...nd what you get is 'GANGTOK'!

the north-east..discovery through my eyes...

back from a week long trail to the tea-land 'DARJEELING' and the state of Red pandas 'SIKKIM'!!!

..we hit the train from Delhi to New Jalpaiguri and then a taxi to Darjeeling..toy train would have been fun, but were restricted by lack of time....

believe me..the slopiest mountain climb/drive i have ever been through....d curves are scary but beautiful...d view is misty but wonderful!

reached the top , checked into a hotel...nd den after freshening up , started for a walk to the mall road...but its not contemporary .. the roads you find in every second hill station..but again difficult to put in words too...

d hospitality is humble and the chillness is balanced by the warmth of the folks...sipping tea when its dusk....hogging MOMOS ..(something u find cheap , lip smacking and in every corner!)

okie..one thing 'DARJEELING IS NO BENGAL!' ..dominated by nepalese and tibetans...its only geographically , politically or whatever-lly part of bengal...the place speaks a different story...

some nice cafes..

The food served both in sikkim and darjeeling is good( all cuisines considered!)

Back after the walk to our hotels and sleep to wake up to a long and beautiful day!

early morning-a drive to tiger-hill...cudnt catch d sunrise- too foggy(something which has happened with me everywhere! :() a number of  monasteries , points etc..

okie this thing needs a mention:

a lady called ava-devi gave rise to what is known as thread painting...this female divides a silk thread into 20 smaller parts in thickness and does embroidery on black cloth....nd what she brings out is unbelievable...its almost impossible to make out the fine threads..its virtually painted!

then..Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and zoological park where i got my first sight of a RED PANDA!

lovely animal...white pandas were my favourites once upon a time...d way the zoo has been made needs a good verbal description..!

the day goes by trying to look in an around the place...nd hogging and den back to sleep!

what the day ahead brought is what am gonna be glad to have done in my life!

SIKKIM is beauty...small , well knit , under-connected(only road transport) ... less influenced by the outer-world (hence , people are untouched by worldly tampers)...

East sikkim and North Sikkim are worth visiting..i didnot have the time to check out north..but have decided to hit a trip for that once!..

Tsango lake : 12400 ft above sea-level, the geographical location is itself an eye-raiser .. and what you see is floating , mist-covered heaven..this lake freezes in october and you can walk across to the mountains! (d first pic - tsango lake!)

japanese temples , pagodas , some awesome waterfalls!

ahhh! m already nostalgic....
check out the other pics too

way back to delhi via brahmaputra express had more adventure in store for us...our train was stoned by a group of bihar-collegites...who broke the hose-pipes of the train..broke AC -compartment windows and made the sleeper class people run for their lives..whatever b d reason...it left us stranded for 8 hrs!!!

all in all...GIFTING MAA AND PAA a holiday was a dream come true... .., my bearers : who have given me everything and have made me see the world both figuratively and physically...

thanks maaa..
thanks paa...

Note: this is an express blog..too bored to pen down all i ahve been ranting for a week now!

chow!