Ramblings and a ramble above Gangtok

Gangtok basically has a temperate climate, I think very similar to the South of England. It's rarely below freezing, or above 30. At the moment, it's single figure temperatures most of the time, rising into the teens for a few hours around lunchtime if the sun comes out. You can see your breath most mornings, but we haven't had a frost yet.

North East India has quite a few natural resources - including trees, coal, and hydro-electric potential, but the trees are protected, hydro electric projects are politically sensitive and the existing power supply isn't quite enough for even current consumption levels. (That's the polite translation of "power cuts several times a month") According to national audits, Indian power production is rather less efficient than European - and having seen the wiring, I'm not entirely surprised. So basically, nobody uses artificial heating or cooling. Which is quite understandable.

I'm a little more confused about the complete lack of insulation: buildings are concrete, usually with either marble or concrete floors, and carpets are rare (except of course in carpet showrooms, of which there are plenty). I was particularly amazed by the Lachung hotel (Lachung, at well over 2000m, has a climate more like Scandinavia) which had an outside staircase between downstairs and upstairs, and lots of ventilation in the bedrooms.

Anyhow, I was forewarned about all this, and came well equipped with skiing thermals, socks, sweaters, and a heavyweight padded jacket. The latter didn't quite fit in my luggage and I felt *very* silly traipsing round Kolkata dripping sweat all over it in 35 degrees. It was worth it in the end: with that lot and 3 blankets (friendly hotel staff obliged with an extra) I've been surviving well.

Until Saturday morning. I woke up at 0430 (see my latest photos from Rumtek and Tashi), put on all my warmest clothes, felt unusually stifled, opened the window to check, still warm, and promptly took half of them off again. It was the warmest I'd been for several weeks. It was still dark (dawn is around 0545), and I was just toasty - I knew that I was heading for an uphill walk and couldn't imagine it would get colder after sunrise.

But it did. The sun burnt off the cloudcover, and the temperature promptly dropped a good 10 degrees. Plus, we were walking up a ridge... wind chill set in. And when we got there it was cloudy! So please, admire the view - imagine you can see the mountains - it means a lot to me, honest!

I may go back, if I do, I'm taking a taxi!

3 Dec 2007