Alright so it's been another long while since I've updated but it's been getting hard to find anywhere to get on the Internet the further we get from the larger cities.
From Darjeeling we took a Jeep all the way to the Capital of Sikkim, which is Gangtok. Now when I say "Jeep" it's not exactly the nice Jeep Wranglers we have in the U.S. but rather a fairly old Diesel jeep that's a little bit longer then a land rover. Sometimes they have a solid roof and sometimes they have a soft top. All of the luggage gets tied down to a rack on the roof and they drive horrendously fast on these mountain roads. I think they are designed to seat anywhere from 6 to 8 people but it usually ends up having close to double that amount making a 4 hr drive rather uncomfortable. Anyways on the drive to Gangtok it was a very scenic drive. We started be heading out of town and we were almost immediately post-poned by another "Gorkhaland" demonstration. It didn't last too long but it was pretty impressive to see that many people marching along the road. After we got out of the city we started winding our way up and down different ridges. We passed through a lot of different types of vegetation as well. It seems that in only a couple hundred feet here the climate can change almost completely. From giant Japanese cedars to groves of Bamboo, it's all very different then anything I've seen before.
Along the way we passed through the town of Teesta, which is also on the banks of the Teesta river. This is is where the majority of the whitewater rafting takes place in North East India and the Teesta river looked huge. All the way through the town we could see stacks of boats just sitting on the side of the road, enticing people to come rafting with them. Most of the equipment looked pretty ancient but I was tempted to have a go at it anyways...
When we arrived in Gangtok, which sits on a knife like ridge, we were dropped off at the furthest place possible from where we wanted to go. After trying to get some directions, a lot of walking uphill with 50 lb packs, and a little swearing, we made it to Tibet Rd.(where all the cheap hotels are).
We managed to get a hotel that sort of had hot water and a TV but over looked a huge pile of garbage next door. Overall it was fairly clean and probably worth the $4.25/night that we paid for it.
The next day was spent mostly trying to find and arrange a Jeep to take us to Pelling for the next day. This isn't exactly an easy task when there is over a 1,000ft of elevation gain in one city and you have no idea where you are going.
Once we finally secured a Jeep we decided to head to one of the nice restaurants in town to have a beer. Seeing as it was my 23rd Birthday. I'd probably had rather spent my Birthday in any other town then Gangtok, which is essentially just a bunch of cement boxes perched on a hill with not much character to it, but we still made the best of it. We also had a great dinner at a restaurant called Tangerine, which was in the basement of a really nice hotel. They had a Japanese themed interior, complete with floor cushions and rice paper lights. The atmosphere was great and so was the Sikkimese Pork Gyaree that I had along with a Blue Diamond for a drink.
The next day it was another 5 hr Jeep ride to Pelling. Along the way we managed to blow out a tire in the middle of the jungle and for some reason our driver didn't think it was necessary to carry a spare, neither did 10 other Jeeps that passed by... Now this is something I just don't understand seeing that all the tires on these jeeps seemed to be just re-treaded over and over and just asking for a blow out. Anyways, after about an hr of waiting for a spare to come around we finally made it to Pelling.
Pelling is basically a cluster of hotels on a ridge over looking some very massive Himalayan mountains. We stayed at a nice little backpacker hotel that supposedly had great views of the mountains. We had been in the foothills of the Himalaya's for over a week now and I had yet to see any mountains due to a lovely layer of clouds that seems to always be hanging around...
The day after that we took a walk to a monastery that over looked the town and the mountains(supposedly) and then to the ruins of Rabentse. The Monastery was really cool and had a huge library of Tibetan writings which are all wrapped in a decorative cloth and some magnificent wood workings.
From Pelling we set out on foot for a walk to Kecheperi Lake. The trails aren't exactly marked here and they are full of different paths that branch of and meet up again. We made out way down from Pelling towards the Rathong River. We had to stop and ask local farmers the way but we eventually made it down to the river and to a rickety old bamboo bridge that crossed it.
Going down was the easy part...now we had to hike all the way back up to the lake. Supposedly there are some short cut trails you can take but we ended up following the road most of the way running into children on there way to or from school who were very excited to see us. They would all run up to us and say "Namaste" or "Hello" and wanted their pictures taken. Most people we passed along the way either said hello to us or made sure we were headed the right way...with what little English they could speak.
After about 2 hours of hiking uphill, and feeling very exhausted, we heard what we thought was another diesel tourist jeep making its' way up behind us. It turned out to be this couple from Spain who had modified their van and driven it all the way here from Spain. I guess they had been driving since august and planned to keep going for another couple of months. They offered us a lift to the top which we gladly accepted and after a little conversation we parted ways. Turns out they are headed to Nepal as well and if we run into them there we definitely owe them a beer.
So we spent the rest of the day exploring Kechioperi lake and relaxing. The lake is the holiest lake in Sikkim and they say that if even 1 leaf falls on its surface a bird will immediately pick it up. It also has the power to grant wishes.
We stayed the night in the Trekkers hut a little ways from the lake and enjoyed a home cooked meal and a traditional Sikkimese Beer called a Tongba. Tongba basically is a fermented Millet beer that you keep pouring hot water into to keep it from getting to strong. It tastes kind of like Sake and a little bit of a Hard Cider.
The next morning we were off Trekking to Yuksom. This trek was described as more of a "walk" but it turned out to be a really hard, steep hike down and then back up again to Yuksom. Again we hiked down and over the river and then back up again.
Yuksom is a quaint little town with only a handful of hotels and a nice little Internet center. After our gruelling hike we treated ourselves to a nicer hotel that has hot water and Delicious food . Today we are just exploring around the towns different Gompas and Monasteries and trying to figure out what we are going to be doing tomorrow.
We were planing on heading to Nepal but we are hearing Rumors that the borders have been closed and that there has been some political clashes happening over there. Supposedly China is blocking any climbers from climbing Everest and has sent plain clothed security agents in to stop the threat of Tibetans who are planing to March in protest of what has been done to their people and of the Olympic games.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Darjeeling
So we've been in Darjeeling for about 4 days now and it has been a much welcomed relief from the hassles and the heat of the rest of India. The days have been pretty relaxed here. We've spent most of the time just wandering around and exploring this nice little hill station town.
For the first two night we stayed in a hotel closer to the main road in town and I believe we were the only two people in the hotel. Every time we left or came back we had to have the front door unlocked and had to turn on a the few lights that led down a dark, damp hallway to our room. The room itself wasn't that bad...fairly clean, complete with a squat toilet and about 20 minutes of hot water every evening, but it was on a main road and the street noise from the trucks driving past all night and the dogs barking made for some very light sleep.
We decided to switch hotels yesterday and found a much nice hotel for only 2 dollars more a night that has 24hr hot water and some nice views since it is higher up on the hill.
The other day we took about a 45 minute walk from town to visit the Darjeeling Zoo and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, which are both housed on the same grounds. The Zoo was awesome and they are more of a Himalayan Endangered Species Sanctuary. They are the only zoo to successfully bread and keep Tibetan Wolves and they had a large population of Endangered Snow Leopards and Red Panda's. There was one tiger exhibit where there was only a chain link fence between a huge tiger and myself. I was able to literally get within inches of this huge power animal. It was pretty intense looking into its eyes and knowing how easily it could kill me in the wild.
The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute was also really cool. They had a museum on mountaineering and on Everest with a lot of antique climbing gear that was actually used on expeditions. The institute also still holds courses for rock climbing and mountaineering which are only a couple hundred dollars for a month long course. A similar course in the U.S. would easily cost a couple thousand....it was pretty tempting to join up with one of their courses considering it is some of the best instruction in the world.
Other then that we have been wandering thought a lot of Tibetan and Indian shops that they have in town and drinking lots of tea of course.... we are in Darjeeling after all.
We also have visited some really interesting Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries and temples that are scattered through the hills hear. One was the Bhutia Busty Monastery that holds the original copy of the Tibetan Book of the dead.
It's neat to have such a mixture of culture in this town. The main language here is Nepali, although we are technically in India. This area used to belong to Nepal and China still does not recognize it as part of India. On top of that the state of Darjeeling and Sikkim are both trying to become independent states of India which has caused a little bit of political instability in the region. As we were driving up we met a road block and were delayed for a while until we were allowed to pass. Other then that its mostly peace full demonstrations and signs everywhere trying to claim their independent state "Ghorkaland."
Today we are going to arrange a permit for Sikkim, as you cannot enter that state without one and then hopefully tommorrow afternoon we will be headed further up towards the Himalayas and hopefully to do a little trekking.
I tried to upload pictures for about an hr yesterday without success as you can tell be the one lonely picture below. I may have to wait until we get to a larger town with a little better Internet connection. Until then you'll just have to use your imagination. That's all for now.
For the first two night we stayed in a hotel closer to the main road in town and I believe we were the only two people in the hotel. Every time we left or came back we had to have the front door unlocked and had to turn on a the few lights that led down a dark, damp hallway to our room. The room itself wasn't that bad...fairly clean, complete with a squat toilet and about 20 minutes of hot water every evening, but it was on a main road and the street noise from the trucks driving past all night and the dogs barking made for some very light sleep.
We decided to switch hotels yesterday and found a much nice hotel for only 2 dollars more a night that has 24hr hot water and some nice views since it is higher up on the hill.
The other day we took about a 45 minute walk from town to visit the Darjeeling Zoo and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, which are both housed on the same grounds. The Zoo was awesome and they are more of a Himalayan Endangered Species Sanctuary. They are the only zoo to successfully bread and keep Tibetan Wolves and they had a large population of Endangered Snow Leopards and Red Panda's. There was one tiger exhibit where there was only a chain link fence between a huge tiger and myself. I was able to literally get within inches of this huge power animal. It was pretty intense looking into its eyes and knowing how easily it could kill me in the wild.
The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute was also really cool. They had a museum on mountaineering and on Everest with a lot of antique climbing gear that was actually used on expeditions. The institute also still holds courses for rock climbing and mountaineering which are only a couple hundred dollars for a month long course. A similar course in the U.S. would easily cost a couple thousand....it was pretty tempting to join up with one of their courses considering it is some of the best instruction in the world.
Other then that we have been wandering thought a lot of Tibetan and Indian shops that they have in town and drinking lots of tea of course.... we are in Darjeeling after all.
We also have visited some really interesting Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries and temples that are scattered through the hills hear. One was the Bhutia Busty Monastery that holds the original copy of the Tibetan Book of the dead.
It's neat to have such a mixture of culture in this town. The main language here is Nepali, although we are technically in India. This area used to belong to Nepal and China still does not recognize it as part of India. On top of that the state of Darjeeling and Sikkim are both trying to become independent states of India which has caused a little bit of political instability in the region. As we were driving up we met a road block and were delayed for a while until we were allowed to pass. Other then that its mostly peace full demonstrations and signs everywhere trying to claim their independent state "Ghorkaland."
Today we are going to arrange a permit for Sikkim, as you cannot enter that state without one and then hopefully tommorrow afternoon we will be headed further up towards the Himalayas and hopefully to do a little trekking.
I tried to upload pictures for about an hr yesterday without success as you can tell be the one lonely picture below. I may have to wait until we get to a larger town with a little better Internet connection. Until then you'll just have to use your imagination. That's all for now.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Jaipur-Delhi-Across Northern India-Darjeeling
Alright .... so a lot has happened since I last updated so I will try and be brief about it all.
Jaipur was a really fun town. The First night there Teresa and I got an insiders tour of Jaipur with a rickshaw driver named Shakir. He was 21 and spoke pretty good English (as well as Hindi, Rajastani, and French) and he knew a ton about Jaipur.
We first went up to the Monkey Temple or Temple of the Sun God which overlooked Jaipur. It was pretty amazing to finally be out of the hustle and bustle of the city streets and see how massive the City of Jaipur really is. The sun was setting and you could hear the sounds of 3 million people below us living their lives. Hindi music blaring, kids playing cricket, horns...of course there was lots and lots of horns. In addition to all the shrines and temples along the walk up to the monkey temple there was also a bit of wild life, lots of monkeys, cows, dogs, rats and even a Cobra that a guy was charming out of a basket.
After the Monkey temple we headed to the Water Palace which was glowing a magnificent pink color by this time in the evening. We only stopped here for a few minutes to take a few photos and then Shakir took us to a factory where they hand sew floor rugs. Now this is a crazy time consuming process. We got to see all the different steps, from where they were sewn, to where the where trimmed and melted from behind. Very interesting to see all the hard work that goes into making one of those rugs that costs so much back home. Of course at the end they did try and sell one to us, and at a very good price (probably 1/6 of what you'd pay in the U.S.) but we have no use for a rug of that size at the moment. We also got to see some beautiful Saris and Shawls from the textile plant up stairs but we didn't bother purchasing any of those either.
Then Shakir took us to the "real" Jaipur as he called it. We went to the market where no tourist really goes. And this was the place to be that night. Thousand of people crowded the street, by foot, by rickshaw, by bike. People everywhere. There were Dead animals hanging from booths, animals in cages or tied down ready to be slaughtered, fresh food piled high, incense burning, Hindi music blaring, horns honking. This place was really alive. Full of color and smells. It was fund just experiencing that for a while.
The next day we did some more "touristy" things. We started by visiting some amazing marble tombs of some of the Kings of Jaipur. They were each ornately carved by hand and they were massive.
Then it was onto the Amber Fort, probably the most touristy place yet. There was about a 15 minute walk up to the fort where buses were unloading tourists who were immediately being surrounded by touts...and the amazing thing is these tourists were actually buying the crap that they were having shoved in their faces. I guess that's what happens when you're stuck on a bus all the time... no real choice as where to shop.
Anyways, Teresa and I spent a long time wandering around this massive fort. There are endless hallways and door ways to go through and we managed to see most of the fort and make our way out with out a guide.
After the fort Shakir took us to a little locals only place for some lunch. It's amazing that no matter where you are in India that people are so welcoming and willing to help (for the most part). Without a clue to what we were ordering we had some food suggested for us and we agreed. It was some of the best food thus far but after lunch I started feeling a little ill so Teresa and I decided to go back and take a lil nap in the Hotel.
This is where things started to take an ugly turn. Within an hr or so I had a raging fever and it continued for the next couple of days along with a sore throat, runny nose, and a cough that I still have today... We ended up having to miss our train as I was going on my 3rd day with a high fever and I wanted to see a doctor. Luckily we were able to stay in our hotel for 1 more night and that day I got some much needed antibiotics and some more rest.
That day we also spent frantically trying to book other train tickets since we were now stuck in Jaipur with no hotel for the next day. The Internet at the hotel was being really fickle and despite numerous attempts we were unable to book a train to anywhere.
The next day we woke up checked out of the hotel and walked down to the train station hoping for the best. We were in luck! Some how we managed to book a train for that day to Delhi and then from Delhi to New jalpaiguri(which is near Darjeeling) the next day.
We arrived back in Delhi at Midnight and went to 5 different hotels till we finally found one with an open room. It had to be one of the worst places to stay in Delhi. Small dank rooms, hadn't been cleaned in years.. People sleeping on the floor...funky smells and noises coming from everywhere... It was just plain gross. Luckily we only had to stay for a couple hours until we went to catch our train so we slept very lightly and uncomfortably for that night.
The next day our train left from the Old Delhi Station, and turns out our train had been delayed for 6 hours. Good thing we arrived at 5am! There are absolutely no white people at the Old Delhi station and spent the whole morning getting stars and comments etc.
Luckily we met a really nice guy from Manali who helped reassure us that we were indeed waiting on the correct platform(it had changed 4 times earlier that morning) and with some luck and some pushing we finally made it onto our train, which was to be our home for then next 37hrs. Teresa and I both had the top bunks in our berth and it was nice to kind of have our own space...but the grumpy old men underneath us never sat up long enough to allow us to sit down there and enjoy the view very much...
So after 37 hrs on the train we arrived in New jalpaiguri at 11:45pm and found a hotel to sleep in for the night. This hotel was clean and close to the train station but had one peculiar thing about it...if BLARED weird Hindi chants and bells and drums from megaphones on top of its roof all night long. Somehow we managed to sleep though the night and caught a car up to Darjeeling in the morning.
The drive up here, although very beautiful, was kind of a scary one. lots of cliffs and narrows sections where I swear we were either going off the side or into an on coming truck.
We made and and found a nice little hotel for 7 dollars a night and we are off to do some exploring. Just thought I'd give a quick update! (yes pictures soon I promise!!)
Jaipur was a really fun town. The First night there Teresa and I got an insiders tour of Jaipur with a rickshaw driver named Shakir. He was 21 and spoke pretty good English (as well as Hindi, Rajastani, and French) and he knew a ton about Jaipur.
We first went up to the Monkey Temple or Temple of the Sun God which overlooked Jaipur. It was pretty amazing to finally be out of the hustle and bustle of the city streets and see how massive the City of Jaipur really is. The sun was setting and you could hear the sounds of 3 million people below us living their lives. Hindi music blaring, kids playing cricket, horns...of course there was lots and lots of horns. In addition to all the shrines and temples along the walk up to the monkey temple there was also a bit of wild life, lots of monkeys, cows, dogs, rats and even a Cobra that a guy was charming out of a basket.
After the Monkey temple we headed to the Water Palace which was glowing a magnificent pink color by this time in the evening. We only stopped here for a few minutes to take a few photos and then Shakir took us to a factory where they hand sew floor rugs. Now this is a crazy time consuming process. We got to see all the different steps, from where they were sewn, to where the where trimmed and melted from behind. Very interesting to see all the hard work that goes into making one of those rugs that costs so much back home. Of course at the end they did try and sell one to us, and at a very good price (probably 1/6 of what you'd pay in the U.S.) but we have no use for a rug of that size at the moment. We also got to see some beautiful Saris and Shawls from the textile plant up stairs but we didn't bother purchasing any of those either.
Then Shakir took us to the "real" Jaipur as he called it. We went to the market where no tourist really goes. And this was the place to be that night. Thousand of people crowded the street, by foot, by rickshaw, by bike. People everywhere. There were Dead animals hanging from booths, animals in cages or tied down ready to be slaughtered, fresh food piled high, incense burning, Hindi music blaring, horns honking. This place was really alive. Full of color and smells. It was fund just experiencing that for a while.
The next day we did some more "touristy" things. We started by visiting some amazing marble tombs of some of the Kings of Jaipur. They were each ornately carved by hand and they were massive.
Then it was onto the Amber Fort, probably the most touristy place yet. There was about a 15 minute walk up to the fort where buses were unloading tourists who were immediately being surrounded by touts...and the amazing thing is these tourists were actually buying the crap that they were having shoved in their faces. I guess that's what happens when you're stuck on a bus all the time... no real choice as where to shop.
Anyways, Teresa and I spent a long time wandering around this massive fort. There are endless hallways and door ways to go through and we managed to see most of the fort and make our way out with out a guide.
After the fort Shakir took us to a little locals only place for some lunch. It's amazing that no matter where you are in India that people are so welcoming and willing to help (for the most part). Without a clue to what we were ordering we had some food suggested for us and we agreed. It was some of the best food thus far but after lunch I started feeling a little ill so Teresa and I decided to go back and take a lil nap in the Hotel.
This is where things started to take an ugly turn. Within an hr or so I had a raging fever and it continued for the next couple of days along with a sore throat, runny nose, and a cough that I still have today... We ended up having to miss our train as I was going on my 3rd day with a high fever and I wanted to see a doctor. Luckily we were able to stay in our hotel for 1 more night and that day I got some much needed antibiotics and some more rest.
That day we also spent frantically trying to book other train tickets since we were now stuck in Jaipur with no hotel for the next day. The Internet at the hotel was being really fickle and despite numerous attempts we were unable to book a train to anywhere.
The next day we woke up checked out of the hotel and walked down to the train station hoping for the best. We were in luck! Some how we managed to book a train for that day to Delhi and then from Delhi to New jalpaiguri(which is near Darjeeling) the next day.
We arrived back in Delhi at Midnight and went to 5 different hotels till we finally found one with an open room. It had to be one of the worst places to stay in Delhi. Small dank rooms, hadn't been cleaned in years.. People sleeping on the floor...funky smells and noises coming from everywhere... It was just plain gross. Luckily we only had to stay for a couple hours until we went to catch our train so we slept very lightly and uncomfortably for that night.
The next day our train left from the Old Delhi Station, and turns out our train had been delayed for 6 hours. Good thing we arrived at 5am! There are absolutely no white people at the Old Delhi station and spent the whole morning getting stars and comments etc.
Luckily we met a really nice guy from Manali who helped reassure us that we were indeed waiting on the correct platform(it had changed 4 times earlier that morning) and with some luck and some pushing we finally made it onto our train, which was to be our home for then next 37hrs. Teresa and I both had the top bunks in our berth and it was nice to kind of have our own space...but the grumpy old men underneath us never sat up long enough to allow us to sit down there and enjoy the view very much...
So after 37 hrs on the train we arrived in New jalpaiguri at 11:45pm and found a hotel to sleep in for the night. This hotel was clean and close to the train station but had one peculiar thing about it...if BLARED weird Hindi chants and bells and drums from megaphones on top of its roof all night long. Somehow we managed to sleep though the night and caught a car up to Darjeeling in the morning.
The drive up here, although very beautiful, was kind of a scary one. lots of cliffs and narrows sections where I swear we were either going off the side or into an on coming truck.
We made and and found a nice little hotel for 7 dollars a night and we are off to do some exploring. Just thought I'd give a quick update! (yes pictures soon I promise!!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
