Drive to Gangtok

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. Decided to take the driver along on the ride.

The place had a large parking area inside, where no vehicles were allowed. Weird, because the parking space outside could accommodate not more than 10 vehicles. 

Walked a couple of hundred meters to the entrance. Was greeted by a few pleasant kids. On being asked, they told me the next ride was in about ten minutes.

Once I paid, the fun began. Walked to the entrance of the ropeway to be told by a rude person to go and sit down. On being asked why, was told that the next ride would take a while. And, he was in no mood to give me an estimate. 

Blew a fuse. Went back to the ticketing counter and asked for a refund.

As they were politely inquiring, another person approached me. He apologized for the behaviour of the earlier guy, and gave me a reason I could make no sense of.

According to him, since there was a rush the previous day, they had not done necessary preventive maintenance work. And, they could not put it off any more. 

I was pissed off, not for the necessity for maintenance, but for not informing customers upfront about the situation.

Asked him about ownership. Was told that the ropeway was owned and operated by a West Bengal Company for the Sikkim Government. That explained the attitude of the staff perfectly. 

The ropeway started at 1800 meters and went up to 3500 meters.

We had to wait an additional 10 minutes before we were requested in.

As we had been waiting, the clouds had decided to come in. Visibility was not too good.

The insides of the cabin looked clean.  The windows were another matter. Taking a picture thru the window got us some muck with it, added to the clouds.

Having said all that, the ride was fun. The speed alternated between fast and a crawl. Presumably because as a single cable design, the speed had to be at a crawl to allow passengers to be get on and off.

 

We had got on at 1300. It was now 1315. The ride was fun, with a bit of shrieking each time the ride accelerated, or, bumped over a support.

Got of the cabin. It was cold. 3500 meters could be felt. There was a path leading further up.

    

Finished with partially freezing, came back to the ropeway loading area. There were about 20 people waiting. Asked about the wait time for the next ride. Was told that the guys up here had no clue. The people at the lead point send the cabins up as and when they felt like it. There was no schedule to it. With enough people piling the pressure on the staff, thought it better to stay out of it. And, vent my feelings with the staff below.

The wait was 30 minutes. People were getting angrier by the moment. The first cabin was spotted coming up. Stayed where I was as that was at the queue point. 

As we were headed down, more cabins went the other way. All the 40 plus frozen angry souls would have been brought down in record time.

Spoke to the staff who had approached me earlier. Asked him why there was no basic schedule for the rides. He had no answer.

Fantastic equipment. Terrible management. Road to disaster. The answer to the attitude is clear from the state the operating staff are. As I was walking away, heard him shout at some others that he knew what he was doing as he handled 1000s of people a day. That summed it up.

The drive on to Gangtok took longer than we expected. We stopped for lunch around 1500. Had a vegetarian thali. Two dals, two vegetables. Good food.

Entered Gangtok traffic which was moving slower than a crawl around 1700. Reached my hotel by 1745.

Had spoken to the lady who facilitated the entire plan a bit earlier. She insisted on meeting, even though it was her birthday. And had family waiting with a chocolate cake.

Got to the market area by about 1815. Looked at a quick meet and back to my room for a much wanted shower and drink.

Well, ended up spending over an hour with a lovely lady and her brother. And, with three large whiskeys down the throat. The first was my doing. The second was requested by me. The third was disguised in local code. Had a great time talking about all under the sun. Absolutely delightful lady. Those who want the connect, please mail me.

Over the conversation, took the decision to cut my trip short.

The original plan had been to cover Lachen and Lachung. Finish on the 3rd of December.

Had delayed the start from first week November to third week November hoping the roads would open. The roads had been closed due to the floods the previous year which had destroyed almost every connecting road in Sikkim. The evidence was stark even now.

Just before my departure from Chennai she had flipped the route after talking to me, to do the West first, and then the North.

Unfortunately the roads were still closed.

Plans for the next two days. Waiting to see what would happen. The situation made no sense to me. Worse for her. Even if the roads opened on the third day, the rush to get permits and the traffic would blow minds. And, if I insisted on staying on to fill the plan dates, I would probably be on the road more than not. To places that were not really optimal. Made more sense coming back when the roads were completely and totally open.

So, the plan now was to do Gnathang Valley on the 26th. 

Phadamchen, just past Zuluk, on the 27th.

Siliguri on the 28th. To fly back to Chennai on the 29th.

Sent out a mail to get my return flight changed from the 3rd of December to the 29th of November.