Mark and I paid up at the tour company across the road from the hotel at 0900 and hopped into the 4WD.  We had booked a car for the both of us as there seemed to be no other tourists in town.  The town was very quiet indeed and our hotel and many others seemed […]

Above: Leaving Darjeeling, I waited for 1h30 before the 4WD shared taxi had a full load and could depart. The first of four wait-and- rides. I had about 10 hours sleep last night to compensate for the early wake-up yesterday (which was preceded by bad sleep).  I woke after 0700 and got packed up first […]

With a pickup at 0430, I didn’t sleep well.  I had retired around 2100 and had woken around 2330, 0130 before finally waking up before the alarm around 0330. I decided to head down to the roadside a little earlier.  Somehow I had expected it, and the front gate was locked.  Fortunately I was able […]

I woke to a glorious view of Kangchendzonga (8598 m), the 3rdhighest mountain in the world and India’s highest.  It’s in a range with several other very high peaks as well.  Yesterday, I didn’t know it was right outside my window because of the clouds. What a stunning view to sit down to and eat […]

Due to a late night last night, I woke up relatively late at 0730. I rang to get the hot water turned on and after 20 minutes it was just warm enough to have a splash before breakfast.  I popped out to the nearby Sikkim Nationalised Transport terminal to check if the Tourist Information Centre […]

I had a lazy morning after my hotel’s South Indian breakfast.  It was nice to have the internet again.  Having done all my “must dos” yesterday, I did some reading and generally surfing before checking out at 1145 before the 1200 cut-off. It seemed like a perfect plan that my train departed only nearby at […]

Above: Random sign for a restaurant. After a very restful day of doing nearly nothing yesterday, I’m moving on from Cherrapunjee to Guwahati through Shillong.  I had sore calves yesterday from the hike the day before; a little unexpected as I thought I’d get sore quadriceps perhaps.  My knees lasted surprisingly well. After breakfast, I […]

The sun rises around 0530 here so I woke early.  I had breakfast at 0730 and had organised a packed lunch.  Having not heard from the girls last night I had resigned myself to getting my own taxi at INR800 roundtrip to Tyrna, the starting point for the hike for the living root bridges. But […]