Kate's Travels

Travels around Asia, South-east Asia and Central America.

  • Week 7 – Yuksom

    Our taxi was waiting to take us from Pelling to Yuksom at 9am. We called in at the SBI cash machine before leaving, as we had heard that there are no ATMs in Yuksom. Our cards seem to work best in SBI (State Bank of India) ATMs and they don’t charge a fee. I have… Read more

  • Week 7 – Pelling

    Pelling is a small town with magnificent views of the Kanchenjunga Himalayan mountain range – when it is not obscured in clouds, which happens a lot in Sikkim. We were lucky. Our first morning we looked out of the window of our hotel to a perfect view of the mountains. We noticed a definite drop… Read more

  • Week 6 – Ravangala – 3 sisters homestay

    The family at Three Sister’s homestay welcomed us enthusiastically. As there are no cafes or restaurants nearby all food was included in the price, which was extremely reasonable. The family were busy with their farm. They told us that they grow all the food they need to survive except for oil and rice. As well… Read more

  • Week 6 – The journey to Ravangala

    The hotel manager at Namchi had organised a four wheel drive vehicle for us to go to Ravangala. We wanted to take the route via Temi tea garden; we had been told that the road that way was in bad condition. Getting a shared jeep did not seem to be a viable option. It was… Read more

  • Week 6 – Namchi – Chardam, Rose Garden, Sandrupse and a moment of crisis

    On our last day in Gangtok we walked down to Deorali to check that we would be able to get a shared jeep to Ravangala there the next day. We also visited the Institute of Tibetology in Deorali. There was a lot to see, so Tim and I separated out to wander around. Tim spotted… Read more

  • Week 6 – day trip from Gangtok to Rumtek

    Rumtek sits across the valley from Gangtok. We arranged a taxi to take us on a loop that would allow us to visit this Gompa/ monastery and another at Lingdum. The whole trip was very good value at around £30 as we were out for most of the day. The journey was beautiful, although the… Read more

  • Week 6 – Gangtok

    We headed to the Sikkim state transport bus depot first thing in the morning. The permit office is also located there, but was closed. We were told that we couldn’t get a bus ticket into Sikkim without an inner line permit, so we decided to hang around and wait for the office to open. We… Read more

  • Week 6 – Delhi to Siliguri

    Our hostel was in south Delhi, which is a more upmarket area than Parhaganj, the area near New Delhi station where backpackers have traditionally stayed. The Delhi metro has opened up more potential options for accommodation as it makes it easier to move around the transport hubs of the city. We had considered staying in… Read more

  • Week 5 – Haldwani and back to Delhi

    I booked a private taxi back down to Haldwāni from Kasar Devi through Rainbow restaurant for a very reasonable fee (around £20). I couldn’t face another bus journey; this was the start of a few days on the road and I wanted to conserve my strength. There were no objections from Tim. I made the… Read more

  • Week 5 – Kasar Devi

    Another young taxi driver was booked to take us to Kasar Devi the next day. I wondered if these were ex pupils of our homestay owner, they seemed about the right age. Due to being given wrong directions by an elderly man sitting in a hut we went on a diversion along a narrow, winding… Read more