Road To Sikkim

We often say 'Thank God for Travelling Mercies' but do we ever think of what that means? I left Delhi and headed to the Sikkim and never has that phrase been so relevant.

LEAVING DELHI
I had an Air India flight to Bagdogra at 11 am. I left for the airport by car just after 8. I was worried that Delhi traffic would misbehave. I could have taken the metro but Delhi metro at peak hour isn't a lot of fun. I was not in the mood to upset myself  either. The trip was fast and simple. Made it to the airport in just over an hour.

My plane was delayed by a few minutes. When we walked into the cabin it was so hot and had a foul smell. Cabin crew walked up and down with a cabin freshener that didn't seem to work. A few minutes into it the air conditioning started to work but the announcement that came after it was the biggest shocker. I shook my head and smiled. 

"Any passenger carrying human remains? Please press the call button." No one pressed the button. Next thing cabin crew chit chats with a fellow pax and turns out that the body came from Mumbai but was not remove from the cargo. 

We were finally on our way and the two hour flight had quite a bit of weather turbulence. After the (nasty) meal the cabin crew was instructed to sit for weather. The cockpit crew didn't say anything to us. We just had to fasten our seat belts. 

BAGDOGRA TO SILIGURI
After landing I posted a few post cards but it turned out that the post office didn't have enough stamps. I'm still so confused by this right now. I thereafter took a walk to outside the airport precinct and got on a tuk tuk to Siliguri junction so I could take a shared jeep to Darjeeling.

Siliguri is about 12 km from Bagdogra airport. It's on the foot of the Himalayas and has quite a number of tea estates.

SILIGURI TO DARJEELING
The initial plan was to head to Gangtok after landing. I remembered that I needed to get a permit from Darjeeling to be able to visit Sikkim, where Gangtok is. One needs a permit because of the close proximity of Sikkim to an important Chinese border. That's where Tibet is. I really hope that I have no issues getting the permit.

Darjeeling means a place of Thunderbolt.

The jeep ride was interesting. It finally made sense why Indian drivers hoot so much. The road is uphill and winds around the mountain. The road is often too small to have two cars pass comfortably. The driver would then honk his horn to signal to whoever may be on the other side that he's on his way and they mustn't drive.

My fear of heights won't let me be great. My heart was on my throat each time the driver took sharp turns or drove on the shoulder of the road. The views were spectacular! At some point you could see the Everest.

I had altitude sickness when I got to Darjeeling. I couldn't go see sights. I will attempt today before I leave for Gangtok. I feel better today. So yes,  thank God for travel mercies.