{"id":6004,"date":"2016-02-17T05:56:13","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T10:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/?p=6004"},"modified":"2020-01-08T07:10:11","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T12:10:11","slug":"sikkim-surprises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/2016\/02\/sikkim-surprises\/","title":{"rendered":"Sikkim Surprises."},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 819px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"  \" src=\"http:\/\/worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/17999523761_68e628ca47_b.jpg\" alt=\"Getting our cycling legs in shape in the Himalayan foothills of West Bengal.\" width=\"819\" height=\"546\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Getting our cycling legs in shape in the Himalayan foothills of West Bengal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>A blogging break<\/h3>\n<p>Our last update was from Bangladesh.\u00a0 That was almost 12 months back. Since then, we let the blog slide.\u00a0 Of course we could trot out numerous excuses for the lapse in online communication. \u00a0Limited internet access.\u00a0 A full-on cycling schedule.\u00a0 Focus on other projects.\u00a0 The truth is we just needed a break from blogging.<\/p>\n<p>Now we\u2019re back, and more enthusiastic than ever about sharing tales from our travels.\u00a0 Before we delve into 2016 (we\u2019re in the Middle East at the moment) we\u2019ll catch you up on 2015.<\/p>\n<h3>India again<\/h3>\n<p>After Bangladesh, we rolled back over the border into India.\u00a0 West Bengal to be exact. The first thing that struck me was the return of the female population to public life.<\/p>\n<p>Bangladesh is a man\u2019s world.\u00a0 Women are home minding children and looking after their husbands.\u00a0 The fairer sex occasionally ventures out for shopping or to accompany kids to and from school, but that\u2019s about it.\u00a0 Women are rarely shopkeepers or restaurant staff and you certainly don\u2019t see them working in hotels.<\/p>\n<h3>Go girls!<\/h3>\n<p>Just seeing normal women going about their daily lives lifted my spirits.\u00a0 I waved to gaggles of girls in crisp uniforms as they pedaled to school and chatted with women in colorful saris as we sifted through cauliflower and eggplants at the local market.\u00a0 Suddenly I felt like I belonged.<\/p>\n<h3>Clean and green<\/h3>\n<p>What\u2019s even more surprising is that India seemed so calm, clean and green.\u00a0 At least in the Himalayan foothills of Sikkim and West Bengal where we were cycling.<\/p>\n<p>Rubbish was placed in waste containers rather than strewn thoughtlessly by the side of the road. Nobody stopped to stare or crowd around to get a better view of the crazy foreigners on bikes.\u00a0 And the landscape was lush and beautiful with few scars of ramshackle development that mar so much of modern India.<\/p>\n<p>We could bike in bliss, heaving ourselves up the impossibly steep climbs.\u00a0 Well, maybe it wasn\u2019t total bliss.\u00a0 But Sikkim was fun.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/17753182844_4ef0551a1e_c.jpg\" alt=\"Welcome to Sikkim!\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alright, distances may be short. But with all those incredibly steep ups and downs, it takes forever to get from A to B.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><script charset=\"utf-8\" type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6011\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6011\" style=\"width: 819px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-6011 \" src=\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/collage-sikkim-culture-1024x579.jpg\" alt=\"collage sikkim culture\" width=\"819\" height=\"463\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/collage-sikkim-culture-1024x579.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/collage-sikkim-culture-500x282.jpg 500w, http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/collage-sikkim-culture.jpg 1811w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6011\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sikkim is majority Buddhist and the region is dotted with prayer flags and ancient temples and monasteries.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"cycling west bengal india \" src=\"http:\/\/worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/18361372752_f76bfe0dcf_c.jpg\" alt=\"Wide Open Spaces, West Bengal, India\" width=\"800\" height=\"415\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The beauty and bliss of wide open spaces.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"West Bengal Bicycle Touring\" src=\"http:\/\/worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/18316843616_ce7d69c2ef_c.jpg\" alt=\"West Bengal Bicycle Touring\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lots of dirt roads to explore.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6028\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6028\" style=\"width: 819px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-6028 \" src=\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/collage-3-cycling-1024x653.jpg\" alt=\"Some seriously fun cycling.  Definitely wouldn't want to cycle Sikkim in the wet season.\" width=\"819\" height=\"522\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/collage-3-cycling-1024x653.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/collage-3-cycling-500x319.jpg 500w, http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/collage-3-cycling.jpg 1875w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6028\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some seriously fun cycling. Definitely wouldn&#8217;t want to cycle Sikkim in the wet season.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A blogging break Our last update was from Bangladesh.\u00a0 That was almost 12 months back. Since then, we let the blog slide.\u00a0 Of course we could trot out numerous excuses for the lapse in online communication. \u00a0Limited internet access.\u00a0 A<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[220,49],"tags":[25],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sikkim Surprises. - Worldbiking.info<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/2016\/02\/sikkim-surprises\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sikkim Surprises. - Worldbiking.info\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A blogging break Our last update was from Bangladesh.\u00a0 That was almost 12 months back. 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