Today was supposed to be a relaxed day. There wasnt much on the agenda other than getting to Pelling. Sadly there are no buses from Gangtok to Pelling. So I had to take a shared cab again (yes the 10 sharing one!). I was naive to assume that the shared cabs would be running all day.
Got up without any hurry in the world. Stepped out around 8. Was surprised to see only 2 categories of shops open that early - chemists and believe it or not, alcohol shops! Had a fantastic bread omlette with great coffee at Cacao. Checked out of the hotel.
At the taxi stand, I got a rude shock, the taxis to Pelling leave at 7.30 am and 12.30 pm only. Further, there was only one plying that day and that was fully booked :O Booked myself onto a taxi going to Gayzing, which is around 10 kms away from Pelling. Now I had 3 hours to kill.
What to do? What to do?
Trudged back to MG Road. Picked up a newspaper and made myself comfortable on one of the benches. Half an hour later was done with the newspaper. Now what? Sudoku of course! There was one with the difficulty level as 'Diabolical'. Struggled with it for a while before finally succeeding. Suddenly I hear some nice music. Bollywood instrumental. Am I dreaming? No! There are speakers on each lamppost on MG Road which play music throughout the day!
As the sun rose higher, the shadows became smaller and the benches were no longer in shade. Shifted to Baker's Cafe for a snack and to while away the remaining time.
Finally at noon, I was on the way to Gayzing. The road was scenic. Some snaps from the cab.
It was almost dark by the time we reached Gayzing. There was another family which wanted to go to Pelling. we decided to share a cab. Seeing our helplessness, the cabbie charged a ransom for the short distance.
At Pelling I went straight to Hotel Garuda. Luckily they had a vacant room. The best value for money deal in the entire trip!
Got up without any hurry in the world. Stepped out around 8. Was surprised to see only 2 categories of shops open that early - chemists and believe it or not, alcohol shops! Had a fantastic bread omlette with great coffee at Cacao. Checked out of the hotel.
At the taxi stand, I got a rude shock, the taxis to Pelling leave at 7.30 am and 12.30 pm only. Further, there was only one plying that day and that was fully booked :O Booked myself onto a taxi going to Gayzing, which is around 10 kms away from Pelling. Now I had 3 hours to kill.
What to do? What to do?
Trudged back to MG Road. Picked up a newspaper and made myself comfortable on one of the benches. Half an hour later was done with the newspaper. Now what? Sudoku of course! There was one with the difficulty level as 'Diabolical'. Struggled with it for a while before finally succeeding. Suddenly I hear some nice music. Bollywood instrumental. Am I dreaming? No! There are speakers on each lamppost on MG Road which play music throughout the day!
As the sun rose higher, the shadows became smaller and the benches were no longer in shade. Shifted to Baker's Cafe for a snack and to while away the remaining time.
Finally at noon, I was on the way to Gayzing. The road was scenic. Some snaps from the cab.
It was almost dark by the time we reached Gayzing. There was another family which wanted to go to Pelling. we decided to share a cab. Seeing our helplessness, the cabbie charged a ransom for the short distance.
At Pelling I went straight to Hotel Garuda. Luckily they had a vacant room. The best value for money deal in the entire trip!
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