Our first day on the bikes finally… a relatively short but intense day in the hills above Gangtok. We had a long visit to the Enchey Monastery, a medium size but very well cared for active monastery. Fascinating was the dozen monks inside the main building chanting the entire time we were there. You close your eyes and the vocal rhythm is mesmerizing!

Learned more about the group members. Cari (Norway) works in the Norway oil fields as a fire safety specialist. They talked about if you make up to $150k, your taxes are 50%, but as you get higher income, taxes go high as 90%! You buy a car, tax is 100%! But health care and the university is free; and infrastructure is possibly best in the world.

Herb Kavet is an author and is 77 years old and bikes like a champ!!! He’s one of those guys that always has a funny story at the ready.

Bill is a UK citizen, but has lived in Australia for 25 years because he cannot tolerate the cold wet UK weather. He now works for a company developing a means to recycle used McDonalds cooking oil into bio-diesel.

Herb especially has traveled on bikes extensively. Like Paul, he’s probably had 50 trips over the years. I’m a novice with my 12 trips abroad in comparison. But to be clear, I know I am a VERY fortunate man in so many ways, and I count my many blessings every day…

Talking with these folks about the fantastic trips they’ve taken is inspiring; to see proof that cycling is clearly a fitness option easily done through many decades…

My bike is a good one, so no worries there!

After the day’s cycling was done and lunch back at the hotel, there was a frantic rush at 330pm by the group to head into Gangtok central. Paul and I had heard from the other Brits here about a place called the Tibetan Craft Center. We weren’t sure where it was, but the Brits said the handicrafts were very nice and very cheap. A tourist shoppers dream, no doubt!! So Paul looked it up on the net and found it. He thought… Tigishak Women’s Refugee Craft Center sounds almost EXACTLY like Tibetan Craft Center, right?? Well, we hop in a micro taxi after negotiating (asking how much, really…) the price of r150, or about $3us. We hop in and go down and down the hill, over ridiculously narroe and steep back roads; finally arriving at the Hotel Tigishak which has a small shop with less that ten sweaters and that’s about it!!! Thankfully we had asked the taxi to wait 45 minutes for us as we perused… We were back in the can in less than ten!! That was our gringo adventure for the day.

Back at the hotel the rain started again about 6pm and just poured in biblical proportion for about an hour, then suddenly stopped! Hope that pattern continues so we don’t get heavily rained on during our riding day!

One of the greatest things about travel is hearing the perspectives from countries other than my own. At dinner tonight, there was an extensive discussion about the influx of Muslims into Norway, Europe generally, Australia, and the US. Unquestionably, the European view is that Muslims are intent on influencing governments to accept their intolerant ways, their abuse and control of women especially; impose their values in schools, etc. I didn’t know that with many Muslims, the women are not allowed to correct a male, including their own child. That makes total sense as in my travels I have occasionally noticed very bad behavior by Muslim boys allowed and ignored by their moms.

A further but COMPLETELY unrelated interesting discussion about the dangers of mercury and aluminum, and the hypothetical connection to Alzheimer’s. Per is a chemist, so a very educational discussion.

All in all, a good day! Still raining with powerful thunder and lightning now… Maybe that’ll mean the FU…RS will choose to stay dry instead of their nighttime bark fest!!

GO BOSOX!!