My Travel Diaries

Being written on the 28th of November 2024. Before I get down to the basics, some very clear points of reinforcement. 1 Driving oneself is so so much more fun than being driven. For every reason other than doing normal city tourism stuff thru massive pushy tourist traffic, and then, finding any parking. My travel pictures are down by over 75 percent. 2 The noisiest Indian tourists are from Bengal. 25th November 2024 The clouds were in, all the way.  Was leaving for Gangtok as soon as breakfast was done. Ate a mixed bag - a piece of uttapam, some poha, a piece of aloo parotha, couple of eggs. Everything was salt free. Drive was in the clouds most of the first couple of hours. Got a bit of sun when the driver stopped for a cup of tea. Our route took us thru Namchi. From there we were to drive towards a place called Yangyang to take a ride on the Bhaledhunga Ropeway. The road was unfortunately closed. We had to loop back and go thru Rabangla. Reached the Ropeway station by 1230. Decid...

Writing this sitting in Pelling on the 22nd of November 2024. This trip was actually to happen February of 2023. Unfortunately the Teesta floods devastated Sikkim. And, there was a repeat in September of the same year. The first happened because of a natural ice dam breaking, sending flash floods down the Teesta. The second, because of torrential rains. Both cases, I had to cancel my plan to drive to Sikkim, and then go on to the North East. This plan was conceived and executed after I got back from Himachal. The change I made to my thinking was that I would save drive time to and from Chennai to Bagdogra - which is the gateway to the Northern Himalayan areas, and fly in. Landed into Bagdogra 21st November. This was actually supposed to happen first week of November. But, the roads were not yet open, and there was some hope that the roads to North Sikkim would open post mid November. Got confirmation on the roads on the 20th of November. That they were not yet open, but, would open in ...