Reminiscences from the North Sikkim trip - Gangtok to Lachung - Day 2

It was our second day in Sikkim and we were too inquisitive to explore the valley. Today, we had planned to travel to Lachung and then on the next day, we wanted to visit the beautiful valley of flowers, Yumthang. Lachung is a small town in northeast Sikkim. It is at an elevation of about 9,600 ft.

So, due to all the excitement, I got up early in the morning and made my better half get up too. The first thing which enchanted my eyes were the lovely clouds scattered all around the place visible from the big window just in front of our bed. As our hotel was located in the outskirts of Gangtok, we came out for brisk morning walk. Just after walking for 5-10 minutes, we crossed the near by buildings and we were in woods. It was a divine experience, walking in complete silence which was intermittently broken by the chirping of the birds. The hills were soaked in the greyish clouds, partially visible. We kept on walking down the road engrossed in beauty of nature. The thoughts were broken by ringing of my mobile phone and the call was from the hotel manger to inform us that the cab which would take us to Lachung had reached the hotel. So, we returned to hotel and after a mild breakfast, we started for Lachung which is approximately 120 km from Gangtok. 

The roads leading to Lachung were not that great but it was too scenic to start with. There were numerous waterfalls on the way - Seven sister waterfalls, Naga Waterfalls, Twin Waterfalls, etc. are some to list here. As we were traveling in monsoons, the waterfalls were at their peak. Our first stop was at the Seven sister waterfalls. It was named so because it is said to fall in Seven stages. The point from where we saw the falls, we could see only three of them. 

 

We were amazed by the intensity and roars caused by the water crashing on the rocks. The air was full of little droplets of water which made us wet too as went near by the falls.

We moved ahead and after driving for nearly an hour, we stopped at a place after Mangan for lunch. It was a beautiful wooden hut, hanging amidst the bushes. where we were served delicious home made food. The food was great but the hilly surroundings made it feel awesome. 

So, after the lunch break, we resumed our journey to Lachung. As we were moving ahead in the heart of Himalayas, the roads were turning narrow and mountains were becoming mightier. We were entering the Singhik mountain ranges, and it seemed like the mountains were engulfed by a green cover. It was so greener and sitting in a SUV, I felt so calm and relaxed. I was just trying to admire and imbibe the beauty around me. 

We encountered some more waterfalls on the way. The gushing water made everything so blissful. I was completely mesmerized with the nature's beauty around me and wished I could lock them in my heart forever.

At around 4pm, we reached Chungthang, the confluence of two rivers: Lachen river and Lachung river, both tributaries of the River Teesta. Our driver was a resident of this place. His family operated a general shop here. We stopped at his place for some time to relax.
We spoke to some locals and they told us that the stretch from here till Lachung was very steep and advised us to start soon as it becomes dark early. There words were quite true as the next drive till Lachung was very hard as the roads were not maintained due to frequent rains. In fact, they were muddy at places. We felt sometimes that our car was controlled by the mud present at the road and not by breaks in vehicle. We kept driving and finally around 5.30 pm, we reached our destination. It had become completely dark and we went directly to our hotel. 

I will stop here and cover the enchanting experience I had in Lachung and Yumthang in the next blog.

Reminiscences from the North Sikkim trip - Day 1

North Sikkim trip - June, 2012.
 
Sikkim is a small state, nestled in the Himalayan mountains. It's the least populous state in India and the second-smallest state after Goa in total area. The economy is largely dependent on agriculture and tourism. 

We started our trip from Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. We reached Gangtok via New Jalpaiguri by road. We started in the morning from New Jalpaiguri and it took around 4-5 hours to reach Gangtok. It was mildly raining in the morning and after driving for half an hour, we crossed the city and entered the Sevoke forest range. The beautiful surroundings on both sides of the road engrossed us. After an hour of driving, we met the Teesta river. 

Teesta River

 As we moved ahead in the mountains, the roads became narrow and we were getting the feel of the valley. After about an an hour, we reached the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology. The place was very scenic, surrounded by mountains on two of its sides with a river flowing in between. It was very serene and I would say apt for studies.

As we were ascending towards our destination, the slopes became very steep and weather turned more misty. Finally we reached Gangtok at 1 pm. We went directly to our hotel which was near by the helipad.

 After relaxing for a bit, we had lunch and then we decided to go for small tour of the city. We covered Ganesh Tok, Tashi View point, etc. At Ganesh Tok, there was a small but very beautiful temple of Lord Ganesha. We had to climb to some good number of stairs as it was at some height. It offered a good view of sprawling Gangtok town below & the hills which loomed over the horizon.

View from Ganesha Tok

 Then, we went to near by small waterfall. It had become dark although it was just 4.30pm in the evening. There were mists all around and in those mystery-laden mists, prayer flags whipped in the breeze. Finally, we visited a flower exhibition center. It had countless varieties of flowers on display, moreover I would say the most beautiful and "different" flowers I had ever seen. 

 This concludes my first day in Sikkim. Stay tuned for the experiences of Lachung, Yamthung valley in coming post.
 

Why did I decide to blog ?

Everyone’s got a blog these days. However, this is not the reason why I decided to start my own blog. It’s been more than three years that I’ve been planning to start a blog. It will be wrong to say that I didn't get time to write but I'll be true to admit that I was lazy not to do so.

Why now? Because I am determined to do all what I’ve been postponing for so long and break out of the old patterns.

Why start a blog in the first place? Because I have a lot of things to share and believe that growth doesn’t happen when you’re in your bubble. You need to share things, see what other people are doing, interact with them and get feedback. And blogging helps experiencing all of these. 

What will I be blogging about? Mostly, I'll be writing about my travel experiences, adventures, emotions, thoughts, business, etc.

Hope you like my writing. Comments on the blog are very much welcome.

Thanks, Kanhaiya.