Sikkim Sojourn Part 7 - To Thangu and Beyond.....

After a gap of a month and a half I am returning to my series 'Sikkim Sojourn'. The unfortunate earthquake in Sikkim was a prominent factor for the gap but now I have decided to bring the series to a culmination. I clicked quite a few pictures which I feel you and the world might want to take a look at. I am sure some of them will leave you pleasantly surprised. The places I found on my journey to Thangu and beyond is something you will rarely find on a map or anywhere else. This was the inspiration for me to name my blog as the 'Path Rarely Taken' because very few people know about these places and even fewer visit them. 

During my journey to Guru Dongmar Lake we had a stopover in Lachen (2750mts/9022 ft). We had to start early morning around 7 am in order to get to the Guru Dongmar Lake. We needed to do so because after 1 pm the Tibetan Plateau ( a part of North Sikkim) witnesses extreme windy conditions and also because it is a condition imposed by the Army. According to my guide the gales of wind are strong enough to make dust and fist sized rocks fly in the air and therefore it is not safe to move at that point of time. The pictures follow - 

Prayer flags dot the landscape of Sikkim (Notice the settlement on the side of the hill)

Green Green Green everywhere....

Observe another settlement between the rolling hills

 From Lachen to Thangu(4267mts/14000ft) on our way to Guru Dongmat Lake lie 2 Army Posts where our permits are checked before allowing us to travel further. One check point is before Thangu and one after it. The check point after Thangu is also an Army run cafe. 

Perched at approximately 4572 meters or 15000 ft it has been certified as the highest cafe in the world. The army men re check your permit, ask you to sit for 10 minutes in the cafe(it is compulsory) while you are served coffee and chocolates (you pay for them of course ! ) and observe you for any symptoms of altitude sickness in which case they ask you to turn back. 

And yes, please do not expect hospitality over here. Naam kya hain tera ?(Your name ?) and Idhar khadaa ho ja ! (Stand at a side) are the common verbiages used gruffly in the cafe... Refer to them as 'Sirji'(Hindi for Respected Sir) as I did and chances are that they will ignore you. Photography is glared upon and as I did not want to take a chance I did not take any pictures. But that said the Army men do a good job and they have tremendous goodwill amongst locals in Sikkim. Some more pictures -

 

One of the first snow-capped crags I set my eyes upon

 Sneak peak of the first army check post (Our guide is in the picture)

Clouds settle on the peaks which overlook the Army Post

Thangu

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(to be continued..... Glimpses from Thangu)

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Sikkim Sojourn Part 5 - Glimpses of Sikkim (The Land of Guru Dongmar)

Glimpses of the Sikkim Panorama while passing by Kabi on our way to Lachen in North Sikkim -

Road to GuruDongmar Lake via Lachen

In local language these trees are known as 'Uttis'

 Staring down a ravine

The road ahead..

A settlement next to the road

Distant road ! Where durst thou lead to ?

A portion of road washed away due to the flow of water from uphill

Locals at some distance going somewhere (Where ?)

Entrance to the border district of Northern Sikkim (A vintage wooden bridge)(Notice the prayer flags which are commonly found in regions like Sikkim, Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh e.t.c. in India) 

Welcome !

'Happiness' in Sikkim

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(to be continued)

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Sikkim Sojourn Part 4 - The real journey begins.....

When the year began if someone would have told me that I would be going on a journey to places so beautiful and serene that it would take your breath away.. that I would drive through terrain so inhospitable yet so charming and magnificent.. that I would tread through ice-cold mountain streams in order to touch the snow with my bare hands.. I would have smiled and asked why are you making fun of me?

But I did embark on such a journey and enjoyed every bit of it, so much that I am still enamored with the experience today. We started our trip to GuruDongmar Lake, Yumthang Valley and Zero Point around noon. Now, in order to get to GuruDongmar Lake we needed to head for the base town of Lachen. So that’s where we headed to..
Starting from here our black-out zone started, because from Gangtok onwards there are no mobile signals up to the China border. So, the next few days of mine were to be spent completely cut-off from the world.  The way was like a usual road through the mountains…. Narrow, with lots of blind turns, mountains on one side and ravines on the other, lots of tiny waterfalls (with ice cold water)….  Many a times we drove on the edge of the road but our driver and guide ‘Mr. Sonam’ knew the way pretty well(so thankfully we did not drove off it !). We were lucky because our driver was not only well-versed about the route but was also young and full of beans.   

One thing which I observed was that the routes were punctuated with prayer flags which also included some for drivers who had died along the way. The roads were extremely winding but beautiful and we encountered the Seven Sisters Falls, Bakthang falls on our way. Our trip to Lachen was long and it was nighttime when we reached there. It was raining cats and dogs but the rain swept itself away the next morning. Here are some pictures I took on my way to Lachen – the base town for going to GuruDongmar Lake –

Road amongst the hills(Near Kabi)(we had to pass from there for Lachen)

An army outpost

Border Roads Organization broadening the road (probably for defence purposes) 

Hills on one side and ravines on the other(that's how you describe roads in hilly region)

(Spotted) A road down below

(to be continued)

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