Officially on holiday, so can allow myself a little, lower case yippee!! Left London/ word at lunchtime on Thursday, and got a tube up to Heathrow. Checked in for my flight. Slight concern when one of the security guards, as I was going through the security controls, thought I might have been with the bloke in front of me in the queue, who had set off all the alarms and was being searched for weapons. I resisted the temptation to quip "see you at the hotel later, Comrade" at him, as security guards aren't known for their senses of humour. During [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday morning caught a share jeep from Kalimpong to Siliguri, for the start of the home stretch. We left Kalimpong at about 12.30 for what was scheduled to be a two and a half hour drive. The Darjeeling Mail wasn't scheduled to leave Siliguri til 8pm, so I'd figured I got about five hours to play with, and was congratulating myself on having got through two weeks without any major mishaps when we turned the corner to find ourselves at the wrong end of a line of stationery vehicles; jeeps, trucks, buses. Apparently, the road had caved in, and was being [View Full Entry]

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Hello, again. Arrived in Kalimpong, from Darjeeling, the day before yesterday. Spent the first night at the Kalimpong Park Hotel. This had had a great write up in my gude book, and I'm sure it's lovely under normal circumstances, but appears to be undergoing a major refurbishment at the moment, which meant noise and workmen everywhere, and I spent most of my time sneezing, because of the dust. So moved yesterday to the Silver Oaks hotel, which is a fairly classy joint down the road (and a little nearer to the town, which is an added bonus, as it's all uphill [View Full Entry]

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Apologies in advance, first of all, for any typos in this entry and previous- this machine appears to be playing up!! This morning I walked to the Bhuttia Busty (no smirking at the back there!) Gompa (Monastary). It took about twenty minutes from the centre of town, down a steep little lane that switched backwards and forwards. According to the book, in high season, when the weather is clear, you can get great views from the Gompa to Khangchendzonga. This morning it was very misty, and I wasn't always able to see to the end of the stretch of path that [View Full Entry]

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Early yesterday morning I left Sikkim for West Bengal in a shared jeep. The morning started off rather worryingly, as I turned up to the shared jeep station to find a twelve year old boy sat behind the driving wheel of the vehicle I was booked on to. We had a few minutes to wait til departure, and I kept expecting his dad to turn up, and turf him out. He was chatting nonchantly through the driver's window while we waited with a mate of his, who looked about nine. The garage was packed with jeeps in various stages of ignition [View Full Entry]

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Got back to Gangtok this morning, and this afternoon took a ride out to Rumtek Monastary. According to the LP, Rumtek is the "official sea of the Gyalwa KArnapa, the spiritual leader of the Kagyu (Black Hat) sect". Apparently, the current incumbent (the 17th) is waiting in Dharmshala for the Indian authorities to give him permission to take up his seat. There is some delay, as the Indian authorities want to try and avoid any grief with the Chinese. The Monastary complex is about an hour from Gangtok. First of all I went and had a look around the main temple/ [View Full Entry]

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Now, where was I? For my second day in Sikkim, the guy at the hotel had arranged a trip to Khecheopalri (pronounced Catch a Perry) lake in the afternoon, so in the morning I decided to walk to the second main monastary in Pelling (or walking distance of my hotel, anyway), Sangachoeling Gompa. This, again, is about three km from where I was staying. I found out later that there is actually a road from Pelling to the Monastery. It's currently under construction, but walkable. However, the guy at the hotel decided to give me the alternative directions. I'm sure that [View Full Entry]

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Have been out of email range for a couple of days, so this is being written very much after the event, so THINK I've got the date correct, but who knows..... I got a share jeep from Gangtok to Pelling. I'm gradually acclimiatising to share jeeps- they're really not that bad. The scenery was fantastic. The mountains we were travelling through were forrsted (no idea at all if that's the correct term), so all green & verdant & lush. The only splashes of colour, apart from the grey roads that wind around the mountains, are the clutches of pretty, rustic pastel [View Full Entry]

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There's a big sign in the Gangtok Head Post Office; it says "The Rules of our office are: rule No 1: The Customer is always right; Rule No 2: if you think the Customer isn't right, go back and re-read Rule No 1". I'd gone in to buy stamps for postcards. 7 of them came to 56rupees. This is the equivalent of about 60p. I said "That's very cheap." to the lady behind the counter. "Yes, Madam," she replied, "you are right." Aha, I thought. Obviously this is a game of somewhat limited appeal, and I was pretty much fed up [View Full Entry]

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Hello. Yet another log in my perilous trek through the himalayan region. Having trouble finding working internet connections this far up, so apologies in advance for not getting in touch on a more regular basis. I have my phone with me, so those of you that have the number can text me if you want. Left Kolkata on the overnight Darjeeling Mail on Monday. Was surprisingly comfortable, with the exception of the bloke in the next bunk snoring like a traction engine right through the night. Arrived at NJP station at about half eight yesterday morning. It was a nice contrast [View Full Entry]

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