The Wobbling Sprocket

We left Kalimpong and climbed another 2000 feet to Lava. The road to Lava winds through huge tall trees. The views are spectacular and there was virtually no traffic and very few local residents. Those that were there looked to be eking out a tough existence.

We stopped at the monastery in Lava and saw something I had never seen before. There were a 40 or 50 monks the courtyard of the monastery, paired off facing one another. One would be kneeling or sitting and the other would be standing and the one standing would be talking in a very animated fashion and occasionally slapping his hands for emphasis. With all those standing and talking at once and with all the slapping of their hands it put up a real racket.

What we were watching were “Debates”. The monks are arguing various positions and thoughts about any number of subjects. Apparently, a debate can last a lifetime. The monk who is standing is making his case. The person kneeling or sitting goes off after he has listened and the next time around he gets to stand make his points in response. The slapping represents the physical side of the argument. There is the verbal and there is the physical. Hopefully, it never turns into more than the slapping of hands.

We ate at the monastery. Momo's and eggs provided by Norden, Roger and Neel. There were chicken momos and there were vegie momos. And they were steaming hot. That was very welcome as it was freezing cold in Lava at 7,000 feet.

From Lava, we had one of the world's longest descents out of the Himalayas and onto the plains of India. At 50k, it certainly is the longest descent that I have ever done. It took us the better part of two hours to go down. It rained a little on the way, but it didn't matter. We quickly dried out when the sun briefly appeared.

After arriving on the plains we stopped at an open air market. There were several hundred people all spread out in the open selling all sorts of things. There were great looking vegetables and spices, and live animals being butchered on the spot. Maryvonne and the local guides also encountered an elephant on the road.

Everyone stopped riding where we met the busy road. We took the bus from there to the Riverwoods Resort which located at the entrance of a game reserve. It was surrounded by an electric fence. We were told it was mainly to keep elephants out although a leopard made it onto the grounds once. The Riverwoods was a very nice place to end the tour.

In the morning we all took the bus for the 2.5 hour ride to the Bagdogra Airport and said our goodbyes. Fede is headed back to Italy. Maryvonne and Jim and Keith are all headed back to the USA. Adrienne and Janice are going to visit the Taj Mahal; David has a week in Delhi to do some writing. Graeme, Clara and I are all headed to Laos for the next bike tour……Laos! Yeah, it is a tough job but someone has to do it.

A big thanks to all the participants for being so great. It was fun. The Himalayas have been a high for me in more ways than one.

Maryvonne making her way up to Lava

On our way to Lava

The view from Lava. It was cold! 7,000 feet

Headed to the Monastery at Lava

Some of the monks...debating.

....and one more thing!

It went on for awhile.....

OK, I was just joking.

We were bundled up!

Graeme captured all the style points at lunch in Lava!!

The descent from Lava is pretty much unbelievable...I had never done anything quite so long.

Keith...looking at "the big down"

The open air market

One of the vendors

Clara at the Riverwoods Retreat

Janice on the way to Bagdogra

An interested observer...............

On our rest day in Kalimpong, most people decided to walk down to town. It is 7 or 8 k and a pretty good hike. Clara and Keith biked down. On the way there were visits to the paper making village and a small monastery.

We each made our way to the Halumba Haven where we had a nice lunch and then visited Nyingmapa Monastery, high up on a hill above town. From the monastery there is a commanding 360 degree view. At 4pm the monks were also inside chanting and blowing horns. That creates quite the atmosphere.

We all bused back to the The Delo Tourist Lodge. Although in a spectacular spot 2000 feet above Kalimpong town, the government run Delo Lodge has sadly been neglected. It has very large wood paneled rooms, but nothing has been maintained. With a little more effort. It could be a terrific place.

The view from Delo

Nyingmapa Monastery above Kalimpong

At Holumba Haven for Lunch

Norden gave us a nice tour of the plants at Halumba Haven

...and we had a nice lunch there too.

This gentleman allowed me to take his picture on the way into Kalimpong. I love taking pictures of faces in India. Plenty of character.

Today's ride turned out to be great one. It didn't start that way though. I left the Teen Taely and rode a couple k down a very rocky road before I realized that I had left my camera battery charging in the room. I decided to go back for it. I found and then headed out again hoping to quickly catch up with the group. Powering up a hill my chain broke so I tried to make a call…no service….so I thought OK, I will walk up the hills and coast down like the Indians do. That actually works pretty well. After about half an hour though, Dawa, our local guide came back to fetch me. No real problem.

The back road down from Rumtek is very steep and riding in a truck is actually much scarier than on a bike. Brakes tend to overheat and the pedal starts going to the floor. We took a half hour break to let the brakes cool off.

We eventually caught up with everyone at the bottom of the hill. We had a short vehicle transfer to Rangpo where we crossed out of Sikkim, had a hot lunch at a local hotel and then began the ride to Delo. We went up through Chiconna plantations. Chiconna tree bark is used in the mfr of quinine. The road was great and there was very very little traffic.

at breakfast at the Teen Taley. The had terrific food they grew in their large garden.

I had mechanicals while Keith had animals while trying to get out of the driveway of the Teen Taley.

Their were some great views coming down from Rumtek

This little girl was checking me out from a safe distance when we stopped to let the brakes cool off.

We decided to send our big bus the long way around....with good reason. Some of the roads looked like they could come down.

After climbing from from Rangpo, we stopped at a bangalow for tea and cookies. The setting was as spectacular as the coconut cookies.

The Delo Tourist Lodge

The view from the Delo. We could not see Kangchendzanga from here as it was hazy, but on a clear day you can....in one scene you have the river up to the top in view....8.000 meters of elevation. This is one of the few places where you can see that.