.45am, waking us up for 'bed tea' delivered by one of the lodge staff. At 5.10am we get a jeep into Kaziranga National Park, where we then transfer onto the back of an elephant to go on safari! The elephant lumbers through th...
- Day 121, Darjeeling [Tuesday 1st April 2008]We taste a few different varieties of Darjeeling tea at the Nathmulls tea shop. Apparently the tea up here is very light, almost delicate. The man behind the counter says rather sneeringly that the kind of tea we usually drink in England is synonym...
- Day 119, Tashiding [Sunday 30th March 2008]We get a shared jeep from Tashiding back to Pelling via Legship and Geyzing, where I eat a deepp fried potato sandwich for breakfast. At Pelling it's a grey, rainy day so we hang out at our hotel eating snacks and watching some TV.We do manage to hi...
- Day 120, Jorethang, Sikkim [Monday 31st March 2008]A clear day! We finally get a great view of the entire Kanchenjunga range!We get a shared jeep down to Darjeeling via Jorethang, a few hours ride through beautiful, tidy tea estates. The staff at the Bellevue remember us and excitedly tell us they...
- Day 118, Tashiding [Saturday 29th March 2008]Over breakfast of aloo paratha (potato filled breads, the best trekking breakfast you'll get in India. You can even wrap them up and take them with you for lunch) and masala tea the Indian owner of the restaurant advises us to trek to Tashiding via...
- Day 111, Chopta Valley, Sikkim [Saturday 22nd March 2008]After a freezing cold night in Lachen we go on a spectacular drive up to Chopta Valley — the stark, snow-capped mountains rising on either side of the valley, rhododendrons and yaks dotting the misty hills. It's cold and crisp. We pass through nu...
- Day 116, [Thursday 27th March 2008]First we go to the SP to extend our Sikkim permits. As we arrived here late we need an extension to allow us to remain in the state legally. We hitch a lift in the back of a jeep, then work our way through labyrinthine corridors of the police offic...
- Day 115, Pelling, Sikkim [Wednesday 26th March 2008]
on Apr 11, 2009
We get a shared jeep to Pelling, in west Sikkim, a five hour drive. We get talking to an amiable Mumbaiker, Ronnie, and his wife. She's a travel agent, up here checking out hotels and tours to sell on in Mumbai. He offers to share a bottle of beer... - Day 114, Gangtok [Tuesday 25th March 2008]We book our train tickets to Assam for 1st April, then try to get the cable car down to the south of Gangtok. Unfortunately there's a power cut and the cable car, worryingly, isn't running. So we walk down instead.The Institute of Tibetology is an...
- Day 113, Gangtok [Monday 24th March 2008]After Tibetan bread and hot chocolate for breakfast we drive back to Gangtok. On the way we see an interesting building-site method we call 'the two-person shovel procedure'. It works like this: two female labourers (they're invariably women) stand...
- Day 117, Yuksom [Friday 28th March 2008]
on Apr 11, 2009 in
trek yuksom sikkim - Day 112, Yumthang Valley [Sunday 23rd March 2008]We drive up to the Yumthang Valley. It's huge, surrounded by impressive mountains, the Teesta running through the centre, dwarfed by its surroundings. Snow and ice is piled up where the road has been cleared. There are dozens of jeeps here, lined...
- Day 110, Lachen [Friday 21st March 2008]We fill up on porridge on the rooftop restaurant of Modern Central Lodge in Ganktok. While we're there we meet a friendly Greek/American girl, a textile designer, who tells us how much she loved Gujarat and Varanasi, both places we're hoping to visi...
- Day 109, Gangtok [Thursday 20th March 2008]
on Apr 6, 2009
We have a good night's rest, and awake with the dawn light. Robin brings us noodles and tea for breakfast. We leave a letter on the table with our address and Rs. 1000, say thank you to his mum and leave.Back at the Teesta we see the ropeway in act... - Day 108, Samthar [Wednesday 19th March 2008]
on Apr 6, 2009
Jimmy meets us for breakfast with a table set on the front lawn! We have cornflakes followed by eggs and toast and fruit jice, and he takes us through the routes of some interesting treks in Sikim.We all walk down to the school which Jimmy has set u... - Day 104, Kalimpong [Saturday 15th March 2008]Kate's 31st birthday! We have porridge, eggs, toast and marmalade for breakfast. I ask for more toast and the waiter disappears for a few minutes before returning with an empty basket."I'm sorry, sir, toast is out of stock,"He peels back the tea to...
- Day 107, General Jimmy Singh's Farmhouse [Tuesday 18th March 2008]The lodge owner cooks us another tasty meal of puri and dum aloo. Then we set off for Samthar, accompanied by a black and white stray dog who seems to have adopted us. He waits while we stop to go on the canopy walkway. He rests when we rest. He'...
- Day 106, Buddhabare, Kaffer, Samthar Ridge [Monday 17th March 2008]A bloke from a house down makes us big bowls of porridge and brings them up to the tea stall for breakfast. We check out the gumpa that this this village, Gumpa Dara, is named after. There is a huge, 6ft tall prayer wheel and a golden statue of Gou...
