The same tour agency that organised our taxi to Yuksom provided our taxi down to Kalimpong. We could have travelled by shared jeep but we would have had to make three changes and it would have been a bone shaking journey. As it was we had to travel along a number of hazardous roads. Our driver stopped frequently to check the road conditions with the locals who had the latest information about landslides.

Sikkim has been seriously impacted by the glacial lake outburst flood that occurred last October. This originated in Ladakh (high in the himalayas) and led to the collapse of the Teesta hydroelectric dam in north Sikkim. Many lives and homes were lost. The devastation spread to Kalimpong where the Teesta river runs and where there was also widespread flooding. Many landslides occurred. North Sikkim was out of bounds to us due to the devastation it is still recovering from. It is reputedly the most beautiful area in Sikkim – maybe I will be able to return and visit it one day. Clearly global warming is majorly impacting the whole Himalaya area. I was glad to read that there was finally an agreement at the COP 29 summit to provide developing countries with a more generous settlement. Countries like India are having to deal with the devastation to lives, homes, infra structure and industry caused by climate change.

Kalimpong is a small hill station in the foothills of the Himalayas near Darjeeling. We had originally planned to stay in Darjeeling, but in the end we decided on Kalimpong as it was easier to get back to Siliguri to catch our night bus to Kolkata from there. We also read that Kalimpong is a bit smaller and less busy that Darjeeling.

We booked up a heritage hotel – The Elgin Silveroaks – in Kalimpong. We took advantage of an online low season deal that included dinner and bed and breakfast. The hotel was as beautiful and comfortable as it looked online and we have had a holiday within a holiday there.

We went on walks to a couple of monasteries and spent time in the lovely local Art cafe and lounging around at The Elgin. I found out too late that there is a park with fantastic views on the outskirts of town; we didn’t have time to visit it. People often paraglide from there. Another reason to come back one day.

On our final day we visited the Lepcha Museum and cultural centre, including the Lepcha Gompa/ Buddhist monastery and place of worship. The museum was set up by the Father of the person that currently maintains it. He gave us a tour of the fascinating objects inside, including pangolin skins, hunting implements, musical instruments and details about the original animistic practices of the Lepcha people. He told us that tere are Lepchas in Sikkim, Nepal and West Bengal. In Sikkim one of the official language is Lepcha, but in West Bengal their language is not taught in schools so the museum and cultural centre try to keep this and the culture alive for the younger generation.

We were shown around the monastery by a girl who is in year 9 at school. He father and grandfather have both been monks at the monastery. She has ambitions to be a lawyer. She introduced us to her sister and Grandmother who were both doing traditional Lepcha weaving. Her sister has a masters degree, but has returned home and is trying to revive these local traditions which they are hoping that tourism can help to support.

We are preparing to wave a sad goodbye to The Elgin before getting our bus down to Siliguri and the night bus on to Kolkata tomorrow. I think I have put on about a stone, the food has been so good here, not to mention the gin and tonics!