Travel Diary: Gangtok

Gangtok has been on my mind ever since, I had my first trip to Shillong but since, visiting there required at least four days of holidays at a stretch we never really came up with anything substantial in between the semester. This Durga Puja however, gave us an opportunity to consider going there. 

Aerial View of the City from the Ropeway

Overall, Gangtok is a beautiful place but before I dive into all the details and my opinions about the place, I'd first like to give a short travel go through






Day 0, Thrusday, 10th October: 
We boarded the Train to New Jalpaiguri.

Day 1, Friday, 11th October:
Reached New Jalpaiguri and left for Gangtok.
Local Sight Seeing (Flower Garden/ M.G Marg/Shopping/ Ropeway/Viewpoint/Monastery)

Day 2, Saturday, 12th October:
From Gangtok to Lachung

Day 3, Sunday, 13th October:
Yamthang Valley and Zero Point.
Back to Gangtok.

Day 4, Monday, 14th October:
Changu Lake and Babaji ka Mandir.
Back to NJP Railway Station

Day 5, Tuesday, 15th October:
Back to Guwahati.

As we started with our journey we split ourselves in a group of six and seven people as not all of us could be accommodated in one vehicle.

From NJP we went to the West Bengal Border, and soon after that we reached the place called Malli. Malli is a place famous for it’s Beer Brewery HIT which is owned by Danny Denzongpa. It is situated by the banks of river Teesta which in itself is something worth watching as it flows turbulently making a splash on the rocks and overtime making them smooth and shiny. Also, situated by the banks of the river is Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT) in a place called Majhira. There is only one road connecting NJP to Gangtok and that too is rough in patches. In total, typically the time taken to reach Gangtok from NJP is somewhere about five to six hours. This journey can be completed without taking halt in the middle but since, we were all famished, we decided to take one stop were we brushed our teeth and had our first meal of the day.

 Local Sightseeing

Flower Garden was a place where we had many pictures clicked. It was an indoor garden kind of place and since October is not a blooming season, we didn't find many varieties of flower there but the greenness all around made the place very attractive.

And I forgot the name of this plant

About to Bloom

The Carnivores Plant

Ropeway Ride – This was my second ropeway ride, the first being when I was perhaps 5 or 6 years old and I was in my Grandfather’s lap. You get to see the entire city with this ride. On one side you find the ever expanding city where buildings are being built at a rampant speed and on the other side is the scenic beauty with the hills and vegetation covering the hills entirely. A must have experience in Gangtok.

The Sikkim Legislative Assembly Building as seen from Ropeway

The Butter (Fly) Over

A distant hill as seen from the Ropeway

Viewpoints: Once getting into a Ropeway Ride, the viewpoints didn’t seem to offer anything substantial. The good thing was I was able to take close up pictures of flag shaped sermon tied from one end to other. Also, we had the only complete group photograph here.

Museum: By the time we reached Museum, it was already closed. Tough Luck there.

An idol outside the Museum

Museum from Outside

Monastery: The monastery wasn’t very grand in terms of art and architecture but then that’s not the real purpose of building the monastery or temples or mosques. The real reason is to restore faith at odd times, which I found very much there with devotees paying respect by circling around the stupa shaped structure and circling the bells. Also, a lot of Diyas were prepared for some evening ceremony during my time of visit.

M. G Marg – Named after the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, this road is India’s answer to Amsterdam. With all kind of shops on both the sides, the road is limited to only people walking on foot, smoking free, tobacoo free, liiter free and spit free zone, the entire road is a major tourist attraction. Infact the whole of Sikkim is smoking free and litter free area. By smoking free, I do not mean complete prohibition but public prohibition.

The Panoramic View of M.G Marg

This is a much needed stand from the Government because Sikkim, throughout the year is a tourist place where people flock in all the seasons, hence, keeping a regulation on these things is very necessary.

Gangtok in olden days was the primary stop for the Indo-Chinese and Indo-Tibetian traders. Therefore, it has been a tourist place and a traveler's abode from a very early time. Unlike, Darjeeling, water supply is not a very problem here with Teesta being the primary source of water in all of Sikkim.

Lachung, Yumthang Valley and Zero Point

At higher altitudes, food is a major problem as we traveled to Lachung and other places which are far from Gangtok and are at significantly higher altitudes. The road leading to Lachung is very difficult to negotiate. They are severely damaged at places with negligible and no repairing done after the recent earthquakes which took place two years back. The area that I’m talking about is North Sikkim which faced the worst effect of earthquakes. I've been to hilly places a lot but this was the first time I got to see naked hills. The earthquake resulted into many landslides in this area and hills are covered with vegetation in patches which makes them look naked.

The Naked Hills

From Lachung we reached Yumthang Valley and thereafter by giving additional charges we reached the Zero Point which is the Line of Action. On the way we encountered many abandoned bunkers. At Zero Point, I had my first encounter with snow, with the season’s first snowfall. It was raining in Yumthang Valley but it was snowing at Zero Point. Zero Point is about 15,000 ft above sea level and almost 5000 ft above than the Yumthang Valley.

Sunset on the way to Lachung

A Small Market area in the Yumthang Valley. We had our morning breakfast here (Bread and Jam). Also, there were jackets and warm clothes available on rent to ease the journey further ahead. 

Zero Point, where I had my first tryst with Snowfall. Picture Perfect Destination. The packaged food items started bursting on their own as we reached this height. It was amazing to witness that. Beyond the hill is Tibet.

Changu Lake and Babaji ka Mandir

The next day we went to East Sikkim where we saw the Changu lake and went to Babaji ka mandir. The roads once again are in very bad condition throughout. On the way from Changu Lake to Babaji Mandir, we encountered heavy snowfall which was absolute delight.

To find a vast stretch of Lake at a height of about 12,000 ft above sea level is an amazement in itself. It was raining when we arrived here which made the weather very cold at that time.

Babaji ka Mandir is the perhaps the only temple where it wasn't required for us to open our footwears outside the the temple premises. It was freezing the time we reached here. It is situated at a height of 13,000 ft. This temple is of great spritual importance. Sikkim was an independent state before the Indo-China war. It was perhaps, 1959, when China was about to attack Sikkim. The then king of the province seeked help from India. Babaji died during Patrolling but it is said that he came in the dreams of the soldiers and told about the whereabouts of Chinese.

We missed going to Nathula Pass, the Indo-China Border as it was Monday. The border is closed on Monday and Tuesday for tourists as trade activities occur through the border on those days. One has to travel 4 kms. uphill from the place we were in order to reach there.

In the Snowfall, I became a child once again

Local Cuisine

It was one of the few things that I missed in this trip.  The famous cuisine is Thapa or Thopa ( I don't know the exact pronunciation). All the North Indian cuisine is easily available and the food is not a problem at all in Gangtok. It is only at higher altitude that the food becomes scarce.

Animals

Yaks roaming around freely like any other cattle was something that I saw for the first time.












Near Changu Lake you can even have yourself photographed sitting on a Yak. They charge Rs. 50 for taking photographs and they also offer Yak ride which obviously costs more.

The Dog with lots of fur on his body

Waterfalls

 Apart from these two waterfalls shown in the picture, there are many other falls in Sikkim. On the second day it started raining and after that, all the hills seemed to have a fall of it's own.


Dragons and Sikkim

 Like many Buddhist states, Sikkim too is very much influenced with the Dragon Arts which can be found in many places.



The Cutie Pies of Sikkim

Kids here are super cute. Here is a small glimpse of that:

We visited Gangtok during the Durga Puja but there wasn't much pomp and show associated with the festival. Although, there were few pandals and decoration in the city but that was I think mostly because of the West Bengal influence.

Apart from the few hardships that comes with travelling, the trip was very nice. Sikkim has many things to offer to tourists and the whole city is built like that. With varying option of accommodation and rides to variety in cuisines, Sikkim understands tourists very well. We were thirteen people all together and all the total cost including everything was something around Rs. 5000 per head. Money Well Spent !

A Decoration outside the Shop saying
"Celebrating Sikkim"

Like most of our trip this too was more about being on the road and less about reaching destination. Travelling is a miniature model of life itself where we spend most of our time chasing things and when we achieve the thing which we were once chasing, we start chasing for something else. 

That's why one should focus more on making the journey beautiful rather than planning for things on what to do once they get there.


And my journey was beautiful because of the people I had around myself.