The Little princess - Sikkim

Sikkim, as they say the little princess state of Indian sub-continent, is one of the most beautiful places to visit. Nestled in the eastern Himalayan ranges Sikkim provides a perfect getaway for mountain lovers. From lush green meadows to snow cladded mountains, this little beauty houses some of the most beautiful tourist destinations across the Indian subcontinent.

So, a trip to Sikkim was always on the cards. It was only a matter of time to hop in and make the plan a reality. The day finally came, 29^th April,2015.

The much-awaited trip to East Sikkim began on 29^th April, 2015. It was one of the best journeys of my life. We reached New Jalpaiguri railway station on 29^th April morning; our pickup was waiting there. From New Jalpaiguri we started our journey for Rishikholar, our first stop. Rishikholar, situated at the side of Rishi River, which separates Sikkim from Bengal, was one of the tranquil locations to camp for the day. One can enjoy solitude amidst the meandering river surrounded by lofty mountains covered with emerald green forest.  However, by the time we reached it was already dark and rain started pouring heavily. To make things even more daunting and tiresome, we had to walk 45 min down the hill to our resort. It was pitch dark with no sign of any mortal beings, we blindly followed the road, which we could barely figure out. It was more of an intuitive hunch and everyone was following the person before. It was one hell of an experience and we didn’t have any idea where we were heading to. We have to cross few bamboo bridges which were barricaded at only one side. By the time we reached our cottages we completely got drenched and was feeling pathetic in the cold weather. But we got a really warm welcome by the cottage owner which was run by a man and his daughter. We quickly changed to dry and warm clothes, and was offered coffee and fish fries which was drool worthy. Nothing can beat the pleasure of having hot coffee on a drizzly eve, with the hot fries making the walk in the rain even more worth.  Our cottage was just beside the river so we can hear the river sound throughout the night.

Next morning, we woke up to the most amazing view, beyond explanation. Our cottage was last one among all the other resorts. It was surrounded by mountains all around with forest covering it. We had our breakfast and the little girl guided us to a water fall nearby, the path itself is no less an adventure in itself. We enjoyed the whole day by the river side having coffee, fries, hanging in a tree house. The day went by in leisure and not to mention for us coming from all the hustle bustle of the city life, this was indeed a treat to our souls. Mountains do teach us to be humble. With all the hardships the people staying here face and how minimalist their needs are, we wonder how we dragged ourselves from the true beauty of nature to an artificial arena of all the things that matter least in real terms. The entire day these thoughts pondered over everyone and finally after having a finger licking hot dinner we dozed off. 

Following day after lunch our driver took us to much higher altitude, Aritrar, another beautiful quite place where one can spend their entire life happily. There were few monasteries (Gumpa Monastery) we visited and strolled around the Aritrar Lake in the evening. It was getting very cold outside. East Sikkim is a bit offbeat destination to visit of all the other places in Sikkim, so we hardly see any other tourists other than us. Though recently the frequency of tourists coming over increased drastically, these places are yet to be on the regular wish list of conventional tourists. This makes these places a treat to visit.

Next morning, we started another beautiful journey to the famous silk route ‘Zuluk’ located at 10,000 ft above sea level on the rugged terrain of lower Himalayas. As we slowly ascended the serpentine road our excitation reached to another height. Suddenly we saw snow lying on the road side, before we could get any happier, God ushered us with snowfall. We enjoyed a bit in the snowfall and got into the car as our driver told us that we had to reach our next stop soon otherwise the road can get worse. It was still snowing and raining altogether, our driver stopped in front of a cottage surrounded by a barren land and the entrance was covered with snow. We first thought it was a small halt to have hot beverages but soon we discovered it was our home stay and have to stay there for the night. We were beyond astonished. The place was Gnathang Valley, located at 13,590 ft above sea level and local army informed us the temperature was -10 °C at that time. We had our snacks, tea/coffee. We were almost jumping at every point over there as we could only see snow all over us and nothing else. We had a chilly stroll around the place, as I mentioned there were no other tourists other than us making the trip more special. By night the weather got worse, it was raining heavily actually a hailstorm with frequent cloud bursting. We had our dinner and were gossiping by the fireplace. At midnight the temperature went as low as -15-20 °C and we can’t even believe we survived that.

Next day, we could only see white shiny cyrstals (snow) everywhere but the sun was there to keep us warm. We were elated and were taking pictures wherever possible. After having breakfast, we started our journey to Gangtok via Kupup valley. Roads were closed due heavy snowfall and we have to halt at Kupup valley (13,066 ft) for nearly 2 hrs., as we were not allowed to go further. It was a strict army base camp with China bordering one side. We were instructed photography is prohibited as we were under China’s surveillance. We almost froze there but were happy to play around the thick layer of snow. After 2 hr, army gave us clearance to move further and, on our way, we saw Elephanta Lake (half frozen) and visited Baba Harbhajan Singh mandir. We saw his bunker, bed, cloths and other belongings preserved in the loving memory of the soldier who is still believed to serve our nation and guard us against any attack. We then started descending to Gangtok, via old Baba Mandir and Tsomgo Lake (12,313 ft). We reached Gangtok by evening, freshened up and went to M.G Market nearby for shopping.

Our wonderful journey came to end on 5^th April 2015. Our driver dropped us at NJP railway station by evening, our train was at late night. The journey was adventurous, beautiful, beyond our expectations. We were immensely happy with the arrangements, choice of home stay, destinations planned by our travel agency. Our journey ended with camera filled with loads of picture and heart filled with lovely memories.

While returning back home a famous phrase struck my mind; it was none other than Robert Frost and his famous lines….

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep….”

As I thought of those humble, honest lovely people who treated us like family in the entire trip, and they selflessly devoted themselves in serving people they don’t know, I slowly drifted to sleep.

Next morning, I remember standing in Burdwan junction holding a clay cup of tea waiting for another train to take us back home, Durgapur.