Chapter 18: In which Shantzy Pants details is venture into the foothills of the Himalayas

Hi Bloggers and Bloggettes,

I arrived back yesterday from the North where I had the rare opportunity to travel in a far away land with my Uncle Don and Cousins Misha and Dustin. They were traveling in India and so I planned my trip to overlap with them for a time. We decided to head for Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim Province, the northern end of a strip of India reaching north between Nepal and Bhutan. I found many similarities between Sikkim and Nepal, which I visited in 2008. The first similarity I noticed is the mixture and gradations of appearance between people with Indian features and people with Tibetan features. Some people looked fully Indian and some fully Asian and everyone else had some of both. As an American I’ve of course seen a million people from a million ethnic groups but the difference here is that everyone is much more culturally similar. Some people have traditional dress from different places and some people are Buddhist and others Hindu or Muslim (or Christian, or Jain, or Sikh, or…) but peoples mannerisms and expressions are rather similar. I suppose this is a product of having been mixing cultures for a few millenia.

The fam and I spent the first day around Gangtok proper, the next morning visiting Rumtek Monastery and my last day visiting Tsengo (Cheng-goo) Lake. All the driving outside the city is basically done on the edge of a cliff. We all spent some effort trying to capture a picture to give the effect of the view from your car window over the edge while the driver squeezes past a truck coming the other way, but we don’t have the skill or technology necessary to really give you an idea. So just take my word for it that its stressful. I tried to concentrate on the fact that our driver does this all day, six days a week and has been doing it for years, this kept me out of the freak-out-zone, but outside of the I’m-cool-with-this zone.

I took a helicopter back from Sikkim to the closest airport when my trip was over. The reasons were:

Cost - ~$50 The only time I’ll be able to ride in a helicopter for $50 is the next time I come to Sikkim

Skip the drive – see above

The two following pictures are of Rumtek Monastery, first from the ground and then from the helicopter.







Tsengo Lake and Surrounding mountains/valleys (Technically you can see the peaks of Bhutan in this picture but I don't know which ones)

Chapter 17: In which Shantzy Pants attempts to throw his readers a bone after not writing anything for a long time.

This photo is of myself feeling very honored to sit next to Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan Saheb, as he enjoys a cigarette before his 3:30 am vocal concert; all in his 104th year of life.



This is my buddy and gurubhai Bilal Khan, grandson of Ud. A. R. Khan Saheb.



These are my bare feet as I stand outside Dashkeenashar Temple north of Kolkata after an all night concert. Shoes aren't allowed anywhere on the grounds of the temple (as are pictures, I guess you'll just have to see it yourself). Ustad ji's concert was followed by Pt. Ramesh Misra, I had been going strong until this performance but Pandit ji began at 5:00am and I had decided to stop drinking tea so I would be able to fall asleep once I got home. I had assumed I'd be there by 7:00am but this was not to be the case. I should have had a few more cups since it would be more like 9:30. Anyway without tea I started to nod off. Well after the concert we (I had gone with Guruji. He accompanied both the musicians I've mentioned.) crammed 9 people in an SUV and decided to go to Dashkeenashar (pronounced: doh-keen-a-shar) and then have some breakfast nearby. Yes that is open pavement and yes the temple is almost fully outside. You may ask yourself "Wow, who knows what he stepped in?" Well, as a matter of fact I do know what I stepped in: Anything and everything you could possibly imagine. Hmmm. Fortunately its sacred "Anything-and-everything-you-could-possibly-imagine". Next thing is put my shoes back on, have breakfast, drive for an hour, clean my feet, pass out, then remember I was supposed to call my girlfriend at 10:00am, so go put money on my cell phone at the neighborhood phone recharging spot, find it closed and ask around a bit, then find a place, put money on the phone and leave my girlfriend a message, and hope she'll understand (she did, bless her heart).

I'm going to Sikkim in a few days with Uncle Don, and Cousins Dustin and Misha. Will post something related to that.

-Pantz