Wednesday 4 April - although we heard the rain for most of the night by 0900 things wee looking brighter and surprisingly we were ready to set off by 0930 for the journey to Pelling. However, we had not taken account of the problem of using a credit card as the machine in the hotel could not get a connection. So off to the ATM. En route we stopped off to by a small handwoven carpet for a hand made door mat in Hong Kong - we also had a final cup of Darjeeling tea Glenary's Tea Room.
As a result of 24 hours of rain the direct road to Pelling was slow going so our driver decided that the longer - 4 ½ hour route was better. We started on the back roads of Darjeeling and ended up in Ghoom before heading towards Teesta Bazar and the Sikkim border at Melli. The road is paved and was quite quiet rising and falling through forested hillsides and team estates. The road followed the river to Jorethang which is the capital of South Sikkim and our lunch stop.
The Lonely Planet describes our lunch stop, the Hotel Namgyal as the "brightest and friendliest" in town and our vegetable biriyani was washed down with our first Sikkim beer - Dansberg.
After lunch we crossed Akar Suspension bridge and made our way through forested hills on the road to Legship, Geyring and Tikjik and finally to Pelling.
Our destination was our second Elgin Mount Pandim hotel some 2 kms outside of Pelling at 2083 metres. It was a former government run hotel and the current Australian manager and his wife took it over 5 years ago when it became an Elgin hotel. It is very similar to the Darjeeling hotel with a 1930"s cosy feel. The Lonely Planet describes the hotel "as having arguably the best mountain scape viewpoint in all Sikkim" claiming " the fairy godmother of renovation has waved her wand over the property".
We walked down to the town which is a small one street doorp. Unfortunately the handicraft centre was shutting but Stuart did manage to find a woolly hat from the Women's centre shop.
The main claim of Pelling is the dawn view of Khangchendzonga - we shall see what the morning brings !
As a result of 24 hours of rain the direct road to Pelling was slow going so our driver decided that the longer - 4 ½ hour route was better. We started on the back roads of Darjeeling and ended up in Ghoom before heading towards Teesta Bazar and the Sikkim border at Melli. The road is paved and was quite quiet rising and falling through forested hillsides and team estates. The road followed the river to Jorethang which is the capital of South Sikkim and our lunch stop.
The Lonely Planet describes our lunch stop, the Hotel Namgyal as the "brightest and friendliest" in town and our vegetable biriyani was washed down with our first Sikkim beer - Dansberg.
After lunch we crossed Akar Suspension bridge and made our way through forested hills on the road to Legship, Geyring and Tikjik and finally to Pelling.
Our destination was our second Elgin Mount Pandim hotel some 2 kms outside of Pelling at 2083 metres. It was a former government run hotel and the current Australian manager and his wife took it over 5 years ago when it became an Elgin hotel. It is very similar to the Darjeeling hotel with a 1930"s cosy feel. The Lonely Planet describes the hotel "as having arguably the best mountain scape viewpoint in all Sikkim" claiming " the fairy godmother of renovation has waved her wand over the property".
We walked down to the town which is a small one street doorp. Unfortunately the handicraft centre was shutting but Stuart did manage to find a woolly hat from the Women's centre shop.
The main claim of Pelling is the dawn view of Khangchendzonga - we shall see what the morning brings !