Bill Murray's Blog, page 134

Duck Explodes

Americans probably didn’t learn this because everybody was all wrapped up in Anderson Cooper and important stuff like that, but you should have. From the BBC:

Gangtok, Sikkim

It’s a pleasure and a privilege to spend six days here. It’s a long way from home and it’s hard to get to, but it’s just a really unique place. It’s not every day.

Did So. Did Not. Did So.

It’s reassuring to see that CNN in India is just as firmly about journalistic integrity as it is back home.

Portraits, Gangtok, Sikkim

We got VIP treatment inspecting the kitchen that serves the ropeway, a cable car.

Ringing the bells at Hanuman Tok.

The Lal market, Gangtok.

Along M.G. Marg, Gangtok.

The Lal market, Gangtok.

This gentleman and the tea seller below stood along a little urban green space underneath the ropeway.

The Lal market, Gangtok.

Outside the Ganesh Tok.

No big deal. Mr. monkey, sir, how about a big smile? That’s all I said.

Hugging the Himalayas, Clinging to the Car

A ride out to Tsomgo (Changu) Lake, East Sikkim, pretty close to the India/China border at Nathu La. This lake is as far as foreigners can go and even then only after an ample dose of good old Indian bureaucracy. It’s a 6+ hour round trip from Gangtok, at 12,400 feet. The lake’s partly frozen and totally cold, smallish and pretty, but the ride’s the thing. The first photo is the road out of Gangtok.

That’s Kangchenjunga, third highest mountain in the world at 8,586 meters/28,169 ft in the one photo. And yes, they’re busting rocks for the road in that other photo.

Gangtok, Sikkim. Have a Look for Yourself.

First full day in town. Just a quick ride up to a lookout point, then back down to the Gangtok city center, the M. G. Marg. Here’s some of what we saw today:

World Breakfast, Sikkim Edition

Sikkim is a Himalayan Indian state bordered by Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Here is a selection from today’s breakfast buffet as served at the Mayfair Hotel Gangtok, the Sikkimese capital: Coriander vada, chicken roll, pineapple, onion uttapom, aloo matar ki subzi, club kachori, dhosa (a south Indian pancake), idli (rice ball), various chutneys and onion and chilli accompaniments, fresh squeezed pineapple juice, mineral water and coffee.

Christmas in Bangkok

We got about eighteen hours this time in Bangkok and found it sweaty, trafficky and polluted as always, and also as always, serving up some great food. This is how it looks in every direction as far as the eye can see.

No sign of the tens of thousands of protesters here at Siam Square. The hotel lady said they’re based around the Victory Monument, about twenty minutes by car, but she reckoned there wouldn’t be many of them today because they have to work.

That’s some revolutionary fervor.

I know we’re tardy making our first trip through Suvarnabhumi Airport since it’s been open some seven years already, but it’s a welcome shiny replacement for the rambling old Don Mueang airport. Only trouble is it’s about a half day outside town by Bangkok traffic just like Don Mueang was.

So today it’s Bangkok to Gangtok, the air portion courtesy of Druk Air, Royal Bhutan Airlines. I’ll have a report.

One more thing: No trip to Bangkok would be complete without dropping in on Miss Puke. She’s alive and well.

 

Don’t Try This at Home

Faith

Saigon, Monday, 23 December, 2013.