There are times in life when the monotony of daily routine starts to get a vice like grip around the chest, and you get seriously bogged down in a never-ending loop of chores, commitments, duties etc. This was exactly the place where I found myself at the start of 2017.
I had just gone through the usual curriculum of qualifying for my master’s degree and was a few months out from starting college again. Hence, it was time to take a break, refresh and go off the grid. At the time, I had heard a lot about Sikkim, its awe inspiring landscape and postcard home stays, but never actually visited the state.
So, we broke out the calendars, cleared up schedules, made some calls and just like that we were off on a family trip to the misty mountains, in search of obscure monasteries and steaming hot “Thukpas”. Now, my family is naturally geared towards travel, so the planning and logistics were relatively streamlined processes.
Day 1: New Jalpaiguri is a long way from home
On the second weekend of May, we left home base (Kolkata) for New Jalpaiguri. We caught a “Super-fast” Shatabdi Express, which turned out to be anything but “Superfast”. The train left Howrah station at around 3:00 pm, and was scheduled to reach New Jalpaiguri between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm that night. But the “Super-fast” train wheezed into New Jalpaiguri at around 3:00 AM in the morning.
Sleep deprived and cramped up, me and my folks checked-in at a hotel, just beside the station, and waited for dawn, to start our journey into the mountains.
Day 2: Gangtok, a cosmopolitan melting pot with an old school Himalayan charm
After having an hour of sleep, we boarded up on two SUVs and headed to Rangpo, a small town which acts as an entry point into Sikkim from West Bengal. It took around four and a half hours to reach Sikkim’s capital city. Along the way, we were met with beautiful river crossings, ancient mountain forests and mystical, foggy hairpin bends.
Our first day (or rather, evening) at Gangtok was spent strolling around the famous M.G Marg and trust me, it is one of the cleanest markets you will get to see anywhere. There were all sorts of shops, from swanky adventure sports equipment franchises to overpriced souvenir outlets that will argue about how their laughing Buddha is better than any other laughing Buddha in this hemisphere.
Apart from exploring Gangtok, we also got our permits for Nathu-La Pass and Changu Lake which we planned to visit the nest morning.
Day 3: Just ‘chilling’ at 13, 000 ft.
Early next morning we set off for the beautiful Changu Lake which sits at around 12,300 ft. Now, Gangtok is at a height of 5400 feet, hence anybody traveling to Changu, will gain approximately 7000 feet of altitude in a very short amount of time.
This drastic climb results in a sharp drop in temperature and air pressure. It is not unusual for tourists to fall sick during this journey. An hour into our voyage, we came across the first glimpse of snow, lining the roads and accumulating in the steep ravines below.
When we reached Changu Lake, we had to rent some serious winter wear as the cold was becoming bone chilling to say the least. It was summer time, so the Lake wasn’t completely frozen, but freezing winds gliding across the water made it a shivering endeavor.
After spending some time by the Lake with some really unenthusiastic Yaks, we visited the mysterious and auspicious Baba Harbhajan Singh Temple, which is situated at a frost bite inducing height of 13,000 ft. approximately.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t visit Nathu-La as the weather closed in on us and the military shut down all roads leading to the pass.
Day 4: Rediscovering spirituality at Rumtek
It was our second full day at Gangtok and we decided to spend some quality time at Rumtek monastery, which sits at an adjacent hill to Gangtok. The monastery itself is situated along a small street surrounded by pristine greenery on all sides.
After a short uphill walk from the main gates, we reached the monastery premises. It is a beautiful, timeless Buddhist architecture which spans upwards towards the forest above. Thick white walls resonated of rhythmic prayer chants and the courtyards were a blur of bald heads, running in their bright crimson robes.
An afternoon spent in a peaceful cocoon of prayer halls, butter lamps and panoramic views of lower Himalayas all round. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end our Gangtok chapter.
Day 5: Drinking in the picture-perfect landscape over a cup of tea at Temi Tea Garden
We finally bid adieu to this eye-catching, attractive city of Gangtok and moved forward further towards South Sikkim. At around 50 km from Gangtok, Temi Tea Garden is a secluded tea estate nestled between a series of hills overlooking a deep river valley.
The tea estate is situated halfway up a mountain and in clear weather, one can see Mount. Kanchenjunga from there. We stayed at the estate’s own establishment, called Cherry Resort and it is a beautiful multi-storied structure perched at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the valley below.
As it’s located far away from any large settlement, this tea estate is famous for its quiet and totally pollution free surroundings. Most of the resort staffs and employees hail from a nearby village and are genuinely friendly people, whose hospitality is worth appreciating.
Our first night at Temi was spent soaking in the silence of the hills, broken periodically by a rolling thunderstorm in some adjacent valley. Although we encountered a heavily clouded night, on clearer colder situations, you can get a glimpse of the Milky Way from the resort itself.
Day 6: A day spent on the road
The next day, was a full-on travel day. After gulping down a hasty, but delicious breakfast we set off on a days’ worth of exploring the surrounding hills. If you are staying at Temi, then you can access a lot of the more popular tourist attractions of that part of Sikkim in relatively short time.
We made our first stop at the famous statue of Buddhist monk, Guru Padmasambhava, at Namchi. The 118ft. structure of the sitting monk is the largest in the world and provides an amazing view of green rolling hills, stretching out in every direction.
From there, we visited the famous Namchi town and its bustling market plaza, drifting through its cobbled streets, lined by small cafes on either side. After spending our afternoon, shopping and eating, we made our way back to Temi. We arrived just in time to capture a blazing sunset followed by a truly out of this world blue hour.
It was a perfect and almost Zen like closing ceremony to a hectic yet eventful travel day.
Day 7: Feeling humbled in the presence of the mythical Mt. Kanchenjunga at Pelling
After rejuvenating all our senses at the silent retreat of Temi Tea garden, we moved on to Pelling; a popular town in West Sikkim with stunning views of Mt. Kanchenjunga. On the way, we drove through Ravangla, another popular tourist destination.
Ravangla is famous for its iconic Buddha Park and not visiting it would have been a capital punishment on our part. So, we spent a large part of the morning at this beautiful man-made marvel, perched atop a hill with a 360 degree view of Sikkim’s best landscapes.
Our hotel at Pelling was situated right beside the helipad and offered an out of this world vista of the mighty Kanchenjunga Massif. We could literally see an entire mountain range from our bedroom. And our time at Pelling was highlighted by some truly poetic and epic sunrises.
Day 8: Waking up to a dream, literally
It was 3:00 in the morning, I had woken up feeling very thirsty and got up to fetch my bottle. Coming out from under the covers I felt exactly like Dr. Strange stranded atop Mt. Everest; it was so damn cold. But as I was making my hasty retreat to the warm bed, I caught a glimpse of something outside the window.
Curiosity overcame the cold and I shoved my glasses from the side table and pulled back the curtains. Initially, I was met with inky black darkness. But as my eyes adjusted, my excitement grew. It was really early in the morning, but the sky was slowly getting lighter and as it was so cold, there was no fog outside.
Lining up along the horizon, my eyes picked up an abnormally large silhouette. Now, I had seen a lot of pictures and documentaries about the Himalayas and its many peaks. But nothing prepared me for the sheer size of those mountains upfront. And as the first rays of light, lit up the sky, the massive peaks of Kanchenjunga came blazing out of obscurity, one by one.
Hypnotized by what was unfolding in front of me, by this time I had opened the door of our room and moved out to the open corridor outside. Bear in mind, it was almost near zero temperatures outside and there I was in my T-shirt and track pants, standing dumbfounded.
It was my brother’s loud swearing from inside the room, complaining about the door being open, which snapped me back to earth and I quickly went inside to regain circulation in my legs. But I couldn’t stay inside for long and went out with my camera to capture even a fraction of this once in a lifetime sunrise.
The rest of the day, was spent exploring Pelling and its surroundings and by late evening we returned to our hotel as we had to leave for Chayatal early next morning.
Day 9 &10: Closing a memorable trip with a few quiet days in the woods
The next morning, at the crack of dawn we left for Chayatal, a small hamlet in West Sikkim, situated in a secluded forested area. It is accessible by road but they are not in good condition (at least, when I visited it still needed some improvement).
It took us around four hours to reach our resort at Chayatal from Sikkim and one thing I must mention, straight off the bat, is the hospitality. As soon as we got down from our cars, the resort staff moved in briskly, welcomed us with smiling faces, took care of our luggage, and served us some delicious tea.
Coming to the resort itself, it is situated right at the end of a road that winds up from a valley below. The property is spread out along a slope with two storied and single storied huts as accommodation. Bamboo walls and wooden flooring along with tiled roofs made the rooms that much more rustic.
And as it was in close proximity to the forest, we were treated to some really rare bird sightings and an orchestra of crickets buzzing all day. If you are lucky, you can spot Mt. Kanchenjunga from here too, but we weren’t the lucky ones. But that aside, our two days spent at Chayatal were perfect in every way possible.
It was a nice way of unwinding and relaxing ourselves before a return to the heat, dust and hustle of our city lives; which we unfortunately had to do in the end.
I would like to end by saying, that Sikkim is truly a place of wonders. The people are way too nice, weather can be unpredictable (but that’s where the fun is, right) and the landscape borders between fantasy and reality. If you haven’t been to this hidden Himalayan kingdom, I desperately urge you to do so ASAP, trust me you won’t regret it.
Accommodation information: -
1. Gangtok- http://www.hoteltibetgangtok.com/
2. Temi Tea Garden- http://www.cherryresort.com/
3. Pelling- Hotel Sikkim Aurora
4. Chayatal- http://www.naturehilltopresort.com/P/ContactUs.html
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