BootsnAll Travel Network



You call that a mountain? This is a mountain!

Yuksam
i spent the night in the charming one-street village of Yuksam in a gazebo filled to capacity with French travellers. There appeared to be a curfew at 8pm, enforced by a lone man wandering the street with a piercing whistle. The following morning i managed a short climb (agony) and took in a tremendous view of the sparse village, mountain homes, and snow-peaked mountains. There is an awe-inspiring juxtaposition of green, flower-filled fields and brightly painted homes, alongside towering white snow caps.

Tashiding
in the next town we climbed a hill (i now know the difference between hills and mountains) to the local monestery, perfectly timed to be welcomed with smiles and tea, and to participate in a local chanting and prayer wheel ceremony. in the next temple the monks with huge instruments made a bizarre cacophany of sounds that sounded like a hectic kindergarten music hour – it was difficult to maintain a solemn face.

i shared a room with Kevin, whose English was as poor as my French, so we made it our mission to help each other improve. The most memorable occassion, assisted by many bottles of hideous indian ‘Hit’ beer, was my verse for verse apalling french interpretation of his favourite Tracy Chapman songs, assisted by animated charades. He got the gist, and was very pleased to finally understand the lyrics of one of his favourite singers.

Legship
From Tashiding we went to Legship, a nowhere transit town, but we had a picturesque walk along the river to find the local natural hot springs. Compared to NZ, the hot springs are lukewarm and very shallow. But it was a cultural experience to be pressed firmly between 30 partially-naked, old, local women, and pampered with a mud treatment and constant scoops of hot water over parts of my body freezingly exposed by the shallow water.

Darjeeling
Yesterday i jumped a jeep to Darjeeling, back on my own. After the small peace of Sikkim, Darjeeling seems like a big noisy city. Another traveller took me to the local japanese buddhist monestery where we participated in a drumming and chanting ceremony. That evening we grabbed food then stumbled upon an ‘english style’ pub complete with dim light ambience, jazz music, heating, and glasses of port! it was a treat after so many months of deprivation from all these comforts. On the way back this guy was convinced he knew a short cut, so of course we got lost within the pitch black maze of mountainous streets, stairs, alley-ways, and dead-ends. After an hour we stumbled across the familiar sign!

So i will be here for a week, my body in recovery with two grazed knees, a sprained ankle, and acidic muscles – but it was worth every fall and scrape and tumble. Then i’ll jump a train to Varanasi to meet my long-lost aunt (literally) and stay on the Ganges. A great place to do a yoga course perhaps.



Tags:

3 Responses to “You call that a mountain? This is a mountain!”

  1. L9 Says:

    im v glad i have been checking our your site.

    tracey chapman LOL!!!! – do tell which song was it?

    and long lost aunt – where did she come from..

    so looking forward to the next installment.

    have a great week.
    L9

  2. Posted from Australia Australia
  3. Jyai Says:

    It was the whole bloody first album, most noteabley ‘talkin bout a revolution’ and ‘fast car’

  4. Posted from India India
  5. Llew Says:

    Cool to see you’re enjoying Sikkim! I’m in Nepal at the moment (it seems pretty safe, and is a wonderful place to visit) but am planning on heading to northeast India next, so I might hit you up for advice at some point…

    Keep writing, and I’ll keep enjoying reading 🙂

  6. Posted from Nepal Nepal