Blogs from Sikkim, India, Asia - page 2

Trip to Chongu (Tsongmo) Lake Continuing from earlier blog; I had not organised any activities in Sikkim and the best part of second evening was spend visiting the various travel agents. Thank fully they were all near or around the MG Marg (often in a small lane leading from it. Many of the agencies were not very interested as did not organise group tours and solely catered for private tours. He had another tourist from Malaysia who was in the same position as I was. The agent then organised our permits etc. Even if there was nobody else, we could still go together with the guide/driver. This of course reduced the cost by half. I received a text from the agent that I will be picked up from the hotel at 0830. We started dot on ... read more

From Nepal we walked across the bridge that is the border into West Bengal, India. Already in the eastern part of Nepal we could see a lot of tea plantations, but now travelling to tea capital Darjeeling there is tea everywhere. With two shared jeeps we end up in Darjeeling, positioned on a high ridge and therefore again quite cold. We were surprised how lively the town is and especially Indian domestic tourists know how to find this place and spend some time during their holidays. We walked around the town, visited the Happy Valley Tea Estate and drank a lot of cups of nice tea, because obviously this is what you do in a place called Darjeeling. We got to experience a somewhat nostalgic government bureaucracy, when we applied for a local permit; first at ... read more

29.04.2017 Today we were starting at 3.30 in the morning. So got up early. There was no light. In the candle light we got ready. Had to take bath with cold water because no light. Everyone was ready by 3.45. We started. On the way beautiful sunrise. As usual no actual seen can be seen. In morning it was pleasant to travel. As it was cold we had worn two sweaters. Himalaya is always beautiful. At hight trees were less. We took a halt for tea. Our Golu had brought bread and butter from Gangtok. This we carried. Here, they put it in cooker. And they heat it on gas/ chulha. Butter is melted . We ate bread butter. Took tea. Army people gave us this service. Their posting is there. For acclimatization, they are put ... read more

27.04.2017 We started for Nathula Pass. For Permission already the travel agent was contacted. But we received permission for Baba mandir and Changu Lake only. Convinced the Army People and took permission to go to Nathula. Only one jeep was allowed. 10 persons. First we took halt at Changu Lake. Took Coffee in Canteen. Took photos Then we went to Nathula Pass. This was my second visit. Now photography is not allowed. We saw the China border. No china representative was present. Bhutan Border was not visible due to fog. In olden days trade was conducted through this rout. There is also a memorial in memory of our Jawans. We took certificate about the visit and went to our jeep. But within minutes the weather was changed. It started snowing. Army started vacating the place. We ... read more

25.04.2017 In Pelling Sunrise is early nearly 5.00 in the morning. To see sunrise we woke up at 4.30 only. But could not get a view. As we were far away from Kanchanjunga, good view was not possible. After breakfast, we started for Pelling site seeing. On the way we saw Rimbi fall. Did not stop there. Next we saw Rock Garden. But due to flood it has been distroyed and remains are there. Now Sikkim government is developing it as orange garden. Our driver was a good person. His name was something sounding RimZim. He was post graduate. But as there are no salary jobs many such graduates drive cars. Here boys learn driving at age of 8 and by the time they are 18, they take driving licence. He was talkative and told us ... read more