Every year during Christmas(which also happens to be our anniversary time 🙂 ), we(me and hubby) go on a vacation for over a week to celebrate. We had explored Himachal and Rajasthan in the previous years, so in December’14, we were planning for a little offbeat destination in India. North-East was always on our minds ever since my cousin showed some pictures from his trek :P. It was then that we decided on Sikkim. Sikkim is an ideal destination for those who are looking for a little solitude and a little warmth. It is an ideal mix. It is not crowded, yet very tourist-friendly. The native people are a little shy, but very helpful and honest.
Let me start with some nice pictures taken from the flight 🙂
In this one you can see the Bay of Bengal 🙂
So, on December 24th, we landed in Bagdogra(there is no airport in Sikkim as of now) and took a private cab to Gangtok. Halted for the night at Royal Residency Inn and drifted off to sleep. Early morning the next day, we started off to Nathu La or so we thought !! 😦 😦 Nathu La is a pass which lies on the border of India and China and hence, is a sensitive area. Tourists are required to have a permit to visit the place. We had double checked with our agency regarding the permits before we left, but our driver informed us that we could not get the permit as the authorities have a quota per day and they had exceeded that. We believed. But, later I got to know from a lady(I met at a public rest room 😛 ) that the drivers/agencies simply lie because the vehicle documents have to be proper in order to get the permit. So, dream shattered. All the more for me because I’m of those people who keep dreaming about a place so much so that whenever we book for a trip, I start dreaming about the place, all the possible things I could do there etc. Yeah , sometimes it gets a little out of hand 😛 For instance, in Nathu La, I had imagined myself placing one foot in Indian border and another in China 😛 Yeah,yeah I know I go too far. I already admitted, don’t judge me !
So, we headed to Baba Mandir. This is a shrine built by the army in honour of a soldier Harbhajan Singh and the army soldiers regard him as a saint. There are many stories surrounding his death. Some say he was killed in a Sino-India war in Nathu La while others say he drowned in a stream. You can also see a statue of Shiva nearby. The view en-route to the mandir is a treat to the eyes. All along the way, you can see beautiful glacier lakes.
Awww… isn’t this house beautiful ??? Inconvenient, yes probably. But, beautiful !! :* :*
Next stop : Tsongmo/Changu Lake. This lake also has a history. Legend has it that Guru Nanak, the holy guru of the Sikhs was passing by this place and was thirsty. But the entire place was frozen. So, he poked the glacier with his stick, which created this lake which is why it is regarded as holy. And, the lake really looks like it was touched by God. Never had I seen a lake so serene and pure.
As it is a high altitude lake, you can see clouds floating over the lake !! What a treat to the eyes 🙂
Some views from on the way !
In the evening, we took a leisurely stroll in the Mall road(M.G. Marg), Gangtok. Gangtok is a beautiful place. The roads are sparking clean and almost nil usage of plastic. I jus loved the place. We lost track of time, so it was pretty dark by the time we headed back(it was only 7 pm though). Our hotel was very close to the Mall road and we had taken a stairway. On the way back, we saw a big gang of men smoking and chatting on the stairway. I was a little scared to pass through there, so we were thinking of taking an alternative route. Just about then, two girls crossed us and casually made their way through the group !! So, we just hurried and followed them 😀 It was then that I realised how safe a place it was for girls !! I might venture to say it is probably one of the safest cities for women in India.
Early morning the next day, we started off towards Lachung. The roads were a nightmare really ! But, the scenery compensated well enough.
I loved this green lake. Something very captivating about it 🙂
We reached Lachung only by night and were dead tired by then.
In the morning, we started to Zero point, which is a view point at an altitude of about 14000ft. It is close to the Tibet border. All along the way, we saw boards saying we were under Chinese observation. I gave them some funny faces to observe 😛 😛
This is the view which made all the journey worth it ! Blissful !
This is my snow man (snow baby if u will 😛 ). Don’t laugh at it ok , I dint have much resources and I was really really cold 😛 😛 😉 People grouped around us and watched us complete the whole thing and took pictures ! Not because they haven’t seen or couldn’t do better, but because they were too cold to do it on their own 😛 😀
Our driver for this part of the journey was very very shy. When we tried chatting, he used to give very short replies. Don’t know what happened to him when we were returning, he poured out his entire life story and told us some scary stories. But, we also learnt a lot about Buddhist culture from him 🙂
Back to Gangtok, we did some local sight seeing, visited Tashi view point, Ghoom monastery, few temples and gardens. Shopped a lot, yay !! 🙂 Found some shop which sold some amazing decorative articles and bought so many !!
Next destination : Pelling. It is a small beautiful village. We stayed at a home stay called Dara Gaon Village retreat run by a family. So tasted some authentic Sikkim food and spent some time with the family 🙂
Khecheopalri lake is a wishing well to the native people. People would feed the fishes there with biscuits earlier and pray. But now, it is not allowed.
Next stop : Rabdentse Ruins. The actual site is nestled inside woods and is a pretty long walk form the entrance. But, it is lovely 🙂
Since it was winter, it was the season of oranges. All along the way, we could see orange trees filled with more fruits than leaves !! There were 3 little girls selling oranges in their backyard. We bought some from them. They were left with only a little more in their basket and they wanted to go home. So, they gave us the remaining for free ! Such sweet things 🙂 🙂
Off to Darjeeling !
We stayed at Villa Everest in Darjeeling. It was a beautiful place 🙂 I would strongly recommend it to anyone 🙂
Watching sunrise in Tiger Hill was the first thing on our list ! We started at about 3.30 am and reached at about 4.15. There was such a huge queue already !! They have many kinds of tickets there. We first bought the open area one since my hubby wanted to take pictures with tripod and that looked a little convenient. But when we went there, we realised that was not possible as people were crowded near the railing. So, we rushed back and bought tickets for the balcony. Turned out, that was equally crowded 😦 So, no DSLR pictures but we really enjoyed it. Was a treat to the eyes !!
We stood in a very strategic position so that we could see both the sunrise and the golden rays falling on the opposite Kanchenjunga 🙂
Cannot describe it really. The hues and the emerging sun were breathtaking to say the least 🙂
The pictures were taken through the glass window from a phone, so do not do much justice.
The beautiful Kanchenjunga 🙂
The rest of the day, we did some local sight seeing and visited Japanese Peace Pagoda temple, couple of monasteries, Himalayan Zoological Park and tea estate.
In the evening, we took a stroll in the Mall road and Chau Rasta. We hunted for a place to eat and we had heard about Glenary’s. But, it was pretty crowded. So, we just bought some biscuits there. Just near Glenary’s, we found a place called Frank Ross Cafe, so we headed there. We tried Chili Beans soup there and it was amazing !! 🙂 🙂 Lip-smacking actually.. Pizzas were pretty good too ! So, if you happen to visit Darjeeling, do try this place. I’m sure you will thank me 🙂
Returned to Bangalore the next day with memories that will last a lifetime 🙂
swathijois 