BIRD of the DAY: Asian Barred Owlet
We started birding at sunrise at the Elgin hotel. We had some good sightings before breakfast.
Soon we were on the road again, experiencing the amazing skills of our drivers, weaving through traffic and handling 90 degree curves on the road. Today we would travel to Hilley (well named), very close to the border with Nepal. We would wind our way through villages and drive past many mountainous, terraced farms. It was a morning to explore the countryside. We stopped for a bit of birding along the road.
We enjoyed a coffee break stop.
Soon we arrived at our Homestay in Hilley, the Kyilkhor. The name means sandpainting referring to Tibetan and Buddhist artwork, often used in religious ceremonies. We all (11 of us) moved in with the local family who were hosting us. They were very welcoming. We could communicate with their son and daughter who spoke English well.
We checked out our large ensuite bedroom on the second floor. It included a few Buddhist quotes which we could easily relate to. The power went out (this happened every day) but we had good lanterns in our rooms. It was cool when we arrived so we knew it would be cold at night. We had experienced this in the hotels too - we were thankful for hot water bottles. Tonight we would get out our long underwear.
We had lunch in the front room across from the kitchen. We learned that there was a BIG cricket match on TV this evening - India vs Pakistan. The family's eldest son was travelling on his motorcycle to Darjeeling (several hours/bad roads) to watch the match with friends. We decided we would watch some of it too (if the power was on) - Alan was very familiar with cricket as he grew up in England.
After lunch we went on a birding hike, followed by the village "tourist dog" who was very fond of Rick.
Our family's daughter asked us if we would like to see their farm. We accompanied her down MANY stone steps with Sharon and Rick. She gave us a tour of the farm buildings and told us the farm continued down the mountain for several more kilometres. Her cousin's family were looking after it. Everything looked very fresh. In 2015, Sikkim fully implemented organic farming, becoming India's first "organic state". To return to the village, we climbed UP all those steps.
When we got back to the Kyilkhor, we were invited to visit a Buddhist monastery/school high above us. Our vans transported us a few kilometres up up up. We toured the temple and attended a service . We got to meet a few students to talk about Canada. The sun set and it was time to descend. The friendly kids waved goodbye with big smiles.
We enjoyed our dinner together. We were happy the power came on so we could catch the big cricket match. Alan helped explain it - a difficult job as everything seemed new to us. We went to bed early but he stayed up for the whole match. India won!
Birds in the Photos Today
Asian Barred Owlet
Rufous-capped Laughingthrush
Verditer Flycatcher
White-tailed Nuthatch
Green-backed Tit
Shikra
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Plumbeous Water Redstart
Oriental Turtle Dove
Stripe-throated Yuhina
Blue-fronted Redstart
Griffon Vulture