Howie-n-Karen: Asia

12 – Lava and Samthar; train to Kolkata

Crowded share-jeep from Gangtok to Lava (5 in front..driver is on far right)

May 1 – 3 were spent in Lava. We made arrangements to visit Neora, the NP nearby, which required a jeep and a forest guide. Lava was small and everywhere hotels and guesthouses were springing up in rather cramped locations. There was a large and spacious gompa in the village and that was alsoexpanded.

view from Neora looking down on Lava

We hiked the road leading up to the national park on the second day. No new birds but it was high and we got great views. In Neora the next day, Howie saw two lifers. The guide turned out to be a botanist and was interested in photographing the plant life, so we saw little of him. At the end, though, he showed us a nesting kalij pheasant.

The Unique (our guesthouse) found us a taxi that took us to Samthar, a small village at the end of a road. The Samthar Farm House is run by Gurudongma Tours and Treks. This is the firm Catherine, our guide in Assam, works for. Our host at the farmhouse was Gen. Jimmy, the co-owner/founder of Gurudongma. We had heard so much about him and it was a pleasure to finally meet him.General Jimmy in front of Samthar Farmhouse

The farmhouse is actually a compound with several outbuildings, three of which are cabins, all on different levels. Did I forget to mention that we are still in hill country? It turned out that after leaving Siliguri for Darjeeling, we would be in hill country the rest of our stay in India, except for the last two days. That means winding, narrow and some rather precarious roads that snake around the terrain. Often landslides would narrow the roadway even further, so I would always opt for the middle seat. road from Lava to Samthar

(In N. Sikkim we waited for about an hour as a large bulldozer cleared huge boulders from the road where there was a recent slide. Somehow we were the first vehicle in the line that grew and grew. Horns started honking as the people behind us grew impatient to get on their way. Naturally, as soon as the dozer was done, the other vehicles jumped ahead of us in the line and roared off.)

We had a very pleasant respite in Samthar. There was another couple there and we all had meals together. They had a bird guide so we tagged along on walks. The general held court and was just a fount of information. He even invited the local children to perform for us on our last evening. The food at the farm house was the best. Dining al frescoLunch w/ local vegetables, chicken curry

On the 6^th of May we were booked on the Darjeeling Mail, which was to take us from Siliguri to Kolkata. So, that morning Gen. Jimmy found us two porters who carried our bags and we walked for four hours down the mountain to catch public transportation to Siliguri.

Scenes from around Samthar:

Hiking downhill was easy except for the strain on the knees. Howie birded a little; I tried to keep up with my 15-yr old porter, who practically jogged downhill. When we got to the Teesta River we were confronted with the dam construction. Didn’t realize we had to walk across the construction site. By then it was hot. The ground was thick with a fine white powdery dust that stuck to our sweaty-ness.

But the farmhouse had packed us a lunch so when we got to the seats in the shaded bus stop, we ate while trying to flag down a bus, jeep or taxi. Nothing going to Siliguri would stop, as each vehicle was brimming with passengers. A bus stopped to let about 4 people out but still would not take us on as there were still 3 people on the roof.

Finally, a jeep that looked as if it was just in an accident, which a shattered windshield and a wobbly front left tire, stopped (by then we were hailing everything going by). There was ample room for the two of us and our bags, so we gladly got in.

That marked the start of our journey ‘home’ to Bangkok. Because the jeep was in such poor condition, we had a slow and uneventful ride to town. It even cost us less than we had anticipated. When we got out one of the riders hailed us a rickshaw (bicycle powered) and that’s how we got to the train station. For a little over $2, he worked very hard chauffering us across Siliguri in the heat of the day. Whenever he lost momentum due to the traffic around us, he’d have to get out and push the bike along.

While killing time at the station we befriended a fellow ex-pat, Aimee, who is traveling alone in India for a year. We were very impressed with her. She answered all our questions about train travel. She assured us that our AC3 seats were going to be fine. She’s on her way to Nepal then home. She wanted to visit Maine, so we encouraged it. B&T, Chris, make sure you get her to play v-ball (she’s tall and strong).

India’s railway system is the largest in the world and employs the greatest number of people. Trains run on time, for the most part. Our AC3 ticket put us in an airconditioned car which had 3 bunks to a side and we faced another 3 bunks. They provided bottom and top sheets plus pillows, blankets and a hand towel. We slept the whole way to Kolkata, after chaining our bags to the area below the bottom bunk.

Arrived in Kolkata on the morning of the 6^th and took a cab to the Sikkim House, which we heard about in Gangtok and had made arrangements for lodging there through the Sikkim Tourism agency (best deal in town). The hotel is very centrally located and we spent the day walking around and not much else.

Giving ourselves an hour and a half to get to the airport proved wise, as our taxi encountered a detour when we were 13 km from the airport. We wound around tiny lanes and crowded streets that jammed up with bicycle rickshaws and huge busses. I was getting worried when we ran into gridlock as we approached the urban areas. (Thanks to St. Anthony, we survived that ordeal.) Ultimately, we got to the airport 2 hours before our flight. To our delight, Geoff, our pal from N. Sikkim, was on the same flight to Bangkok. Small world.

Gangtok

April 22^nd – return to Gangtok. Road a shared jeep with Matt Raue, whose schoolmate is a friend of Lianna’s from Maine. He directed us to the Modern Central Lodge, which is somewhat modern and very central. Beneath the lodge is Modern Treks and Tours, where we eventually put together an excursion to North Sikkim with four other travelers.

Noodle dish for Tom; palak paneer (spinach & cheese) (nothing to do w/ story, really)

Our jeep took us up to Lachen for a night then over to Lachung in the Yumthang Valley for two. The hotel in Lachung was very elaborate on the outside but quite usual inside. A double is 2 single beds with a heavy comforter and blanket but no top sheet. One always has to ask for two towels and toilet paper. The bathrooms have no shower stalls so everything gets wet in the bathroom when one showers. You have to make sure they turn on the water heater, if there is one, when you first arrive, because one never knows when the power will go off. We learned this early in our travels. Blackouts occurred almost daily in almost all the places we visited.

The hotel had five stories but no real dining room, so each group took turns eating in the lobby. The other occupants were large W. Bengali families, friendly and nice. All the kids took Geoff (from England) for a famous cricket player and he obliged them by signing their tee shirts.

Randall & Ulrike

The group got on famously and Randall and Ulrike, who live in England but are going around the world, may visit Maine, which we encouraged them to do. Don’t be surprised if they call on you. The other group member was Richard, a practicing Buddhist from Toronto, who was also a professional photographer. Later on Howie started taking more arty shots (none shown in this section, though).

Geoff and Richard are on the ends

There had been snow in the higher elevations in the Yumthang Valley (probably happened at the same time we were being snowed out in Tanshing), and we, as foreigners, we allowed to go only as far as the road and snow conditions would allow. There we got out and started climbing up beyond the snow but our guide would have gotten in trouble with the authorities if we were caught that close to the Tibet border, so we yelled for Howie, Geoff and Randall to refrain. Indian military presence was ubiquitous.

The end of the road, Lachen. (scroll over)

Yumthang road

The waning days in Sikkim were spent walking around Gangtok, making plans for the next part of the trip and visiting a few more gompas (monasteries). Detail photos:

The final shot is of the young monks. The one with long hair is the reincarnation of the former karmapa (head of the monastery).