Day 10 Lachung Village, North Sikkim 8th July 2009

Morning came with Ramli visiting the toilet for 2 times at the wee hours of 0300hrs in the morning… Seems that his diarrhoea have not recovered since that day. After Subuh went back to sleep and got up at about 0700hrs to have a chilling shower and pack up for Yumthang Valley.

Carried our 15 to 16 kgs back pack and our day packs, headed up hill to Altitude Adventure. This uphill walk was unbearing for me, I think I’m going to faint as I feel the bag is bringing me down and pressing into my internal organs and I feel my lungs will collapse soon.. Wahahha exaggerating la me.. Its just tiring la for not training first for this trip.. we took a medium pace 15mins walk uphill to reach our dest in which a normal walk w/o backpack take about 10mins only. Maybe it wasn’t that bad.

Anyway when we reached the shop, I quickly dumped my back and started wiping off sweats all over my face and neck. The owner saw us and advised that we are still the only ones going, so I guess no choice la. Paid the balance and than headed to the jeep with our guide Mr Sudan. Met with our driver not sure what name at the car park and started out journey.

Lachung Village is 140kms away from Gangtok and is at 8100ft above sea level. Get ready for the humpty, bumpy ride. About 15 mins outside of Gangtok the driver stopped at a meat market out of no where and went searching for the halal chicken which Ramli requested earlier. First shop wasn’t successful and the second shop! Yeah they have !! we are so looking for dinner today.. At long last some meat for me….

Drove for a bout 1 hr later and came to a 7 Sisters Waterfall which is 500m high and have 7 steps to the waterfall that’s why the name. Took some wet pictures and visited the extremely clean public toilet and continued with our journey.


so high ...


my turn

1145hrs we reach a Everest Hotel to have lunch. Sudan spoke with the lady for a while and only understood that they haven’t prepare any lunch as this is the low season they didn’t want the food to go to waste. So they could only offer Waiwai Masala Vege Maggie noodle with diced tomatoes and onion, apples and black tea. Continued our journey after 5 hours on the jeep seems everyone felt sleepy even the DRIVER!! I can see from the rear view mirror that his eyes are half close half open, he is trying his bests to stay awake. I was thinking no!!!! Please be alert!! I don’t want to fall down the hill ok please!! Luckily about 10mins later we reached a check point and the driver went and freshen up . Phew!!

The mountains and hills of north Sikkim is so different from East Sikkim(Gangtok). There are waterfalls at most of the corners of the mountains or hills. Small, Medium or Large .. Some even flows right onto the road, there is one particular one which flows at a big area on the road, the motorists stopped and parked right in the flow and make use of this free water to wash their car. Good idea!! Only if Singapore have a few of this waterfalls, we don’t have to rely on our neighbours for water.


Bhimala Waterfalls


My legs elongated

Stopped at a Bhim Nala Waterfalls just by the road, took some pictures and left.

After another few hours finally we arrive at Lachung Village at 1533hrs at our rest place Seela inn Resort for the night. This village is fantastic, all natural with mountains and valleys surrounding the village and a river the flows so strongly down the village. You can hear the roaring of the water from the road. After admiring the scenery for a while we checked into our room. Wow first sight!! I was totally impressed as this was to me “heaven” after so many days of crappy rooms and filthy toilets.. Yahooo and the room actually smells so clean and their sheets look so clean. We had frontal view to the village and the river, woooo!!! Next was the toilet, wow clean clean clean and for the first time I could step into the toilet barefooted.. And most importantly they have heater!! Yahooooo another something to look forward after dinner!! Hot shower!! Finally!!


Dining area

After dumping our stuffs in the room we went out to find some adventure. Walked along the river took some photos and than tried walk up hill looking for anything… As this is really the low season, most of the hotels are close for holiday and seems that we are the only tourists in town. No one bothered us much, just look when we pass and let us be on our own again … This village is so amazingly peaceful and quiet, wow I don’t mind staying here for a few days,… Just want to take in the peacefulness which I haven’t found for a while. Just strolling along the houses and hotels with Ramli, watching the few cows grazing and the colorful flowers with mountains surrounding and guarding over us.. Waaaahhh another “heaven” for me… Weather was cool and comfortable, I couldn’t ask for more..


Little Domah ..


trying to shake hands with her..


peace?


kekekek

Slowly we stroll back to the hotel passing children playing some rock “hantam” game and young men playing makeshift cricket… We sat at the porch of the hotel sipping our hot black tea, eating biscuits and still enjoying the peace and view. As the evening came the temperature dipped so we headed back to our room to enjoy the clean room for once.. Sudan came up a while later and we had a chat with him. He is 25 years old and have been doing free lance tour guide for 8 years now and most of the times he goes trekking at west Sikkim and since now is low season he came along with us. He already have a 6 yr old son!! Wow I think we should wake up some of our “ideas” wahaahh like real….


lady cutting wood..


the river just outside our lodging..


Hands wide open for the nature

He recommended that we go Ladakh for trekking instead of Nepal as now is trekking season in Ladakh. Nepal would be same like in Sikkim monsoon and cloudy.. I guess we will see hows the situation when we arrive at Nepal than decide. He told us some history of Sikkim as we still are curious of the need of the ILP. So the history goes, around 1960s a war broke out between Sikkim and China as usual China want to take over this land. At that time Sikkim is still a Kingdom independent but with very little resources to be able to defeat the Chinese so the King sought help from India and there after winning this battle Sikkim became a Union of India. India supported Sikkim in their growth till today investing a lot of money to bring up Sikkim. India military is very involve in Sikkim especially North Sikkim as it is near the borders of China and Tibet thus the reason of the ILP and also the PAP (for tourist visit to restricted sight seeing area).. Ohhh now we know .. I asked if he thinks that Sikkim will be independent again he say not really as now is better as India is investing in their country and helping the growth of their economy.

After a bit more chatting it was time for Dinner!! Long awaited Dinner!! We headed down after solat. And was greeted by Sudan our guide, Sonam the hotel owner’s son and Sonur our 19 year old cook. Dish by dish they serve it to us.. My eyes was eyeing on the chicken!! We couldn’t wait anymore and dig into the Rice, Fried kicap Chicken, Fried Cabbage and Dhal curry.. Yummy!! This little boy can cook or maybe we are just too hungry due to the cold… While eating chit chatted with the 3 guys and got to know more about Sikkim and the Tibetans …And also found out that Sikkim Gov do not allow smoking in public and if caught there will be a fine of Rp5000 (SGD150.00) and 1 day jail time…. the wonderful dinner ended with hot black tea and fruit platter of Banana and apples.. … Wonderful…


Waiting..


Looks messy, but tasty.. And finally chicken!!


Fork


Retired to our rooms at about 2050hrs to have that long awaited HOT shower.. Wwwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh Feels good!!!! Update some blogs and awaiting the morning for bed tea @ 0630hrs… They serve tea in bed (but not breakfast in bed) interesting… 0730hrs breakfast than head off to Yumthang Valley and Yumesamdong…

Its too cold here!! Freezing for us.. Soon we will hide under the thick covers and snooze off to another wonderful day of adventure… God Bless…

Day 9 Gangtok 7th July 2009

our Crappy Rp250 room... our clothes line.. hehe

Today woke and had bread and strawberry jam for breakfast. After that, immediately head out to sort our “illegal status”. We went walking in search for the tourism office. After 15mins of walking up hill, (this place everywhere seems to be an uphill climb) we finally reach the place. The area is called MG Marg Rd, where all the tourist and shopping area is. We went into the office, and was greeted by this Nepalese guy sitting behind the counter. We told him of our situation and that we would like to apply for the permit if its possible. His partner advise that it’s best we head to the Foreigner’s Registration Office (FRO) for advise on this matter as the inner line permit (ILP) is a very important document and have to be applied before entry or at the border checkpoint Rangpo. I mention to him that we did not know we need another permit and when we pass the checkpoint we weren’t stopped so we didn’t thought too much of it. He advise that maybe our faces looked like their local people so the police miss out.

So we headed uphill, downhill to find the foreigners office and went up to the 2^nd floor and was asked to sign in on the log book by the security officer in his brown uniform holding a rifle with a dagger at the top. He asked where we are from and looked at Ramli and said :” You look like a Nepali.. with a big grin”.. kekekke we laugh and make our way up to the FRO office with our hearts thumping so hard. Went into the room and the officers weren’t in yet. It was about 1023hrs so we guessed their working hours should be 1030hrs as mentioned by the first guy we met yesterday evening.

After a few mins a stern looking man came in and sat at his desk, took out a log book and ask if we are here to have our visa extended. We told him no and again explain the situation to him and he shake his head and said to us that this ILP is very important as Sikkim is a protected area so permit is required even on top of our Indian Visa. He look out the window and ask us for our passports and visa copies and ask us to sit down. Heart still thumping…. Saw him filling a form and was thinking hopefully that was the ILP.. We were quite most of the time as we are just awaiting for the stern officer to tell us that we need to pay a penalty or something…

After a while another officer came in, much more friendlier. Asked where we were from and ask if we stayed at Kanchang View cause he saw us yesterday evening twice, once walking up the hill and once walking down the hill.. Hehehhehe he stayed near our hotel. He relief our stress a little. The stern officer walk out with his log book and our passports.. Hmmm return in about 5 mins and asked us over to his desk and gave us our ILP!!!! Wow this was the biggest relief we have ever felt… phew!! We warmly thanked him and left the office with our heads held high walking proudly as a “legal” Tourist!! Allhamdulilah!!

Map of Sikkim

me lost in MG Marg Road?

So now we headed to the tourism office thinking of checking out where we could go today and the next few days since we have already got our ILP we might as well stay a few more days to worth the while of the “illegal” scare.

We walk along MG Road and saw a Altitude Adventure and this guy was waving at us so we decided to go in for a chat and check what are our options within our budget. He recommended us a 3 days 2 Night trip to Yumthang Valley about 140kms away from Gangtok. What we see on the pictures he had hanging in his shop was tempting, valley with flat river bed.. Woooo!! And there are hot springs and water falls to visit. Asked him to quote us his best rate, USD350 for 2 pax for 3d/2n full board…Wow we thought so expensive ah…. Hmm Hmmm Hmmm .. How should we do it or should we go for the 2d/1n option of USD200 for 2 pax full board.. But this trip we will miss the Yumesamdong Valley which is further up than Yumthang Valley…

We asked him again to quote a better rate, and we offered him to give us at USD300 and asked if he could get some other travel agents customers to share the jeep with us so we could save some costs. He say he will try and look for others and let us know if he was able to get anyone else. Meantime we were doing our calculations if we are within budget to do this trip.. Count and count, ok guess we could do this after all the stinging for the pass 8 days we have accumulated excess perdium of a total Rp14K+ so its about equivalent to USD300 with some excess. Same time he confirmed he could offer USD300 to us and if there is anyone who comes up he will of costs lower the costs for us.We gave him copies of our passports and 2 passport photos so he could arrange the permit to visit North Sikkim as it seems permit is required to enter as this is a extra protected area. So we guess this is the price we have to pay for a paid tour… Bo pian but finally some “action”… Reporting time tomorrow 0930hrs… Yeah yeah!

Tapping live from the DB box..

Lall Market

another view of Lall Market

Time to look for lunch and then some sight seeing in the city. We walked down Mg Road to Lall Market as the shops on MG Road are closed on Tuesdays.. Hmmm . Lall Market didn’t have anything interesting to offer us. So we just continued walking and came to a small alley with some shops around. Saw one decent enough “fast food” place so decided to walk in and try some vegetarian food..

Ashrafiah fast food

When we walked in, I sat down and Ramli went to the counter and wanted to ask what was available for us. Then he call for me and say look! I think this place is Halal …I like is it! He pointed to the “ayat2” that was hanged above the counter and asked the lady if the food is halal and for muslim? She nodded with a smile. As you can imagine how ecstatic we were!!! Yahoo finally some chicken or beef or anything !! Yeah… Than I ordered a Chicken Chow mien, Ramli wanted a Chicken Briyani… But when he ordered the lady advised there wasn’t chicken available today only vegetable.. Aiyah!! So no choice we have to settle down with vege chowmien.. I can see Ramli’s face all upset…kekekke

our chowmien

Chappati with Beef Curry!!

After finishing our chowmien, Ramli still not satisfied with his lunch.. Went and ask the lady again if anything else was available, she said how about momos( steam gyoza or dumpling) he like hmm ok.. than she asked or you want Chappati with beef curry..Wah immediately Ramli’s face lighted up la!! Ya ya ya that’s all he kept saying… keekekekeke Thru the counter we see the lady preparing the chappati all fresh!! Wow must taste nice. About 15 mins she serve the long awaited meat to Ramli!! Was fantastic….Finally and at last he was “full filled’… kekekk The shop name is Ashrafiah Fast Food. From Gangtok ropeway building, walk straight to the alley on the left where you can see UBI Gangtok Granch India Bank, walk straight about another 5 mins and you can see the shop on the right side. Small shop..

View from somewhere

View from National Highway road

Our faces distorted by the 12/24 hehehhe

With our ‘full filled” stomach we walked down hill towards the bus station to check if any taxi can bring us to the sights in Gangtok town. Asked one and told him we wanted to go to Tashi View Point (to see the Himalaya Range and Mt Khanchendzonga (3^rd highest mountain in the world) and a Bakthang water falls. He said ok 1 destination at Rp100.. Hmmmok lor go… he hopped in than after he made a small u-turn he talked to another taxi driver and than asked us to move over.. Ahhh ok move , so on the way this young chap asked if we want to go to7 points at Rp600 we tried bargain but he say no cannot.. Ok la why not since we have nothing much to do and the distance with the up and down hill is too much for us…

1^st Directorate of Handloom & Handicrafts – Boring!

2^nd Enchey Monastery – It started to rain so all misty couldn’t see much and is cooold.

Look at the speech bubble.. kekekek

Ramli looks pregnant..

3^rd Ganeshtok (Indian Temple) – Also boring, as shoes need to be taken off I went in and check out first. Walked around and only interesting sight was seeing 2 Europeans seating behind the temple playing poker cards..Ermmm is this allowed or polited?

4^th Tashi View Point – Hoping to see the Himalaya View, at first there was hope as it looks like the clouds are clearing but it changed within minutes. A thick fog passed and covered up the whole view than it started to rain again..

5^th Gonjang Monastery – Told driver don’t have to stop cause it seems unnecessary to us. Rainy and the building seems plain.

Bakthang Waterfalls

6^th Bakthang Waterfalls – Wooo nice water Fall but is starting to pour so we just took some quick pictures and left a.s.a.p. before we got wet.

Than the taxi driver say ok that’s all, will drop you off at Mg Road.. huh I was thinking 6 stop not 7? Aiya I thought nvr mind la, I don’t think the last one would be of any interests to us also cause of the weather. But I guess we should have just stuck with Tashi View point and Bakthang Falls and save the Rp400.

Wonder around MG road searching for a open internet café since it was raining. Did some research on our next destination Nepal and how to get to Varanasi, India. Which railway station or by bus. After 1 hour left in search of 3 eggs to cook for our dinner. Walked around got lost for a good while then passed the wet market which was still open at 1700hrs.. Not bad and seems very busy with people doing their supermarketing. We finally saw some eggs and bought it for Rp10/each.. Wah seems expensive Rp30 for 3 which is about SGD0.90, I think can get at least 5 ah in Singapore. But maybe theirs are fresh eggs from the back yard chicken and not mass produced like we have at home. Walked around the wet market for a while than headed back to hotel.

Omelette cooking in process

our dinner

Cooked the rice and than the semi steam/fried omelet and as usual ate with our he bee hiam. Oh my its running out.. One more dinner with rice and it will be finished…Jialat .. Enjoyed our dinner with a additional item… Showered and for me tried to read a book but fall asleep. Ramli was editing some pictures and retired shortly after packing up thet things while looking forward to Yumthang Valley tomorrow.

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.

Day 7 Darjeeling 5th July 2009

0330hrs, Some one was knocking on our room door. I was thinking, who the hell is it?
Opened the door slowly, defense up and ready for anything, Suddenly…… it was an Indian boy standing in the darkness mumbling ……….
tiger hill 0400hrs go down. Hahahah suspense I forgot we were suppose to go catch sunrise at tiger hill today. Hahahaha….
Got ready and went downstairs. It was raining. Actually it was raining the whole night last night. Hopefully can get to see a good sunrise la. Got up the transport and headed to Tiger Hill.

Reached there, it looks like it’s gonna be a very slim chance the clouds will clear. But I expected it already so didn’t feel too upset about it. The place was filled with Indians from various parts that are also on holiday. Everyone gathered at the point to see sunrise .. We were there at about 0450hrs… the sky already bright but no sign of any yellow or orange … we walked around for a while to soak in the coldness… Wahhhh so cold la Cindy is wearing her marmot sweats sponsored by our dearest Izar and Irma and inside another long sleeve and her pashmina and she still screaming cold… her legs shivering… wahahahahha …. Took some pics and short video of the Microwave station at Tiger Hill and decided to head back to the jeep as we don’t think that the sky will clear anytime… another time for a great sunrise…


Sunrise? But its damn cold!!


See the man behind me with scarf around his head.

Next stop was Santen Choling Buddhist Ghoom Monastery … saw 3 young monks in their red robes getting ready for the day… other that that Indian tourists…. Cindy had to go pee and saw whole load of shit in the toilet cubicles lying in the toilet bowls in the individual cubicles…. Seems there isn’t water available for flushing …. Yuckkie!!! So she surveyed and went into the
“cleanest” of them all….


Dog sleeping at the monastery


Raining and lock out.. hehehe

After exiting the Monastery we saw a make shift hawker selling samosa and some fried vegetarian jumput2 got some before we hopped on the jeep to our next destination. Not to mention the samosa and jumput2 was tasty and costs only Rp15 … But one thing for sure that we found out, they really like salty food….

Last stop is Gorkha War Memorial, as the driver only gave us 10mins for this excursion and having to pay Rp5 we just decided we will just stand around and wait as the visibility is like 10m … foggy and misty and cloudy you name it… After that we headed back to our lodge and awaited for the next excursion at 0930hrs… So what else after arrival… Zzzzzzzzzzzzz….

0915hrs knocking on the door again and as expected it is the young Indian boy with the driver reminding us of our excursion… okay okay we come down shortly… No problem the driver replied….

1st & 2nd Stop – Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park & Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) .. We struggled our way up the “treacherous” up hill slope to the entrance…Wow we both already panting, how la to go trekking like that…kekekek …


View from the treacherous hill


Luckily have my lafuma wind and rain coat..



had to pay the entrance fee stated Rp30/pax… But than the ticketing officer ask for Rp100/pax, hmmm so Ramli asked isn’t it Rp30/pax and pointed to the sign above the counter…and he pointed to his left… Tourist Rp100/pax… oh ok than…. This fee entitles entry to both places so I guess is not so expensive…
First animal that greeted was the Himalayan black bear… alone and prancing up and down its open enclosure… kesian dia…. When it saw us he looked at us and let out “klirk klirk klirk” ….


The Himalayan black bear

Hmmmm move on an carry on to the other inhabitants for the zoo, we saw bucking deer, leopards, tigers, Himalayan wolfs, clouded leopards, some parrots and that’s about all… but we are just curious why they construct the caged enclosures so high that it is so difficult for visitors to see the animals…. And all the way is up and down hill…

HMI museum showed personal belongings of what the first summiteers used when they ascended Mount Everest back in 1953, Mr Edmund Hillary accompanied by Sherpa Tenzing Norgey’s . The main museum has a model of the Himalayas showing the peaks from the highest to the lowest… and mostly are other mountaineering stories of the many other summiteers…

We walked our way back to the jeep and found that our driver and his jeep wasn’t there…didn’t panick… walked pass one green jeep and was asked by the driver if our jeep was 4399 and informed that it has change to his jeep… ok than we just wait and ordered some black tea to await the other 3 Indian man whom was with us for this excursion…. There in the jeep sat a little girl so adorable…. Myself and Ramli attempted to make funny faces at her to make her laugh.. but after 10mins or so we gave up… she didn’t react to anything …

Met a friendly Indian man namely Mr Dhrubajoyti Gogil from Assam awaiting his son and wife whom was at the Zoo and HMI… He was too lazy to follow thus sat at the make shift tea hut to wait… had a chat with him and knew that during his son school holidays they were suppose to make a trip to the smallest country in Asia : Singapore… But due to the H1N1 situation the son of 9 yrs didn’t want to go so they change their trip to Darjeeling and Gantok instead…. We exchange our contact details and he invited us to visit Assam and told us not to worry about anything… we just need to get there .. and we told him to visit Singapore in 2010 when the casinos will be ready… and hopefully the H1N1 situation will ease off by than…. Hopefully we will meet again … took a pic with them for memory…. Nice people..


Mr Dhrubajoyti and family


While waiting for the 3 indians.

Tea garden was next, the view if the tea garden was wow… but would be much more fantastic if the fog could ease… But still we ventured to the tea garden and attempted to take some photos… climbed back up to savour some Darjeeling black tea and malmos (vegetable dumpling like gyoza) Tasty!! I finish my share of 3 before Ramli could eat 1… kekekek the tea was nice and different but too bad they don’t come in tea bags so we couldn’t bring it with us on our journey….


Tea Garden view


Ramli looking far...


My turn lo...


Finally a pic of us.


Vege Momo again with Darjeeling black tea


Yummy right..


Vege Momo and Black tea

HMI rock climbing training ground… Nothing much as its raining so most of the places are closed.. just a small rock named Tenzin Rock for Ramli to try and climb up for a price of Rp20 only.. maybe about 3 storey high… he climbed up so fast and make it look so easy… I didn’t try
cause I’m afraid to fall and scratch my face… wahahahah


on the way


His conquest

After was a drive uphill to Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre, but was closed as they are preparing for the celebration of Dalai Lama’s birthday… Then visit to a Japanese Temple with a peace pagoda at the same area.. And than to a art gallery of a late Mrs Ava Devi … Nothing significant happened, only manage to talk to the little girl in the jeep whom was the drivers daughter. Her name is Doh Doh, 3 years old … took a pic with her and than headed back to lodge…


Misty... the peace pagoda.


tall tress...


spider web collecting rain drops


Doh Doh ... Cute...

Wanted to cook Maggie for lunch but as usual no power… haiyo… again… Last night already cut off for about 45mins… So decided to finish logging in our “adventures”for the day and solat before heading out to look for late lunch….

Spent about 2 hrs at the internet café to update our blogs and some of the pictures which took up so much time as blogspot can allow uploading of 5 pics each time only and than we have to sort it out etc… When we finish it was about 2000hrs and when we walked out to the cold night, most of the shops has closed. Walked towards the city centre and try and get some snacks before we headed back to cook some more Masala Maggie.. We tried the taco noodle roll Rp15 (made up name by Cindy) and Ramli had the fried noodles Rp 15 serve in the plate made by leaves (paper Marché) and the burger looking bun with the same noodle and salads Rp10… One bite into the Taco noodle roll!! Yum yum… And the burger tasted very yummy too.. With freshly shredded vegetables with tomato sauce and self concocted chilli sauce… Finger Licking good and cheap cheap cheap!! Wahahahah

Tomorrow we will be heading to Gangtok the capital of Sikkim by taxi jeep which is about 100km+ away from Darjeeling.. Another squeezy and bumpy ride to our next destination.. Hopefully the weather will be slightly better…