Wow! What a ride!

Early the next morning, we looked out our window to a cloudless sky at Pelling (India) so we scrambled out of bed and rushed out for yet another photo op. Perched at 2,150 metres, we were at one of the best spots to say Good Morning to the mighty Mount Kanchenjunga close by.

It was magic time for photos as the sun bathed the mountain tops with an incandescent warm glow. Only in nature can one find such enchanting beauty in rugged stone and gelid ice.

It was magic time for photos as the sun bathed the mountain tops with an incandescent warm glow. Only in nature can one find such enchanting beauty in rugged stone and gelid ice.

We came to the mountain

The trucks here take on a unique nuance and character of flamboyance...

Fancy ride

Arriving at the border of Sikkim and the rest of India, we had a friendly checkout from the attending soldiers who even posed for photos.

A cheerful checkpoint

The narrow suspension bridge was our gateway for the last leg of our motorcycle journey that would end us back in Darjeeling. It started out with muddy ruts up to our axles then transitioned into a vertigo inducing challenge and "don't stop" steep single-track lanes. However, the scenery was most spectacular as it took us through verdant mountainsides of tea plantations and tidy villages clinging to the vertical terra firma.

We arrived back in the din of Darjeeling by late afternoon to the frenzied rush hour traffic.

After completing 608 gruelling yet exhilarating kilometres in 6 days, Jordan said he felt like it was living the favourite quote of Jorge's, a fellow motorcycle rider and sailor from Columbia (by Hunter S. Thompson).

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a ride!"