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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Sikkim Sojourn Part 3 - The First Segment Ends

Our ride to the town of Gangtok from New Delhi took us around 45 hours (delayed by almost 17 hours). We checked into our Hotel for a couple of hours (the original booking was meant for a day) just to freshen up for the long trip ahead to GuruDongmar Lake.

Despite being very tired the anticipation of having the trip of my lifetime kept me in high spirits. In this expectation Sikkim did not disappoint and gave me memories which I would cherish throughout my life. Here are some snapshots from my hotel room – 

 A sneak peak of the Palzor Football Stadium(The only sports stadium in North and East Sikkim)

 Gangtok

The hills around Gangtok

MG Marg at Night (Mobile)

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Pictures from the North East Express

Some of the other pictures I took while on my way from New Delhi to Gangtok are -     

At Anand Vihar Railway Station. Notice the aligning of the shadowy part and the sunny part

A solitary station in the middle of nowhere

The landscape struck me. Could see no trees apart from the one close by.

A picture taken from my mobile. The train stood here, at Begusarai (Bihar) for about an hour and a half.

When I got down at the New Jalpaiguri station it was breaking dawn. We had booked a cab to take us to Gangtok. The pictures below were shot while we were on the move as the fatigue of a 42 hour long journey was too much to handle. The road to Gangtok has been made right next to River Teesta which gave us a birds eye view of the River which was quite breathtaking to say the least. But to get near the River Teesta we had to cross the Mahananda Wildlife Reserve which is popular for elephants. Here are the snapshots - 

Driving through the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary on my way to Gangtok

On the move with the forest passing by

 

A sneaking glance of the River Teesta (The lifeline of Sikkim)

 

River Teesta runs parallel to  the road to Gangtok which ensures you get to see a lot of breathtaking sights

 

Throughout the road one can hear the dull roar of the River water gushing down the mountains heading to Bangladesh. Over here you can see a bend of the river (beyond the leaves)

The River Teesta (notice the sand bar in the middle)

 

The River passing through an ‘S’ shaped meander. (The shade of the car window also appears in this picture)

(to be continued)...

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Sikkim Sojourn Part 2 - My Rendevous with the Ganges

My trip to Sikkim started at Anand Vihar Rly. Stn. From where we had to board the North East Express. Apparently that was the only train suitable to our time preferences and was proving to be economical as well. But the very first lesson of this trip was taught to me by this very train.. and that was never compromise over quality as it might cost you big ! The best trains which can help you reach there(New Jalpaiguri) on time(as we realized later) are Rajdhani Express and Purvottur Sampark Kranti.

Well the train(North East Express).. Believe it or not.. was 17 hours late ! It completed the trip of 25 hrs in a total time of 42 hours. Moral of the story ? Never book a train without researching over the internet if it is running as per schedule or not.

But that said, I came across really interesting and striking sights on my way to New Jalpaiguri(the transit town for Darjeeling, Gangtok e.t.c.). But the highlight was crossing the River Ganges at Bihar. Let me explain them with pictures :-

 

The huge and mighty River Ganges in Bihar - 1

Notice the row of boats at the bank of the River

The huge and mighty River Ganges in Bihar – 2

The huge and mighty River Ganges in Bihar – 3

Notice the Riverine Island. The River has numerous such islands in its entire course.

Water.. Water.. Water..

Fishermen returning with their haul

Flood Plains of the Ganges

(to be continued..)

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Sikkim Sojourn Part 1

My trip to Sikkim(located in the Himalayas) started with a hope to see glimpses of Mother Earth which I had never seen before. Not only that, I wanted to see 'sights' of mother earth few had actually seen ! And in this attempt I truly succeeded. As my galleries of pictures would reveal to  you I really had the privilege of feasting my eyes on beautiful sights which included crossing the mighty Ganges at Bihar, the road trip to Gangtok from New Jalpaiguri/Siliguri in which we crossed the Mahananda Wildlife sanctuary and also drove by to the River Teesta, the trip to GuruDongmar Lake e.t.c.

I will divide my trip to phases and accordingly show it to you. Hope you enjoy viewing panoramic Sikkim.
The first phase of my trip was the train journey to New Jalpaiguri. I will share with you the experiences of the first part of my trip in which I crossed the mighty Ganges in my next post.
See you till then !

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Thoughts of a Trip 2

When the idea of an ideal vacation comes up it gets really confusing while deciding where to go.. As i mentioned in my previous post the options were Goa(for the beaches),Shimla(for the hills).... I also considered places like Kullu-Manali, e.t.c. but they were not meeting my criteria of being a place which was beautiful but different, and being overcrowded.
Then another roadblock which needed to considering while looking for a nice place to go vacationing in June was the temperature and weather. Monsoon clouds cover three-fourths of India by the time June comes and going to a place when it is raining is not the best choice especially when enjoying the rain is not the only thing one intends to do. It was at this moment that Ms. Bonnie  mentioned the place Gangtok (one of her colleagues was planning a trip to the same place).
Now Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim was an interesting choice but a quick glance at the Weather Channel again indicated that June is the time when it rains in Gangtok. But given the fact Ms. Bonnie decided upon something(at last) was enough an incentive for me to probe the places to visit in Gangtok and the weather patterns of the city, in detail.
The first thing when Gangtok came to my mind was that June being the start of 'off-season'  their would relatively be less people as compared to the peak tourist season from Oct - May. Then came the turn of checking the weather, and one thing which was clear was that it could rain in the first half of June(that is when i am planning to go) and because the hills around Gangtok are prone to landslides i needed to keep atleast 1 buffer day to compensate any delay in the schedule.
Then, the next question was where to visit ? According to me the view of Mt. Kanchenjunga (3rd highest mountain in the world) was the biggest spectacle to be seen.

(Mt Kanchenjunga as seen from Gangtok. Courtesy Mr. S Stiehler)

But apart from that the other places to visit are:-
1. Tashi View Point
2. Institute of Tibetology
3. Do Drul Chorten
4. Permanent Flower Show
5. Hanuman Tok
6. Ganesh Tok 
7. Himalayan Zoological Park
and many more

(MG Marg as seen from Hotel Window. Courtesy Mr. Amit)

But one thing which i noticed was that we could cover these places in a day or two. So what do we do for the rest 5 days ? To get that answer We got in touch with a local but govt. recognised tour operator and they suggested a trip to Yumthang Valley(Valley of Flowers). Upon a few enquiries i found out that apart from
Yumthang Valley an excellent oppurtunity presented itself for us to visit one of the highest lake in the world:- The Gurudongmar Lake.

(Gurudongmar Lake. Courtesy Mr. A Mitra)

Situated at a height of 17100 ft or 5212 metres on the Tibetan Plateau it was the perfect place for me to sense that 'high' which i wanted from this trip. So it was settled. We were to go to Sikkim.




Note:- The pictures in this post have been clicked by photographers who hold their(pictures) rights and
permit conditional free use. They do not endorse the author or the blog.

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