Foothills of the Himalaya - a 6-week trip.

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Friday 23rd May. Missed out doing my blog yesterday as our Guide, Umesh kept us so busy!
Yesterday, Umesh was nasty to us, and told us to meet him at 05:00 in order for us to go to another viewpoint in an attempt to once again view the Eastern Himalayas. This time we went to Tashi Viewpoint. Unfortunately, the weather was not ideal. Nonetheless we got some beautiful views, and the dawn chorus was lovely. In addition we were treated, in the background, to a loud recording of Buddhist chanting. Initially, I thought the sound was coming from a monastery but in reality it was coming from some nearby shop speakers. Not withstanding this, the sound was quite magical and relaxing.
Later in the morning, we had a tour of Gangtok which is at an altitude of 5,500 feet. It is quite a large town with substantial, and in the main, well-kept buildings. We visited Echeny Monastery, and a local stupa or religious monument surrounded by prayer wheels. Then we looked round a flower exhibition including a vast array of orchids. The sun came but mainly went but at least it was warm and dry! In the afternoon, we were 'treated' to a walk to the local vegetable market. That was interesting and smelly Unfortunately, to get to the market involved a hike up many steep stairs, and then 2 hills - felt like we
Today, we visited another monastery: Rumtek. Despite low cloud, and not much sun, it was a lovely trip out. 23 Ks from Gangtok sitting on top of a hill. Despite the mist we got great views of Gangtok, a mile in the distance. We saw the Golden Stupa - a great big casket on top of a huge base, all in solid gold, and studded with huge semiprecious gems. And it was guarded by army personnel with rifles.
Sikkim advertises itself as 'the Switzerland of the East,' and that is quite an apt term for it. The main language is Nepali, followed by Tibetan, and then Hindi. In reality, however, English seems to be spoken by most people. Some can speak it better than what I can
There is a huge army presence in Sikkim, mainly due to its' borders with China Tp travel further north into N. Sikkim requires tourists to acquire extra visas - a shame as reports are that the yaks roam freely amongst meadows of alpine flowers, and there are forests of rhododendron, and the place is unspoilt.
The taxis here have to be seen to be believed: they are loaded to the gunnels with people, and often as not have completely bald tyres! The drivers are always in a hurry, and take dreadful chances overtaking. Asoke, our driver, is quite experienced, and seems to be able to manouevre through the narrowest of spaces. However, he has the habit, every so often, of flexing his neck to the left, and then to the right. A loud click emanates somewhere from his spine at each side - much like people cracking their knuckles. As he does this whilst driving, I'm afraid he may dislocate his neck or his head may fall off, and then we'll come off the road. On the one side of the road there is a deep drain, and on the other an almost vertical drop of several feet to thousands of feet into the valley below. Being a passenger here is not for the faint-hearted!
The dawn chorus here is delightful. A not so well-known chorus, however, is unique to India. It is the result of the Indian affinity for dal, other pulses, and chick peas that are taken at the evening meal. Several hours later usually at first light, the effects of the wind simultaneously erupting from bowels in huts, houses, monasteries and hotels can be heard throughout India. This is known as the dal-chorus!
Despite the rather poor weather we have been experiencing, the rest of India seems to be in the grip of a heatwave with temperatures exceeding the 40's; it's OK for some folk! Hopefully, as we travel further west we will catch better weather. We are going to be in Calcutta in 3 days, and it should be hotter there.
Sikkim has marvellous agriculture + distilleries producing a variety of spirits + tourism + white-water canoeing. The farmers can manage a rotation of 3 crops per year: rice; maize; and cereals such as barley. The locally produced booze is cheap: a 7-year old single malt costs <3 pounds, and a 7-year old *** rum 1 and a half! And they taste as good as the UK available ones!
1 Lakhe is 100,000 Rupees. One of the local breed of cars is the Tata Scorpion. It is a 4-wheel drive huge jeep, and with all mod cons costs about 10 L or perhaps, 12K in English money.

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