MY TRAVEL THROUGH SIKKIM - THE LAND IN THE CLOUDS

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My Travelogue-SIKKIM

Index

Introduction

1. Going to Sikkim

2. A tourist’s day

3. A learning day

4. Wonderful sights

5. A tiring day

6. Home is where the hearth is

7. Royal room

8. Lucky day

9. A strenuous day

Epilogue

Introduction

I travelled to Sikkim in the month of May 2011, on holiday with my family. I had a wonderful experience in terms of the natural beauty, weather, wildlife (including leeches – a bit yuck!) mountains and above all, the people. My dad says travel opens the mind – I cannot agree more – the breeze of Sikkim still blows through the open windows of my mind and refreshes me whenever I think of my holiday.
I thought I should share my experience with others to egg them on to make this wonderful journey to Sikkim.
I would like to dedicate this narrative to the people of Sikkim.

Anant Venkatesh (12 years)
May 2011
Mumbai.

1. Going to Sikkim -5/5/11

Aarush, mummy, daddy and I went to Bagdogra in West Bengal via Delhi. Our Spicejet flight to Delhi was at 5:50 in the morning. Our holiday had commenced the previous night and I and my brother Aarush found it difficult to sleep. We left for Delhi from the Chattrapati Shivaji International airport and arrived at the Indira Gandhi international airport at Delhi. Our flight to Bagdogra was at 11:10 a.m and we had some time to kill at the airport. In the waiting lounge there was a helium filled balloon toy in the shape of a horse, stuck to the very high ceiling. I thought there would be have been a wailing child who had released the toy, only to see it float free and rise to the ceiling, too high for anyone to recover. Other than a scare when mummy left her purse at the security check when she was frantically worrying about where we were, the journey to Bagdogra passed off well. Fortunately mom realized her purse was missing when we were beyond the security area and sprinted back to recover it. On arrival at Bagdogra, our tour escort Amit met us and introduced us to our local guide Mukund. They told us that we had come early and the other members in our group still had to come. So we decided to go to Kalimpong which was a 2 hour drive from the airport. We sat in an Innova and commenced our journey to Kalimpong. We passes through the towns of Siliguri, Sevoke and close to New Jalpaiguri which is the nearest railway station to Darjeeling and Sikkim. This area is called the “chicken’s neck” as it is a very narrow corridor in India which connects to Assam and the North East states. The borders to Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan are within a couple of hours drive. No wonder there is a huge army presence here and Sevoke is a large cantonement.

On arrival at Kalimpong, we checked in at the Orchid Retreat Hotel and had a little rest. When the other members of our group arrived later, we met them and got to know each other. Our group consisted of three couples and five young women over the age of 65. (I had met them in the pre trip meet in Mumbai and wondered how these old ladies would undertake this trip and whether we would enjoy their company – but by the end of the holiday they had taught me that you are as young as you feel and not necessarily as the number of years you have lived. They were more sprightly, active and fun loving than many younger people I have known and it was great having their company. I thank each one of them for all the fun we had.) After dinner, we were briefed about Sikkim and our plans for the following day.

Sikkim is the last state to join India in 1975, until then it was a separate kingdom ruled by a king called the Chogyal and was under India’s special protection. Till recently, China did not recognize Sikkim’s joining India. Sikkim is the land of monasteries, paintings, religions, festivals, mountains and plantlife. The kind of flowers and orchids found there are found nowhere else in India. The Khangchendzonga range of mountains pass through Sikkim and provide a magnificent view from most places in the state. Khangchendzonga is the 3rd highest peak in the world after Mt. Everest and K2 and is on the Nepal-Sikkim border. It is regarded as holy by the Sikkimese and mountaineers are not allowed to climb the last six feet at the top of the peak. The Lepchas are the original inhabitants of Sikkim. Over a long period of time the Bhutias from Tibet and the Nepalis from Nepal also moved to Sikkim in large numbers and settled there. Now all of them are Indian citizens and live in harmony with each other. Nepali is the common language although most people speak good English and also Hindi. Armed with all this information we prepared to enter Sikkim the following day after spending some time in Kalimpong.

2. A tourist's day at Kalimpong-6/5/11

As I woke up in the morning I realized the sun had already risen and thought it was about 8 in the morning. But when I glanced at my watch I realized it was only 6 in the morning. I met my parents in the balcony. They were having some Darjeeling tea. When they saw my surprised face they told me that the sun rises early at 4:30 in the morning in this part of the country, unlike Mumbai where it rises at 6. From our balcony I could see the amazing view of the Khangchendzonga mountain range. That morning we had to leave for Kaluk in Sikkim. But before that we had to visit many places. We met our driver Roshan who took us to a view point on top of a hill. From the top of the hill we could see the river Teesta flowing through the valley. The Teesta originates in the north of Sikkim and flows through the Darjeeling district of West Bengal and into Bangladesh where it joins the Brahmaputra which flows in from Assam. There are many hydro electricity projects being built on the Teesta, both in Sikkim and in West Bengal. Next we went to a school called Saint Graham's Home where a basketball tournament was going on which we enjoyed seeing. This school was set up during the British rule by Scottish missionaries. There are many such old schools in Kalimpong and Darjeeling where students from different parts of the country and even from countries such as Thailand come to study. I was a bit envious that the school had large space (unlike most schools in Mumbai) and was in a beautiful place but I would still not like to stay there, away from my parents. Our next destination was a Buddhist monastery of the red hat order where we saw idols of Buddha, his disciples and Padmasambhava, who spread Buddhism to Tibet. There were many colourful prayer wheels, stupas and prayer flags which were blue, red, green, yellow and white. The flags signified sky, fire, water, earth and air respectively. The prayer flags have prayers written on them. These large flags were found almost everywhere in this part of West Bengal and in Sikkim, at monasteries and in front of homes. The Buddhists believe that when the wind blows, it carries the prayers from the flags and spreads it over a large area to bring peace. Earlier the prayers used to be handwritten on all the flags, surely a mindblowing effort – now the prayers are printed using blocks. These are in the Tibetan language.

And our last but definitely not the least sightseeing place for the day was a cactus garden where we saw about fifty different varieties of cacti. Can you believe that cacti can be beautiful – as much as colourful flowers? I did not, until I saw these.

We returned to the hotel for lunch, checked out and left for Kaluk in Sikkim. It was a 4 hour drive from Kalimpong and we entered Sikkim over a bridge over the Teesta at a place called Melli. It was a long and tiring drive and we finally reached Kaluk at 7 p.m. The staff at the Ghonday village resort greeted us with white scarves which was a tradition. We had tea in Tibetan cups which had many intricate designs on them. They were wonderful to see and we decided that we would buy some of those at Gangtok. We then had a delicious dinner and went off to sleep, tired but excited at what lay in store the next day..

3. A learning day-7/5/11

That day was a good opportunity to gain knowledge. In the morning we visited a cheese factory at a place called Dentang where Gouda cheese was being manufactured. And it was the only place in India where it was made. The manufacturers then send the cheese to Amul which sells it nationwide under its own name. An employee gave us information about how it was made and how the factory, set up with Swiss help, had benefited the nearby villagers who could sell their milk to the factory every day. We were not allowed to enter the factory as a production batch was in progress and there is risk of spoiling if outsiders enter the place at that time. We were then treated to free samples of cheese and bought some to take back home.

After lunch it started to rain heavily so Mukund and Amit decided to give us an option of going for sightseeing or a walk to an old monastery. Aarush, mummy and I decided to go for sightseeing while daddy went for the walk. We were accompanied by Mukund and daddy was accompanied by Amit. We saw a monastery where a prayer was going on and they did not let us in, so we watched from outside. We then visited an old British bungalow which was spooky and uninhabited. We got to know that Rabindranath Tagore used to stay there when he used to come to Sikkim. There was also a nearby lake which, interestingly was called poison lake because of its history. During the British rule, the Lepchas living nearby did not want anybody coming in their territory. So when the British staying in the bungalow would come to drink the water they would poison the lake, resulting in the death of the British who drank the water. We did not, however know it had gone dry, a long time back. When we asked some local boys, the directions to the lake they had a good laugh but pointed the way to us anyway. When we finally reached the spot, we saw a dry lakebed with children playing cricket on it and realized the reason for the boys’ mirth on what they surely thought were silly tourists. We were a bit cross but soon laughed the incident off. The other group which trekked up to the old monastery had a more interesting experience. An old path, covered with fallen leaves, led through the forest to the old monastery on the top of a hill. The monastery was locked and unoccupied and was flanked by very old chortens which are monuments containing the ashes of senior lamas (Buddhist priests). Dad took several photographs before the area was covered with thick fog. Upon his return to the hotel, he rested for a while and then removed his shoes to see a surprising sight. His left sock was covered in blood and so were the insides of his shoe. We realized that he had been bitten by a leech and checked his shoe thoroughly but the leech was nowhere to be found – it had probably had its fill and dropped off to the forest floor, waiting for its next victim, which I am sure would have taken days to come, given that the monastery on the hilltop was rarely visited by locals, let alone tourists.

4. Wonderful sights- 8/5/11

I could not sleep well the previous night knowing the hectic schedule ahead. But I finally slept for about 5 hours. So when I woke up in the morning I was still a bit sleepy. I freshened up and had my breakfast. We checked out of the hotel and as a goodbye present the staff of the hotel gave us the same type of scarves they had given us earlier, on our arrivals. These scarves, with prayers on them are called “Khata” and are a symbol of respect. They are usually in white or ivory which are considered colours of purity under local custom but are also in blue, red, green and golden yellow which are the colours of the elements of the earth.
We then left for the Pemayangste monastery in Pelling. Pemayangtse means Perfect Sublime Lotus – Pema means lotus as in “Padma” in Sanskrit and it quite a common name in Sikkim. This is one of the oldest monasteries of Sikkim and is in the Nyingma (red hat) order of Tibetan Buddhism.

When we reached there, a ritual was going on in which the monks were praying for the reincarnation of Satya Sai Baba. At first we did not believe that a Buddhist monastery in Sikkim would be praying for Satya Sai Baba but when we entered the hall, there was indeed a photograph of Baba. We found this an example of the widespread acceptance and goodwill of the communits and a shining example of unity in diversity in our country. There were three floors in the monastery and in the ground floors the ritual was being performed. It was musical and rhythmic to hear. As the monks sang the prayer the other monks beat the drums and blew a long Tibetan instrument. There were also idols of Buddha and his disciples. On the first floor there was a library with the idol of Padmasambhava in the middle. Towards his left were translations of religious books from Tibetan to Sanskrit and towards his right were Tibetan commentaries. Each book had a patch of yellow, red and blue cloth on it. The books are regarded as protection from natural calamities. The red cloth signified fire, the blue signified floods and the yellow signified earthquakes. The next floor had the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life. It was a wooden structure at least 10 feet high with the most detailed carvings. It was shaped like a stupa and it signified the seven steps to heaven under the Buddhist religion. It had many steps like that and the whole structure was painted beautifully. There were many rainbows coming down from the step of heaven on which many magical beings were sitting. It was as if they were riding the rainbow. The lowest step was hell with skeletons and fire and the highest step was nirvana. The steps in the middle showed evolution towards heaven and had chortens of higher monks carved on them. It told me that even the higher ane evolved monks were considered only somewhere in the middle on the path to nirvana and us common folk had a long way to go. When we heard that the entire carving was one man’s effort which took over five years, we were really amazed. This breath taking structure was surrounded by walls painted with different pictures of sages and monks. Unfortunately photography was not permitted inside the monastery and I can only seek to describe through my words what I could not capture in a photograph. Near the monastery there were the ruins of the royal palace of Rabdentse which had been the second capital of Sikkim.

We had lunch at a nearby restaurant and left for Khecheopalri lake which is regarded as holy and wish fulfilling. In fact all lakes we saw in Sikkim are regarded to be holy and are surrounded by prayer flags – a sure way to ensure that the natural beauty is not spoilt by visitors. On our way there, in the car, I found a leech in my sock. It was like a thin wriggling rubber band. Luckily it had not bitten me as it could not drill through the sock to find skin. On arriving at the lake, daddy picked the leech up and threw it on a rock. Yech! As it was raining heavily, we put on our windcheaters and walked to the lake . We could not go near the lake to throw a coin and wish. So we just had fun in the rain and went back to our cars.

On reaching Yuksom we checked in at Tashigang hotel which was owned by an actor called Danny Denzonpa. In fact half of Yuksom is owned by him. I had not heard of this actor but my parents said he was a good “villain” and was quite handsome. He is probably the first person from Sikkim to achieve national fame – Baichung Bhutia, the footballer came later.
We decided to rest and watch a little television. After dinner Amit told us about the next day. We would have to walk uphill for about 2 hours to reach the Dubdi monastery, which is the oldest monastery in Sikkim and after seeing it we would come back to have lunch. In the evening we would go to the coronation throne of the king, for Yuksom had been the first capital of Sikkim, and learn about how the flying Lamas had come to bless and crown the first king of Sikkim.

Hearing this I again had a sleep deprived night, in all the excitement of the next day.

5. A tiring

AN OLD CHORTEN BESIDE THE DUBDI MONASTERY

day- 9/5/11

The walk to the monastery was expected to be 2 hours but turned out to be a 2 and a half hour walk along a forest path. The road was made with many little sharp rocks and was quite steep in some parts.

Once our group started hiking Aarush , Mukund and I went far ahead while the others along with Amit followed us, way behind. At many places we waited for them to catch up, and when they joined us we were off again in a flash. We were exhausted by the time we finally reach the monastery on top of the mountain.

When my parents arrived they scolded me for not being with them and going ahead. They were worried that we may hurt ourselves if we had a fall on the steep path. Once everybody arrived we went into the monastery. The ground floor contained idols of Buddha, Padmasambhava and Avalokiteshwara ,who was a poet. It also contained two stupas of Buddha which represented his physical form and some books which represented his speech. On the next floor there was a library. The last floor contained many paintings and thangkas, which were religious scrolls with colourful pictures on it. Then it was time to go back to the hotel for lunch. But the walk downhill was more difficult than the walk uphill. The way was covered with moss and had made it slippery. When we reached the hotel our knees ached. So we decided to have an hour’s rest after having lunch. When my father removed his sock he realized he had again been bitten, this time by two leeches. The leeches were not present for they had sucked all the blood they wanted. They inject a secret fluid in the body by which the bleeding does not stop for a long time and you won’t feel it by which your leg goes numb. My dad said their saliva has an anaesthetic and an anti coagulant – so we never feel the bite and the bleeding does not stop for some time as the blood clots very slowly.

In the evening we went to the coronation throne of the king of Sikkim. Yuksom had been the first capital of Sikkim. It was a 20 minute walk from our hotel. So when we started walking Mukund and daddy decided to fool me by telling me that it was a 1 hour 20 minute walk. But I did not believe them and kept walking. There were signboards telling me the way to the place. I was the first one to reach there and it took me only 20 minutes. I was relieved of the fact that they were trying to fool me and the walk was actually short. When everybody reached Mukund took us to the throne and told us its history. There was a stone throne with four seats at the place which was used for the coronation of the first king of Sikkim Phuntsog Namgyal in 1642. The throne is called the Throne of Norbugang. Three higher seats were for the three lamas who came flying down to Yuksom to crown the king and the lowest seat among the four was for the king. So the lamas were regarded as senior to even the king. The king was selected by the three lamas due to his kindness and good acts. The rule of the Chogyal kings lasted 333 years until 1975 when Sikkim joined India.

At the site of the coronation throne, there is a footprint on a rock which is regarded as that of one of the flying lamas who landed on this rock. There is an old pine tree behind the throne which is believed to be as old as the coronation in 1642. Some believe that one of the lamas stuck his walking staff into the ground, which then grew into this tree.

Opposite the throne, there is the Norbugang Chorten which has earth and stones from all
parts of Sikkim buried inside it and is regarded as a sacred place by the people. Across Sikkim we found chortens at many places. Most of these contains ashes of high lamas and are regarded as holy. For those who have read ‘Tintin in Tibet’, it is considered unlucky to walk to the right of a chorten as the path around a chorten, just as around monasteries and temples in other parts of India is always clockwise i.e. from the left and around. I smiled to myself remembering the fate of Captain Haddock and his whisky bottle because he dared to walk to the right of a chorten.

That evening we had an interesting dinner at the hotel. The ‘butter’ rice was awful and was mixed with yak butter which we could not get used to. Even the soup tasted funny. The vegetables too, had yak cheese in them. None of us could eat much and we had to retreat to our rooms, with our tummies less than full.

6. Home is where the hearth is -10/5/11

The next day at 4 in the morning there was a wake up call for us. A group of tourists appeared to be playing Garba on the floor above us and were making a lot of noise. After a while the noise settled down. But then someone rapidly knocked at our door and I though the hotel was on fire. When my mom opened the door, it was a young boy from the noisy tourist group who had come on to the wrong floor. He fled without even a ‘sorry’. We understood that the group was leaving the hotel (at an unearthly hour) and were glad when they finally did and we could get back to sleep.

When I woke up later and went into the balcony I was treated to an amazing view of the peak Narsing of the Khandchendzonga range. There were no clouds at the top of the range and the peaks were golden yellow under the rising sun.

I immediately called my parents to see it and took many photos of it. I decided to wake Amit to take some photos from his camera for he had a professional camera. But by the time Amit came to our balcony the peak was already hidden by the clouds. For breakfast we had omlette and bread .The butter smelt funny (yuck! yak?) and everyone complained to the manager about the food. I love yaks and think they are really handsome animals and will some day try to get used to yak butter and cheese.

We checked out of the hotel and left for the Tashiding monastery. This is a famous monastery and we were informed that the chortens near the monastery were very beautiful. We had to walk up around 15 minutes from where the cars left us.

Mukund told us about the famous Bumchu festival which was held at this place every year, on the 15th day of the first month in the Buddhist calendar. Bumchu is a sacred pot which has water in it which is 300 years old and has been blessed by a lama who recited a prayer 5 billion times. The holy water does not dry and has a fresh smell even after 300 years. Every year it is opened and 3 cups of water are taken out and offered – one each to the royal family and monks and the third is mixed with water and distributed among devotees. Thousands of people from Sikkim, Darjeeling, Bhutan and Nepal come to attend the festival. The Bumchu is then kept back inside the monastery and refills itself. The monastery had many prayer wheels and chortens. And in this monastery the chortens were more important than the monastery itself because they contain the ashes of the most respected higher monks. In the main monastery a prayer was going on, so we were not allowed to go inside but only watch from outside. After watching the prayer we went to the chortens. There were many carvings on rock which were all made by an old man who lived in the monastery for the past 40 years. The stupas looked very beautiful. And near the stupas there was a huge bell and it was auspicious to ring the bell. My brother and I after several attempts to swing the heavy bell and were finally able to ring it. The sound and vibration it emitted was really loud and we ran away from the bell as soon as it rang. Amit told us the next day that he could hear the bell in the early morning even at the far away village of Kewsing where we went next. We took many photographs and headed for our next destination which was our homestay at Kewsing.

When we reached Kewsing, we were first taken to the local monastery and greeted with scarves of the same type we had received at Kaluk. Kewsing is a small village where the people have developed homestays which give an experience different from a hotel. We were allotted different homes to stay by a man who was in charge. We went to a home of a young girl called Sangay. In the house there was another girl also who helped in the house work. There were Sangay’s parents who were teachers in local schools and a family who took care of the animals and plants of the house. The house had a little fish tank, many rooms, a lawn and a barn. It was more like a bungalow. Our bedrooms were cosy and warm. For lunch we had a delicious vegetable made up of wild ferns. There was also dal, rice and chapattis.The man in charge of the homestays came and took us on a little walk around the village to all the other homes where the other members of our group were staying. The purpose of the homestay was to learn how the people there stayed and what they did. We met all the other members of their group in their homes and looked around their houses.
In the evening we spent time with our host family. We got to know that Sangay studied horticulture in Pune and was just back home for a few days. Her brother was studying engineering in Chattisgarh and her older brother and sister were working elsewhere. We understood that in the hills, everyone encouraged their children to study and sent them to far off places if there was good education there. Sangay’s mother told us that she was a teacher – therefore a “nation builder” – how true this is.

For dinner we had momos which are steamed dumplings like “modaks” we have in Mumbai. The family made vegetarian momos for us. Mummy, Aarush and I spent time in the kitchen and helped to make momos. Sangay taught us how to make them. We made a lot of momos and some soup too. We had a wonderful dinner of momos, soup and a spicy chutney made of the local chilli mixed with paneer. They were delicious and we were literally licking our fingers. We learnt that the local chilli was round and looked like cherries but was very spicy. The locals claim that it is the spiciest in the world – I later learnt there are Mexican varieties which are spicier. But the “Dalle” (meaning round) chillies were very very hot and only the paneer mixed in the chutney kept it edible for us.

In the morning we freshened up and had omlettes and bread – butter for breakfast. We wished that we could stay at Kewsing for another day because the experience there was so wonderful and in no hotel would we find such a feeling. We said goodbye and took each other’s e-mail id to stay in touch. We invited Sangay to come to our house in Mumbai with her parents. While leaving we were given scarves of the same kind they had given us before. We were a little sad to leave a wonderful place and wonderful people. We said a final goodbye and headed off to Rumtek.

7. Royal room-11/5/11

At Rumtek we checked in at Teen Taley resort. We had lunch and went into our rooms. The owner said that the room we were staying was a Royal Room as the crown prince of Norway had stayed there earlier. And indeed it was. There was a TV, a bathroom, two bedrooms and a hall.

In the afternoon the owner of the resort took us around the property. It had many suites and cottages for the guests, a section for the farm animals which supplied the resort with their products such as the eggs, milk and meat. There was also a whole section full of plants where vegetables used by the resort were grown. There was cabbage, lettuce, tomato, chillies etc. There was also a huge lawn with lots of different varieties of flowers growing in it.
There were periwinkles, orchids, rhododendrons, asters and tulips. When we returned from the walk I found that 2 leeches had bit me on my foot, a third leech had bitten Aarush between his toes and a fourth leech had bitten daddy on his thigh. That incident reduced my fear or leeches as I realized they were not painful or poisonous. Of course, I would still love to keep away from them if I can.

There was bonfire that night and the staff did a traditional Nepali dance. They encouraged us to dance with them and soon most of us was dancing with them. Dad borrowed a Nepali cap from one of the dancers and looked quite funny in it. We had dinner and made friends with a family who joined our group that day. All the ladies in the group were excited about the next day, for we were going to Gangtok, the current capital of Sikkim, which promised a lot of shopping.

8. A lucky day-12/5/11

The next morning we went to the Rumtek monastery which is an important centre of learning in Tibetan Buddhism called the Dharmachakra centre where monks from all over the world including countries like Thailand come to study. We had to walk for about 20 minutes uphill to reach it. When we finally got there, we found a pleasant surprise. There was a special festival going on that day which happens only once a year. So we were very lucky to have gone that day. This monastery was a Kagyu order (black hat) monastery while all the rest in Sikkim were were Nyingma (red hat). A special dance called the Chham dance was being performed.

People with colourful clothes and scary masks were dancing to the music played by the other monks with the help of drums and other Tibetan instruments. The dance depicts stories from the life of Padmasambhava and other saints and is believed to bless those who watch it. Since the dance was going on, we were not allowed to go in the main monastery. But we were allowed to go to a golden stupa on the other side of the monastery. We were amazed when we reached there. The golden stupa was made of real gold and was surrounded by idols of the different Karmapas. The stupa contained the ashes of the 16th Karmapa. The present Karmapa, the 17th one, had visited this monastery. The whole stupa was encased in a glass enclosure. The room’s walls were painted with pictures of sages and monks , like the walls of the Pemayangste monastery. After seeing the stupa we went back to the monastery to watch the dance for a while. There were many tourists and some documentary makers with sophisticated cameras who were capturing the grand spectacle.

While returning from the monastery there were a series of shops on the road. So everybody did a little shopping. Mummy bought a purse with Tibetan designs and a fan made of wood. Then we left for Gangtok. At Gangtok there was a big flower show, but we were tired so we opted not to go. So the others went while we checked in at Mintokling hotel. Our driver, Roshan was going back home to Darjeeling that day and we would have a different driver the next day. So we took some pictures with him and bade him goodbye. We had lunch and went for shopping in the evening at M.G. road. The shopping complex was an only pedestrian area where cars were not allowed and had many shops selling traditional items as well as the latest big brands. There was another market called Laal market. But it was closed that day. So we decided to visit it the following day. My mother wanted to buy some Tibetan cups, but she was disappointed, for there were no good artefacts in Gangtok. Everybody was expecting to shop at Gangtok rather than the smaller places we had visited earlier as they thought Gangtok would offer more choices but their hopes were crushed. After walking around the market, Aarush, daddy and I were tired, so we decided to let mummy do the rest of the shopping. We told mummy to continue with the shopping and we went back to the hotel. Mom purchased some local pickles and dad was concerned on how we would get these back home without the bottles breaking in transit and soiling all our clothes. They finally agreed that the bottles would be wrapped in dad’s shirts and not in mom’s clothes– yet another example of where power at home lies.

At the post dinner meeting. Amit said that the next day we would be going to a very cold place which was called Nathu La at the Indo-China border and the Tsango lake, which was also near the border. The temperature would be around -3 to 2 degree Celsius. After the meeting we went back to our room, took out all warm clothes for wearing the next day and went off to sleep.

9. A strenuous day- 13/5/11

I could not believe I was wearing 5 layers of clothes that day .That too in the heat of Gangtok (colder than Mumbai but certainly warm for 5 layers) . But when we were halfway to Nathula I realized why I was wearing them. The temperature dropped drastically. Our new driver Baichung Bhutia (named after the football player I am sure) told us that it would be colder once we reached Nathu La. When we reached Tsango lake it was freezing cold. There were yak rides and we could even click photos with them.

We hired warm clothes from a shop and continued our journey. When we reached Nathu La it was -2 degree Celsius and there was snow all around us. So everybody in our group had a little snow fight. We were at 14,200 feet above mean sea level. There were many army regiments around the border. When we started hiking up, the weather was not pleasant and was foggy. It was very cold. We decided to have tea and some snacks at a cafe. After the snack we walked upwards towards the border. It was windy and the path was steep and slippery because of the ice. But finally when we reached the top, Aarush began to cry because of the severe cold. There were many soldiers there on the Indian side who allowed us to be photographed with them. There was a barbed wire and on the other side of the barbed wire was China. There was a building on the other side with a Chinese soldier next to it. We waved at him but he did not wave back. He was so near that he could have taken a few steps and shook our hands. The soldiers on our side told us that the Chinese soldiers were normally quiet and reserved and would not speak to the tourists at the border but were very hospitable when periodic flag meetings were held with the army.

Daddy took many photos of Aarush and me with the soldiers and us near the barbed wire. I put my hand on the other side of the barbed wire and waved my hand in China. But the soldiers warned me not to do that.

When we reached our jeep our lunch packages were kept ready for us on our seats. It consisted of sandwiches, an apple, bananas and boiled egg. Due to the cold the sandwiches had become stale, the egg was hard as a rock and the bananas were so hard that they could have been used as boomerangs. The apple was the only edible thing left. We were therefore very hungry after eating what we could.

When we reached Tsango lake we returned the warm clothes and had really hot Maggi. My parents too had Maggi and tea with salt (instead of sugar) , which was the traditional tea of Sikkim. But it tasted great. Anything edible would have tasted great, in that cold weather. After having the meal we headed back towards Gangtok. And in a while the temperature had increased, some of the snow had started melting and there was water on the roads.

When we reached Gangtok, mummy realized that the Lal market was open that day and requested Baichung to drop us there. In Lal market we went into an artefacts shop where mummy liked the jewellery. She bought four necklaces for herself and suggested daddy that we buy some as gifts to give away. So totally we bought about 12 necklaces.
I and Aarush wanted to buy Crocs shoes and we looked around much of the market for these before finally finding a shop which had the shoes of Aarush’s size but not mine. I was a bit disappointed but dad promised to buy me a pair in Mumbai. We also bought some nice teacups with Tibetan designs and some Dalle chillies to take home and to try to cultivate in our flower pots. These are disguised cherries – they are flaming red and round – woe betide anyone who takes a bite thinking they are cherries.

We went back to our hotel and had dinner. We were leaving Sikkim the next day. It would be a 5-6 hour drive from Gangtok to the Bagdogra airport. And then we would go to Mumbai via Calcutta. Some of our group would continue onward to the north of Sikkim to Lachen which is called the Switzerland of India, Lachung and Gurudongmar lake which is believed to have been visited by Guru Nanak who blessed one corner of the lake which never freezes even when all the area is snow covered. We were advised that the weather there was tough and it is better for young children not to travel there. We hope to see those sights some other time. We were a bit sad at the end of the holiday but promised ourselves we would do more exploration of our wonderful country.

Epilogue

I will never forget my trip to Sikkim. It was overall a good trip, never mind the troubles we faced. Most of all I won’t forget the wonderful people. I hope that the state always remains green and beautiful as it was. I would encourage everybody to go there and have a good time. It is a must go place. I am thankful to our tour operator, Countryside,my parents who took me there, our tour escort Amit Gurav for sharing some of his photographs which were better than mine, our local guide Mukund Malla for his support and amazing knowledge of Sikkim. Last but not the least, I thank all the wonderful people in our travel group who took some steps along with us in this wonderful journey and enriched our experience.
I had an amazing time there and hope to travel there again. My experience there will always remain fresh in my mind.

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