Had a very eventful jeep ride to Rinchenpong, Sikkim complete with a panicked 10 minutes when we all thought our bags had been stolen. Oh, turns out our jeep driver decided to go for a joy ride while we waited and played cards (with an interested crowd of spectators surrounding us). Serves us right for trusting him with our bags on top of the jeep. Ah well he came back to much laughter of the crowd of people who had witnessed the 5 mad tourists running around in a panic for their luggage.
Once there we had some beers, played some cards, checked into a the Mount View Hotel and went to check out the festival at 9pm which we were told ran till 11pm. Definitely an empty field when we got there. Didn't stay long....long enough, however, for James to get us roped into going in and sitting down in a 'traditional' Sikkimese hut with pink coloured rice stuck to our foreheads, and some tea. Oh and you have to give a donation after being practically forced to sit.
Dinner at the rooftop restaurant of our hotel took almost 2 hours to cook. It wasn't until our friend Lucas from Majorca, Spain went into the kitchen and found, of course, NOTHING happening for them to speed up the process. A quick dance session between our 19 year old Indian cook and Ronit to some pumping Indian music and then off to bed. Exhausted!
Woke up the next day after a loooong sleep in and got bed tea brought to us. This should definitely be made a custom back home. Excellent idea. :) Any takers?
Breakfast on the roof and then off to the festival!!! Seemed like any Fair with huts around the edges, a crowd sitting in bleachers, a dance floor, someone droning away over a microphone, and the smells of food wafting out of huts. Quickly we found out that this 'tourist festival' sees very few tourists. So it was not long before we were told/dragged into a hut, forced to sit, given Millet beer, some 'traditional' pancakes, some meat curry (which we kindly refused), salty tea (no sugar here, only salt, salt and more salt), and then presented with some silk scarves. Oh did I mention that the entire time we were being filmed and photographed? I don't know where the broadcast was going but it was NOT pretty. Perhaps it was some comedy show watching us poor tourists trying to suck down this yeasty drink, which will quickly get you drunk, while they attentively refill it with water after every sip. Worse still it turned out that we were to be charged 140 rupees. Yes this is cheap, but come on..... we didn't even want to go we were just being polite! Scammed again. We learned quickly to avoid any other huts, simply doing a quick scan from the door from then on.
After some lunch we went for a walk to the Resum Monestary. 400 steps up a hill later we made it. Another interesting trip, complete with leech bite on James. Beautiful monument. Too bad it was closed though.
Last night was spent drinking Gin and playing cards. Early to bed, early to rise, and....SUCCESS! We have seen the mountains!!!!! SPECTACULAR. Breathtaking view of the Kanchendzonga mountain range. Just in time for our trip back to Siliguri. Delhi tomorrow then home on the 17th. Can't believe it's coming to an end.
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