I had planned to spend one or two days in Mirik, but on the morning of the third I didn’t feel ready to leave. Not that there was anything special I wanted to do, just relax and enjoy the quietness of this small hill resort.

I’m not in Mirik proper, but in a place called Krishna Nagar on the southern edge of Mirik. There is a large man-made lake that I walked around on my first day but neither the walk nor the lake were particularly special.

My explorations on day two were more rewarding and I ended up at a nice and impressive monastery. It provided that rarest of Indian luxuries: somewhere peaceful to sit and relax. Clouds would sweep across an open area, quickly transforming a clear sight into something quite moody. A group of monks was playing, or practicing martial arts; I couldn’t tell how serious it was. Most of the monks were young boys so there must have been a school of some sort.

On my last day, after deciding to delay my departure, I walked out of town to investigate the uphill section I could see from the main street. It was short and brought me quickly into nice forest again. A side trail led to where, on a less cloudy day, the view would have been spectacular. From there I took a narrower trail that contoured around the hillside and brought me back to the road at a large (fullish size) football pitch cum cricket oval. A vigorous Sunday morning came of football was in progress, with the full complement of 22 players, some barefoot. The football involved a lot of getting the ball and booting it up into the air roughly in a goalward direction. I think the players were all monks.

The match ended shortly after I arrived and the pitch was prepared for cricket. The surface was pretty rough and irregular so the bounces were quite entertaining.

So three days and three short excursions. Plus some Barclay’s Premier League football in hi-def in the restaurant where I had my breakfast and evening meal. A pleasant three days.