Highway to Hill: Sikkim

A passport stamp and a couple brutal share-jeep rides later and we're in Sikkim, surrounded by Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan. On our application to enter the state we had to sign saying we wouldn't hop to any neighboring countries.

Pelling from the Helipad

Everyone gets by on enormous diesel jeeps with 3 or 4 rows of seating. They're amazing because their fixed and reasonable prices give us a nice break from the rickshaw mafia (literally). We broke a record with 24 people in one vehicle getting to our first stop: Pelling.

Cricket, 2 monasteries, and walking around the ruins of Rabdentse (Sikkim's ancient capitol) in Pelling before getting up early for an all-day jeep ride to Gangtok. We're running around all day on little sleep, but it's worth it.

 Aaron expertly defending the wicket

Monk's quarters at Pemayangtse Monastery

Gangtok (Sikkim's capital) is enormous, with an extensive outdoor mall (they even sell iPhones). We'll get up early tomorrow to catch the huge monastery at Rumtek.

Trek: done.

Sore calves tell me I just finished my 4 day trek with Aaron and our new Irish friends up to the tallest peak in West Bengal and back. We were a little early on the trekking season, so we got rained on a little, and we didn't get any views of Everest.  On the bright side we saw Kangchanjunga in full alpenglow, which was very nice.

Kanchanjunga

On our way up to the peak we tried chow mein with yak meat, yak cheese (extremely tough, could be called milk jerky), tomba (fermented millet beer served in a large bamboo mug and straw, refilled with hot water a la Argentinian yerba mate), and rhododendron wine. All were good.

Large mug-o-tomba

I'm really looking forward to starting an engineering project soon. Something better come through, or I'll have to take matters into my own hands. I need a senior project!

Nailed it.

Happy Tea and Tibetans

We got a quick start to head to the highest tea plantation at Happy Valley in Darjeeling. It arguably grows the best tea due to the altitude and “because of the happy”, according to the cheery tea lady near the processing room. We shared tea and experiences with monks from Laos and Thailand, who were also recently in Bodhgaya.

After that, we hiked to the other side of Darjeeling to the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Center. Many older members manning sewing machines and spinning wheels or relaxing in the mountain air. Well stocked store with rugs and other Tibetan handicrafts, all benefitting the community. I picked up a maaza (Coca Cola’s mango nectar in India) and a set of prayer flags at the general store.

We hiked down to the main road to catch a taxi to get to our Bollywood movie, Bodyguard. We were instead given a free lift into town by the Tibetan clinic’s ambulance jeep. Aaron and I can now add ‘ambulance’ to our list of transportation methods in India. The ride was great but the movie was canceled, so we looked around the superstore in the mall. No haggling!
Café Coffee Day, a south Indian outfit since 2006 with premium caffeinated drinks, snacks, and a lounge atmosphere, was a nice place for a break. It feels a lot like the other corporate coffeehouse titans, which it has replaced in India. I had an award winning coffee nirvana-something with whipped cream and sprinkles to get a break from chai and tea.
At night we kicked it with our friendly Irish neighbors. We met them on the jeep ride up to Darjeeling and might join them on the next leg of their journey (up into the Himalayas!)

Kangchanjunga above Darjeeling

Himalayan Mountaineering and Zoology

After a late start we headed out a couple kilometers north to the Darjeeling Zoo and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute at its attached museum. Both were well worth the admission. The zoo was laid out like a Himalayan forest and the zookeepers worked very hard to only include Himalayan animals, including wolves, red pandas, snow leopards, an asiatic black bear and a Bengal tiger. All were quite active around mid-day when we were there.

Himalayan Wolf

Red Panda

Asiatic Black Bear

The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, at the back of the zoo, has detailed history of all of the important climbs of Everest. All the whos-who of mountaineering, including the late director, Tenzing Norgay and first summiter of Everest, were honored there. An extensive comparison of old and new mountaineering gear was also interesting.

Fortunately the fog and clouds cleared out by the end of the day and we were able to get some pictures of the breathtaking view. The monsoon has been late in leaving this year, and we don’t expect to get any sunny days up here. We had a great dinner of pad thai and tandoori chicken finished with chocolate mousse. Fusion seems to be the way to go in India.

Tea and Earthquakes

3 days of trains and Aaron and I are at 7,000 ft in the tea center of the world at Darjeeling. Monsoon is still here, so it rains for all but two hours of the day. It cleared up a little last night and we were able to see the start of the peaks around us. Everest and Kangchenjunga  (3rd highest) are both visible from Tiger Hill, a short drive from town.

Last night (9/18) we explored the Mall area a little before getting some noodles at a tiny Chinese place down the road. Halfway through around 6:10pm IST, a relatively big earthquake hit and everything started shaking, so we had to run out into the street, as far away from the buildings as possible.

Talking to a connected hotel manager later, he said the tremors lasted two minutes and the epicenter was in Sikkim. He had family all across the range who all reported it to him. Magnitude 6.8, according to him. We haven’t seen any buildings down, but the power was out last night. This is a first for Darjeeling.

The tea is excellent, here. I haven’t missed the highly sweetened, creamy chai yet.

Future plans: We have been given about 2 weeks to travel before work really starts and we don’t have any more free time. Might as well spend it up in the north, around Darjeeling and Sikkim, where we aren’t sweating buckets for once.

Peace in Puri

Everything’s a little more laid back in this relatively quiet fishing village. Rickshaws hardly hassle us and we have to look really hard to find other tourists. Locals say the tourism industry dried up four or five years ago. Nevertheless, Aaron and I found a nice bakery catering to the foreign crowd, complete with muesli, newspapers and air conditioning. It’s like a vacation from vacation.

[muesli]

Headed over to the Jagganath temple (enormous, also closed to non-hindus) in downtown Puri before catching an incredibly crowded bus up to Konark, the sun temple.

[jagannath]

The temple consists of a huge (38m) porch/hall (jagamohana) leading up to the 70m deul tower, now collapsed. In front is a now roofless dance hall where ceremonies were held. The whole temple is fashioned as a solar chariot, with seven horses and twelve wheels, all with symbols to the relationship of minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years. Word has it that once they were completing the enormous stone roof on the jagamohana, they needed extra structural support and had to add 10m long iron beams(!). Judging by the size of the fragments, the grains must have had a long time to develop. Correct me if I’m mistaken, materials engineers.

[overall temple, wheel, and iron beams]

 

We also ran into a couple very friendly fishermen who invited their coworkers over. We buy them beer, they hang out with us for a little, give us a couple excellent spiced fish caught that day, invite us back to their village, feed us a little more, ask us for money to buy a handle of Indian whiskey, and we quickly realize that we are funding alcoholism and not friendship.

We retire to our hotel and endure mosquitoes until we decide that another night is unacceptable and that it is time to head up to Darjeeling and Sikkim.

Bodhgaya in Depth

Stayed up last last night to take long exposure pictures of the Buddha (25m) down the street and our hotel-monastery. It's still hard to believe that we're staying at such a beautiful building. That's Aaron and one of the resident ghost dogs in front.

We woke up early yesterday morning for the 6AM service at our hotel/temple. Lots of chanting, loud horns, cymbals, and drums. Went back to bed, then headed out for something to eat. On the way we met Jakey and Rawan who later joined us for breakfast. Over pancakes we planned to visit the Mahakala caves and Sujata's home, both important locations in the storyline leading up to the Buddha's enlightenment.


Our ride on the back of a couple motorcycles was a blast, since we were in the hands of a couple fast but experienced drivers. As we sped down the road Pawan was singing songs from bollywood favorites like 3 Idiots and Fanaa. After riding through some villages we reached the small cave where Siddhartha spent 6 years, now decorated with buddha statues and Sri Lankan flags. Next was the stupa commemorating Sujata's donation of milk-rice to Lord Buddha so that he had enough energy to meditate and attain nirvana.  Here's Pawan, me, Aaron, and Jackey after the ride.

On our way out to dinner we ran into a Tibetan lama, who was very friendly and wanted to know how we were handling the weather, and what the temperatures were like in California (in Celsius, of course).



Today: Off to Orissa/Konark, to the south of Kolkata/Calcutta in West Bengal. We were planning on heading to Darjeeling and Kathmandu but it makes more sense to do it later when the weather is a little colder but clearer.

Aal izz well.

Bodhgaya

After a mercifully quick stay in Gaya, we headed on to Bodhgaya by bus (Rs.15, ticketmaster smirked as he asked for Rs 50(~$1) while everyone else looked on and paid Rs.10. I laughed back and handed him a much more reasonable fee).

The Mahabodhi temple at the town center is a 19th century reconstruction of a 7th century temple at the location of the Bodhi tree where Buddha attained enlightenment. It's surrounded by a multitude of smaller stupas, as well as a reconstruction of a 2nd century fence. The Bodhi tree in the rear gave shade to about 150 Sri Lankan pilgrims praying. Picking up a fallen leaf from the tree ensures good luck in studies; plucking one is very bad luck. Don't worry, I got mine the right way. Aaron and I returned at night to play with the low light settings on our cameras:

The Mahabodhi towers 55m above the field of stupas. The great bodhi tree is in front.

The Bodhi tree and its protective fence, behind which is also the Buddha's thunder-seat.

We buzzed around to every country's temple here: Thailand, the 4 Tibetan ones, Burmese, Bhutanese, Japanese, Chinese, the Mahabodhi Society's, as well as the Archaeological museum here. Particularly outstanding were the relief work in the Bhutanese one and the interior painting and exterior decoration of the Thai temple.

Bhutanese Temple and monastery.

Thai Temple, during evening prayers. Thailand wins fanciest temple.

Oh and we're staying at one of the Tibetan monasteries.

Sarnath

After walking around southern Varanasi, we hopped on a rickshaw ("auto"-for autorickshaw, not cycle rickshaw) for a 15km ride to Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon to his five closest followers in a deer park. Now, over 2500 years later, a giant stupa (dome-like buddhist structure) marks the spot of the first sermon, and there are still deer basking in the shade.

Aaron and I headed over to the Archaeological museum afterwards where we found the original Ashoka pillar (the 4 lions perched above a ring of wheels and animals, now the official symbol of the Indian government, no photography please) and an incredible sandstone carving of the buddha. in an annex. We learned the dharmachakra (teaching/turning of the wheel of law) mudra (buddha hand gesture) from one of the guards.

After lunch of an Indian take on Chow Mein (spicier), we visited each country's temple as well: Thailand, Japan, China, and Tibet. Crowded shared auto back with music blasting, in order to catch our night train ($2.50) to Bodhgaya. Here's the sky outside the train station.

New Plans/Varanasi

We got up really early to see the sunrise over the Ganges, which was incredibly worth it. Streets were still bustling at 5AM though. I did manage to get a shot without anyone else (but the cows of course):

And our early wakeup paid off:

Last one's big, for your wallpapering benefit.

We also went back to the burning ghats after I warned Aaron about the scam. Turns out he already knew about it from his book. Anyway we ran into the first tour guide who took us around and didn't force us to go to his shop or follow us. It was amazing. I knew enough from the wood touts that I could give the tour.

Monsoons have swollen the Ganges significantly. In the last picture you're supposed to see about 50 meters of steps leading into the river. They're underwater right now, making travelling up and down the river more difficult.

And the plan for the next couple of days, tentative of course:

Tomorrow: Sarnath (10km north, where the Buddha gave his first sermon)

Tomorrow evening: train to Gaya in south Bihar.

The day after: Bodhgaya, where the Buddha attaned enlightenment.

We weren't feeling enough of the dharma love, so we had to change that.

Found Aaron

After writing yesterday I went out and explored Godowalia(Varanasi). I'm finally proficient enough navigating the streets, which are unmarked but thankfully often in a grid. It comes down to trusting instincts, and local merchants or policemen.

I went to the burning ghats yesterday and got scammed into funding someone's alcohol, thinking that I was donating money for old people waiting to die and wood to build the funeral pyres. My book wasn't explicitly clear that that whole thing was a scam, but even locals in other parts of the city will let you know that it's a bunch of bull. So I'm down $2: mistakes are cheap here. The actual cremations were fascinating, and not nearly as gruesome or pungent as I had prepared myself for. Pictures are highly taboo. Sorry, you'll just have to see for yourself.

Found Aaron at 3, then cruised around the city for a while. We went to the Golden Temple around 5:30 to see the Hindu ceremonies. We made it through the first level of security (metal detectors and groping, nothing I'm not used to, thanks TSA) but were shooed away from anything further "Gentlemen not belonging to the Hindu religion are kindly asked not to enter". Fair enough.

Mother Ganga Puja Ceremony at 730: boats crowded in the river fully loaded with onlookers, with huge lanterns and acting on a balcony above the river.

Varanasi

The 13 hour train ride from Delhi to Varanasi was amazing--and on time to the minute, both departing and arriving. I'm reading Rudyard Kipling's Kim, which is turning out to be pretty good. I was on cloud 9 in 3rd class, preparing to hit the ground running. (Up in my bunk, a good 5 feet above the seats)

Got to Varanasi around 5AM, found the hotel after a high-paced rickshaw ride plus walking (the rickshaw wouldn't fit) through tight alleyways past numerous bands of policemen. This morning, monkeys brawling on rooftops next to my window, and a cow just mooed from the street. Here's my new digs, 57 hours and 50 minutes after leaving my old digs in Alabama:

No air conditioning, but much more atmosphere.

Boom. Delhi

I made it to Delhi late last night, showing up with a hotel in mind but not a reservation. It took 3 hours driving around with an almost schizophrenic cab driver to get the price down from 150 US to Rs700. I don't want to talk about it.

Today: SIM card, breakfast, chai (!), reservation (learned from that mistake), walking through alleyways so tight it doesn't matter what time of day it is; they are lit only by neon and fluorescent lights. Saw a couple blacksmiths making chisels.

I'm going to make my best effort to keep updating this puppy as frequently as possible.


See you from Varanasi/Benares tomorrow.

So Go On

19 hours in, Amsterdam, 6AM.

Back in Atlanta, they had already painted a parking line for the 787-8, which got its FAA certification just last week. Flew CRJ-200 to Atlanta then A330-200 to Amsterdam. Oh well.

As I was boarding the security guards advised all the passengers to remove their bangles before going through the metal detector. Only on a flight to India.

HSV

At the airport, boarding in 10.

Latest Plans

It looks like things are coming through in West Bengal within the next two weeks. I might have work over there; we're just waiting on some paperwork. Materials are coming in!

Current plan is to get in to Delhi early next week and immediately hop on a train to Varanasi for some sightseeing. Every backpacker I ran into last time around asked if I had been. I guess it's time to go see it.