North Sikkim was very very inviting. Having heard so many stories about it, I couldn’t wait to get started. With the permit in my hand, I was feeling like a little kid with a new toy. Like I was the first one in the line to get a new Apple product. Since I was dreaming on the bike, I promptly went down.
Early into the ride, there came a roughly 3 kilometer long stretch fresh under landslides. So the entire portion was under construction and the only thing they could find to cover it for the time being was loose soil ofer rounded rocks. With a lot of water trickling from the mountains, it was slipping zone par excellence. Add to that traffic coming in from the other side leaving very little manouvering space for me and you have got a big guy on a big bike lying flat on the ground covered in motorcycling glory. And lot of mud. Well, mostly mud. Too bad I don’t have a third hand with which to photgraph myself struggling to even stand let alone pick up my bike. But then, like all good things come to and end, this one did too. Much to the displeasure of the guys in the SUVs coming from the other side who had all stopped to watch the spectacle. Buggers.
Post that stretch, however, the roads were mostly nice. By mountain standards I mean. Views were great. But not much to write home about. Had a noodle lunch (Wai Wai, to the locals) at one place and watched India make mince meat of England for about half an hour.
Mangan and Chungthang came and went. I promptly delivered the letter from the home ministry to officals in both cities. Picked up an army guy and a local for free rides around state. Never got asked about the permits. That wasn’t very nice of them.
Lachung is a nice little town at almost the end of the road. I had covered 124 kilometers and landed in a town sitting peacefully on the riverside like it was waiting for me all this while.
After settling into a nice hotel run by two Nepali chaps who promised to cook beef for me, I left for a nice monastery I was told is not far from town. Well, I covered a lot of distance but never got any nearer to the thing. This is where I ended up though.
Comments