My only full day in Sikkim

Presumably you're reading this before the Kashmir account (above), but I guess it doesn't really matter.

As I tend to do while travelling, today I woke up early, around 5am, to see the sunrise on Mt. Kangchenjunga. Being somewhat of (not to put too fine a point on it) an idiot, I decided to take the the hike up to Ganesh Tok and Tashi viewpoint instead of a 10-minute taxi ride. I knew it would be long, and I knew it would be steep. And I was right-- about 3.5 miles pretty much straight up a narrow, dewy, overgrown path that in places you need to really pull yourself up with both hands. Parts of it are in the open with beautiful views of all the valleys with blowing prayer flags everywhere, other parts of it are in the forest which reminded me of home. The view at the top was spectacular, if somewhat disappointing in that clouds obscured the main peak of the mountain. A new observation deck and tea stand were being constructed and for about the hundredth time I saw someone welding without a proper welding helmet or even, for that matter, goggles or glasses of any kind. Ah, India. After that I hiked back down and on the way stopped at the pretty Enchey Monastery and said hi to bunches of young, shy but slightly rowdy little monks. A cup of tea later, I moseyed back into town to catch my ride to Rumtek.

Being essentially cheap I decided to go with the public jeep which was less than $1. It was, again, overcrowded-- not to mention tail-bone crushing, bra-testing and tongue-biting as the roads are being repaired from severe wash-outs. Oh well, it was only a buck. Incidentally, three teenage monks were in the jeep as well, chatting on cell phones in their burgundy and yellow robes and shaved heads. Rumtek is on the hillside opposite Gangtok, so the jeeps traverse switchbacks down to the bottom of the valley, then switchbacks back up to the top of the other side. It's about 25km in all which is what, 14 or 15 miles? and takes about an hour (yeesh). The monastery itself is huge and intricately painted with stunning views of Gangtok. I have some fantastic photos but again, no cameras allowed inside the main temple. Unfortunately my enjoyment was somewhat marred by the presence of a bunch of Bengali school girl tourists who insisted on cuttng in front of me to stand in front of the 15-foot high statue of the Buddha inside the monastery. Unpleasant, but not really an uncommon experience in India.

It was around 12pm by the time I was done and I decided to be adventurous: instead of taking a jeep back, I hiked down to the bottom of the valley and hitched a ride back up the hill into Gangtok. Heh. The hike was beautiful, quiet, picturesque, fascinating and exhausting. You experienced hikers know that oftentimes coming down a hill is just as much work as going up. The trail starts and stops and sometimes isn't even remotely visible to the casual observer, so I had to frequently ask "short cut?" and someone would point me the way. That is, if I was lucky enough to come across someone... I was pretty much alone. I'm pretty sure I strayed from the main path several times but as long as I was going downhill I didn't care. (The main path was mostly stairs.) There were many points where I was questioning my own sanity as I had to slide down on my ass and grab something, because a good chunk of the trail is on a nice little precipice with an approximately 200-foot drop into bamboo trees. Wheee! I came upon a pretty meadow where a bunch of monks were playing cricket and it looked and felt like the scene at the beginning of the Sound of Music. Except for the young monks in their robes playing cricket, that is.

About 7 miles straight down (no shit) and maybe a few years off my knees later, I arrived back at the main road. I found a nice little resting area with a small "convenience store"-- i.e. shack selling stuff-- run by a beautiful Indian girl named Durga, who came over and talked to me. She advised me to wait with her and she would flag down a ride, which was a nice help, but mostly she just wanted the company as she was desperately bored. We had a lovely chat for about an hour (it took that long for a jeep going to Gangtok to come by) and we traded email addresses.

By the way, don't think I'm a total moron for doing this-- lots of people do it, the night before I met a couple that was planning to do the same thing. Although I never did see them.

The ride back into town started to get to me because of the exhaust fumes. I'm funny about that sort of thing, especially diesel, because it makes me feel a bit claustrophobic. After climbing way the fuck back up to the hotel from the taxi stand, and then up 60+/- oddly-sized, very tiring stairs, I collapsed on the bed for a few minutes. It then occurred to me that the last time I'd eaten was approximately 7am, and it was now 4:45pm. I'd hiked 15 miles or so on an empty stomach. No wonder I felt weird. :-/

Tomorrow I have to take another sodding jeep ride to Siliguri to catch my train to Kolkata. I'm not looking forward to it, but I may take the guidebook's advice and pay for two seats so I'm not squashed against the window as the jeep nearly careens over a 2000-meter cliff.

Oh, and I recollect some other entertaining signs I've seen along the way: An advert for casual clothing-- think Old Navy-- called "Bumchums"; a sign for a private school called "The Gay Way Academy", and another road sign that said "If you drive like hell, that's where you're going". Hee. Hee hee.