Newjalpaiguri-Pelling

The train reached NJP at 10 in the morning. Jithu along with his bike was already in NJP since 3 days and was there to receive me. As soon as I got down, I rushed to the parcel office to get my bike. To my horror, the bike hadn’t reached as yet. It had been dispatched a day before. How couldn’t it reach. The officer at the desk told me that sometime’s they don’t have sufficient time to unload it from the train and so the parcel reaches the last stop of the train. He told me not to worry. The bike will reach in 4-5 days. 4-5days!!! And not to worry??? My trip will be a disaster if I have to wait 4-5 days for my bike. Since there was nothing I could do at the station, we went to the hotel Jithu was staying in. We thought sitting and waiting for the bike would be a waste of time. So we decided to go to Pelling. This place is in western Sikkim from where you get a great view of the snow covered Kanchenjunga peak. We spent an hour trying to find a bus or taxi that would take us. Many travel agents later, we got fed up and decided to ride on the one bike we had. 1:00pm we left for Pelling. Jithu was driving and I was sitting pillion.
the riders..


service with a smile..


First few kms were single lane crowded road. I was praying to God that the other roads not be like this. As we entered Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, we got a beautiful blacktop with jungle on both sides.


Another patch of badly broken up roads near Sevoke and then the hills began. The lovely North East greenary.. As pillion clicking pics is easy..





My first experience as sitting pillion wasn’t turning out to be very enjoyable. Every time Jithu breaked, I slid forward with friction causing burning in my posterior. Due to the saddle bags, I could not put my feet fully on the foot rest. So on breaking they also slid. I was holding the grab rail to stop myself from sliding. We stopped after 35kms. My legs were already paining along with my hands and back. Jithu..


Thankfully it was my turn to ride now. I was riding a Karizma for the first time and to put it philosophically, it was love at first ride. So much power. No need to go till the 1 gear every time a bit steep climb came. No strain on the bike when going uphill. What lovely handling. Now I know why people say it’s the best bike for touring. The road too was ok. A patch of pot holes after every half km made sure you don’t go too fast but otherwise it was all tarmac. I kept on riding and Jithu was accommodating enough to let me do so. The river Teesta..


Another rest break..


Finally we entered Sikkim..


Throughout the way we saw a lot of waterfalls. But unlike the roads in Himachal or Ladakh, they had built bridges over them and hence there wasn’t much water on the road. So at max even if some water came on the road, the water crossings were more of puddle crossings.


The tall green trees..


The blue clouded skies..








A landslide break..


We were having a ball and Mother Nature had chosen her green gown to wear to our party. All around us was dark green mountain slopes covered with thick forests and brightly green fields. No sign of color brown anywhere in the valley. A panorama i took..



one of the many waterfalls..


The last 25km after Legship was great road. Full of sharp twisties but no pot holes.


We reached Pelling at 5:30 just as it was getting dark. Checked into Hotel Dubdi in upper Pelling near the helipad. Double room was for Rs.1000. The manager gave us a 50% discount due to the off-season. The Delux double room was for 1200 but the only difference was that it was one floor higher and hence had a better view. Rest was the same. We took a double room, and went to have dinner and some drinks to celebrate the beginning of our trip. Tomorrow we have to get up early to catch the sunrise. So we are hitting the sack early. Its 8 right now.

Distance traveled in the day: 130kms
Total distance in the trip: 130kms

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