Mount Kanchenjunga from The Swiss Hotel
See my picasa web album to find out where mount Kanchenjunga is..
The road goes down into the Teesta valley and crosses it into sikkim. Darjeeling is in West Bengal, There is some talk about a separate state called Gorkkhaland. And Sikkim and Gangtok are on the other bank of Teests. And the road only crosses into Sikkim at the bottom of the valley. And Gangtok is again on the hill. So you go all the way down and cross the river and climb all the way back up into Gangtok.
Tea Gardens on the way down from Darjeeling
The winding road down.
Then we reached Gangtok in the evening and were welcomed in the traditional way with silk khatas as a token of welcome and goodwill. The Hotel Delamere is a unique boutique hotel and we felt welcome and immediately relaxed. The drive from Darjeeling was a long and strenuous one with a mad driver. Then er went up to M G Marg for dinner, came back and to bed. Tomorrow we would see more of Gangtok and Sikkim. Two very interesting things about Gangtok.
1. No taxis from outside Gangtok are allowed in the city. We reached the outskirts of Gangtok and had to get out of the Tata Sumo. Then we got into a local Maruti Omni Taxi and reached the Hotel Delamere. That is to make sure that people in Gangtok get the best of the tourist traffic. otherwise People can hire a taxi somewhere outside and roam about Sikkim without sparing a pie for the people of Gangtok!
2. Traffic is banned in M G Marg. It is a walk only zone. What a pleasure to see such a place. I wish we had roads and places like that in Bangalore. Where you can walk without fear of being run over by some lunatic on a kinetic.. (The Walkway beside M G Road in Bangalore is gone to make way for the Metro.)
More coming up after the break, stay tuned to EOTM
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