Sikkim Trip: A throwback (Part 1)

Our first vacation after being transferred back to my hometown Kolkata, was the Sikkim Trip. Initially we had thought about going to Himachal Pradesh during the Durga Puja holidays. But we had not planned well in advance. So Himachal was out.

The mountains were calling to both of us. Then suddenly one day there was a sharp drop in air fares for the Kolkata to Bagdogra sector. Without a second thought our tickets were booked!

Then over a weekend brainstorming session we chalked out our itinerary. We decided on Gangtok, Nathula Pass, Gurdongmar Lake, Lachen and Lachung . I had been to Gangtok once with my family and had very fond memories. As a result I was very excited to go back to the wonderful natural beauty of Sikkim.

The countdown began to our exciting Sikkim trip. Hubby badgered me into buying a sports shoe in preparation for the hilly terrain. We completed all our packing and finally the day, rather the middle of night of our journey arrived. We had to catch a 5.30 am flight to Bagdogra, so we left for the airport at 3 am! But we were still excited and happy that our trip had finally started.

Sikkim Trip Begins

We reached Bagdogra, and our vehicle was waiting for us. A colleague had given us the vehicle reference and the driver Paul was a gem of a person. He had taken care of the Inner Line Permit and other permissions required for visiting North Sikkim.

Coronation Bridge

After a quick breakfast we finally crossed the Coronation Bridge. It was hubby’s first time in North Bengal and I was having a good time sharing nuggets of information with him about Darjeeling and Sikkim.

We reached Gangtok and checked into our hotel.

After relaxing and getting fresh we went out to explore the famous M.G Marg which is the Mall road of Gangtok. Our favourite hot beverage and we were good to go!

Nepalese Dinner

Dinner was at Nimtho, a quaint Nepalese restaurant and we had yummy soft Tingmo with delicious nepalese style mutton curry. Tingmo is a steamed Tibetan bread and its melt in the mouth delicious! We retired early as we needed an early start next day to visit Nathula Pass.

Channgu Lake and Nathula Pass

On the way we visited the Changgu lake or as it is known locally, the Tsomgo cho. Since it was October, the lake was not frozen over but was pretty nevertheless.

Then we reached Nathula Pass at a height of about 4310 m above sea level. It connects Sikkim with Chinas Tibet autonomous region. Nathu La, is one of the highest motorable roads in the world and one of the most important Himalayan passes in the country. Nathu means ‘listening ears’, and La means ‘pass’.

It is one of the three open trading border posts between India and China. The snow was quite slippery here and the elevation was causing a bit of dizziness. But gradually we got acclimatized and started enjoying. We had hot tea, crispy spicy samosa and syrupy jalebis atthe military canteen there. That my friends was a heavenly meal!

Close Shave!

Photography is not allowed at Nathula beyond a certain point.And the army guys there keep warning not to click photos. We narrowly escaped our phone being confiscated for taking one little pic of me posing away in the glorious snow!

Anyway we had a great time at Nathula and stopped at Channgu on the way back. Posed with the colourfully decked out Yaks and then returned to Gangtok.

Homestay

That night we stayed at a quaint homestay near the outskirts of Gangtok. Next day our North Sikkim journey was to begin. All of a sudden hubby came down with sore throat and fever. Multiple cups of hot beverages and lots of TLC was the need of the hour. But I was a bit worried about the next leg of our journey. Lachen, Lachung, Gurdongmar Lake was calling us. I went to sleep praying for hubby to get better in the morning.

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon .