Day 8 Darjeeling to Gangtok 6th July 2009

Today we decided to just stay in, lepak, and just wait for time to check out.

Started packing our stuffs and took a shower with the darn bloody ice cold water. We realized that most of the clothes are still not dry yet. Other than Ramli’s Marmot pants the rest were still quite damp. No choice, packed them into ziplock bags. After that we cooked breakfast. Yes another round of maggi for breakfast. Hahaha. Oklah it was quite tasty . And of course not forgetting a shot of “TOKM”.

This guy going to set up with the speaker

another guy.. think they have some party going on..

Ok checked out at around 1130hrs. Walked towards the bus station which was just 5 mins walk from our lodge.

Simma Lodge

Our beds

from the door..

Toilet

toilet bowl..

Bus Station

Got us tickets for Gangtok.

The taxi ride will take around 4hours. While waiting we saw a group of Backpackers. Started a conversation and found out they are from Korea. Asked them where they stayed and how much they paid. They paid 100Rp for a single bedroom!! I was like SHIT! Kenna again. But I guess its cheap cos it was quite a long walk to get from their lodge to where we were at. ( Just trying to make myself feel good la) Lesson learned. We must look for a place far from the activities area if we want cheap lodging. Will try do that in Gangtok. Found out also that they are heading to Gangtok but tomorrow only. Maybe we’ll see them again there.

One of them wasn’t a Korean but a China lady. She asked me if I can speak Chinese I told her a little only so I got Cindy to entertain her.

Small lady wearing clothes like she is a local Nepalese or Bhutanese there… Great way to blend in.. She is from Chongqing China (Central area she said) and has been travelling now for 5 months alone starting from Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar than into India.. Wow Salute!! She was telling me that she is not able to enter Sikkim and not even near the border cause she is from China and I asked her what was the reason she wasn’t sure also. So she asked if we did check with the Tourism board or something if Singaporean able to get in.. Hmmm than I told her we have the India visa and isn’t Sikkim part of India? Than she said she think maybe Singapore passport will have no problem but for her she cant.. So she have to part ways with the Korean guys she met in Darjeeling and maybe meet them at Varanasi, felt sad for her. And at the same time thinking if we really need to check if we could get into Sikkim.. She asked about our journey and I told her we just started on the 29^th June, after Sikkim we will head to Nepal than into Varanasi. Than she was asking how we can get into India again due to Visa issue than I told her we applied for multiple entry visa of 6 months validity.. She was shocked and told me that Chinese National can only get 3 months for a 1 time entry into India. She gave a sigh..

Then it was time to board the taxi so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. This time its gonna be quite an uncomfortable ride cos the jeep is fully loaded. Including us, 10 passengers + 1 driver. Don’t think so much just do it….. And there is also a seat no allocation that we didn’t now before.. Now we know and said we should get the 2 seats beside the driver which was more spacious rather than squeezing with 4 people behind…

We stopped a few times along the way. Once to check the tyres, once to buy groceries and once to rest and for the jeep to be washed. Hahaha. But I wasn’t complaining as my legs are quite cramped from sitting down too long with legs folded in. I was happy to stop. We went down Cindy went to toilet and I just walk around and took a few pictures. Wow this place is very peaceful and calming with blue skies, puffy clouds overhead and tea plantation surrounding us. This place should be called Lopchu a village 30+km away from Darjeeling… Cindy said she don’t mind staying at this peaceful place, its way cleaner than Darjeeling and definitely quite .. Very minimal honking and honking and honking all day long… If only they would have home stays to work at the tea plantation, it would be fantastic…

the jeep cleaning up

View from the shop

view from the toilet.. heheh

another view..

We walked up a small slope and took some pictures of the tea gardens and the valleys we could see from where we were standing.. It was Fantastic … Then we proceeded to the shop and got some crackers and bottled pepsi and mountain dew and await the rest to adjoin and the jeep to finish cleaning..

From the slopes...

Tea garden back ground

After about 10 mins we continued with the 80+km left on our journey. Thru the bumpy, honking and squeezy ride we pass thru a few villages and also saw the Teesta River which spans 185m thru Teesta village right up to Gangtok. The view was nice, saw the villagers washing clothes and children playing in the river .. After another 2 hours of humpty bumpy ride we arrive at Sikkim border Rangpo Police check point, the keep stopped and the police looked and ushered the jeep to pass and we carry on another 15km, one of the young lady in our row got off and finally we got some extra space … phew … what a relief for all… another 30 mins we pulled up in Gangtok Bus Station.

Saw some hotel/lodges nearby so Ramli went and asked for the price while I look after the heavy bags… He checked out 2 and both costs Rp500 per night, wah so ex.. so we tried to walk up hill in search of cheaper alternatives.. Ramli went into another 2 and prices was the same. I went into 1 and the caretaker brought me up to see the rooms, single bed costs Rp300 so I asked if we could stay 2 person in the room? He shake his head and ushered me to the double room which costs Rp500.. Wow I was impress with this hotel la… the double room had the toilet and bath room separated and most important it is damn clean la!! I told the caretaker I’ll be back in a minute will check with my friend.. Than Ramli came out from the other hotel he was enquiring, the price Rp300 but the reception asked to produce some permit to stay in Gangtok… Ramli told me I was confuse and himself nothing better… Hmmm so many ??? in our face…

We carried on walking up hill to the more deserted area to get some place cheap and within our budget.. Than we came to one Kanchan View Hotel surveyed the rooms they could offer..Not as fantastic as the one I saw but bearable and the reception let us have the super single bed for 2 pax at Rp250… Alright that is 50% cheaper than the rest hopefully we don’t meet the Korean guy tomorrow and find out he got a cheaper one… Hahahahahah When we confirm the room, he asked us for the permit … Alamak we panick la, mampus what permit … He said need to apply permit for 15 days stay and should be done at Rangpo where the police check point was… My God die la this time… I told him when we pass the check point the police just ask to pass, didn’t ask to stop to apply for permit or anything… He also confuse and kept telling us this permit is very important… Mampus liao man … Than I told him we have Indian Visa can? He wasn’t sure so we walked downstairs and he explain the situation to his senior after talking a while in their native tongue the senior nod his head and say its ok… But still we still feel unrest.. Are we considered illegal immigrant?

After settling down in the room, we did our solat and cooked rice and had our dinner with the He bee Hiam… Hopefully this precious he bee hiam can lasts us for sometime more.. Then we headed out in search for the Tourism Office or Tourist Registration Office. We walked up hill where the reception has pointed for a good 15mins but the office still wasn’t in sight.. So we asked a hotel boy the direction and the operation hours. He said already close, tomorrow open 1030hrs.. Okay than we walked back down to find the internet café to check out on this “permit” we need to apply.. Hmmm

Search the net and found that we really need to apply for a Inner Line Permit for entry into Sikkim. Either at the India Commissioner office in Darjeeling or when entry into Rangpo.. My God!!! Both of us are feeling “illegal” but we didn’t say it out as our facial expressions already show… Mampus Mampus kept repeating in my head, I just pray hard that we wont get into trouble because of this.. Maybe get deported back to Darjeeling ? If deported still acceptable for me.. But please don’t let us incurred a Big Fat fine because of this negligence… We asked a few people on the opening hours of the Tourism Office but seems everyone has their own say, 1 said 1030hrs, another said 0830 hrs and the 3^rd said 1000hrs erm no 0800hrs to 1000hrs.. Haiyo seems no one know la…

With our heavy and weary heads we went to get some “provisions” for our breakfast for tomorrow.. Bread, a small bottle of fruit jam, water and some packed juices and headed back to the hotel to rest for the night and wish for a good outcome tomorrow.. There isn’t TV in the room so we decided to watch some drama or movie on our lappy which we have saved in the external hard disk before we left home..

Another night in Amazing India.. Gangtok is totally different compared to Darjeeling. The streets are cleaner and more orderly here and not much honkings… Weather isn’t as cold but I guess is due to the difference of their elevation.. Darjeeling 2134m while Gangtok is only 1524m above sea level.