The roads that pass through the himalayas are narrow, crowded and steep. Most people travel by jeep ( seen here). On our journey from Darjeeling to Sikkim, our jeep driver made way for a passing transport truck, forcing our jeep into a ditch, with us and 8 others on board. Thank the lord that they drive on the left over here, orelse our trip would have been cut short due to death over the gorge. It only took about 30 minutes, two flat rocks and lots of spectators to get us out.

The one problem with the village was the pesky little leeches that crept into even the smallest of places; the inside of Kim's socks for example. What a nice bedtime treat!!! Needless to say, the leech didn't survive the battle.

Calcutta, India

This is us at our favorite Hakka Noodle stand digging in!

The streets of Calcutta (and everywhere else in India for that amatter) are lined with vendors such as these selling the typical dhal, rice, curries dosa's and my personal favorite, hakka noodles.

Darjeeling

Tiger Hill: Darjeeling. We woke up at 3:30 am buzzing with aniticipation to see what was supposed to be one of the best views of the Himalayan mountain range, including Mt. Everst! We travlled in a herd of approx. 250 jeeps holding anywhere from 7 to 15 people in each. When we reached the ticket counter, (yes a ticket counter at a sunrise point) we lost oursleves in a sea of Indian toursists. The expereince was anything but peaceful and the view was nothing more than grey clouds. What a morning.

Afternoon sun peaking through the clouds in Darjeeling.

They don't use U-Hauls to carry goods in Darjeeling!

Gangtok, Sikkim

Gangtok, the bustling capital city of Sikkim was a great place to kick back and relax. It sucked us in for 10 days!!!!

no words necessary..........

Prayer flag park, as we liked to call it, was this mystical corner of the city which was free of noise, people and pollution, but absolutley teeming with prayer flags.

View overlooking the main strip in Gangtok taken from the ropeway which soared high above the streets and carried passengers from one end of the city to the other.

Tsangmo Lake, Sikkim

After a gruling 5 hour jeep ride, winding up through the mountains, we arrived safely at the lake. There we were offerd a yak ride and we thought, why the hell not!

After having climbed a staggering 3000ft, we reached the summit of a mountain measuring 14000 ft. We were winded and exausted but overjoyed to know that we reached the top of a mountain half the height of Mount Everest. Hooray for us!!!!!!

Pallas's Place, Katchiperi Lake, Sikkim

From word of mouth we heard of this wonderful little village that sat atop one of the lower himalayan mountains. We made the trek up and upon arriving, moved into a little peice of heaven, which was owned by the former chef of the Dalai Lama. So, we felt very honoured to be welcomed in with open arms to the village community. We spent our days watching the village go by.

On our last night there, a group of about 15 of us sat around a fire, which colors tunred from red to orange to green to blue. It was absolutley amazing to see!!

Prayer Falgs lined the boundires of the village at the top of the mountain.