For Spring Break 2K8, we travelled to the lovely, clean Indian state of Sikkim, which is located just between Nepal and Bhutan, south of Tibet and north of Bangledesh. It's beautiful and is home to the world's 3rd tallest peak, Kangchenjunga.
Upon arrival in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, we immediately went on the search for momos. Little did we know that even in this very Tibetan state, eating momos in Gangtok would be our ultimate quest. "We don't have momos today", "we just ran out of momos", "momos take 45 minutes to make". What is going on?! This past Monday we made momos at our friend Skye's house, and well, it took us nearly 2 hours from cooking start to eating time. I forgive you, Gangtok:)
I recently saw a Good Morning American clip about the smallest hotel room in NYC (price $80/night). The moment we stepped into our room in Gangtok (mind you, clean place, tv, great view, etc....), I immediately wanted to email Diane Sawyer a picture of our room. I think we have her's beat!
Tammy, one of the friends that we travelled with teaches 4th grade. Her students have been reading Flat Stanley! So, here's a shout out for my family (and any others that know of Flat Stanley and my 4th grade project...).
On Sunday, we travelled to north sikkim. 115 km took 5 hours!
Windy, dirt roads on the edges of cliffs.....ehhhh....although, it really wasn't all that bad. You have to drive slow when sending your jeep over rocky, skinny roads. On the way we saw signs such as:
"Better late than never"
"Arrive in peace, not pieces" (a personal favorite)
"Alertness Averts Accidents"
"Keep your nerve on sharp curves"
"If married, divorce speed" (what?)
"Someone at home is waiting for you"
"Drink and drive, you won't survive"
I'm sure that these signs are intended to alert the driver to focus and to be careful. However, to the non-driving, foreign passenger, these signs (which were EVERYWHERE) were a continual reminder of the crazy road (with potentially crazy drivers). 5 hours of this was plenty! But wait, we had to do it again two days later! Among these signs, we saw others such as:
Oh, and I shant forget the old man that hopped onto the roof of the jeep and rode for the last hour up there all the way to Lachung, our northern mountain town hideaway.
Our trip north was filled with good times.....we drank lots of ginger tea, saw chickens on leashes, slept with hot water bottles, saw our first yaks
and experienced a winter wonderland at 12,000 feet.
Two days later on the trip back to Gangtok, we caught excellent views of Kangchenjunga - spectacular!
Our driver played lots of great hip hop music like "in da club". I was totally groovin'. Jon looked at me at one point and the following conversation took place:
Jon: "I like this song".
Laura: "Really!?" (giddy with excitement)
Jon: "No, but I just like seeing you that happy for a moment"
ha, nice dear:)
For the next few days we travelled to west Sikkim with our friends, Kevin, Tammy and their 6th grade daughter Zoe. Travelling with Zoe is the best - she likes to play mash, 21 questions and make cat's cradle out of string! Finally, someone to play with!
We went to a festival in Ravangla, complete with an orchid competition, horid rhododendron wine and crazy costumes and performances.
We then spent 2 nights in a cute mountain town called Yuksom. We hiked,
visited monasteries, took lots of pictures of prayer flags,
we drank more ginger tea, and sipped on Sikkim's very own beer, HIT. Yes, may I have a hit please?
Overall, good times....more pics on Picassa soon! And if you made it to the end of my record long post...thanks!!
