India (surprise!)

I'm now writing from Sikkim, India! I came here yesterday, leaving the house at 7:30 and taking a cab to the airport. I packed my bags that morning, I'm getting good at doing it quickly, keeping all "vital" items in my day pack, i.e., those items that cannot be replaced if lost/stolen - these included wallet, all electronics and my Red Sox baseball cap. The domestic section of the airport is really just one large concrete room, with various counters set up and some chairs for waiting. When you first enter, your bags are x-rayed, you go through a metal detector and are given the world's gentlest pat-down (by gender specific officers). The checking in process is actually incredibly well-organized. Your ticket tells you what time to arrive at the airport, and at that time exactly, they post a notice for that flight at the check-in counter and you go get your bag weighed and are given a baggage claim ticket. The bags are stacked on rolling carts that employees later push/pull out to the plane. None of the planes I saw were very big, so the bags were able to be handed up from folks on the ground to those in the plane. After you check your bag, you go through security to the second half of the airport - another large room but with lots of seating, several TVs and shops and restrooms (a key!) The only difficulty here is that there are two gates but no posting of which one a flight will depart from, or when. The boarding announcements are made in Nepali and via a system without much volume. I didn't actually hear my flight called, but wandered over and showed an official my ticket as I suspected the timing was right and, sure enough, it was my flight. I'm glad I checked! A bus took us out to our turbo plane which, although not the smallest I've been in (thanks to the one time I flew from Boston to Albany) was not very large. On this 40 minute flight, the single stewardess distributed candies, newspapers, peanuts and drinks. American companies take note!

My flight took me to a town about 25 km from the Nepal-India border, on the Nepal side. I had chosen not to take buses the whole way, or fly to the airport a little further away, because the bandh in the Tharu region had been going on for 11 days. These strikes meant that most of the roads in the region, which included the area that I had to traverse, had been closed, with vehicles getting through only at night - with police escorts during government imposed curfews. It is these bandhs that led to lines in Kathmandu at gas stations over half a mile long and several motorcycles deep, plus significant increases in the prices of most foods - since the supply coming into the city is limited by the road closures. Turns out, the bandh was called off the day I left in response to the Prime Minister's resignation. As many of you have probably seen in the news, the government in Nepal essentially collapsed the other day after a week of stress/debate after the Maoists, the "top" party and that of the PM, announced its intention to fire the chief of the National Army, which is separate from the Maoists own army, which fought in the civil war that ended a few years ago but is supposed to be eventually disbanded and merged into the national army. The PM finally sacked the army chief, but without reaching consensus with any of the other large parties. The President, twelve hours later, who is from a different party, told the army chief to keep his post, calling the dismissal unconstitutional. (Although the government is currently working to draft a constitution, there is an interim one that was created in 2007.) The PM called the President's action unconstitutional but then resigned, thus meaning that there is no longer a coalition government - a new one needs to be formed. I'm guessing they'll try to keep the Maoists involved, as a better solution then having a group with a former army operating outside the government, but for now its up in the air. There had been some demonstrations in the capital the day before I left, but as of yet, no curfews, etc. It will be interesting to see what its like when I get back.

Anyhow, back to the trip. When waiting for my bag at the airport, I was approached by a man asking if I was going to the border. He and a companion were taking a taxi there and wanted to split the cost with more people. Although, of course, slightly nervous about venturing out with unknown companions, I accepted - after all, going alone was still going with a stranger! Turns out, the man is a Tibetan from Sikkim who has been living in CA for the last 9 years and was traveling home with a cousin who was going to Gagntok, my destination. They were really great - let me tag along the whole way and waited patiently while I constantly checked in at various official sites (the Nepal immigration, Indian immigration, Sikkim immigration and Sikkim checkpoint). I'm glad I didn't go on shared jeeps/buses with other folks as I was the only westerner I saw all day, thus the only person who had to stop at all of these checkpoints (Nepalese do not need visas to visit India, nor do either Indians or Nepalese seem to need the special permit for visiting Sikkim). I think some of the buses might have left me behind at some of the longer checkposts! The trip involved one jeep to the border, another to Siliguri and a third vehicle, which we shared with a 4th person as well, to Gagntok. All together, the trip was 12 hours door to door. The day was extremely warm until we finally settled in Gagntok, where rain helped lower the temperature to a bearable level.

The section of Nepal between the airport and border was different than anything I had previously seen. I had been told that the area was known as the "breadbasket" of the country because of the amount of food it produces, but I was still surprised at how green, open and undeveloped it was. The elevation at the airport was 300 feet and the whole area seemed very flat (although there had been great views of the mountains on the plane trip). Similarly, once we crossed into India, I was surprised at the beauty and openness of most of the areas. Even the towns, including the border crossing, were smaller than I had expected. Originally, I had not intended to travel to India this trip as my memories of the country largely relate to Delhi, whose size, noise, chaos, etc. was not something I particularly wanted to repeat. But this area was nothing like my memories of the country. We passed tea farms, corn fields, large forests. It was a gorgeous ride that, after a while, traveling up through the mountains on switchback roads, which, while not particularly wide, were almost always sufficient for a lane of traffic in each direction. On walls lining much of the highway there were written many driving-safety related messages, mostly in English (interestingly, here, a much larger number of sings, ads, etc. are in English than in Nepal. although occasionally with misspellings - one was for the "Cindrella Resort," but it seemed to be a pre-ball/pre-glass slipper establishment). Examples of the road signs that I liked included "better late than never," "haste makes waste" and "this is a highway, not a runway." Other messages were, I hope, more inspirational/philosophical than driving related - e.g., "life is a journey, we do not always know where the ride goes," well, I hope they knew where that road was going!

Siliguri, where we stopped to change vehicles, did not seem like a great city to visit, although I only saw a small part, but there does seem to be some well planned development. The government is constructing a new housing complex that includes several large high rise buildings, a school, hospital, stores, etc. - i.e., smart growth. Gagntok, however, is a great city, which I've had a bit of a chance to explore today. Its very hilly, but rather than flatten areas for construction, the buildings are all built onto the hills. Many of the buildings, particularly in the tourist area, are brightly colored, there is a pedestrian sidewalk, with railing so that cars cannot use it, that covers 17 kms, pedestrian walkways over most complex intersections, practically no litter, etc. Combine this with the bright clothing that many of the women wear and it makes a great sight, one that is hard to capture in pictures (as in Nepal, many of the women, across all generations, wear traditional clothing, although not all by any means. Fewer of the Tibetan women in younger generations wore traditional clothing unless for special religious occasions or required for working in Tibetan schools. It seems that the Nepalese/Indian style clothing may last longer than the Tibetan style, unless younger generations don the traditional clothing as they get older). Apparently, Sikkim fines litterers, bans smoking in public places and does not allow the use of plastic bags in stores. There is one popular street, with many stores, hotels and restaurants, where vehicles are prohibited and includes many benches, flowers and fountains. It reminds me of some of the Greek Islands, without the ocean. This is a very popular destination for local tourists during the summer, as they try to escape the heat from the south of the country (its current 100+ degrees in Delhi already). I spent my first night in a room where I refused to take off my shoes and made sure that nothing other than the sleeping bag touched the floor or bed (there were dead smushed bugs on the sheets!) However, the kitchen made a great grilled cheese sandwich! Although I was tempted to stay there another night just for the sandwich, the desire to take a shower, and have a toilet that worked, persuaded me to change hotels.

I leave tomorrow for Yoksum, the starting point for a week long trek that I will be doing. I will be traveling with a guide and cook, and perhaps a person also to manage the horses who will carry all the bags/equipment. It seems a big undertaking for just little 'ol me:) This will be my first camping experience of the trip, as most nights there are no guest houses/trekkers lodges to use. At least if the altitude proves a problem this time, we are going to about 16,000 feet, there will be horses at hand!

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