My first day in India I flew into the rundown Kolkata airport. From there I flew into the shack with a runway, Bagdogra. That night I stayed in Siliguri, which was a shock. It was my first night in India, and to me Siliguri felt like Mogadishu. I was unprepared for the heat, poverty, trash, and sewage. Also, the groups of men standing around with nothing to do but stare at you or crowd around whatever is going on. I was unprepared for these men who don’t listen to you but say yes anyway, and were raised as the pride and joy of their family over their sisters, so they have a level of ego I have trouble handling. I didn’t leave my hotel. I’ve sinced learned that these plains villages don’t get many tourists going through, and they find me as an oddity. My interactions since then have been fun, as opposed to the bigger tourist towns where they already have set methods in place to get your rupees from you.
Anyway, this is the main mall of Gangtok, which was nothing like either of what I described above. It’s in a restricted area, Sikkim, and you have to get a permit, which is really just legwork, easy but time consuming. Gangtok understands what towns need, central areas where people can stroll and feel comfortable, run into friends and loiter with their family. It was the first time I felt able to smile in public and not have to put on a face to turn away the “smoke smoke?” “girls?” “HELLOOOO! MONEYMONEYMONEY!” I get in Darjeeling or here in Kathmandu. It was a town with few non-Indian tourists, so again I was an oddity, which can be fun for a while.
