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The Great India Adventure
  • Staci Adman
  • Eric Adman
  • Staci Adman
  • Eric Adman

The Great India Adventure

Pengembaraan 35hari oleh Staci & Eric Baca lagi
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  • The Great India Adventure
    We stopped for slices of watermelon at this stand. Yum!This gal had a "milk products" stand. She was delightful!The milk products stand. Yes, we each had a little bottle of milk!Shrimp pondsWe love these tree-shaded roadsField of grainMore selfies. We were on a quiet side road and these guys asked if we'd stop for selfies.Grain dryingBrick makingBrick makingA LADDER being carried on a motorcycle!!

    Rajamahendravaram & friends from home!

    14 April 2023, India ⋅ 🌙 84 °F

    We’ve seen quite a bit of road improvements happening along our journey so far, and what’s amazing is that everyone can still drive through the area as fancier roadways are being built. We felt like we were 4-wheeling a couple times today.

    It felt like we were traveling through some very rural areas today. We kept seeing youth riding around waving blue flags with a man’s face on it, and I was a little worried about that was happening. Turns out it is the birthday today (4/14) of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the man who led the committee that drafted the Indian Constitution. He was a politician and social reformer. Evidently today is referred to as Equality Day in some parts of India.

    We saw more shrimp farming, and beautiful fields of a grain that we also saw harvested and drying on tarps. We passed through an area late in the day where bricks were being made and fired out in the open with smoldering fires.

    And at the end of the day we ended up at a lovely hotel and who should we run into but our buddies Tom and Brian of team FOFO - Falls On Face Often. Brian and Eric work together as paramedics in Shoreline and worked out doing this event together after I told them about a related event called the Mongol Rally.
    We had a blast catching up with them over dinner and drinks at the hotel bar. We stayed up later than normal, so we’ll see if we keep to our string of early starts! 😄    Baca lagi

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    Our breakfast friends
    This was my "eye twin" from our breakfast stop.Great photo for the scale of the hay loads!!We've seen these haystacks all over. They remind me of Monet!Look at the cut-out man! We see this at work zones!I was given this our of a car window driving down the highway!!!We have seen murals all over the placeEric's froofroo mocktail at lunch1Finally figured out thanks to this labeled truck that they carry vehicles1This is for my brother Dan!Eric with the guys who guided us to the right place from the village next doorFOFO and Spicy, our rickshawsDinner again tonight with Tom and Brian1Four in a row. It's amazing we all ended up in the obscure spot.1The lighthouse next to where we are staying

    Haritha Beach Resort adventure

    15 April 2023, India ⋅ ☁️ 99 °F

    We appear to be halfway to Gangtok! Timewise and mileage-wise! We know that as we get towards the end it will get steeper and slower, so we are tending to get distance in now.

    Today we were mostly on a limited-access highway, so we stopped for a breakfast snack with coffee and we stopped for lunch, but it felt like we didn’t have a lot of direct human interaction today. That is the downside of making good time on the highway.

    But at the end of our breakfast stop we had to do dozens of iterations of selfies with the people there. And a cute young man with light-colored eyes showed up and everyone was so excited to get a picture of me with him because "our eyes matched”! I love that!

    We have learned to look for “family restaurant” for a meal if we want an air conditioning break at lunchtime to escape the 100°+ heat. We found a nice one today, and the served “mocktails”, which we’ve encountered in other restaurants. Eric had a lovely paper umbrella in his.

    We decided to push a little farther than our originally planned stopping point because we saw a beach resort that was a comfortable ways further. The crazy thing was, Google sent us on a route into the neighboring town onto dead-end roads that was the most remote-seeming place we’ve encountered so far. We finally reached a point where we could go no further, and a young woman who knew some English was summoned to direct us back out. I’m still picturing the chicken and it’s baby chicks wandering around where we stopped! Meanwhile, a couple dozen people or more had collected around us, and we had about a dozen children running after us as we headed out. Our second Google-led attempt ended at a dead end, also, but we could see the lighthouse by the resort. Two young men hopped in our rickshaw and told us where to go. It was an AMAZING experience!!!

    We drive into the resort area and immediately see the rickshaw of our friends Brian and Tom! We had no idea that we would all end up at the same place tonight! And later two more rickshaws arrived, full of kids (I’m pretty sure they are our kids’ age) from the UK. We chatted over beers, and they are all delightful. BUT, we are slightly worried that they may pull some prank with our rickshaws…I’ll report back.

    I’ll have to post again in the morning with pictures of this most interesting resort. It’s hard to guess when it was built. It sounds like we are all the first foreigners that have stayed here, and they were so delighted we were here!    Baca lagi

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    Sunrise!
    The resort office with the guest buildings to the leftView of the resort from the ocean sideFishing boats on the shore in the distanceSadly i think this is the skull of one of the many wild dogs that roam around3Artwork at the resort2The body of this leaf-shaped bug was ~2.5" longProtection for the open end of a live wire? Use what you have!Our room. Like Iron Springs resort pre-remodel only cleaner!Bathrooms tend to have showers open loke this. Sink is to the left out of view3😁I got them!View from the lighthouseThat village in the distance is where google maps sent us! 🤦‍♀️The Navigational Assistant who tends the lighthouse gave us a tour!2144 steps to the top. Well, than a ladder to the very top.1Cashew tree with fruits!!

    Haritha hotel and beach in daylight

    16 April 2023, India ⋅ ☁️ 84 °F

    This was the most welcoming hotel we have stayed at so far on our trip, and we hate to leave!

    The manager/owner was a Microsoft employee before he started leasing this property. It was originally build and run by the government to promote tourism, and it was a very popular destination, but it was damaged by a typhoon in 2019 and not repaired. This man has been fixing it back up, but he said people don’t realize it’s up and running again.

    We had morning chai (aka masala tea) and went for a quick walk to the water. After we loaded up we had a tour of the neighboring lighthouse!

    We are heading on a side loop into the Eastern Ghats and then to a larger city for the night. We figured we need to make an average of ~200km a day from here on out!    Baca lagi

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    Chhatrapur Fire Station visit!

    16 April 2023, India ⋅ ☁️ 97 °F

    We were driving down the highway and noticed a fire station on the side of the highway! So hopped off and went back to take a look.

    Oh my gosh! We were treated like visiting dignitaries! The assistant chief took us to his office and we had quite the chat! The fire service looks like it’s culture is more like the military, and the firefighters live at the station.

    Eric now has a new Indian firefighter brother. We have his phone number if we have any troubles in this state (Odisha). He presented his contact info to us in the front of a beautiful hard-cover planner/diary. Incredible!    Baca lagi

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    42Where the shadow hits tells the time!Painting the sriping on the side of the highway!Beautiful view of the Bay of Bengal2A particularly lovely tea stand2Our cottage for the nightPart of the garden view3The warning on the cottage door! 😳🤣🤣1Perimeter wall with buzzing electric fence and broken glass. For monkeys?

    The Konark Sun Temple

    17 April 2023, India ⋅ ⛅ 91 °F

    It’s hard to believe that this is day 9 of 14 of the Rickshaw Run!!

    Our end spot yesterday was a bit off track because we ended up deciding to visit the Konark Sun Temple this morning. I believe it’s the first UNESCO World Heritage site that we’ve ever visited! It was a very hot, crowded place, but once again we lucked out with a wonderful legit guide who saw us in the crowd and offered to guide us through.

    This Hindu temple was built in the 12th century, and the largest structure was actually later demolished by Muslims. All of the stone (guide said sedimentary stone) surfaces are intricately carved. There are 24 wheels, each with 8 spokes, and our guide explained that represents how the day is divided into 8 3-hour sections. at least in some of the wheels. He also showed us how you can tell time by where the shadow of the central stone hits in the circle.

    We felt badly that we were constantly saying “No” to people asking for photos/selfies with is, but we were afraid if we said yes to one person, we’d be there ALL day, and the guide confirmed that.

    Last night we stayed at a resort with lovely gardens that I found ahead on Expedia. The first two times we reserved hotel rooms via Expedia it worked like a charm. This time not so much. I reserved a “Deluxe Cottage with garden view” that was $84 - the most we’ve spent on lodging. But they put us in a 4th floor room that had seen better days, and said that the “garden view” was looking down out of the window. Luckily Eric had the patience to keep pushing, and they moved us to a lovely garden cottage. It really is amazing how well we can get along even with a massive language barrier.

     Now we are heading to stay tonight at the coast near Balasore, our last time on the coast before we head inland.    Baca lagi

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    Mostly dry huge river bedThe seller of truck decorations62We saw a bunch of watermelon stands along one ateetch of highway. Note the painted red circle!We see this kind of bamboo scafolding/holding up of floors/ceilings all over.The humidity!Our new friend KarthikOur peek-a-boo view of the Bay of Bengal from our hotel window1The courtyard of our hotel in Chandipur Sea BeachOur room was in that added-on top floor2Datura!Beach near our hotel in Chandipore Sea Beach6That is a bag of cement she is carrying on her head!

    Hottest day yet ends with a lovely hotel

    17 April 2023, India ⋅ ⛅ 88 °F

    It was a serious scorcher today. From around noon or 1pm to about 4 or so it was just brutal on the road. Even “Spicy” our rickshaw was complaining a bit and needed a break in the shade to cool down for a bit mid-afternoon.

    Riding in the open-sided rickshaw means that we always have a breeze that at least dries us off even if the air is hot. But when we stop, yikes! We ended our day at our last beach stop. And it was SO hot and SO humid my shirt was soon soaked. Our hotel room has stellar AC. What a relief.

    We finally passed by a stand that sold the decorative pompom and tinsel tassels that I’ve been dying for that we see on trucks. So we blinged up Spicy a bit. The pompoms are put on trucks to ward off the evil eye and protect from harm. That works for me!

    We ended our day with a fantastic dinner that included local crab with marsala sauce. We had the crab dish and prawns and our bill totally about $10. Unbelievable! We met a friendly young electrical engineer who is staying here for work. He sat with us at dinner and we asked him all sorts of questions.

    I’ll add photos of the hotel and beach to this post in the morning when it’s light out.    Baca lagi

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    Lunch at Salbon Dhaba in Sundara

    18 April 2023, India ⋅ ☀️ 108 °F

    Day 10!! Can you believe it?! Look at how far we’ve come! Today we entered the state of West Bengal, the fifth out of six that we will drive through (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Sikkim)

    We had another AMAZING lunch stop. It’s interesting to experience the differences in food and drink as we have come further north. Food has become spicier. Naan has appeared on the menus and porotta, my favorite bread offering, has disappeared. At least where we’ve been eating.

    We ordered basmati veg thali, which was a platter with rice and small bowls of various dishes and accompaniments. And paneer masala and a stuffed flat bread called Masala Kulcha. And the owner suggested that we try the signature drink of the area, Burhani, which is good for digestion. It seems to be a type of lassi or at least related, with yogurt, mint, chilis, salt and other spices. It was like nothing I’ve tasted before!

    And the bill totaled about $5 US.

    I forgot to mention last night - when we visited the hotel’s bar/lounge last night for a beer (Kingfisher Strong, maybe the best beer I’ve ever had because we were SO hot and tired), we were quickly shuffled into a little side room to have our beers. We thought that was a little weird, and I wondered if they don’t allow women to mix with strange men when drinking. Sure enough, soon another group of three with one woman were led into the room with us. We asked them if we were there because we were women and they confirmed my suspicion.    Baca lagi

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    222Janet H-B, this photo is for you!The round green fruits the size of oranges are called Mosambi or sweet limes. Yummy juice!2

    Durgapur and a neat older hotel

    19 April 2023, India ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F

    Last night we stayed in Durgapur, a city on the Damodar river, a quite large river. Our hotel was called The Damodar Retreat. I would guess that it might have been built in the 30s - some details really reminded me of the Bastyr University building back home. We had room service dinner for the first time on this trip. We thought we were the only ones staying here, but we saw a cup of coffee being taken to another room this morning so we guessed there was one other person. We were thinking of “The Shining” last night for sure!

    We skipped the pool because it didn’t appear to have any sort of circulation system working, though the water was clear…

    Durgapur has the dirtiest air that we’ve experienced so far. Dusty and smoky. Despite the floor looking clean, when we walked barefoot in our room our feet got filthy. Durgapur is called “The steel capital of East India”, and heading out of town we saw black smoke coming out of stacks. And for the first time we saw cooling towers for nuclear plants! Three of them.    Baca lagi

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    Cab driver who pushed us to town
    1Pushing us with his foot!Pushing us with his foot!Fried dough like a crisy donutDoughnut with ground nutsSpicy cooling down outside the bakeryWhere we waited for the mechanicSo many people came to check us outHuge dry riverbed heading out of townOur new police officer friend!

    Unplanned Breakie/Spicy rest in Panuria

    19 April 2023, India ⋅ ☀️ 104 °F

    The only running issues that we’ve had with Spicy (knock wood) is what seems like a vapor lock/air bubble in the fuel line situation every once in a while in the heat of the day. After a short slow down or a bit of a rest to cool down she is good to go.

    Today we experienced it earlier than normal, and luckily it happened on a country road where we could wait in the shade. I’ll tell you why I’m not worried about being stuck for long if we have a breakdown - we stand out like a sore thumb and it doesn’t take long at all before someone turns around and comes back to check us out.

    In this case a taxi driver came back, lined up his tuk tuk behind ours and drove pushing us with his foot!! He pushed us 1km to a petrol station, but we explained that we had half a tank still, so he pushed us another 1km to the town where there was a mechanic. We were told that the mechanic would come to us in 10 minutes, and luckily we were stopped in front of a little bakery where we had samosas and a sweet baked good for breakfast. Our chai tea came in a tiny unglazed clay cup with a volume of maybe 2-3 tablespoons, and they throw out the cups when you are done!

    When the mechanic finally arrived, of course Spicy started right up and ran like a champ. We wanted to make sure it wasn’t a fuel filter issue, but by the time we did a short test drive and came back, the mechanic was gone again. Oh well!

    As we headed out of town there were a couple of police at a busy traffic bottleneck, and we’d just read that if police want you to stop, it’s easier to pretend you didn’t hear and keep going than go through potential hassles. The police officer pulled aside a gate so we could drive through, but then a second and apparently higher ranking officer said “Stop! Stop!” and motioned us to pull over. We felt pretty obligated at that point, so we stopped. Lucky for us he was just super curious about where we were from and where we are going! I gave him one of our stickers, and he gave us his phone number and said to call him if we have any troubles!! How lucky are we?!    Baca lagi

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    Protest blocking the road! Kindness wins

    19 April 2023, India ⋅ ☀️ 108 °F

    Oh my gosh! We came to an area where trucks were stopped dead for a full kilometer leading up to an interchange where we needed to go under a highway and then get onto it. We were able to drive on the wrong side to get up to the interchange. After a few minutes the bus we were behind started slowly moving forward so we stuck to it. Meanwhile we were starting to chat a bit with all the guys hanging around. The bus was was let through and then large bamboo poles were pulled across the road to block the road after it!! A car next to us drove into/over the bamboo, and luckily our new-found friends told them to let us pass also.

    On the other side of the roadblock trucks were backed up for at least a kilometer again. We thought we were good to go on a highway with no traffic, but then we came upon ANOTHER road block on the highway at the town of Barapalasi. We got off onto the side frontage road but it was blocked too, and a man told us we can’t go through until 6pm. Luckily we chatted and negotiated selfies in exchange for letting us through! Hahaha! Plus I explained that we can’t wait until 6 because we have to drive when the sun is up. The young son of one of the leaders spoke very good English, so he was a great help. They gave us ice cream cones, I gave them a sticker, we took a million selfies, and we stuffed the two leaders of this protest plus a few little boys into Spicy with us and we were accompanied through the barrier and on our way. Isn’t that incredible?!!    Baca lagi

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    22I wonder if there is a picture book of Indian truck art!2Large dry riverbedMile markers!! I love them!Large bamboo poles

    Bhagalpur for the night- whew what a day

    19 April 2023, India ⋅ 🌙 91 °F

    The traffic in Bhagalpur this evening was crazy, and Eric handled it like a champ. What a relief it was to pull up to the hotel we picked off of Google maps and be greeted by the owner holding open the door. And we were expecting to pay 4500-5000 rupees, but he bargained us DOWN to 3500 for a lovely suite room!! Let’s call that $43. Crazy!

    I was wrong yesterday about the states that we would travel through. Today we passed through the state of Jharkhand (where the protest was) and now we are in the state of Bihar (a dry state!). Tomorrow we will travel back into West Bengal as we aim for Darjeeling probably on Friday. Darjeeling is at ~6700 feet! Looking forward to relief from the heat!

    It was SO hot once again today, and the humidity is much lower inland. Our phones are just hammered by the heat. It’s nearly impossible to charge them back up when they are so hot, and we don’t have a cooler to cool them off. But I figured out a trick of wrapping them in a wet bandana to get an evaporative cooling effect. In no time one would cool down and charge up quickly. Hurray!

    Speaking of phones - I am using an eSIM from Airalo on my phone with a data plan for India that I can easily top up as needed. I set it up before we left home. 10GB/30days for $27. I just ran out today and topped it off with another 10GB. The only catch is it doesn’t warn you when you are running low, it just stops connecting to the internet. Eric bought a reconditioned older iPhone and purchased a physical SIM card with a good data plan for $7 for 30 days. He did this in Fort Cochi after we got here. $7?!! It’s been handy to have that Indian phone/number.    Baca lagi

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    Another amazing Bajaj service stop

    20 April 2023, India ⋅ ☀️ 97 °F

    We used up our spare 500ml of motor oil we had from our stop at the Bajaj service center early on in our trip so we were on the lookout for another service center this morning to top up the oil and get some extra for our climb into the mountains.

    Lucky for us we spotted the perfect place on the outskirts of the city of Purnia. They had us drive right around and up into the shop where they sat us down on chairs and set up a fan for us. They let Spicy cool down a bit and then checked and topped off the oil, blew out the air filter, checked the gear oil, and checked all of the tires. That along with a little extra oil to go was about $6 US!    Baca lagi

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    Kids watching us.

    Fresh sugar cane juice!

    20 April 2023, India ⋅ ☀️ 97 °F

    We have been seeing these stands on the side of the roads and highways for practically this whole trip and didn’t understand what they were. We thought they were doing something with sugar cane but couldn’t tell.

    This morning an employee of the hotel accompanied us to an ATM to get cash for our bill, and on the way back he stopped at one of these stands and bought us glasses of —- sugar cane juice!! Yummm!

    We just stopped at one of the stands on the side of the highway and got to see the whole process. These machines wring a lot of juice out of one length of cane. And he slips some lime in during the pressing, too.    Baca lagi

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    The Ganges River!
    The Ganges!1Drying corn along the side of the road. We've seen this a LOT4Lunch was like cornbread crumbled with chili poured over. So good! 70¢ for both of us, WITH 2 chaisBeautiful produce stalls everywhere3We saw a lot of seemingly manmade ponds with large lily pads for a while today3Spicy at our hotel for the night1446A feline friend!

    Siliguri. Cooler day and lovely lodging

    20 April 2023, India ⋅ 🌙 81 °F

    Who knew that 97° would feel so much cooler than 107°!! Today was a little shorter of a driving day for us since Darjeeling was too far to reach in daylight. We reached our hotel in Siliguri by 4:30, which was a nice change of pace.

    We did an amazing thing today - we crossed the Ganges River. To even just drive over this sacred river was an amazing experience I never imagined that I would do.

    Where we are staying tonight is a peaceful resort tucked into the edge of an urban area. After a lovely dinner and drinks on site, we are taking advantage of a little table and chairs on the patio in front of our room. A breeze is blowing a wind chime in the garden and we can hear the call to prayer from a few nearby mosques. What an unbelievable, peaceful experience!    Baca lagi

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    2Narrow guage railroad track next to the road3A shrine on the side of the roadA shrine on the side of the road1This is how the 2-stroke rickshaws have to fuel up - mix oil into the petrolFuel station perched on the hillside126

    Drive to Darjeeling

    21 April 2023, India ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    Wow, what a lovely, chilly, steep drive in and out of fog today as we climbed the foothills up to Darjeeling. We are now at 6,986 feet! Unfortunately everything was socked in this afternoon, so we have had no view of the mountains yet. It looks like we are floating in the clouds. I’ll post photos here of our trip. I have a couple more locations to post about separately.Baca lagi

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    112432

    Lloyd Botanical Garden

    21 April 2023, India ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    We hustled to get to this lovely garden before it closed at 4. To make our way there was like going through a maze on a steep hill, but we got there with a half hour to spend before they closed.

    The garden was established in 1878! It’s a neat mix of trees and shrubs, some of which we recognized from home. Our favorite spot was the conservatory, where they have clivia plants just like mine and a bunch of relatives of my Night Blooming Cereus!Baca lagi

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    1A view of our hotel
    Our room from the outside13View from the grounds1Later view from the hotel grounds1Trees looming above the hotelMonsteraI think this is very cool!13

    The Elgin Hotel

    21 April 2023, India ⋅ 🌧 55 °F

    We are staying in a hotel tonight that was established in 1887! It has beautiful grounds and a lovely view. An annex to the main building has a gallery of photos honoring Tensing Norgay, the Sherpa mountaineer who summited Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary. Though he wasn’t born here, Norgay later lived in Darjeeling.

    Edited to add: A dramatic thunderstorm came through and the power went out for a few minutes! Then playing parcheesi in the hotel bar - perfection!    Baca lagi

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    On the road to Gangtok

    22 April 2023, India ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    We got an earlier start than we were originally planning because although Google maps said the route to Gangtok would take about 3.5 hours, the intel from other teams has been that it’s a full day. The finish line is open 10-4, and we will ideally drop all of our stuff at our hotel before we turn in Spicy.

    We had our first view of the Himalayas today before the clouds closed back up around them!!

    Yesterday we ran into several other teams around Darjeeling who were spending the night there last night. Now we’ve been seeing more and more Rickshaw Run teams on the road. Lots of people on the side of the road along our route are waving and cheering us on and wishing us good luck.    Baca lagi

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    The view from our hotel room
    Chicken delivery serviceBeautiful bridges draped with prayer flags1Welcome to Sikkim! Now stand in line!5We each got a hand-painted baby Spicy!! ❤️54Saying goodbye to SpicyThe rickshaw with the rooftop tent. It totally wrecked the rack. That was predictable...The finish line!1Lightning storm from our hotel deck. There was torential ran while we were in a taxi coming back.

    WE MADE IT TO GANGTOK!!

    22 April 2023, India ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    We did it! With an hour to spare!

    We had to stop at the border of the state of Sikkim because they are not open to anyone just coming in. What we were told would take 10 minutes actually took 2 hours waiting in two different lines, so we were very glad that we left Darjeeling earlier than we originally planned. The up side is that we had a wonderful conversation with a Nepalese mountain guide who was in line behind us.

    We are staying in a gorgeous hotel away from the center of Gangtok. I’ll share pics of it tomorrow. Now we are off to the finish line party!    Baca lagi

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    2All of the roads in town have these small rocks imbedded in the asphalt for tractionWe've seen G20 banners in a few places along our travels2I think this is the steepest stairway I've ever seen32We ran into the kind guide who we'd chatted with shile in line for our Sikkim visitors permit!Fire truck was dispensing drinking water4This was the view from inside a grocery/department store!3Plants staged out our hotelNow we realize that we are looking over to Gamgtok proper from our hotel deckThis is the amazing private covered deck attached to our hotel room2Our room here at Oro Montana Hotel. It is attached to a Hindu temple and provides them income

    Exploring Gangtok

    23 April 2023, India ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    We enjoyed the luxury of a leisurely morning today and then spent the day walking around the heart of Gangtok.

    We discovered that our lovely, peaceful hotel is unfortunately not very conveniently located for getting into town easily, but our hotel arranged for a taxi to take is in, which showed up eventually. A lot of the roads surrounding the city itself are horrendous. The worst we’ve encountered on our trip. So it’s a slow 30+ minute drive into town on rough, twisty roadways.

    Despite that we enjoyed poking around Gangtok. We rode a gondola that we honestly thought might take us to a higher viewpoint than it did, but it was a handy way to easily get elevation in a city built on a hill. In the heart of the city is a mall/street closed off to cars that was full of shops and people. Even the grocery/department store that we visited had a stunning view.

    We came upon a fire engine in the middle of Gangtok that was filling water bottles for people out of its tank. Later we learned that the main water line/source to the city was damaged by a mud slide 7 days ago. I guess we are lucky to be far out of town after all, where the water system is fine.

    We have booked an auto tour for tomorrow to Tsongmo Lake with a couple of other Rickshaw Run participants who we ran into in town. It’s about a 2 hour drive higher up into the mountains. We had to apply for a special travel permit in order to go on this trip tomorrow because we will be within several miles of the Chinese border! Wow!    Baca lagi

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    32White prayer flags honoring the deadAt 10,000 feet the chip bags have all puffed up!1A little window of mountain came and went3Our tour vehicle for today

    On the road to Lake Tsongmo

    24 April 2023, India ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    The road so far is twisty and steep and lined in many places with hundreds of vertical prayer flags. We learned that the white ones are honoring the dead.

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    Look how close we were to the border with China!I think this is about tied for the highest that I have ever been!18331This sweet woman gave me the warmest hug after asking for a selfie with me!12

    Tsongmo Lake

    24 April 2023, India ⋅ ☁️ 39 °F

    What an interesting experience visiting this lake was. Unfortunately the clouds prevented us from having a distant view of mountains, but the lake was beautiful. Our trip was timed well - there was wet snow and hail falling as we started back down.

    The area up and down the road is populated periodically by the military and their support services, AND people who support the tourist industry. There are areas along the road where photos are prohibited, where soldiers are up in lookout towers.

    Our guide stopped us at a little shop for tea and breakfast (Bread Omelet - yum!) and rubber boot rental. I wished later that I’d stuck to my hiking shoes for better traction in the slushy snow.

    At the lake there is a ropeway (gondola) that usually would take people up higher, but it was closed for maintenance. So we walked along the lake a ways, and Eric rode on a yak!!    Baca lagi

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  • The Great India Adventure
    226

    Kirat Rai Cultural Center

    24 April 2023, India ⋅ 🌙 57 °F

    We learned that the hotel we are staying in near Gangtok is actually much more than a hotel. It is part of an integrated complex that includes an active temple and a cultural center for the Kirat Rai community, which is one of over 33,000 sects within the Hindu religion.

    Since day 1 when we showed up here, a particular person has been sort of a guardian angel to us. His name is Sanjai, and he has helped us get situated when we first arrived, gave us his number and said to call if we had any issues (we have done so many times to help with communication and logistics), and has just been super friendly and helpful. Well, he does not even work for the hotel, he works for the cultural center!

    It turns out his Hindu community, backed by the state of Sikkim, built the entire complex to preserve, promote, and keep alive their cultural history and traditions. The hotel (the nicest we have ever stayed in, no exaggeration) was built both as an income-earning property and a guesthouse for visitors to the center.

    So when Sanjai was done with his official work for the day, he gave us a detailed tour of the entire facility. Along the way we got an incredible lesson in the culture, history, and traditions of his Hindu community. This community numbers about 2 million worldwide.

    The place has amazing architecture, artwork and displays which walk you through the formative stories of his religion. We even got to visit the inside of the temple, and see some textiles made from nettle fiber (traditional to his group).

    It was such an incredible and meaningful tour. After which we continued to be completely spoiled by the hotel staff!    Baca lagi

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  • The Great India Adventure
    The Institute of Tibetology
    Library shelves in the Institute of Tibetology2The dates of some of these manuscripts blew me away!21"The Wheel of Life"Beautiful hallways and stairwellsThe outside of the libraryBuddhist Monastery in GangtokEric spinning prayer wheels at the monastery in Gangtok4Butter Lamps at the Gangtok monasteryThis explanation was at the Ranka Buddhist Monastery near our hotelEntrance to the Ranka Monastery near us8One of the stupa's or shrines at the monastery near usA giant prayer wheel in a stupaMama and baby chickens seen on a walk near our hotel1Angel's trumpet plant down our road. We've seen them on roadsides in different parts of India!

    Namgyal Institute of Tibetology

    25 April 2023, India ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    We planned with the man at the front desk of our hotel to have a driver all day today who would take us to the Institute of Tibetology in Gangtok proper, drive us to the pedestrian mall for lunch, and then take us to a monastery about 15 minutes past the hotel before delivering us back to the hotel. I think a red flag was that this morning we had to pay the guy at the desk instead of the taxi driver, and it was a bit expensive. Come to find out that a middle-man had told the taxi driver that he was only driving us to the Institute and back, and the taxi driver wouldn’t budge when we realized this after our visit to the Institute. He finally relented and did take us to the monastery past our hotel, but it was the first really sour experience on our trip, so I think we are doing pretty well!

    The photos are from the Institute (a repository for artifacts of Tibetan Buddhist culture and a library of history and teachings going way back), plus a Buddhist monastery near it in Gangtok and then the monastery near our hotel. Photography was restricted in some parts of places we visited today, unfortunately.    Baca lagi

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  • The Great India Adventure
    2

    Flying from Pakyong airport on SpiceJet

    26 April 2023, India ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    (You know I want to call it SPICYjet!). Whew, we made it out of Sikkim!

    Visiting the state of Sikkim was in interesting experience for sure, not only because we ended up inadvertently staying in a hotel where it was tough to get a taxi to go anywhere, and everything was way to far away to walk.

    Having to get a permit and essentially a visa to enter the state when we drove in and then having to sign out again at the airport was unique. And we threw the officials off by staying an extra day than we had initially planned when we got our permit. It flummoxed them despite the fact that our permit was good for 30 days. Luckily the official’s superior, reached by phone, said it was fine to let us go, haha!

    This airport is one of the 5 highest in India and was opened in 2018. Only one flight leaves this airport a day, 5 days a week, and they just go to Delhi. I swear there are as many employees at the airport as there were passengers on our full airplane!

    (Edited to add a video of our take-off that Eric took)    Baca lagi

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