 |
| Attractive "Eco Park" development at Lamahatta |
5th
April
The day did not start particularly well ..
I was woken again at 3:30am by assorted people shouting in their preparations
for the early morning departure to watch the sunrise. This had followed a disturbed evening … a small totally
undisciplined child had been allowed to run along the corridor, repeatedly
ringing doorbells - including mine.
It got him a verbal chastisement and I got quite irate with, presumably
his grandfather. The man
understood little of my tirade but he did keep the child in a room from then
on.
 |
| "Eco Park" development at Lamahatta |
Reception called to say my car had arrived
but what they really meant was it was on its way. Then it appears the car would not actually come to the hotel
- the road was too narrow. Given that a bolero had been parked in
the hotel foyer the previous morning and I had a tiny sedan for transport, I
was not happy about walking up the steep hill to my car. Ok, one of the staff took my suitcase,
but was certainly not going to get a tip for what I considered a totally
unnecessary service. At the top I
told the driver and his sidekick that I was not happy and the car should have
been brought to the hotel. Blank
looks, no understanding. I asked
the hotel staff member to tell them… whether he did or not, who knows. I double checked that the car would
actually deliver me to my hotel in Gangtok. Yes, I was assured….
 |
| "Eco Park" development at Lamahatta |
It seems that the driver did speak very
little English, but once we had left the town traffic and were on roads that
might have had views in Different weather, he told me he would stop for photos
if requested.
We paused for him to collect something in a
small village and I observed many going about their morning business, including
morning ablutions at roadside taps and the placing of a ladder against a power
pole for, goodness only knows what risky operations.
 |
| "Eco Park" development at Lamahatta |
As we travelled further we went through a
series of villages, which verged on picturesque. There is virtually no flat area in these villages, apart
from the road, and the buildings on the downhill side required incredibly tall
supporting foundations. It was
lovely to see, as I had also observed in Darjeeling, that many decorated their
fronts with pot plants - using a wide variety of rescued containers, including
plastic bags. These flowering
additions were most attractive and ranged from red geraniums, through a wide
variety of azaleas, orchids, and other gorgeous flora.
 |
| Lamahatta: azaleas amongst the pines |
We stopped at one point in a small village
in front of a park area, neatly decorated with upright prayer flags and behind
it some rather lovely pine forest.
I believed that my driver asked if I wanted to take photos, so I got out
to do that. I returned and
inquired about whether I should have paid the entrance fee, as there was a sign
to that effect but I was not sure where one was supposed to undertake such
important financial transactions.
 |
| Magnolia tree in the forest |
This led to a fairly complex conversation,
which included a man in a small shelter, which could have been a bus shelter or
just a place for the person who collected the fee for use of the public
toilet. He spoke a little more
English than my taxi driver and it seems I was being asked if I wanted to hike
up to a small lake through the
forest on the top of the hill – about a 20 minute hike. I am not sure if this was a result of
my asking about paying the entry fee or not – or whether my driver intended
that was what I would want to do.
I still felt rather confused about this, and the driver took me to where
tickets were being sold (a whole 10 rupees to use this park area) and then
accompanied me to the top of the hill.
 |
| Winding our way through mixed broadleaf forest |
I must admit, after the frustrations that
started the morning, a walk in the forest was just delightful, although a
brewing thunderstorm threatened imminent rain and my raincoat was in the
taxi. The pine trees seemed so
evenly spaced but it was certainly not a plantation, and undergrowth was
virtually not existent – little light penetrated the canopy.
As we continued our journey, we drove
through more pine forests, some areas with rhododendron and magnolia
undergrowth and as we descended further we passed through more tea plantations
and entered deciduous forest – a few autumn leaves still clinging but a haze of
new green spring growth cloaking the trees provided some real beauty.
 |
| Attractive rivers |
The autumn leaves were littering the
roadside and I spotted at least one worker trying to clean up the leaves with
the aid of a very sophisticated forked stick – it really looked most
ineffectual!
My driver pulled over once again and
indicated that a building ahead marked a view point – it was the point of
confluence of 2 rivers and I overheard a guide telling his group about bad
spirits or something that caused landslides in one of the river valleys but not
the other. It would have been
interesting to know more of the story he was telling. There was no point in asking my driver – anything other than
basic communication was impossible.
Once again, however, the view would have been amazing if skies had been
clear.
 |
| If only the air were clear.... |
From there we followed a series of river
valleys for much of the way to Gangtok.
These really are quite picturesque although there is much commercial use
of them: trucks loading sand and
gravel were evident and in places other activities were underway.
We passed a couple of rafting operations
which seemed to have an inordinate number of cars parked for such a mildly
adventurous activity. I commented
and my driver said something about dead bodies. Whether there was a crematorium on the banks of the river,
or something else, will remain a bit of a mystery to me.
At one point the opposite bank of the river
was dotted with trees with white blooms.
I thought we were too low for magnolia, but they may have been fruit
trees of some sort. Or not.
 |
| Interesting geology: some quite major landslides |
Our finding of my hotel was rather
delayed. The phone number provided
by booking.com was not correct and the driver did not really know where to
go. I showed him the address,
which had it close to the district court, and eventually inquiries of a local
taxi driver had us headed in the right direction. He had commented some time earlier that he thought my hotel
a long way from the town centre.
I was pleasantly pleased that my hotel room
is more than twice the size of the one in Gangtok and boasts a sofa and coffee
table as well as a couple of bench spaces and a decent sized bathroom. And a view – albeit of a makeshift
settlement on a small flat area below, but with hills and villages beyond.
 |
| Luxury in Gangtok after my shoebox in Darjeeling |
I ordered a late lunch and rested for a bit
– 3:30am wake ups were taking their toll, then headed out to try to find a tour
company office that google suggested was nearby. Google lied. I
followed maps to Google’s suggested location and could see nothing – and the
local shopkeepers I asked knew nothing of it. They suggested I should go “down”. I tried that but some half an hour later, given
that it had started to rain, I gave that up as a bad joke and returned, after
buying some bananas and local cookies – which are VERY good – way better than
most manufactured Indian biscuits.
I heard the word “jeera” in her discussion of the cookies with another
lady – maybe the flavour is cumin.
Whatever it is, I like it!
Comments
Post a Comment