Spent most of the day in a jeep taking the bumpy journey through the mountains from Darjeeling to Gangtok, capital of Sikkim. Our hotel, perched at the top of the hill that Gangtok sprawls over, is a little less luxurious than the one in Darjeeling. No heating anywhere and we appear to be the only guests. It has great views over the valley and, potentially, the Himalaya if the clouds clear! The town is impossibly steep – even more so than Darjeeling – and consists of tall, stilted buildings barely clinging onto the hillside. There was a large (6.8) earthquake here last year and I don’t think it’s the sort of place where the buildings are designed to be earthquake-proof…
Walking into town for dinner, we found a nice pedestrianized area (Mahatma Ghandi road) which forms the spine of the town with lots of shops and restaurants. Hardly any western faces here – mostly Indian tourists or a locals as it’s off season (locals are a mix of Nepalise, Tibetan and Bhutanise – the common language is Nepali). We hired a driver for tomorrow to take us around the local sights as we only have 2 days here.
Our room in the evening is freezing and Louise has caught my cold, so tucked into bed early – no hot water bottle this time though
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