Stay in Hotel Mountain Retreat was relaxing, got up around 8 am to find heavy rains all around! I had planned to go for para-gliding at Ranka, near Gangtok but rains played spoil sport. Rains stopped around 1.30pm and I dashed to SBI Gangtok, where a young officer arranged taxi to drop me at Mirik Monastery at very reasonable charges.
Stopped at a wayside local dhaba near Rangpo, had Chicken Thukpa, a local dish of noodles, diced chicken in watery gravy/soup. The weather was so pleasant, I could not resist stopping at Sikkim Manipal University.
Next stop was at confluence of Teesta and Rangeet rivers, where I came across bunch of bikers, who were going for a long drive. However, did not like the sight of lots of plastic bottles littered around that place.
Crossed sprawling Peshok Tea Estate, a lesser known but a beautiful place for photography.
Crossed lovely villages, having beautiful houses. It was a great sight to see variety of flowers on the way.
Ghoom Railway Station is considered as a heritage attraction. This railway station of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is the highest railway station in India. It is situated at an altitude of 2,258 metres (7,407 ft). It was getting late so could not visit famous Ghoom Monastery.
Crossed Pashupati Bazaar, which is on the border of Nepal, where my phone was showing “NCELL” a network provider of Nepal.
Finally reached Mirik Monastery at 7.15 pm, where I was received by my Lama friend, who took me straight to monastery guest house and then to monastery canteen for dinner. Vegetables, pulses and flour etc are all produced locally, using organic manure. Had a comfortable stay in their guest house.
