We reached new jalpaiguri on a hot afternoon. outside the station we were mobbed by people wanting to take us to darjeeling, pelling, gangtok, kalimpong...We found a share-jeep willing to take us to gangtok for 145/- per head. Pretty cheap, hah? The only thorn in the side was that we had to wait for the jeep to fill up - it seats 10 not counting the driver. So we sweated it out inside the jeep for nearly an hour - with my sister grumbling that it was boiling hot. Ultimately, we did start for gangtok. it took us all of 4 hours from NJP to gangtok.
Unexpectedly, the condition of the road was quite good. Except for some stretches under repair, the ride was smooth. And the scenery was breathtaking - greenery all around, the winding teesta river below. The only silly part was that i was in mortal fear of being puked on by the guy who was sitting behind me, the poor guy's stomach obviously didn't take a liking to the curves.
We took a stop at rangpo. The weather at rangpo was hot - and i was wondering what i would do with all the wollens i had with me. The driver informed us that we were just 1 hr away from gangtok, much to our delight - i think my butt had enough of being sat on.
On our way we caught sight of Sikkim manipal university - imposing sight indeed - i mean, i never expected it to be so grandiose, right there beside the teesta. i was thinking it would be fun to bunk and go rafting!
We reached gangtok at around 4. We plopped down on the bed as soon as we checked in the hotel. The hotel was right on M.G garg - the place reminded me of thangal bazar (or is it paona bazar where PC jain is located? i am geographically challenged) and after 4, no vehicle is allowed to enter and you have people strolling about till about 10 in the night ( i know this because i kept peeping out from the window to check if any living thing was moving on the road below - this because a colleague told me that everything shuts down after 7 - he was so wrong).
We went exploring and found Lall bazar nearby and much to our delight we saw hanggam being sold!! We went about in a trance exploring all the veggies - some familiar veggie making us coo in delight. And i nearly flew straight to heaven seeing hawai tharak (peas) - such beautiful fat pods!! And the thabis (cucumber) - my, my i have never seen such big luscious ones. Of course, there were other things on sale - from lingerie to crockery to knives to tops from thailand.
We bought some knick knacks and decided to call it a day as the next day was planned for sightseeing. We were to start from 7 in the morning (this is one part i hate about travelling, that i have to get up early).
