Darjeeling and Sikkim Part 1

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Prologue

Well it had been insulting from quiet a long time to hear that being a Bengali I have never been to Darjeeling, North East India for travel. With past 3 to 4 months all nuisance at work place and constant associated unnecessary pressure and ruling chaos taking its toll on me, I decided it is better to quit the current organization and head for the most awaited journey of this year.

My father was little worried about how am I suppose to manage the travel with so much of uncertainty at work. Adding more to existing problem I had caught cold and had a running nose just before the trip. My father also had to join the duties for Mumbai and mother though wanted to join me for the trip this time was little less expressive about her willingness as our family being a nuclear one it is difficult to maintain and manage the belongings back home with no one around. Anyways, realizing the enthusiasm of the travel father allowed her and me to go ahead with the trip just one hour before the travel.

Day 1 - North East Himalaya beckons

I got the ticket for an State Government run AC bus from Esplanade in the morning for the journey from Kolkata to Siliguri. I tried a lot of times but in vain for a train ticket as somehow there was a lot of demand for the train tickets despite being an offseason for tourism to North East India. I called up the Bus Service Agency and found out that tickets were still available. We reached the bus stop an hour before the scheduled departure time and waited patiently at the dirty, urine smelling bus stand only to find that the bus will be departing from somewhere else. Soon the private Volvo buses and normal buses left the place buzzing and roaring but our bus which was supposed to leave by 7 pm was nowhere to be seen. It was 8:30 pm we were escorted to another location to find that the bus was not yet ready to go and there was only one more passenger barring us who will be actually travelling in the bus. The place was walking distance from office. We patiently watched as the big bus was getting ready after a thorough cleanup.

It was around 10 pm, the bus started at 10 pm cutting through the chilly and cold darkness on highway. The sits were uncomfortable but since there were not enough people on the bus we occupied the some extra seats and made a bed to sleep. The bus from the start was facing gear and breaking problems from being and the driver was driving with rather uncomfortably rash way. At around 12 in the night just after we crossed Ranaghat and before Krishna Nagar there was a shrill cluttering sound as caressed past a truck coming from other side. And few steps further all of the front glass window simply shattered and fell with force all over front portion of bus. It was an lucky escape for the driver. Had the glass fell a little back he would have has neck cut and broken by the broken pieces. We were in the middle of the deserted road with no soul roaming far off. It was a bitter cold and almost trying penetrate the body inspite of our heaving clothings. The sharp chilly wind also add to the misery. The driver suggested we better be seated as a replacement bus was on way in a couple hours time. An alternate bus in better condition appeared about 3:00 am and we boarded without wasting any time. I was too exhausted for any action and slept off soon.

Day 2 - Darjeeling,The Queen of Himalayas here we come!

I woke up just before the bus was about cross Farakka Barrage, The largest dam of Bengal and it was amazing early morning view as we drove over the never ending looking barrage. Farakka Barrage was built on 1990, located 10 km from border between India and Bangladesh and used to control flow of Ganges River The dam was built to divert the Ganges River water into the Hooghly River during the dry season, from January to June, in order to flush out the accumulating silt which in the 1950s and 1960s was a problem at the major port of Calcutta on the Hooghly River. The bus halted at Malda for ½ hour and we halted for some “Luchi- Aloo” breakfast where we met up with locals. The Bengali accent was distinctly so distinctly “Bangal” (Bangladeshi) and gave us a feeling we were pretty close to Bangladesh. Uneventful journey continued with bus picking up some local unreserved passengers to make extra money and ended up picking some arguments over the pricing of tickets. The roads post Raigunj occasionally were very bad with huge pot holes. We crossed a border of Bengal temporarily through Indian State of Bihar. We got to know this because the script on posters which were on Bengali suddenly got changed to Hindi. We passed by Kishangang and then Gayesal Railway Station. Soon we found 3 by 3 broad highway to Siliguri with the train line reappearing after last night. But no sign of hills leave aside the mountains were visible around. There were lots of dirty construction work going on, along with road repairing. The lush green irrigation fields and clear blue sky were the best we could get around for aa scenary. Suddenly, we came under an abrupt halt as there was a obstruction on road by a huge road building crane. The mammoth monster with dirty accessories occupied the entire road crawled along causing the blockage and standstill of the traffic. I got down from the bus for a survey of proceedings. It was around 1 in afternoon we started again as the traffic cleared and to our relief got the first glimpse of tea gardens. Darjeeling is famous all around the world for it s tea and major export from this part of world. That marked the beginning of never ending series of tea gardens. En route we passed Baghdogra airport, the only airport on northern state of bengal. We entered rather dirty city of Siliguri around 3 pm. The fellow traveler led us to a small Bengali restaurant for lunch as we were already starving from morning without food.

At around 4:00 pm we took the shared jeep for Darjeeling for 80/- per head. The toy train line ran next to the road. Two things drew my attention which was worth mentioning. I noticed that ethnicity of people suddenly changed a lot. There were more dominant variety of small eyed, short eyed and fair Asian (very much resembling like Bhutia, Chinese, Tibetan) than the round faced, big eyed Bengali counterpart. The second thing was in about 5 minutes, I got glimpse of North East Mountains amidst bushy scrubs that covered the terrain. Soon, twisting and gradual turnings led to a mountainous road. After a about 15 minutes of rise there was a brief halt at local Dhaba where we had our first share of vegetable momos ( who knows these Tibetan dumplings will be our major diet at mountains). Well at this point let me introduce our jeep driver Bijoy, an early twenty something young chap with spiked hair, stylish looks and tattoos. As and when we reached turn we crossed there were lots of people specially ladies were waving at him and he was smiling in return. At first I thought they were delighted to see us the tourists but later I realized Bijoy holds the status of local hero with his charming behavior. It started becoming chilly again and my sufferings due to my cold increasing unbearable with time with a new nuisance of headache and blocked nose. We, brisk passed the small Gorkha town of Kurseong, where small road side shops by toy train rail line tracks were near closing. The people were heading back to their houses with fresh organic vegetables. It was pretty dark with twinkling lights beeping in the city of Darjeeling on the hill from Ghum (where we saw the steam engine of toy train parked and snoring . A little later we finally reached our destination. As we are searching for some good hotels to halt for the night. With Bijoy’s suggestion we booked a room at Tourist Lodge (government run). The rooms were very clean and spacious and offseason bonus we got the rooms readily available for us with heater. The only drawback of the hotel being since it was located at the top of the hill, it was unbearably cold. Bijoy himself before dropping as us whether we were interested in sight seeing. Before immediately taking up the offer we bargained a bit and decided to avail his services for next full day. He left us with a note that he will be coming at 4:00 am sharp for Tiger Hill sunrise view. We decided to head out again to market to buy some warm clothes as the clothes were having were not sufficient enough. The famous Darjeeling Chourasta (the square junction and gathering spot for locals as well as visitors for various activities) was a walkable distance away. From Chowrasta we walked down the Mall Road and passed by Hasty Tasty Restaurant and Glenary’s Cake Shop and Restaurant surveying the Tibet flee market. On way up we finally managed to buy some local caps , gloves and finished our dinner at Glenary’s and headed back to our room to get early sleep.

Day 3 : Darjeeling conquered!

Bijoy turned up sharp at 4:00 am. Though we are bit late in waking up and and gathering ourselves to shield ourselves from clothes. It was dark and Bijoy drove through dark smoothly towards Tiger Hill and yes! escorting one of many local lasses for the day on way for Tiger Hill. When we reached Tiger Hill there were not many cars parked and the Deluxe Pass for the Top View from Tiger Hill was easily available at 40 rupees. There were lot people at the bottom of the observatory in cold for the view beating the cold. Luckily we got a nice cozy sofa to relax as we reached the well furnished wooden top observatory room and more importantly we got a complimentary tea. Tiger Hill guide Mr Sherpa arrived to explain about the various viewable peaks on the variable viewable peaks on the Mountain Range. He had a trouble time though the day before as we was been arrested for some foreigner have forgot and left his passport at Tiger Hill!
Gradually the sight of Kanchenjunga and the entire mountain range appeared at around 5:30 am as a faded pale back ground. But soon it changed to a more pinkish tinge and then to light orange color with sunrise from far east and then gradually color changed to white. Lot of people gathered including some German and Japanese tourists for the show along with honeymoon couples clad with tripod held cameras. We left the place and headed back. We noticed that our jeep got a layer of frozen dew. There were a location patches of snow on way where Bijoy told us it was a well know picnic spot for tourists.

We halted at another tourist spot called Batasia Loop and the War Memorial which is located at approximately 5 km from town. Batasia Loop derives its name from a gigantic railway loop where the Toy Train makes a 360 Degree turn. It was basically built to make it possible for the Toy Train to cut the deep ascend. Strategically located the Batasia Loop offers a panoramic view of the Kanchenjunga Range. A War Memorial constructed in the memory of the brave sons of the soil who laid down their lives in the different wars since the independence of the nation adds to its attraction. There is also a well furbished market where visitors can buy locally made purses, bags and other decorative items. Unwillingly though on request of my mother had a pathetic telescopic view of the mountain range.
Post War Memorial we headed for Ghum Monastery. We halted for a photographic break at Ghum Railway Station with toy train. Ghum Monastery is actually a popular name for Sampten Choling Monastery. It belong to yellow sect of Buddhists. There is a 15-feet high statue of "Coming Buddha" (Maitreya Buddha) in the monastery. It contains images of Buddha’s disciples, Chenrezi and Chongapa. There is a big golden Buddhist wheel which I had a lot of fun rotating. The locals were busy taking snaps with some European tourists. We halted for breakfast at Keventer’s . We order some Chinese sausages and bread toast. We had a nice view of Kanchenjunga peak as we sipped a hot coffee from the roof top restaurant. Bijoy picked us up again and we reached The Japanese Peace Pagoda. The Japanese Peace Pagoda was established by Nipponzan Myohoji, a Japanese Buddhist order. The pagoda is the highest free structure in the town. It also showcases the four avatars of the Buddha. There was an adjacent Japanese Temple nearby.

We headed for Rock Garden and Ganga Maya park this time. Ganga Maya Park was a beautiful in a lot of ways. The place is well maintained with lot of theme gardens, full of flowers and endless turns and curves going down on track with a beautiful waterfall pouring down through a wild mountain stream. Named after an innocent victim of police firing during the GNLF agitation, “it meanders down the course of a chortling mountain stream, past gazebos, clumps of flowering shrubs and trees, over humped backed bridges under which koi-carp coruscate, and into a circular lake with paddle boats and a waterfall.” It has a small lake where boating facilities are available. We watched the Gorkha folk dances as they performed to entertain the tourists. On way up on steep descending valley along Hill Cart Road. A multi-level picnic ground terraced around a natural waterfall, its attraction is in it “being a sort of road-side facility but with a little too much concrete.” The garden offers a beautiful view of a hill stream cascading over rocks along the slope, done up with flower gardens and sitting spaces at different levels. There also is a small lake. With tourists pouring in large numbers, tea shops and snack kiosks have come up. There were some instant photo studio where tourists get dressed up in Gorkha dresses and pose for photos. I galloped up the hill to get nice view of the surrounding places where as my mother chose to rest at bottom of the garden.

On way back again like an greedy photographer I took some snaps at Darjeeling tea estates. We passed by Lal Kuthi and Druk Thupten Sangag Choling Monastery(Dali Monastery) and reached Darjeeling Mountaineering Institute and The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute was set up following the successful ascent of the Mount Everest-the highest peak in the world by the local hero Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir EdEdumund Hillary on 28 May 1953. The oldest mountaineering institute in the country carries out various mountaineering courses every year. Apart from Tenzing, legendary mountaineers like Nawang Gombu(the first man to climb Everest twice) and Lattoo Dorjee Sherpa have helped build the reputation of this pioneering institute. The institute is presently under the purview of the Minstry of Defence, Government of India and its museum is worth a visit. The zoo next to it was pretty good but closed most parts though. The mountain tigers and red panda were quiet fascinating. Bijoy guided us through a troubled region and offices of Gorkhaland movement political party office of Bimal Gurung to tea estates, local tea market and Tenzing Norgay rock where I tried my amateur hand in climbing the rock while the some foreign hippies watched me doing so.

We continued our journey and reached on top of hill at St Paul school where popular Bollywood movie “Main Hoon Naa” was shot. Like many other places I could not control myself posing for photo Shah Rukh Khan style in the movie. Bijoy left us for the day at hotel.
We rested for a while and again decided to go out for some shopping. Walking down the mall road we reached Chok Bazar and bought some oranges and had some of the best momos and Thukpa/Gayathuk(Tibetan noodle soup) at Darjeeling at New Dish Restaurant and Bar. We visited Mahakal Market for some marketing but got a bit disappointed with the prices and headed back towards hotel. We stopped by Glenary’s again and fetched a variety of cakes and pastries and spend some time resting on a bench at Chowrasta in evening and watched the kids riding on horse. As sunset it became very cold and we headed back to our room.

Day 4 : Holy ghost of Magical,Mystical and Mysterious Himalayan State,Sikkim calling!

One final thing which remained was a visit to local Mahakal Hindu temple. So, after an early morning breakfast at our hotel for a change we found a short cut climbed up the steps up the hill to the Nepali Style Temple. There were a lot of peace flags of various colors attached to strings from trees temple tops and was creating a magical and mystical atmosphere. We were bit troubled by the monkeys asking for some snacks but since we came empty handed we were bitten by those menaces. Early morning prayers and off we went back to our room to pack our stuff and check out of the hotel. Destination next Gangtok!

Down the hill our drop car to the Jeep stand. We found finally a Lepcha guy out of mostly Nepali people around who picked our bags up and will be driving us to Gangtok in Sikkim. As expected the shared jeep got fully packed with people with 10 people mostly Sikkimese and one dark skinned Bengali couple (more of Bangladeshi looks). The journey started around 1 o’clock the afternoon. In about half an hour time we were cruising past Lepchu tea garden after a diversion from Kurseong. The road was downhill first and then uphill. The site of Darjeeling slowly faded from our site and we headed down to deep valley and somewhat a more greener and hill forest kind of landscape came to foreground. Lots of vegetation predominantly alpine trees and small Tibetan villages with small population of Gurkha people on streets gave an interesting outlook. The jeep halted at a small café where the driver got busy cleaning the car. While we walked to the café to pick up some nice juicy steamed momos, fruit drinks and some tangy Nepali chatpats. Since I sat right next to the driver I got involved with the Lepcha driver with some broken Nepali words I learnt during the trip which he got impressed and showed me some interesting view points. The most notable amongst which was Orange tree plantation close to Kalimpong, Teesta River Confluence view points, one 360 degree road turn with an attached suspended bridge over head. We soon got the view of full Teesta river which has turned white with dirt it carried along cutting through white pebbles and rocks on course. But the turbulent river gurgled and flowed with a roar which rivers of plains were incapable of. As we proceeded further I noticed the river simply refused to part us. We crossed Mangpo and the White Water Rafting joints and reached the Sikkim border. The border patrol ironically asked the Bengali couple are they Bangladeshi or not! The jeep passed by Sikkim Manipal University by the river and teak plantation forest areas. There were some funny and weird warings by road side like “If Driving is Marriage Speed is Divorce”!.The site of the river faded away with sunshine. And finally we reached Gangtok main terminal Taxi/Jeep stand, Deoraji meandering through a circuitous track . We paid the driver 125/- rupees per head and boarded a local taxi (Maruti Omni) and headed to M.G. Margh Junction where our hotel, Mount Jopunu was located next to Hotel Tibet. It was not much bitter cold as in Darjeeling and the rooms allocated to us was very comfortable and clean. Mother was in need for some tea as I continued with paperwork and further travel plans in Sikkim.
With only 3 more days planned to stay in Sikkim and lots of places to travel, I sought the help of the Hotel receptionist who inspite of being a local Bhutia was more keen on speaking to me in Bengali and called a local travel agent. It seems it was difficult to move any important travel destination in Sikkim without a travel agent.

And here he arrives Mr Tenzing, the appointed travel agent. Like a true professional he tried to figure out what kind of background we are coming from, what is our budget and are we like the traditional Bengali mass tourists who come here just for time pass who rather than actually come here to the hills and landscape spread nuisance and bring to the whole community and true adventure seekers and travelers. His agency was directly related to the Sikkim House located at Kolkata part of Government of Sikkim run tourist agency. Tenzing, with Bhutia origins looked more professional in approach and showed us various options on how to plan about the next travels.
Together we all agreed upon going for Yumthang Valley trip with overnight halt at Lachung and 2 days of travel. Nathu La and Tsongmo Lake(Changu Lake) on 3rd day and half day local sightseeing including Rumtek Monastery and Ropeway before heading off to Siliguri and journey back to Kolkata. I was planning to get ticket for train to Kolkata in tatkal booking but neither the circumstances nor time was suitable enough that I could manage to go the railway booking office to get one for me. I paid Tenzing in advance for the entire trip ahead which was approximately 9000/-. I was quickly running out of cash but being resided closely M.G. Marg I had easy access to the A.T.M counter. M.G. Road was going through repairs and renovation. Hence, though it being the main cultural fashion street with numerous hotels, restaurants and shops lined up had no cars or vehicles around. But crowd of people still found loitering around including the foreign backpackers, local people and of course Bengalis.

We climbed up to a restaurant “Taste of Tibet” as usual to taste some local flavor. And that was the best restaurant I had dined in the entire trip. The jumbo sized virtually melting steamed pork momos, amazing mixed Thukpa (Tibet Noodle Soup) ( without beef - I don’t have it) and Pork chilli. There was one sole American family at the restaurant busy eating and discussing further plans.
Post dinner we hurried back to our rooms for a much needed rest but I ended up watching a Bruce Lee movie (“Fist of Fury”) instead. Chinese and China is not far away! Ha ha!

Day 5 : Oh my virigin beauty of innocent North Sikkim! Mother Nature here I come!

We have booked the entire jeep for two of us only with only driver (Sagaar) and guide (Tarzing) to accompany us for the entire journey for Yumthang. The place was a remote area and no food available for cooking there and had all the supplies transported from Gangtok. The jeep arrived a bit late than usual time but fully loaded with all ammunitions. Cartridges full of vegetables, meats and eggs and breads were all packed at the back of car.

Soon we crossing the zero point of the city , helipad we reached the outskirts of the city to Pangthang and halted at Tashi View Point for breakfast. Once, again we had a really mind blowing view of the snow clad mountain peaks of Kanchenjunga but this time it was from lateral view rather than the front view we observed from Darjeeling. Tashi View Point had a nice observatory free of cost and climbing up the steps we relaxed ourselves in seats under Tibetan style shelter. Got down after some time for some freshly cooked momos and bought some sparkling mineral water for our journey.

We took our diversion further north we headed north. The road was rugged with landslides and pot holes more prominent. Soon we encountered one stream of wild falls flowing across our way wiping away any existing roads. Some place it seems there were no road at all. Just a narrow lane with deep slopes and high and steep mountainous terrain. One wild river(Bacha Chu) with high velocity on the rocks flowed down and we crossed it by a suspension bridge filled all over with lot of colored flags. The river, Rapte Chu( ‘Chu’ in Sikkimese language means ‘River’) which ran below and along is the main source of drinking water for entire Gangtok. Lucky for us, it was December . The Christmas holidays did not start already. The stinking tourists did not turn up and I can enjoy more in the lap of nature and its pristine beauty. We halted at a we reached the seven sister waterfall. Though being a popular tourist attraction I did not find it that enjoyable. Hence we quickly crossed it and headed further north. Sagaar paused for a while and showed us cardamom plantations on way before heading towards Mangan(3950 ft). We crossed important joints like Namok, Rangrang on way. We halted for lunch when it around 1 pm and rested for a while in the lap of nature on a rock slap and watched the beautiful valley of rice fields from there.


Post lunch we headed further towards Chungthang crossing Rangrang bridge and also Mangan, the capital of North Sikkim. The wild river flowing just next to our jeep as soon as we reached North Sikkim we were been greeted by police check quarters who cleared our papers and we headed further north crossing the river. Few kilometers from Mangan we halted at Singhik View Point where River Teesta and River Kanaka meet. Mt Sinoulchu view was also outstanding from there. We headed further north to Chungthang where the the confluency of two rivers (green colored Lachen Chu and white colored Lanchung Chu) takes place and River Teesta comes to existence. The north Sikkim highway bifurcates here to take different routes for Lachen (towards holy Guru Dongmar Lake) and Lachung (towards Katao and Yumthang). Spot of interest in Chungthang is a legendary rock having an imprint which is believed to be the foot mark of Guru Padmasambha. There is a small opening in the rock which remains filled with spring water. Adjacent to the rock there is a small stretch of paddy field defying the condition that demands the growth of paddy in this area.
We paused for a while at Chungthang and had some snacks before heading towards Lachung which was just 21 kilometers away. Very close to Lachung we found the greatest, tallest and most spectacular natural waterfall I have seen till date. Though it was originally named Bhima waterfalls but these days it is well known to tourists by name “Amitabh Bacchan” waterfall after the legendary Bollywood actor for his height. The water flowed down like a sharp piercing knife both in coldness and speed. I shivered as I stood at the bottom of the falls to strike a pose for photo.


Lachung situated on the rocky banks of the white river Lachung Chu, this picturesque was once described by notable British botanist and explorer Joseph Dalton Hooker as the "most picturesque village of Sikkim". Indeed it was an amazing village with high steeps surrounding and some setting at distant end by hills we felt we were some place out of the world. We reached our hotel and as the night progressed it became unbearably cold and we were almost shivering inspite of the room heater running all the time. Anyways, like a true adventurer I paid least heed to the cold and headed for an evening walk with Tarzing for a while who told me about customs of the place and about the local fresh brewed wine (“Chanu”) famous here. Dinner was ready well withing time. But wait a minute it felt like a more home cooked dinner with Bengali taste! I learnt it was a Bengali cook who has done all the cooking here. And as usual I got involved on a conversation with the cook about his experiences and association here. Lachung do not have much television, radio or telephone and electric supply remains off on most part of year. But thanks to growing tourism electricity is there at least most of time during night.

Day 6 : Door of Magical and Mystical Tibet! Heaven or Hell?

We woke up early in the morning to find the cloud cover all over the hills below us. It looked like a layer of foam floating above the transparent liquid below and transparent sky above. Sun did not rise yet and we were off carrying our breakfast along with us to race against time. But it was surprising! We are in here towards end of December but still no sign of snow on valley still! Gradually that perception changed as we got a glimpse of scattered snow valley in patches on grounds here and there. Gradually the patches covered all over the ground as we headed further towards Yumthang Valley. Phuni and Forest Quarter has well preserved the forests. Spring time the entire road will be filled with the colorful flowers and Rhododendrons.

On way further up the scenary changed abruptly. The place reminded me of a English woods or someplace further in Europe with pine trees, a lot of Christmas trees all around and snow completely covered all over the hills as well the road. We are in for white Christmas this time! We did not halt at the spectacular at Yumthang Valley but overshoot towards zero point (end of the motorable road and overlooking China Tibet). Soon the view of the places around changed from the snow clad places to a rugged, dusty dirty mountain terrain. There were more of deserted army base camps, underground firing camps, and one or two broken down army tanks a view more commonly associated with Ladakh in Kashmir or mountainous Afghanistan. At distant the completely frozen waterfalls still visible. Water pouring down the mountain slopes got frozen due to cold as if someone just said “freeze” on the tracks! And the waterfalls completely froze and not able to move. The same applies to the river (Yumthang Chu) which was still trailing us all the way a few kilometers before Yumthang. Yumesamdong looked more like an Afghanistan battleground field! A few kilometers further Yumthang Chu looked completely frozen though Sagaar informed us that the water is still running at the bottom. There one jeep stood stand still with the some panic stricken tourists sitting idly. It seems there was continuous weather turbulence at zero point and they were thrown away by the approaching wind. Paying least attention we marched ahead to Zero Point. We had quiet a thunder struck expression there and my jaw dropped as seeing the beauty of the place. A frozen glacier, the top so hard that you will love to ski in there. But you get the feeling water is running and giving source to Yumthang Chu. There was one black colored mountain, one brown dusty mountain and snow clad Dongkhola mountain clip (where again India- China border ran) all at the same place. The weather is changing in seconds. Suddenly there was sunshine and clear sky then suddenly there was whirling wind blowing and then suddenly the wind stopped and we had a traditional dirt storm. All windy! After running up and down the glacier we headed back. We halted at view point just before Yumthang valley to take some snaps. Lucky that the weather here was perfect. Crystal clear blue sky, lush green valley, distant snow clad mountain peaks, sprinkling river gushing out and running down in a winding way that is my Yumthang valley. The shivering cold water flowed down the valley and perfectly plain land with proper soil is found here ( finding natural plain land soil is a rarity here in a all out rocky place). Along the stream ran a series of poles with white Buddhist peace flags. The valley itself is landlocked on either sides by hills. On way back to Lachung we played a lot with snow, threw snow at each other and just simply had good time! Long last for playing with snow finally materialized.

We reached Lachung late in afternoon for lunch. Disappointed a bit before I was running out of battery for my cameras and no electricity available. Played with the owner’s furry dog for a while post lunch and decided to go for a visit to Lachung Monastery. The Buddhist looked nice but sadly it was closed and deserted.

The way back to Gangtok we were pretty much on the same track on the way we headed there. But this time however, while we were closing Phodong just 28 km before Gangtok we took a small turn up hill to visit Phodong Budhhist Monastry which look a little bigger than the Lachung one. It was more colorful monastery with nice chakra centre in front. It was rebuilt form of the original one with 260 monks taking care of the place. But disappointedly, all went to Darjeeling Monastery and none available. There was one tree in front of monastery which arched and got rooted to another place in front. Looked liked an arched wooden door!
It was dark finally we reached Gangtok and waved goodbye to Sagaar and Tarzing. We finished our dinner from M.G. Marg and watched another Chinese Kung Fu movie! But it was another Chinese Kung Fu movie “Heroes Two” (Hon Si Kuan played by Cheng Kuan Tai and Fang Shi-Yu played by Alexander Fu Sheng).

Day 7 : The Chinese Encounter, Nihao!

Oh we are late! Oops! Sorry the pickup jeep was suppose to turn up at 7 am but no one turned up till 8 am. 8:30 Tenzing turned up and escorted to shared jeep stand at Gangtok. We got the front two seats by the driver again. Behind us were two Bengali honeymoon couples! One of them was looking very funny! The lady was dressed with most blistering colorful and exhibitionist dress I have ever seen. The colorful sari and head covered with a long bright red colored cap and talking nonstop non sense like

“If it is bright sunny day today with clear sky, hence we can expect snowfall because the water will get evaporated and at high altitude with snow” - extra ordinary logic! Wah!

“We are from New Jalpaiguri just downhill from Sikkim and we have trekked to all hills in Aravallis and other hills in Madhya Pradesh and all over India, but to Sikkim for first time” - an extra ordinary travelling duo!

Behind them, sat South Indians (Tamilians), I recognized by their name and accent immediately when they were speaking English or Hindi but settled in Kolkata. They were least amiable of the lot and they were long from adjusting with others on board! The Nepali driver turned out a very moody but efficient driver and big fan of Bollywood movie songs much to the dislike of the Tamilians. Luckily I was having my iPod to shield myself from the noise around. The tryst with the North East Himalayas continued as we head East Sikkim. It seems post noon weather becomes very turbulent and unbearable at Nathu La. I felt something bad is going to take place in afternoon. For the first timers who did not visit North Sikkim yet were very excited with the view. But somehow I felt the surrounding appears little less than picture perfect! Changu Lake, or Tsomgo Lake (the official name) is just 38 kms from Gangtok but such is the tortuous winding roads that leads to it that it takes many hours. Slowly and surely, we reached Changu Lake . The driver made a brief stop and that too a specific stall, and we were hardly in the know of the tricks he had in his sleeves. The moment we halted, a young girl started cavorting, offering us all she had gloves, coats, socks, shoes. The weather did not go bad at all; there was no sun, clouds lurked perilously, snow glistened in spite of all that, but we could not quite fathom the need for the cheap paraphernalia. Oh no! Surely this was not another scam. Marketing at 12ooo ft!

“Sir ji! Aage baraf hoga! Mousam sirji kharap ho gaa! Jaaldi se kapre le li jiye stall se !”
( which translates as weather will be bad better get the clothes for rent)
Luckily, I refused. There was no cold, it was hot and we were burning. As we closed down by the steps at the bottom of the door way to heaven or hell! ( I meant China) we were suffocating. There was serious lack of oxygen! Half the people couldnot reach the top gate and preferred siting back in their cars and jeeps. I climbed up in an record breaking non stop climb of ½ hour but most people it was around an hour minimum. The Bengali couple of our jeep took 3 halts and 2 hours time before they could reach up and started murmuring :

“Uff! Ki Kosto!
Poisa Nosto!!” - which rhymed! Ha ha!

Which translates to “ all there is pain and trouble and we lose money too!”

Initially the Indian soldiers were bit skeptical about the movement of the Chinese troops on the other side of the border. Whereas the people on the other side looked more calm and relaxed in their behavior. China and India border is simply separated by a thrown fence in a striking close distance between the two posts. Initially there were hardly any Chinese soldier coming close to us. But later, they turned up and we participated in a nice handshake. The Chinese soldier I interacted appeared to be an higher ranked officer, well built, fare and wearing a Ray Ban sunglasses. I greeted him with Chinese language of “Nihao!” which he surprisingly responded with his broken Hindi “Aap Kaise ho?” (meaning, “how are you?”). He was the most friendly Chinese soldier I have met in my life and was called something sounded like “Zher-zing”!

We headed towards Baba Mandir and driver took us further to a point close to Bhutan, China, India - three country border touch point and a snow clad cliff where the people on board played with just about quantity of snow. Since, we had a bigger and better opportunity we decided to sit back in the car.

On way back towards Changu Lake I started feeling like I am getting close to sun. Despite wearing Ray Ban sunglasses I couldnot but feel my face burn, throat ache, headache and suffocation all at once. When we reached Changu Lake I was virtually feeling like a zombie.
Still we are at a very pristine Changu Lake and I have to increase my stamina to wear out the weather for a few more hours. I rode on the back of the mammoth Yaks! And strolled round the lake.
About an hour and half before reaching Gangtok, we found ourselves driving above the cloud level with the last layer of cloud cover filled the walls below of same the mountain we were in. Sun was about to set and here comes a twist in the tail. We have to complete the remaining journey in dark, in clouds and with zero visibility in front. It was so scary to drive in hills already in dark. And now that cloud has blocked our visibility we felt like a eye shut baby been asked to find the destination in the middle of the road. The driver turned out to be a maestro! Life savior! He like an expert driver, for whom this was but a daily far, took everything in his stride without much ado.
I had plans to visit the local nightclub and bar “Escape” close to Bazra Cinema! But I was so exhausted that I could only manage to come to our room after dinner. But surprise! Surprise! I watched a Chinese movie again. This time it was Michelle Yeoh starrer “Silver Hawk”

Day 8 : heading back with a promise to come back soon!

Today was our last day at Sikkim. So we have packed our bags yesterday night itself. And again we waited eagerly for our sightseeing car to come which came again a bit late. The driver later told us there was a minor accident and he has side front window broken by some pebble which fell from above. We headed straight towards Rumtek Monastery, the biggest in Sikkim and the most famous of the all. The driver realized my mother would not be able to climb up the steep slope from the gate to inside of the monastery gathered permission from the gate patrol to be driven till the inside of the Dharma Chakra.

The Tibet Buddhist Monastery, Rumtek was originally built by 9th Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje in 16th century. But when the 16th Karmapa arrived in Sikkim in 1959, after fleeing before the Chinese occupation of Tibet, it was in ruins. Despite being offered other sites, the Karmapa decided to rebuild Rumtek. To him, the site possessed many auspicious qualities and was surrounded by the most favorable attributes. For example, flowing streams, mountains behind, a snow range in front, and a river below. With the generosity and help of the Sikkim royal family and the Indian government, it has been built by the 16th Karmapa as his main seat in exile. After four years, construction of the monastery was completed. The sacred items and relics brought out from Tsurphu Monastery, the Karmapa's seat in Tibet, were installed. On Tibetan New Year's day (Losar) in 1966 the 16th Karmapa officially inaugurated the new seat called, "The Dharmachakra Centre, a place of erudition and spiritual accomplishment, the seat of the glorious Karmapa."

We walked inside the main prayer hall and greeted by the Lama kids educating about customs as the half drowsy Lama kids were offering prayers to the almighty Buddha. There was one chief who was initiating the chants while two of them were playing the drums while the others were chanting following the initiator. Inside of the monastery was very well decorated with various small statues, paintings, clothes, carpets, pictures , candles and lights. It was a nice combination of color of gold, red, orange and yellow mostly. Dharma Chakra center is the place where the annual Chaam dance or religious masked dance is organized where people dressed up like various attires celebrate and dance to tunes of trumpets and pipes. We missed the annual show of “Kagyu Monlam”
by about a week and still regret that we could not make it to the organization.


After the prayer we were about to go back when one of the guarding policemen told us to have a visit to Golden Stupa. There was a narrow passage way which led us to the gate of “Karma Shri Nalanda Institute” where we entered the mess of the residing lamas. On the other side we found the Golden Stupa and the nice prayer hall where the holy Buddha lies and a suspended rotating cap and music of “Om mani padme hum” playing all time in background.
“Om ma ni pad me hum” is the most famous mantra for Buddhism. It is a purifying 6 word mantra (
Om purifies pride,
ma purifies jealousy/last for entertainment,
ni purifies passion or desire,
pad purifies ignorance and prejudice,
me purifies poverty/possessiveness,
hum purifies aggression/hatred” )


While getting out of the Rumtek Monastery I had the pleasure of rotating the never ending series of Buddhist prayer wheels. The car dropped us at the Deorali Market where we will be using the ropeway to get the ariel view of Gangtok. For tourists the ropeway service even remains open. We took the elevator to the fourth floor, where we found Marwari family with video cam and one fair Chinese couple waiting for the cable car to come. We boarded the car and got a 360 degree view of entire Gangtok and surrounding with the mountainous range peeping from distant background. We reached the top station (Tashiling) and on way back got down at Nam Nang. We got one taxi from the stand and head back to M.G. Margh for lunch. As mother went home for some rest, I went in search of some handicrafts. When I reached the Gangtok Zero Point stop and went in Sikkim Government Handicraft Shop the shop was closed! Luckily, I found my entrance through the back door of the shop where the store room was. There the people were busy unpacking all the items. On request and bargains I managed to grab some nice Sikkimese items like mobile cover, religious wall carpet, dressing bags and fled from the place.

It was 1 pm. We reached the main Taxi stand and got front two seats for a shared jeep to Siliguri. The journey was more or less the same. However, when we reached the Sikkim-West Bengal border town of Rangpo I got down to buy some super cheap world famous Sikkimese liquor. There were many gift packs available as well as the single malt whiskey sold in a bottle that resembled Nepali “Khukiri”.
We however took the diversion from Teesta bazaar and followed a forest track with Teesta river by our side like a shadow all the time.
We finally left the mountain trail behind and descended to the dirty, populated and polluted messed up plains of reality! Reluctantly, we waited at station for the journey back to Kolkata………

or journey back to mountains? I will be back soon!!!!

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Photos

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Bus at Starting of Our Journey

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
All Front Glass Gone!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Broken Glass pieces

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
First of view of Hills after leaving Siliguri

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
First Halt at Hills

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Sherpa explaining details about Tiger Hill viewpoint before sunrise

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
My Oh My! the divine magestic first look of Kachenjunga!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Buddha at Ghoom Monastery

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Inside Ghoom Monastery

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Ghoom Monastery exterier view

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Gorkha War Memorial and Batasia Loop

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Local folk dance at Ganga Maya Park

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Near Japanese Temple

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Japanese Stupa

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Mahakal Temple - early morning prayers!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Never tired of this view. Aynt it right?

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Lovely green trees!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
some more

Darjeeling SikkimTrip
The Bridge!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Crossing It

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Sikkim The Grand Entry!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
One outstandingly beautiful bridge!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
The largest waterfall during the trio - The gigantic Bhima waterfalls!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
One frozen waterfall not far from the running one!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
The unknow road to a mysterious Tibet!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
At Zero Point just before China!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Ice baby ice! cut it through!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
weather changes with a blink of an eye

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Yumthang Valley from top

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
At Yumthang Valley!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Lachung Monastery

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Phodong Monastery

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
At Changu (Tsongmo) Lake

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Yak! Yak!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Nathu La - India China border for Tibet

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Up above the clowd so high! make me wonder where am I!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
from inside chef's kitchen! where authentic momos are made!

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Rumtek Monastery

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
behind Rumtek Monastery towards Golden Stupa

Darjeeling Sikkim Trip
Never Ending Tibetan Buddhist Prayer Wheels!

Comments

[nayan mipun]

[e-mail]
I have seen http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Sikkim/blog-235627.html . In an image I have seen in your Darjeeling Sikkim trip you are holding a momo with a pair of chopsticks. Is the chopsticks traditionally used in the native Sikkimi culture? Yours truly, Nayan Mipun. www.nayanmipunphotography.blogspot.com

[Arnab]

chopsticks
Sikkimese food is an interest mix of Nepali, Bhutia, Tibetan, Lepcha community...and you have lot of momos and thukpas(noodle soup) out there...so in a way they use forks and spoons these days..but traditional Tibet is eaten with chopsticks...so you get the option of having them either way..and i found they eat using fork in majority and few with chinese chopsticks