A $14-Dollar View

Our first full day in Gangtok, the biggest city in Sikkim, was in a cloud – socked in and foggy. We walked up and down the main strip of shops, got India SIM cards for our mobiles and a UV lens for my camera, and took care of other practical matters.

We haggled a room with a view at the Ridgeway Inn from 1200 rupees down to 700. After a day of barely seeing, we were banking on some morning clarity. And as luck would have it, around 6:30 the next morning, Scott jumped out of bed, peaked through the curtains and with the excitement of a kid at Christmas said, “Snowy peaks! Snowy peaks!” He pulled the curtains wide open and wiped the condensation from the windows. I put on glasses and saw the view – spectacular. We opened the windows to make the view even better, not caring about the chill getting into our already freezing room (there was no heating source), and watched the view change from our bed.