Day 109, Gangtok [Thursday 20th March 2008]
Previous day: Day 108, Samthar [Wednesday 19th March 2008]
Next day: Day 110, Lachen [Friday 21st March 2008]
We have a good night's rest, and awake with the dawn light. Robin brings us noodles and tea for breakfast. We leave a letter on the table with our address and Rs. 1000, say thank you to his mum and leave.
Back at the Teesta we see the ropeway in action — it's a small metal cage big enough for 6 people, which is pulled across the river on a steel cable, by hand. If you're standing on the bank waiting to cross you're expected to help bring it in, a local guy tells us, so I do. It's really hard work. Inching across the rushing river in tiny metal cage, mountains all around, I feel suddenly very tiny. It's scarier than I thought it would be.
On the other side there's one more steep climb up the bank and then we've made it to the highway. On a whim we decide to go straight to Gangtok in Sikkim instead of going to Kalimpong. A bus comes past a few minutes later and we hop on.
The bus winds up through rugged, hilly country, the river Teesta running along the bottom of a deep valley. We pass the Sikkim jam factory, and a well-publicized alcohol and drug-addiction centre.
At Gangtok we check into the Anola hotel and head down the pedestrian MG Marg to get a pizza at Baker's Cafe. It's pretty good! Afterwards we book a tour to the Yumthang Valley, get some hit beer in and have a well-earned rest in our hotel room watching Con Air followed by The Forgotten!
They sell beer *everywhere* in Ganktok, and it's dirt cheap too.
Next day: Day 110, Lachen [Friday 21st March 2008]
Previous day: Day 108, Samthar [Wednesday 19th March 2008]