DAY 10 SUN. OCT. 12 DARJEELING - GANGTOK, SIKKIM

I felt little better as I skipped breakfast for the long drive down the mountain from Darjeeling. The traffic, noise and horrible roads didn't help. Yet, strangely, by the time we passed our rest stop and got into the Teesta River valley, where the heat became like a furnace, I began to feel better. Into Sikkim we drove, climbing higher and higher to the attractive town of Gangtok, similar to Darjeeling as it perched in precarious layers on a high hillside.  Sikkim bills itself as the "Switzerland of Asia", with good reason. It's an attractive, mountainous country. But no real sight-seeing for me: I'm going to use this opportunity to rest up and try to vanquish this cold. My head feels like it's filled with cotton.

At dinner, we learned a little of the unfortunate recent history of Sikkim. Up to 1975, it was an independent little kingdom similar to Nepal and Bhutan: an absolute monarch propped up by the monks and religious authorities. Then, in 1975, India initiated the so-called "friendly occupation" because of worries that China, which has a common border with Sikkim at Tibet, would try to occupy it. If China did so, it would use Sikkim like a dagger pointed into the heart of India. Initially, the Sikkimese did not like the Indian incursion, but now, according to Subash, they "are all Indian now and don't care." Hmmm .... ethnically, the Sikkimese are more closely related to the Bhutanese than they are to Indians. "All Indian"? I guess they would say so given the fact that the Indian army is all over Sikkim, "moving supplies into the high ground for the winter" as Subash says. No doubt they are, but they are also making sure Sikkim remains a state within India, and keeping a close eye on the Chinese who are occupying Tibet. An international chess game is played here, with high stakes. China and India are huge countries, with huge armies and both are nuclear powers.

Funky Gangtok hotel.