26th Nov: Darjelling to Pelling

26th Nov: Darjelling to Pelling

I am in love with North West Bengal and Sikkim. I had never been to these places but had always thought how the mountains,roads,people and general feel of here would be and am i happy - u bet

We left Darjeeling quite late - 12pm and got the news that pumps on Sundays remain closed after 12! Damm. we had to buy petrol on black for like 55bucks per litre (around 3.5 more). Ghoom, around 8kms from Darjeeling, had the diversion for Teesta (the other road goes down to Siliguri) Missing this little road to Teesta is quite easy and that is what happened to Sunny.

I in the meantime was enjoying the weather, fog, and lonely little road and kept taking pictures. We lost elevation quite rapidly but the roads were a little bad and i believe that took a toll on the exhaust again. When we reached Teesta, I could see the mighty Teesta bridge that was the one which would take us across the river towards Kalimpong,Gangtok and Pelling. I was also searching for a welding shop for gettin the blaze done up and was lucky enuf to find one just 5kms from the bridge but the Ashish, who was ahead of the rest, took the wrong road, only to realise it 15mins later, call me, and come back.
While Vinayak Jee opened up the exhaust, we started finishin off the Pizzas we got along from our breakfast place. The other Blaze's main stand too was welded on and it was 3:50pm by the time we left. less than a km from there was the Sikkim border and it was sort of an excitement for us to enter Sikkim (what with controversial stuff going about with China regardin Sikkim). We were stopped at the check post for general enquiry and then I carried on while the rest waited for Ashish and Vinayak Jee (riding the Comet and Blaze respectivily) to catch up. I wanted to rush to Pelling, around 90kms, asap, as I wanted to capture the Kanchanjunga with the rays of the setting sun illuminating it. The roads were quite decent but the Blaze wasnt, still i kept pushing it and kept averaging 45-50km/h but soon had to stop to re-tie the wire to hold the main stand up.

Darkness came in soon, this being north-east, the sun sets here earlier. so i lower my packed and started listening to music on the Ipod. Music can really do wonder to the way you ride - slow soothing music can make u ride in a rythm, at a constant speed, even if that speed is high for a curve/corner, whereas a fast hip hop/rock/punjabi/remix song can make u scrape the machine, taking our knees, shifting your body weight and what not. I experienced both but soon stopped to take rest, re tie the wire to hold the main stand and to make some calls.

The elevation once again started going up around 12-15km short of Pelling, and it was totally dark around and this actually helps in hills as if a vehicle is approaching towards you from the next corner, u can easily come to know by seeing its headlight beam. the chill factor started coming in, and putting the visor down meant foggin it up from inside, and if i raised it, the chill hit my face big time. the good thing was that i had changed the visor in the morning and hence there was no issue of glares. I did have a small fun race with two guys on a karizma (yeah the Blaze never had a chance with the ZMA even with a pillion)

Made to Pelling and had already booked two rooms (250 per room with geyser n cable tv!) there from Darjeeling in the morning. The hotel seemed cosy and all the guests except us were foreigners.

we r in the restaurant right now, sitting next to a rotating heater, discussing tomm's plans but Sunny and Ashish are having a verbal over which bikes r the best. Sunil is quite and listenin to both of them ( and may be laughin deep inside in this mind)...

tomm i head to the last motorable point in this area while the others may head to a village here