Such a relief after 12 days of non-stop work....
Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey.
--Babs Hoffman
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
--Augustine (354-430)
From 25th February to 5th March, 2005.......I was on a blogging holiday and enjoying myself out in the mighty Himalayas with my gang.......Lately it has been my longest stay away from Internet and I actually liked it......
People knowing me know how much I actually love to travel........its more like a passion and Himalayas have always given me a high........Most of my best trips have been into Himalayas........be it Kullu-Manali, Shimla, Mussouri or Darjeeling and Sikkim. This was my second trip into both places - Darjeeling and Gangtok (Sikkim). First time I went there I was a kid (as if I have grown up now - I am still a kid - this my friends tell me).
We were a gang of 11 people (my classmates at XIMB) who set out to experience the beauty of Darjeeling and Sikkim......The date of the journey was early morning hours of 25th February, 2005 when we set on the journey to Howrah on a train from where we had a connecting train to New Jalpaiguri. On 26th Feb, 2005 morning we reached New Jalpaiguri and after taking adequate rest and freshening up.....set on the road journey to Darjeeling. Also Narayan and Supriya joined us a bit late, courtesy their Japanese exam and the biggest hurdle they faced in joining us was catching the connecting train from Sialdah railway station after getting down at Howrah railway station. So biggest problem they faced was reaching Sialdah station on time for catching the train to New jalpaiguri, which they managed to and all that ends well makes the next part start well. It was around 3 hours drive to Darjeeling. The road and the toy train tracks run parallel all thoughout the journey. And we had chances to sing "Mere sapnon ki Rani kab aayegi tu" whenever we spotted a toy train. The scenic beauty is really amazing. One could easily see how the vegetation and flowers were changing as we were reaching higher altitudes. When we reached Darjeeling it was covered completely with mist (clouds) and was really cold. In Darjeeling we stayed at Sterling Resorts which is located in Ghoom, just next to the majestic Ghoom Monastery. Ghoom is around 8 kms away from Darjeeling (at 7000 feet).
On 26th February we reached Ghoom late than we had scheduled for and getting fresh over there took a bit too long. So there was no way we could do any sight-seeing over there that day. We were left with one option - roam around on Mall Road and do some shopping. So we spent the evening there having snacks and window shopping. Around 7 PM we tried to visit Nightingale Park, but we got delayed for it. The day finished off with dinner at Sterling Resort.
Now for some sightseeing, we were left with only one day, which according to actual plan we had reserved for Kalimpong, so the Kalimpong plan was chucked off (heard that its a real beautiful place, but its beauty is best experienced post April when it is filled with flowers).
So, on 27th February we started of for Ganga Maya and Rock Garden as the destinations to cover for that day and along with it other destinations to cover were Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) and the highest Zoo in the world located in Darjeeling. The day started of pretty early around 4 am when we decided to go to Tiger Hill (at 8482 feet) to see the Sun rise and also the amazing peaks of Mt. Everest and Mt. Kanchenjunga, but mist/clouds did not give us the chance to have that experience. The temperature at Tiger Hill was really low at 2 to 3 degree centigrade. After coming back Sathya treated us to tasty omellettes cooked by him. Then, we started of for Ganga Maya and while on route stopped at a Tea Garden (Orange Tea Estate). The complete slope covered with Tea Gardens look so beautiful.......only eyes can experience. After a short break at the tea estate we continued with our journey to Ganga Maya. Ganga Maya, is basically is a park set around a mountain river flowing, passing through rocks and small waterfalls. It looks really beautiful. A massive photo clicking exercise was carried out over there. We spent around one hour over there. We did not want to leave the place so early, but then time constraints. The next stop was at Rock Garden, which was again set around a mountain river on a slope, and it too had many small waterfalls. This garden is completely built on a slope of a mountain, thus implying a lot of climbing up. This place provided an excellent view of the valley around the place. After enjoying the time over there we moved back to Darjeeling to visit HMI and the Zoo. The Zoo had various mountain animals like - Red Panda, Black Bear, Siberian Tiger and many others. After the zoo we entered HMI, which had on display various mountaineering equipments, news paper articles about conquest of Mt. Everest, and a real good 3-D model of the Himalayan Mountain peaks and Himalayas in Sikkim. It also had articles on Yeti. After these places, we had our lunch in truly Tibetan format. For some it tasted bland, but still some of us liked it. At the end some of us ordered, Lemon Ginger Tea with extra Honey and it was really good. Then the rest of the evening was spent shopping around on the Mall Road. On Mall Road there is an eating joint - The Glenary's below which there is a bar - The Buzz and there at The Buzz we enjoyed a local band playing some real great music. So, this day can be said to be a good start to the journey.
On 28th Feb we were scheduled to leave for Gangtok, so just before starting of for the journey we visited the Ghoom Monastery - which was setup in 1850 AD. (its actual name being - Yiga Chholing Monastery). After visiting the monastery we started of for Gangtok and had breakfast on the way. The road from Darjeeling to Gangtok is full of beautiful scenery all around. My phone camera kept clicking all around at will. Our friend for the whole Sikkim trip - river Teesta, caught up with us in a majestic manner. Its first glimpse was its merger with another major river of Sikkim - Rangit. The waters of both the rivers are so different - The color of Teesta is Light Green while that of Rangit is in the darker shades of blue. From there Teesta never left us. It was our friend, it was our guide, it was our "guiding river". Wherever in Sikkim we went, we had it with us all along. We also saw the area from where rafting on Teesta starts and also saw how wild Teesta can get. We missed our chance to experience river rafting over Teesta.
After a magnificent journey of around 4 hours we reached Gangtok and reached our Hotel - Hotel Norphill, located on MG Road and just next to Glenary's and Buzz and also an wine, beer and other alcohol drinks shop. So the location was kind of a boon for some. That day after freshening up and some rest we went for lunch at "The Oriental" - the food there was really yummy. Then all of us went to have a try on getting a ride on ropeway but we were late for it and so came back to MG Road and went to the footpath market for some shopping and bought some real beautiful paintings and some chimes. That was all for 28th February. The weather at Gangtok as we had earlier been told was much more comfortable than that of Darjeeling (Darjeeling is at around 1500 feet height more than that of Gangtok). After a nice dinner at The Buzz we had a nice sleep for the night as for next day we were scheduled for a nice long trip to Changu (Tsomgo) Lake.
Now 1st March 2005, after getting up and having nice warm water bath and breakfast at the hotel itself we started of for Changu Lake located at 12400 Feet while Gangtok is at around 5480 feet. This would be our first tryst with snow on this journey. It is around 40 kms from Gangtok and lies on the route to Nathu La pass - the Old Silk Route Path which is again in the process of being revived back. Nathu La pass has been closed down for a month due to heavy snowfall, thus, no Nathu La for me yet again on my second trip here, still I was able to manage to reach Changu Lake, which I had missed the first time. In middle we stopped for tea. The place where we stopped, it was dicovered that a peg of rum or vodka costed a mere Rs. 20/-, it was more like a daily drink than a slightly expensive drink in the plains. So yet again, some enjoyed the warm drink. Also, it has to be mentioned that the tea was really tasty, among the best we had on the trip. Then back on the road, we again stopped after some time for taking some pics in the excellent backdrop of snow and mountains partially covered by it. The scenery all around the place was too beautiful. The scene directly from movies. Luckily Sikkim is now opening its doors for movie shooting though slowly. After reaching Changu lake, we had to hire boots, so as too play on the snow and also to reach the other side of the lake we had to travel on Yaks. The lake looks so peaceful and was completely frozen. There at Changu we spent our time sliding on snow, playing around there. Many amongst us lost their snow virginity to Changu lake (I had lost it to Manali). on route to Changu lake we passed through - Tashi View Point, Hanuman Tok and Ganesh Tok, but there was no point stopping there because of the mist which had been with us throughout the trip destroying all our chances to have a glimpse of Mighty Mt. Kanchenjunga. On our return from Changu lake we again stopped at the spot where we had tea while going up. This time we had Momos and again lots of tea and by evening reached the hotel. Then we spent our time in the evening visiting the ropeway and getting a beautiful view of the Gangtok City and then roamed around on the MG Road. That night we had dinner at Parivar- a veg restaurant out there. The food was again good, loved the butter naans there.
The next day - 2nd of March 2005, we had plans to go to Yumthang Valley (North Sikkim) at a height of 12000 feet and at a distance of 145 kms from Gangtok and involves an overnight stay at Lachung (at 8800 feet and 116 kms from Gangtok). So the journey started around 11:00 am. Till La Chung it was supposed to be a long journey of around 6 and a half hours with breaks. There are too many waterfalls on the route and many even cross the road, directly in front of you. The area is also a landslide zone. Enroute you have a stop at "Seven Sisters Waterfall" which is a vertical cliff (excellent for attempting suicide) through which a stream is flowing (actually falling straight down). It is called Seven Sisters because there are supposed to be seven falls for one stream on this cliff, while onlyfour are clearly visible. Again Teesta was our friend and guiding river. We were non stop going upstream to the point where the mighty river of Sikkim the Teesta is born. Teesta is born in a small village of Chungthang. Here the two mountain rivers - Lachung and Lachen (named after the main villages they flow through) merge to form Teesta. The river flows with extreme force and speed. As one army personnel told us, one just has to fall into the river and there is a very rare chance that he will survive. Chungthang is also an important point because it is one place which is gateway to two main destinations of North Sikkim - Yumthang Valley and Gurudongmar lake (Largest and highest lake in Sikkim and is also considered sacred). Both places are on seperate routes and the road divides for these places at this small village of Chungthang. The villages in Sikkim have been the most picturesque. The scenic beauty surrounding them cannot be described using photos or videos, only eyes can truly appreciate them. We had a Tea break at Chungthang and then moved forward to Lachung for overnight stay before moving onto Yumthang Valley the next morning. Here in Lachung we stayed at Sela Inn. A really comfortable place to stay at. Nice beautiful rooms with wooden flooring. The dinner was also tasty, similar to house made food. After dinner most of us had a taste of "Changu" pronounced as "Chhang". Its a local drink made of millet and tastes quite similar to Port Wine. It is served in a wooden bowl covered with Changu upto the brim in hard form (millet) on which warm water is poured. This mixture has to be sucked using a straw made of bamboo after two minutes of pouring water. The drink was really amazing. At night we went for a walk up to the point from where we could see river Lachung in full glory at night time. The roar of the river had filled up the place.
The next morning on 3rd March 2005 at 6 am we were woken up with a bed tea and warm water to freshen up. BUT, I decided to go out and what I see was truly amazing, and since I did not want the other gangsters to miss out on the first sunrise viewing on this trip. So woke others up and along with Shikha, video taped the whole sunrise - those beautiful golden peaks all around us with the river Lachung flowing through the place. After getting ready we all left for Yumthang around 8 am. It was one hour journey along the river Lachung. It was a steep climb straight into the heights, and halfway we met snow on both sides of the road. At many points we had thick and huge walls of snow on both sides of the road. There were turns where the road had been washed out and it was extremely rough. At such points we had to reverse the car and rush it forward full speed. There were many beautiful spots all along the way. At Yumthang valley, we had snow covered mountains all around us, river Lachung flowing through the valley. The valley during this time is covered with thick snow and in summer months will be covered with flowers, and in both cases looks truly beautiful. For the first time on the trip we were experiencing clear weather. The white peaks meeting the blue sky with river flowing in between looked like an artists imagination and work on the canvas. It seemed as if god had used earth as his canvas. We even made XIMB on snow using ourselves as well as pebbles. I have visited many places in Himalayas but none as beautiful as Yumthang Valley. Around 11 am we had to leave the place and after reaching Lachung we had our lunch there. Sheila aunty made amazing momos for lunch. They were tooo tasty. By night we reached back to Gangtok and had our dinner at The Oriental and then saw Sania Mirza's match in Dubai Open on TV where she had lost and then went off to sleep.
On 4th March 2005, in the morning we did some local shopping and then around 11:30 am we left to see Ranka Monastery and Rumtek monastery (24 Kms from Gangtok). While Ranka monastery is a new monastery, and has been beautifully built on a completely different architecture from Rumtek Monastery. Rumtek monastery will give u a straight feel of history when one enters its walls. Its really a huge monastery. Rumtek monastery is important because it is the World Dharma Chakra Centre and also because it is the seat of his holiness - The Gyalwa Karmapa who is head of Kagyupa order of Tibetan Budhism. The monastery was built in 1730. The campus also includes - The Golden Stupa and Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Budhist Studies.
After coming back to Gangtok we had lunch at The Parivar and then went on to get ready to leave for New Jalpaiguri to catch the train back to Bhubaneswar. We left Gangtok around 6 pm. The complete journey in Tata Sumo (all front facing seats) was great. Their was occassional rains in the path, it was completely dark and the whole route was full of sharp curves and the driver was taking the curves at speeds of 50 to 60 kmph. Some of the gangsters had started praying for safe journey. The driver had not slept since 4 am so that was another cause of worry for those praying. He drove extremely well, even though there was steep fall on one side and trucks coming from front. The journey till New Jalpaiguri was of 4 hours and after reaching there we found out our train was delayed by an hour. Finally on 5th night (actually 6th morning) we reached XIMB. We entered the campus at 3 am on 6th March 2005. Thus, ending our trip to Darjeeling and Gangtok.
Though we could not see Kanchenjunga on this trip, but am sure the next time the gangsters go for their respective honeymoon to Sikkim they will surely get a glimpse of mighty Mt. Kanchenjunga, some things after all should be kept for first time. Yeah we all decided that our honeymoon is going to be in Sikkim, lets see what happens.
Ok now you would be wondering who the gangsters were. They are:
Shikha, Sonal, Hima, Supriya, Sanket, Kartik, Venky, Narayan, Sathya, Sachin and myself (Gaurav).
The person who was the most happy after finding out that he could get pegs at Rs. 20/- in Sikkim was Narayan.
As we gained in heights PQ levels of Sonal also gained heights.
Sathya papa revealed his true form in dumbcharades on the return journey in train.
Shikha was a typical Shikha falling here falling there.
About me.....he he.......only others can tell......
so u can very well imagine how good the trip was.
About the pics......
Some of them have been uploaded so CLICK HERE
