Hotel Nirvana Gangtok

... etc, it will take me days in the train. But now, it seems possible, at least time-wise. Still pending the tickets availability, which shold be checked online.
But I've come here for a specific trek, so I go down, checking for it. In the agency they say that currently they don't have a group, I promise to check on them later. The internet shops are still closed, so I just have a breakfast - ordered some espresso, and it wasn't too terrible ...

... I had a Disney-like picture of India in my head, and now I'm learning what it really is. I just needed to get this out to feel like I'm being truthful with everyone who reads this. India is hard to deal with sometimes. It can be fun, exciting, sad, heartwarming, boring, awkward, and everything else imaginable, just like everywhere else. Its impossible to convey experience in words, but I just thought I'd try to explain the ways that India can be hard and ...

... in there (two were kids). The kid sitting on his mom's lap next to me would fall asleep and collapse onto my lap. Although it was kind of cute, it became annoying towards the end of the 5 hour jeep ride. Finally I put my small backpack on my lap and leaned forward to try to sleep. Andrew and I both joke that after the 36 hour train ride to Silliguri and all of these share ...

... rupees = $1... so 2 rupees is hardly anything. In perspective, my meal today cost 45 rupees. It included 1 liter of mineral water, a cup of soup, and some sort of bread with vegetables cooked in it along with a sauce for dipping... absolutely delicious. I have yet to have a meal that's not been very good. Darjeeling is very hilly and I'm feeling it in my legs today... and maybe walking off some of the calories I'm taking in. It is all great fun to be here and a joy ...

... who had the hardest task, the guy with the shovel in the dark pipe or the men in the sun pulling up the buckets and taking pictures with foreign tourists. A little closer to the Maidan a man near a building under construction asked me where I was from. While we spoke a friend of his working on the building threw a clay chai cup at my feet and asked if I wanted chai. Puzzled, I pulled broken pieces of the cup out of my sandal and studied his mannerisms. He showed no other signs ...

... 283;c: na vlajkách jsou napsané motliby nebo přání, pověsí se a při mírném větříku tak přání a modlitby vlají a dostávají se do okolí.... Tady je těch vlajek a vlaječek tolik, ze to vypadá, jako by byl okolo jezera vysázený barevný les (vlajky jsou modré, bílé, zelené, červené a zluté). Hladina jezera je neuvěřitelně čistá a legenda říká, ze jakmile padne na hladinu lístek, přiletí ptáci a seberou ho, tím se o ...

... lands at the top of a hill, a very steep climb from the lake. Sonam and his lovely family operate what really amounts to a homestay up there. They are not licensed to run a guesthouse and none of the guidebooks makes any reference to him. Two cabins containing 7 very basic rooms and a large dining table are operated by Sonam, and his father and sister run a similar type operation just next door. A collection of chickens, pigs ...

... a mad place with loads of people trying to get us to their stands and no obvious government centre/stall. After wandering around with our big bags for a while and getting pestered to death we pretty much just thought 'sod it!' and allowed ourselves to be led to the nearest one. Our bus was to leave at 6 (less than 2hours after we got off the train), we stocked up on biscuits and bananas and climbed aboard. It set off late as Indian buses do, we crawled out of ...

... so so so so so not what i ever expected in india!!! the town is powered by the army who at that time had cut the power so we had no electricity and no heating and no fire (it was snowing too much). so very VERY cold. now i dont mind the cold too much but it was COLD. minus 2 infact. inside. basically by 7pm everyone got into bed for and hour or so, we got up for dinner and then we pretty much all went back to bed again!!! it was really too cold to do anything. but next morning oh my ...

... them but these four were those with whom I interacted most. They were all pretty funny, certainly nice, and very intelligent/successful. A marked difference from the poor, uneducated Nepalese/Indian porter children who skip school to hike up mountains carrying baskets of stuff, and then gamble their tip money away on cards or weed for smoking. India is a diverse country in many ways. There were also a number of English couples, a few Americans, a couple Austrians almost as ...