A Cup o’ Kindness Yet

Greetings all

Hope you’ve all had a terrific Christmas. As for us, Christmas Eve was celebrated in Siliguri, a fairly dull city in which there isn’t much to do except arriving and departing. And, of course, having an alternative Christmas dinner: the closest thing we could find to a traditional Norwegian Christmas meal (pinnekjoet, maa vite), was mutton sheek kebab. Hardly a substitute, but thanks to our Indian fancy-wear and, importantly, our imported aquavit, I’d say the dinner was a relative success. After dinner we sang The Most Beautiful Christmas Carol in the World Ever (as an Indian marketing professional would call it), “Det lyser i stille grender”, wearing Santa Clause masks, then watched X-men II. On the whole it was an untraditional but memorable celebration.

On the 25th we left for Sikkim, the tiny mountainous state lodged in between Nepal, China/Tibet and Bhutan. Our first stop was the capital Gangtok, where we made arrangements for another trek. Having strained my knee pretty nastily on the last day of our trek in Nepal – it’s still rather sore – I reluctantly decided it would be wisest, or rather less idiotic, to limit myself to a two-day trek. Obviously, the wisest thing would be not to go at all, and sure enough the knee hurt something fierce in the steepest parts of my descent, but I couldn’t resist. And the pleasure of the hike and scenery was definitely worth the pain. Sigurd S is still trekking as I’m writing this, and in style: he is accompanied by no less than a guide, a cook and two porters. This is not due to laziness, but because, unlike Nepal, there are no teahouses providing accommodation and food on the routs in Sikkim. Hence, one must bring and prepare one’s own food, or, customarily, pay others to do so. Also, to bring a guide is compulsory, as the Sikkimese government is pretty serious about eco-friendly and profitable tourism. Another result of this, the guide is just as important for guiding trekkers through the extensive bureaucracy of permits as for actual guiding in the mountains. This reminds me of a curious element of our trek in Nepal that I forgot to mention in earlier posts: the Maoists. Though this communist group works towards a more or less violent overthrow of the Nepali government, it seems to be tolerated that they set up ‘checkpoints’ on trek routes, where they demand ‘donations’ from tourists (in a very polite, almost apologetic manner, to be fair). Personally, after making them promise not to spend our money on guns and to consider changing their name to something of more palatable connotations, we decided to “obey these rules” as they so matter-of-factly put it. I would’ve loved to see them try and squeeze that money out of a tourist taking a more J.E. Hoover-like position on communism, but there weren’t any present.

But I digress. Like I said, I’ve descended from the mountains to the town of Pelling in the relative lowlands of Sikkim (on a measly 2000 meters above sea level). While writing this, I am intensely cursing at the useless web page of Indian Railways, trying desperately to book a ticket from Siliguri (where we, amusingly, might end up celebrating New Year’s Eve) to our next destination: Kolkata (Calcutta). As for New Year’s Eve, it will most likely be celebrated in Darjeeling or Siliguri. Provided, that is, Sigurd S makes it to Pelling tomorrow. Otherwise, we’ll be celebrating in our separate Sikkimese villages. On a related note: Sigurd and I have now spent more than 24 hours apart for the first time in almost five months. I also have a room to myself for the first time in as long. It’s almost traumatic. Indeed, if all else fails, Sigurd and I could probably move in together and live happily ever after in an old and very filthy house, in a secluded village in the middle of nowhere. We could even buy a motorbike with one of those passenger carts, and take short drives in the countryside for recreation. Seventh heaven, to be sure.

For today’s quote I have selected a handful words of wisdom and warning that you should all pay heed to in the coming year (and tomorrow night in particular):


“Please obey traffic rules” – common road sign in India

“Swimming in the sea is thrill, but it will kill” – warning sign on Paradise Beach, Pondi

“Do not urinate here” – sign on wall in Pondi. On the same wall: “Sticks no bills”

“When married, divorce speed” – Sikkimese road sign

“Drive like hell and you will end up there” – another Sikkimese road sign


Finally, my personal favorite:

“Liquor ruins country, family and life” – warning on the label on ‘Bullet’ strong beer in Tamil Nadu



On that cheerful note: HAPPY NEW YEAR!



“Thank you” – large sign placed, for no apparent reason, in the middle of Sikkimese nowhere

Sigurd B