Gone for the Holidays

Trip Start Aug 25, 2003

Trip End Jul 18, 2004

Loading Map

Map your own trip!

Map Options

Show trip route

Hide lines

Flag of India Bodhgaya, India
Sunday, January 4, 2004

Our attempt to find some cold for Christmas was easier than we thought. We headed north to Darjeeling, a "hill station" and tea plantation area in northern West Bengal developed by the British, and a popular escape in summer for those trying to avoid the heat. It is not so popular in winter when it is cold throughout the north anyway (especially when none of the guesthouses in Darjeeling have heat, even being at 2100m). Still we headed up to at lest get close to the temperatures we might be having at home. Darjeeling was more than an escape from Calcutta, it was an escape from West Bengal entirely. Much of the population is of Nepali or Tibetian descent giving the town an entirely different feel. Unfortunately, Sarah got some sort of food poisoning either our last day in Calcutta or our first in Darjeeling, so despite being there for 5 or 6 days we didn't get a chance to see that much, but at least the scenery was nice. From the roof of our guesthouse we got an unobstructed view of Mt

Fun!

. Kanchenjunga, the third tallest mountain in the world.

On Christmas Eve, we found a midnight mass at one of the Churches in town. Carols were sung in English same as at home, but many carols were ones we had never heard and sung completely in Nepali(very cool). For Christmas, we made the best of not being at home and took a "joy ride" the "Toy Train" that runs to Darjeeling. For all you train nuts (you know who you are) and even for those that aren't it was a really cool experience. The tracks are 2 feet wide, the cars seat a whopping 12 people, and the train engine (at least for the joy ride) is a late 1800's steam powered train. As the boiler for the engine was heating up for the ride I even got to blow the whistle! Sure I was the only person over the age of 12 to line up to blow the whistle but it was still way cool!

With Sarah's health returning we headed north again to Sikkim, the newest state of India tucked between Nepal and Bhutan. After a brief stay in Gantok, the capital of Sikkim, we headed to the small town in Pelling for some trekking. I'm not sure if it was good luck or bad but we arrived during a snowstorm which, even in Pelling, was quite rare. From locals we heard that it had been anywhere from 7 to 20 years since they had any significant snow! Visibility was nil and again no guesthouses had heat; power went out and water pipes were freezing; so with clothes to light for the weather we booked a ticket to leave the next day. The next day came and the weather is beautiful, skys are clear and sunny, so we ate the cost of our tickets and went trekking anyway.

The map we had was pretty basic, and by basic I mean bad

Kechapuri Lake in Morning

. We knew we had to head down the valley and across a river to Kethapuri Lake but the map we had didn't tell us more than that. We started off asking locals directions when paths split. This worked for awhile, we even had one person yell from his house that we were going the wrong way (the right way was straight through his yard between the goats and the cows). Of course we eventaully took a wrong turn on this labrynth of trails but locals still told us the most direct way from where we were to get where we were going. This eventually lead us along a trail that dead-ended right at someones house. We asked directions and they directed through their house and out the back door where the trail continued. Eventaully, after following what appeared to be a cow path we found the right trail and had relatively smooth sailing from there.

Local legend has it that if a leaf lands on Ketchapuri Lake, a bird swoops down and picks it up. That is how beautiful it is supposed to be. The lake was indeed incredible, but (unfortunately) tourists there do not have the same repect for the lake as the locals and the only being we saw clean up the area by the lake was a small Nepali man. The lake was surrounded by Tibetan or Nepali prayer flags and the reflecting mountains on the lake did give the place a mystical feel.

The two guesthouse options there were very...

Nice Scenery

. basic. We went with the one that had most of the glass window panes intact. They did serve Tomba here, an alcoholic drink made from fermented millet. I got a mug full to the top of millet. Hot water is then added, and the it is drunk with a straw. Each time I finished my Tomba, more hot water was added and, surprisingly, each time there was still alcohol remaining in the drink. It had a yeasty taste but I really liked it. Plus, having a nice hot alcoholic drink was especially nice to warm up with before heading to our room which was missing a few window panes.

At 5:30 A.M. the next morning we were back at the lake, the only ones there, just soaking in the peaceful sounds, watching the birds, and appreciating the cold cold frosty dock without shoes on (the lake and dock are considered holy by Hindus and Buddhists so no shoes were allowed). We managed to soak in the atmosphere for a whole 40 minutes before a loud Bengali family scared all the birds away. It was just as well, I don't think our feet could take much more cold.

From the lake it was back to Pelling by share jeep and then Siliguri to where we are now in Bodhgaya. Whew! I'm finally getting caught up here. Seeya next travelogue!