Tomorrow, Lachung

And today, again, it's gangtok

But the cafe is new and since there's no electricity (I'm on generator? - not clear) there's no music either, nor are there people and i just discovered there's also no coffee. Electricity in Gangtok seems a touch and go thing, best not to be depended on.

Plans are coming together - pow wow with little Hope and husband Yepla (sp?) on the roof terrace of their Maruti jeep dealership yesterday sorted it out - it's north I go, tomorrow. Hope's office has a view out over the valley and the day, like day before and today, utterly clear. In fact, since I started carrying the white silk scarf (khada) that the Rimpoche in Yuksom blessed, the weather's gotten better by the day. Karmic coincidence or global weather pattern?

Today was a local monastery tour with a little van to myself and the sky ever clear. Once you descend from Gangtok (driver in save-petrol mode so we actually coasted down) you pass briefly across the valley floor and then climb again. And looking back towards the (not pretty) city you see...the range itself. Almost becoming common place to have the crazy Himalayan snow tops as backdrop to the day.

So can check off Rumtek and another monastery one I can't pronounce or find mention of in my guidebook. Me and the Bengali tourists were out today. I photographed the monks and a giddy posse of Indian teen girls took turns photographing me in their midst.

Rumtek - which has been the scene of controversy and gunfire for the past few years - a dispute between the Tibetans and the Bhutanese, each claiming there's is the true Karmapa. Passport required to enter, barbed wire ringing the complex and Indian military posted everywhere - and a metal detector as you pass into the main area. Creepy - saps the peace & ruffles the zen. That and the first monk I sighted was clipping his toenails. You just want a little decorum - recommend not visiting during their mid-day break. They were - to the shuttebag westerner - most un-monastic.

Neither monastery has the magic of the ones in the west. Both can be approached by road and I now realize that I had those other, more remote ghumpas, to myself. Lucky.

Plan is HATCHED for next stretch. Tomorrow go by hired jeep to Lachung in the north - the "Switzerland of the East" as it's billed. Next day some trekking around Yumthang, dip in a hot spring, Lachung again for the night then back here and onto Darjeeling the next day, and Kathmandu the one after that (Feb. 25). The trip north's costing more than i've spend in country to date but photos of the area look amazing so pretty sure the Rs.6,600 is worth it.

Assume there'll be no internet up there so silence and blog-peace for a few days.
Also - photos up so far all from past trips (sorry, sorta cheating) as haven't gotten my latest online yet. To be worked on.


Please send comments or queries if you're reading - dig out those Sikkim question.

Love to all,

c