October 28, 2014 
KOLBONG to GANGTOK
Central Hotel 1500 Rs/$24.25

Moving on from Karmi Farm

Our time spent at Karmi Farm had been a wonderful break. But time has come to move on. 
 
 
After breakfast we bid goodbye to Andrew. He held out a walking pole for me and said I would need it. He had arranged for the share taxi to Darjeeling to meet us on the road far below at 7:30 am. Nima and his buddy carried our packs ahead of us down a steep and narrow mountain trail. 
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It took us 15 minutes. We handed the boys a little tip. They were delighted. Nimo told us with a big grin that he is saving to buy a goat for his family and now almost has enough money. They took off and we waited at the roadside. 

 When the taxi hadn't shown up at quarter to eight, Dave called Andrew. Don't worry he'll be there Andrew insisted. But Andrew did call the driver and called us back to let us know that the driver was waiting for a passenger and would be there shortly.
 
Finally, at 8:15, our ride showed up. We had bought 3 seats behind the driver, which means were now only have 3 people on that bench instead of 4.

 
Transfer in Darjeeling 
 
 
Three hours later at 11AM, we arrived at the shared jeep stand in Darjeeling and were pointed 100 meters further to the ticket kiosk for shared taxis to Gangtok. Pretty painless. Sadly, no seats were available until the 1:30PM taxi and we had over two hours to kill. We decided to reserve the two front seats next to driver after we knew they would not be putting 4 people up there. 

We waited at a great little restaurant that serves decent local and Chinese food. It rained for about 30 minutes and we were happy to be under cover. After 1:00, we made our way to the taxi stand and matched the license plate number of the jeep with one on our ticket. It was still a tight squeeze in the front due to the gear shift lever but we managed. 
 
The taxi left about 30 minutes late at 2:00PM. The ride was through beautiful mountainous scenery. Past several Buddhist monasteries with hundreds of prayer flags on tall poles, tea plantations and rivers.

In Rampo, at border of Sikkim, we had to get our permits stamped at the checkpoint. We went in while the other passengers waited. Waiting is a normal part of life in India and even though we were the only ones holding up the drive, no one complained or seemed impatient. 
 
The bureaucrat copied our particulars into a giant ledger and we were free to enter.
 
It was dark by the time we reached Gangtok and the taxi stand was still another kilometer from the hotel we had reserved. But what a steep kilometer. Gangtok is also situated on top of a ridge but I would say it is a steeper town than Darjeeling. The taxi drivers quoted outrageous sums to get us that last km ($5). We turned them down and went to the road to catch a shared taxi which we knew would be cheap. The driver called ahead to the hotel and got directions. After going up up up, we took a turn and went down down down. It looked close on the map but would have been a hard climb each time we wanted to go to the central promenade of Gangtok. The owner understood and we got back in the taxi. The taxi's tires slipped on the steep driveway and we had to get out and walk to lighten the load. A hundred meters to the top and we got back into the taxi. We didn't have a 'plan b' and told the driver to let us off at Central Hotel we had passed on the way. At the hotel, the driver asked for 500Rs - Since he took us to the other hotel and then to this one, we were not on the normal rate, he said. We argued and argued. Eventually, Dave gave him 200Rs ($3.20), double the proper rate, we estimated. Doesn't sound like a lot but our 100 kilometer ride from Darjeeling was 200 per seat

This Central Hotel turned out to be a different hotel than the budget Central Lodge listed in our LP. This one was much nicer. We could not come to terms and Dave walked out saying he wanted to check other hotels while I waited with the luggage. Seconds later, a young man came from the back office and asked again what price we needed. We settled on 1500Rs net, without breakfast. How do you get from 2500 to 1500 for excluding breakfast, I asked? That's 1000Rs! A head waggle later, without an answer, we were in our room and happy to be settled. It wasn't that many kilometers today, just 140 approximately, but we had started out from the farm 12 hours earlier.   

 
October 29 in GANGTOK (Sikkim) 

Planning a Tour of North Sikkim 

On our agenda in Gangtok: 

1) arrange a tour of northern Sikkim 
2) Book train to Assam for the 7th
3) Bank transfer $200 for our Aranuchal Pradesh permits

Central Hotel turned out to be a good choice in spite of the many things we found to complain about. They worked with us and tried to please us. Smelly and gray towels that were supposed to be white, were replaced with new polyester blend towels that were about as absorbent as plastic and smelled like smoke and the toilet seat broken. It has wifi and is on main road with the city extending steep above and below. It is walkably close to the shared taxi stand for Pelling. In day light, we got a better feel of Gangtok and its surroundings. It is surrounded by mountainous terrain on all sides. We told them we'd stay another day.
 

Lord Travels
 
Our first stop was Lord Travel to check out its tours and prices. I got his name from a Tripadvisor forum where the writer had nothing but praise for them.. We immediately liked Sonam, the owner. He seems like an up front guy, no games and very friendly. Basically we were interested in the standard 2 night, 3 day package to the north with the freedom to stop where we like. For the two of us, he started at 22000Rs for the package and we negotiated down to 18000 Rs with upgraded accommodations. And in case we have other people join us, it would be 4000 Rs extra for food and accommodations per pair (double occupancy). We told Sonam we'd check out a few other places and get back to him. 
 
We hadn't had breakfast so we climbed the stairs to MG road, a wide pedestrian promenade and had mediocre pizza at the Bakery. The Bakery is a trendy place which takes a stab at being like a western cafe / bakery. At least they don't serve Indian food. 

 
Poaching Travelers Accidentally
 
Afterwards, we climbed even higher to the New Modern Central Lodge on Tibet Road. The LP recommended this place to meet guests who may be interested in sharing a jeep. Tibet Street has several decently stocked outdoor gear shops. Naturally we had to browse. Eventually we made it to New Modern Central Lodge and the guy at reception doubled as a tour agent. He introduced us to Sylvain, a low key French guy from the French Alps who was also interested in sharing a jeep. The guy at reception laid out an itinerary similar to Sonam's, for a higher price. And when I asked him about the accommodations we'd be staying at, I got the feeling that it was bare bones. No towels either. When I asked him if it would be okay if we could shared the front seat , he objected, stating some lame excuse that it was against the law. Yeah, that is why shared taxi drivers can have 5 people in the front seat. I've seen people practically on the drivers lap. We told them we'd think it over even though we were totally turned off. 
 
It was after 12:00, and they said permit applications have to be submitted by noon in order to depart the next day. We'd have one more day in Gangtok because of this timing. At least it would give us more time to find people to share our tour. 
 
As we finished our tea, another guy had arrived, Dylan. We briefly spoke with him and exchanged contact information. Dylan was on his way out to check out several other tour agents. We'd touch bases later. Dave and I had pretty much made up our mind to go with Sonam, even if we didn't get anyone to share. Sylvain walked down with us to check out Sonam and his tour options. We were more enthused after this second visit to Sonam's office and put down a deposit and told him to get the driver and car scheduled. The only question was how many people. Later, that day, Dylan and Sylvain emailed that they were in and possibly had another woman to join as well. We all agreed to meet at Lord Travel at 9:30 am with 3 passport pictures and copies of our passports and visas. Dave called Sonam and told him the good news.
 

And Then We Were Six (October 6)
 
Dave and I were at Sonam's office on time. Dave went looking for Dylan and Sylvain. Soon Dylan showed up with Yumi, a 60ish Japanese woman who was interested in joining. A bit later Dave showed up with Doris, a Canadian lady from Montreal he ran into who was also interested in joining. In the end, our group had grown to a perfect six. We did not go into New Modern Central Lodge expecting to poach customers considering their tours. But that is where we found them and nobody had made any commitments at the time.

 
9'ine for Sikkimese Food 
 
After all our paperwork was handed in, Dave and I went for a pretty nice brunch of some Sikkim dishes at "9ine" restaurant. We chose the set lunch menu for 230Rs which the menu describes as:
 
- Gundrui - Traditionally fermented leaves of mustard, radish and cauliflower
- Kinema - Traditionally fermented soya bean food
- MaaChoo - Traditionally cottage cheese cooked with butter and eggs

 Accompaniments: Pork with Kinema, Shyapta (Beef), Fing with Mushroom

The owner explained the dishes to us and said the set menu was big and two people could easily share. We shared and it was enough. The flavors were interesting and only one dish was too spicy. The spinach soup was humdrum.

Afterwards we got our train tickets booked for our trip from NJP, West Bengal to Guwhatti, Assam on the 7th of November. and Dave transferred the Arunachal Pradesh permit fee of $100 per person. We immediately received an email with permit attachment of which we have to print 20 copies. The permit process can take up to four days took more like 20 minutes. We felt we got a lot accomplished.