We have arrived in Gangtok – and we are impressed. It is a beautiful town nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains in the state of Sikkim. Sikkim is a restricted zone – so we had to get a special permit to enter into the state. Because the state shares a border with China (Tibet) the restrictions exist – and apparently China has never officially recognised Sikkim as a part of India. The drive from Darjeeling took about 4 hours and we saw some spectacular countryside. And the road was relatively good and not very busy – which was reassuring as we will be driving on it come Sunday.
Tomorrow we will be heading to ‘Rickshaw Run HQ’ – at a hotel nearby – and will be able to complete the registration process and pick up whatever information they need to give us – we understand we will be getting an official Rickshaw Run t-shirt!! We will also get some time to complete the ‘pimping’ of our Rickshaw and test-drive it. Then hopefully some time to explore Sikkim.
To everyone who has been leaving comments – we really enjoy reading them – its great to know people are following our progress.
To those in Sydney we believe Radio 702 will be doing another live cross to us – between 8 and 9pm on the Robbie Buck show.
Another interesting factoid/tid-bit – In India we have noticed that just about all cars, trucks, buses and auto-Rickshaws have religious deities stuck to the dashboard – usually a Hindu God such as Ganesh, or quite common up here in Sikkim – a small Buddha. Given the way some people drive we think you probably need all the help you can get while on the road here. So you can rest assured we will be doing similar!
Lastly – we have posted some new photos to the photos page – formatting is not great but we are working on that. Also see below – a photo taken today on road from Darjeeling to Gangtok.
No doubt getting exciting now, Sikkim enjoy. The photos are great.