Pelling and Darjeeling

Pelling was a little mountain town, centered around tourism. There is not much to do there, and most people use it as a base for daytrips or for trekking. We stayed 2 nights, arriving late in the day the 1st night. We ate dinner at this small restaurant, called 'Open Restaurant', run by a Sikkimese family. Kat is now hooked on momos. That day, we hiked up to Pemaganste Monastery, then down the hill to the town of Geyzing. We took a jeep back up to Pelling, ate lunch, then hiked WAAAAYYY up to Sangacholing Monastery, which is one of the oldest in Sikkim. I seriously almost died on the hike up. Am sooo out of shape!!! While at Sangacholing, it started to torentially downpour. I find that some monasteries are definately more affluent than others, as they are much cleaner and in better shape. I don't know how many monks are in the state of Sikkim, but there must be tons. There are monasteries everywhere. I am starting to be able to recognize some of the statues/paintings, but still am pretty bad at it. Karma must have pointed out specific boddhisvattas hundreds of times, yet I still don't really remember. From Pelling, we took a jeep down to Geyzing, then booked tickets on a jeep for Jorethang from there. The trip down from Pelling we sat in 1st seats, which actually wasn't that great... got kinda woozy, but not too bad. I love these Pudina Hara capsules that were suggested on an India travel forum. They are just mint extract, and are quite good for managing motion sickness and general nausea. Trip from Geyzing to Jorethang we rode 3rd seats, which wasn't too bad. The jeep had no door on Kat's side, and an open window on the back, so there was plenty of airflow. Jorethang was HOT!!! About 34 degrees, according to the people at the tourism office. You know its hot when even the locals are wilting!!! In Jorethang, we found the ticket booth for booking a jeep to Darjeeling. The road to Darjeeling is as described in our travel guide: precipitous and hair raising. It is incredibly narrow, bumpy, and steep throughout. But the views are amazing!!! Part of the journey winds through many magnificent tea estates. The tea fields themselves are in impeccable shape! It took us 5 hours in total to get from Pelling to Darjeeling.

Sikkimese people are super nice!!!

So it was after dark when we arrived in Gangtok. It was nothing like I expected. I expected a small town, that wasnt too commericalized. It was a major shock, arriving in a town where the streets are lined with hotels!! The town is ver;y popular with Bengali people trying to escape the heat. Kat and I did not prebook any accomodations, as we expected to just go to a hotel in the guide book and stay there. So once we got off at the jeep stand, we were dazed and confused (or at least me :p ) The two monks (Karma, and I don't know the name of the other... was pretty carsick lol) phoned our expected accomodation for us, and after a long round about way, we ended up staying at the home of Karma's sister. Karma's family treats us very nicely. He and his sister (Namgim) took us on a whirlwind tour of Gangtok and surrounding areas yesterday. We visited multiple monasteries, the waterfall, and all around Gangtok. Since it is tourist season, taxis can be hard to come by, so coming back from one of the destinations, we hitched a ride with a dumptruck playing loud Hindi music. It was truly an experience. Last night we stayed at their family's house, out in the village. It is very pretty out there, very green around. Today we visited Rumtek Monastery, where we met some of Karma's friends. It is pretty cool, getting the behind the scenes tour whereever we go! Anyhow, must sign off. Will be going to eat soon, and everyone is waiting. Are staying 1 more night in Gangtok, and tomorrow will go to Pelling. Deekie, (Karma's older sister) has arranged for somewhere to stay for us (very busy there too)

internet cafe is closing!!

till later...

First post from India

So it has been 5 nights in India so far. 1st impressions of Delhi was hot, dusty and dirty! Very chaotic, but also super awesome! It is quite the change. We stayed in the Pahargang area, which is very run down. Well compared to Canadian standards. I'd post pics, but there is no card reader here. There is trash in the streets, and many skinny cows roaming about!! We arrived during a torrential rain storm, so thank goodness the temperature was very pleasant. Our plane was late, so we checked in around 2;15am. Next day walked around tons, bought our train ticket to New Jaipalguri (aka NJP), and tried to find the foreigner's registration office to get our Sikkim permits (but failed in that). Bought some probably overpriced indian clothes too :p Next day, woke up and took a cycle rickshaw to the train station to catch our train. The train tickets were $80 USD for the two of us, but this was for 1600km train journey, and included meals. Since we booked via the tourist office at New Delhi Station (NDS), we were placed in a compartment with 4 other foreigners. 1 american, 2 Nepalese, and 1 Bhutanese. They were all very pleasant. The train was 28hours long. We booked 3tier a/c class, which is exactly as it sounds, 2 triple bunkbeds on each side of the compartment, and a tiny table in between. I officially had the top bunk (more headroom) but Kat hijacked it from me, so I got stuck with a middle tier bed. The Bhutanese man we met we found out was a monk, late in the journey. He got off the train at the same stop as us, and bargained and paid for an autorickshaw to Siliguri from NJP for us! We tried to pay our share to him, but he refused to take it. At Siliguri, he took us to the foreigner's registration office there, and we got our Sikkim permits there. He then took us to the Jeep stand accross the road and bargained for seats in a shared jeep for us. We paid 150 Rs each, for the 5-6 hour jeep ride to Gangtok. This was a good deal he got for us, because people who got 3rd row seats paid the same!! 12 people fit into a jeep, 4 in front, 4 in 2nd row, and 4 in 3rd row. luggage is strapped to the top of the jeep. Also sharing the 2nd row with us was 2 more monks, both from Sikkim. At first we thought they were Korean (most asians here are korean, or so we think), but they were actually Sikkimese. They were very nice, and explained the stops and police checkpoint to us. So after a long bumpy ride, we arrived in Gangtok. It gets dark here really early, like 6-7pm ish.

Next blog:p

Seoul

Made it to Korea!!
Waiting for flight to Delhi, in a free internet cafe, that uses laptops!!
Flight with Asiana was excellent. Plenty of food and drink!! Watched 4 movies!!!

c'ya in delhi!

Trip!

We leave technically tomorrow!!
Our trip is split into 3 phases:
Phase 1: Fly to Delhi via Korea. Spend 1-2 nights in Delhi, then take the train or plane to Sikkim/West Bengal area. Spend a few nights there, then cross the border into Nepal. Take the bus from Kakarbitta to Janakapur and spend the night there. Continue on and take the bus to Pokhara, where we will be volunteering (phase 2)

Phase 2: Orientation/trekking/volunteering in Nepal

Phase 3: Fly/train from Kathmandu to Delhi. Spend the rest of our time in the Uttar Pradesh state. Visit the Taj Mahal on a day trip. Shop in Delhi and bring back souvenirs ;) Return home August 6th, also via Korea.

Flights

Flights have been purchased! And visas have been picked up! So we are well on our way! We fly Seattle to Delhi May 19th, and return Delhi to Seattle August 6th.

Will post rough itinerary when there is one made :)

Prelude

Kat and I are traveling to India and Nepal this summer. The trip started off as a 6 week volunteer abroad trip, but since we have to fly through Delhi to get to Kathmandu, India was added to the itinerary. The plans as of today are ~1.5 weeks in India, ~6 weeks in Nepal, and ~1.5 weeks in India. Tomorrow is flight ticket purchase day, so at least our departure and return will be set by then. The Nepal parts of the trip are pretty set too, since we are going through an organizer for that. In Nepal we will stay with a homestay family. Kat is picking up our Indian visas today.

There is alot to plan for the India parts of the trip!! India is a fascinating country, and it doesn't seem like we'll have enough time to do the small areas on our wishlist!!!

Until later...