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Holiday Diary Day 13: pelling sight seeing

Holiday Diary Day 13: Pelling sight seeing
I woke up at 4:45 am to bright light. I thought that I'd missed the sunrise on kanchenjunga but was lucky to get a clear view from my hotel room itself.

sunrise on Kanchenjunga at 5:00 am

This is dawn breaking in pelling and the sun rising around 5:20 am. Very early start to a day in these parts.

Sunrise over Pelling at 5:20 am

We had a day of sight seeing today and our cab was expected around 9 am to take us out to a few sights in the morning, return by lunch to pelling and then take off again till 5:30 pm. This is our transport for the day.

our first comfortable cab in our full sikkim tour

Do you know that in this remote part of Sikkim we found a restaurant that serves decent dosas and guess what Uthappam. So I ordered onion uthappam and the rest of the family went with dosas and we gorged ourselves after a long time on this trip. We took off around 9 am and within half an hour hit our first roadblock of the day. A traffic jam that seemed to stretch forever.

Serpentine traffic jam

After waiting for 5 mins in the cab, I got impatient and went out to take the following shots.

typical view from the car

I found this quaint mountain abode tucked away among the trees.

mountain abode

Then Akshaye who also got bored of sitting in the car, joined me to go and investigate the cause of this traffic jam. We headed to the head of the jam and found a stretch of narrow road that was very difficult to traverse because of the loose soil and stones that have been eroded by the incessant flow of water.

I've attached the video below.Akshaye can be heard urging me to lend a hand and push the jeep.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVZGuQ7Pdsg&feature=youtu.be

Luckily for us the upcoming traffic was only around 10 vehicles and within 20 mins the road cleared and we were able to continue on our journey.

Very soon we had our first scheduled sight seeing stop a scenic spot with lots of water.

quenching my thirst from a roadside tap

 Every vehicle on this road is a tourist vehicle and they all stop here.

Bridge to tranquility

Waterfall number "n"

The next stop was Rimbi Rock Garden. This is a garden next to a river and everyone who visited was more interested in the river rather than the garden

The river as you can see was a more powerful attraction than the garden.

The next stop was.... you guessed it, one more waterfall. Each waterfall seems higher and bigger than the earlier ones.

n+1 th waterfall

After the innumerable waterfalls, we headed back towards the town and enroute swung off to visit a holy lake.

We had to remove our shoes to enter this place and it was a bit of a dissappointment to see just a normal lake and we are not even allowed to touch the water. A bit of a waste of time this and the kids were getting cranky to get back

the holy lake

After the visit to the lake we headed back to town and lunch at the hotel. With great difficulty we had to prie ourselves and the kids from the welcoming bed to finish the two other things on this tour for the day.
the first was a buddhist monastery that did not allow any fotos to be taken. So I can't share any of that here.
This was a massive monastery that had swords, scarves, utensils, prayer stools and many other artefacts that are dated from 200 to 400 years back.
The deities looked very formidable and scary and I wondered how a Buddhist monastery has them. I always associated peace and love with the buddhist religion and here there were some asura type of deities.
Other than that it had a shaolin temple tupe of feel to it.

After the visit to this monastery we set out for the last visit of the day - the ancient city that was earlier the capital of sikkim

rock carvings wonder what scrip this is...

prayer stones

tired out but still chugging on together

temple enroute 

ancient city but well manicured lawns

 This is beautifully maintained but requires an arduous 3 kms trek to reach. It was worth it once we reached here but we were pretty bushed and decided to return before it started getting dark or worse still rain, Dark clouds were ominously gathering and we decided to call it a day and return.
This was our last day here in Sikkim and we were headed to Darjeeling tomorrow and onwards to Kolkata and Chennai after that.

Lessons learnt from a dog

This morning when I took my dog Alfie for a walk, as usual this fellow was prancing about to get me to put on his collar and leash. Once that is accomplished, he starts pulling at it and tries to get it away from me. This happens most days and today was no different. But suddenly it struck me that this is very similar to what happens to us in our lives.
When ever we have a lack of something in our life, we yearn to have it. For example when a young man doesn't have a girlfriend, he feels the lack of it and yearns to have one in his life. When he gets the girl of his dreams, he feels the pressure of not being married and sooner or later succumbs to this pressure and marries her. Once married, there is the pressure of this relationship where he discovers that he cannot satisfy all the demands of this relationship and yearns for a break from this so he can get some peace. he forgets that once upon a time he had that peace but he was not satisfied with that.
Do you realise that whenever we don't have something, we want it badly? And when we get it, sooner or later we want a break from it? We are as contrary as my dog. When he doesn't have the leash, he wants it and craves for it. When he gets it, he wants to break free from it.
This pressure or tug between what we have and don't want; and, what we want and don't have defines our life and the way we deal with it determines the quality of our life.
So be mindful about what you have and what you don't. Be grateful that you have what you have, and don't have what you don't, because the absence of the former or presence of the latter may bring about pain.
Be content where you are and where you are going, because if you were not here, you may have been yearning to get here.
Don't search for what is not here, because once upon a time, you had yearned to be where you are now.
Enjoy every moment. It's a gift. 

Holiday Diary Day 12 - Gangtok to Pelling

Holiday Diary Day 12 - Gangtok to Pelling

Pelling (pronounced Peeling) is in West Sikkim. We've already visited East and North Sikkim and this was our first time in West Sikkim.

Road to Pelling

As you can see from the below map, to reach W Sikkim we travelled through the South which is basically a small parcel of land wedged between East and West Sikkim. Nothing much to report about the South except for the rivers and the dams that seem to abound everywhere.

Do you notice the mountain peaks and its proximity to the places we visited?

Our transport was a shared cab that is operated very much like the non stop bus services operated between two cities in the south. They have dedicated taxi stands for each major destination and we had to go to the Pelling Stand that was luckily just 5 mins from our hotel.

Pelling Taxi Stand

Our departure was 7 am and reporting time 6:30 am. We were glad we reached at 6:30 because we could grab the middle seats which is way more comfortable than the back seats.
We started at 7 sharp with 10 passengers on board (full capacity). We were the only 4 tourists. The rest were locals for whom this is inter city bus travel.
This route is very picturesque and very safe compared to the other roads we've been on in Sikkim. We enjoyed this road since it wasn't as bumpy and as adventurous as the others.

picturesque South Sikkim Road

One of the most distinctive features of these roads and rivers are the number of hydel projects that we see enroute.

one of the numerous dams enroute on River Ranjeet

South and West Sikkim is watered by the River Rangeet which is a tributary of the Teesta river, the largest river in Sikkim. The Rangeet river originates in the Himalayan mountains in West Sikkim district and is popular among rafting enthusiasts owing to its turbulent waters. The river flows past the towns of Jorethang, Pelling and Legship. During its final few kilometres, it forms the boundary between West Bengal (Darjeeling District) and Sikkim. It joins the Teesta river at Teesta Bazaar on the border of West Bengal and Sikkim.

The Ranjeet

I've shared below some of the sights that we see enroute. The landscape is dreamy at times, raw and beautiful at others and generally enticing enough to want you to stay back here for ever.

typical rural Sikkim home

bridge over river, mountains and clouds

The journey itself was around 5 hours and we reached Pelling in time for lunch around 1 pm after a couple of short halts. The first was for a tea break, The other was a break in journey at Gayzing which was the last stop for this taxi and we had to take another taxi to reach our hotel in Pelling.
Pelling is a small town compared to Gangtok. And every hotel seemed to have a view of the Kanchenjunga.

view of kanchenjunga from Peliing

We tucked into some hot rice and dhal for lunch and spent the evening in the room. The kids spent the rest of the day there while we walked about a bit to get a feel of this quaint mountain town.

Holiday Diary Day 11: Gangtok - day of rest

Holiday Diary Day 11: Gangtok - day of rest

Yes! This is a day of rest. Have been junketing on some really bad roads and we had to give our backs a break from all this torture that we were subjecting it to in the last few days. So today we decided to stay put in the hotel.

So after a late start we took the kids for a walk to explore Gangtok. We were staying in Central Hotel which is located very close to the city center. It's opp SuperMarket on the NH that enters Gangtok.
This city is the cleanest city I've ever been in India and with the most orderly traffic. People follow road rules and are mostly polite to each other. There is no rubbish on the roads and this could be one of the reasons for the same.

Such signs abound in Sikkim and especially in Gangtok.

As I've already discussed with you before, the people here are also much more conscious of how they dress and groom themselves. So overall impression is of affluence, cleanliness, aesthetic appeal and a joie-de-vivre  that we don't often see in many other Indian states.
Right outside our hotel (in fact opposite it) is the Govt SuperMarket that houses four stories of shops selling clothes, clothes and more clothes with some footwear and accessories added for good measure. We visited it just once briefly.
Today we wanted our kids to see MG Marg. This is like the Mall in Shimla, Darjeeling and other Colonial Hill stations. It has a central promenade with shops lined on either side. The key difference is, this is the best maintained shopping road I've seen among all these hill stations. Traffic is not allowed in and there is ample seating for tired shoppers and gawkers to park themselves, catch their breath, have an ice cream or generally pass time.
Okay, I'm running ahead of myself. This the route to MG Marg from my hotel.

Over head pedestrian crossings abound in Gangtok

As you can see, these pedestrian crossings are so well maintained and user friendly that it considerably cuts down jay walking and indiscriminate crossing on busy roads

MG Mall, the Central Business District of Gangtok.

Our favourite restaurant in Gangtok, good dosas (for the north east)

Agarwals is a chain of Veg restaurants that have good chat, South indian dishes like dosas and idlis, Chole Bhatura and more. It's clean and reaonably priced and is a big relief for those who have had to make do with maggi noodles and momos for some days.

Favourite hangout and activity.

Befriending the guardians of our borders.

Sikkim Day - Band playing on MG Marg

Old and new co exist harmoniously in Gangtok. Old customs, new fads and tastes, and more. There was a whole contingent of people sitting around and enjoying this band - armed forces personnel, retired gentlemen, youngsters, tourists, Gorkhas and more.

Band in action - Sikkkim Day

The dragon is ever present in Gangtok and welcomes you at most entrances. This cafe has gone a little overboard with their dragon.

Gangtalk - a cafe and hangout joint

As you can see we went for a 2 hour walk that became a 4 hour hangout with some shopping and eating thrown in.

So as dusk settled in, we drifted back to our hotel to retire early for we had an early start to Pelling tomorrow.

Holiday Diary Day 10: Yumthang Valley and Zero Point

Day 10: North Sikkim

Yumthang Valley and Zero Point

This was slated to be the most spectacular part of our holiday since we were planning to visit the highest altitudes in this trip. I was horrified to wake up and realize that power had not returned and my samsung’s battery was dead. I’ve not been able to recharge the phone for close to 2 days and I was going into what would be the most picturesque areas of this trip and I was camera-less. So you’ll need to make do with my descriptions of these places rather than view the pictures I could have clicked.

The night was bitter cold and when we woke up, we had to brush in cold water and do our morning ablutions in it. Today we truly experienced how cold it could get. The night temp was below 7 degrees C and the room, bathroom and water was all cold.

We had an early start – 6 am to be able to go to Yumthang Valley (14,500 ft), and go on to Zero Point (15,500 ft) which is the border to Tibet. There were many others like us who got an early start and at the check post we were told that we are vehicle no 11 that crossed this point.

The landscape was raw. beautiful and varied. Sometimes we felt we were on the moon with just rocks everywhere, grey, white, big, small,… Other times we were travelling through lush greenery with flowering plants along the way, yellow, lilac, blue, violet, …. This road journey was the most picturesque and beautiful one and I'm very sorry that I am unable to share the pictures so to get a sense of this, I give below a link that will give you an idea of one of the sections. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBIOB9hngIY 

This one is a little more representative of the general road conditions on this day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HiG1_GXLkE

These areas can test driving skills as well as the courage quotient of the passengers. We went with out hearts in our mouth throughout the North Sikkim and East Sikkim tours and felt relieved and happy whenever we reach our destination. 

Our first destination was Yumthang Valley which means Yum (flowers) Thang (Valley) in the local dialect. So this is the Valley of Flowers in Sikkim that flowers for a few months (April - June). We entered the Singha Rhodendoron Forest Sanctuary and when we reached the valley, it was not yet a carpet of colours as expected but more like a green carpet spotted with pink dots cut up by a silver ribbon of a river. Yaks graze lazily and we noticed that there is a man who is tending to them so they must be domesticated. This is a idyllic place to potter about except for the bitter cold temperatures.

Though the valley was not covered with blooming flowers, there were Rhodendorons in full bloom along the roads, pink, yellow, lilac, violet and when I was thinking that each bush had only one colour flower then there was a half km section where each bush had 2 different coloured flowers. This area must be visited with a good camera and also a video camera. It's a visual treat that must not be missed for those visiting Sikkim.

At Yumthang we rented our snow gear - coat, snow boots and gloves because we were entering into an area that is severely cold and covered with snow. (Severely cold for a Madrasi, so don't sneer).

We also got ourselves some breakfast - hot maggi noodles and some momos. This is the staple diet in these areas. We asked the driver where we can find a loo and we were told to go behind the bushes. Some of us did that but Akshaye refused to do anything of this sort and luckily for us, some other guest at this eatery told us that there is a proper toilet further up the road. So we trudged there and would you believe it a proper convenience that is maintained well and charged at Rs 10 per use. it was well worth it and Akshaye was so "relieved" to be relieved of his burden :)

The organised part of the tour ends here at Yumthang but for an extra payment to the driver we are taken another 20 kms up the road to the end of the road "Zero Point" that borders Tibet and China. 

When we came up from Yumthang, we could see snow capped peaks up above us but did not encounter any on the road or about it. Around 12,000 feet we passed patches of snow on the mountain adjacent to ours and around 13,000 feet all the neighbouring mountains had snow except the one we were on. Wonder how that happens. Is it the traffic, that warms this mountain? Our first sight of snow on our mountain was around 14000 feet along the edges of the road and when we reached Zero Point, the valley and the mountain was covered in snow.
We walk up into the snow and climb up the slope as high as we can. Radhika stopped at probably 20 feet up the slope, me at 40 feet, Akshaye at 60 feet and Anand went on to close to 80 feet up before he felt dizzy and had to be helped back down. The altitude is a killer and any physical activity needs to be done carefully and slowly.

But the place is so beautiful and ringed with snowy mountains that it;s a visual treat for snow starved souls like me.

It was only 9 am and we had finished our main objective of the day, to play in the snow at Zero Point. We had a long drive ahead of us - return to Yumthang, return our snow gear, go on to Lachung, have lunch and then return to Gangtok. All in the same day. On our way back the clear weather gave way to clouds and then rain. The roads were now turning to slush and the scenery was turning from silver, white and blue to gray, brown and black.

They call North Sikkim as "The land of peace and tranquility" It is all that and more. It could also be called "the land of waterfalls" there are so many of them. Every turn in the road brings us to a waterfall (some exaggeration) and streams, streamlets and rivulets are accompanying you where ever you go. 

The journey back was uneventful except for the road conditions, the scenery and the rains that were heart stopping as well as spectacular. We reached Lachung in time for lunch (around 12:30). The lady had prepared some hot rice, dhal and subzi ( no guesses, only aloo). After grabbing our bags and bidding farewell we headed back to Gangtok, and reached around 7:00 pm. The journey back took a little longer because of the rains and the bad roads. Upcoming traffic was heavy on that road since they were allowed late due to repairs on some sections due to landslide.

Finally we got back to civilisation and electricity. I could now charge my phone again and we had mobile connectivity again.

Hoiday Diary Day 09 - North Sikkim

Day 09: Adventure into North Sikkim

Land of peace and tranquility
Snow capped peaks in background, River Teesta on left foreground

Today we're going by road from Gangtok (5800 ft) to Lachung (9600 ft) in North Sikkim a distance of around 125 kms but takes about 6 hours to reach because of the road conditions. This is the most adventurous part of our holiday and I was looking forward to experiencing this region and what it had to offer us.
Gangtok is in East Sikkim while Lachung is in North Sikkim. Cabs of East Sikkim is not allowed to take passengers to North Sikkim. Our driver is a native of Lachung and his vehicle is registered in Lachung. The whole system is well regulated and followed strictly. The Govt here actually works and each Dept is allowed to do their work. We took off around 9:45 after getting the green signal on the usability of the remote roads. We had what is called a reserved vehicle which means that we had this vehicle to ourselves. So lots of space to loll about as well as get thrown about.

our vehicle and driver for the trip into north silkkim

the typical road view

Sorry for the poor snaps, all taken from my phone and in a moving vehicle using a road that is filled with potholes. But the scenery was so breathtaking that I had to share them with you.

mountains

River Teesta

Sikkim as a whole is clean and spotless and people follow the law. One just needs to register a complaint with the local thana (police outpost / station) against cheating cab drivers or touts and this is looked into and resolved quickly. They are a very tourist friendly state and owe most of their income to tourism. At the same time rules are enforced and followed.

This signage was in the forest before entering North Sikkim. No plastic allowed and the driver is supposed to carry a trash bag to collect all the trash generated during the trip. No littering. However spitting is allowed :) You see the locals spitting often, on the roads, staircases, while walking, etc For such a clean place, that seems to be an aberration. They also have public conveniences that are much better maintained than the ones seen elsewhere and they charge Rs 10 per use and it's worth it.

Sikkim State is a mountain state and all roads are mountain roads with a either a mountain view or a valley view. This view keeps swapping depending on when we switch mountains. The mountain view is of rocks, grasslands, streams and waterfalls and the valley view is breathtaking or at times downright scary. The drop can range from just a few feet to several thousand feet. The road don't have any boundary wall to protect the vehicles and if we skid a few feet we'll be off into space. Many times, my heart was in my mouth at how close to the edge we are each time some vehicle passes us.

valley view - river about 2000 ft below

The mountain roads in Sikkim has several unique features. This state has a problem of plenty - plenty of water. There is water everywhere and as you know water keeps seeking lower ground and flows towards it whenever it finds it. So small streams and waterfalls are constantly flowing from the mountain side to the valley side and many times it crosses the road - mostly over it and a few times under it. So the road dips down to where the water is crossing the road and this area is made of concrete. But even concrete keeps breaking up due to the incessant flow of water and vehicles that take a toll on it and start chipping it away. So the ride gets bumpier due to the dissapearing roads.

One of the tamer streams across the road

There are numerous waterfalls along this road some big some small. We stopped at a few of them and enjoyed walking down to the waters, drinking directly from the stream and and getting soaked with the spray from them.

This land is so pristine and pure in spite of so much tourism, because of its remote locations and the progressive policies of the State Govt, and they have managed to maintain the natural beauty of this place. The roads are risky in the best of times and closed when ever the risk is too much due to climatic conditions. Landslides, sliding boulders, shooting rocks are dangers that every vehicle and its occupants have to live with to go through these areas

But the place is so beautiful that it makes it all worthwhile while the local people are living in these conditions and still very happy 

The buddhists prayer flags adorn several roads and is also on house tops. Some of these offer prayers, others show the sect of the inhabitants, etc

Buddhist prayer flags

Bridge to peace and tranquility

School kids are bright eyed and well turned out. Happy & self-reliant very early

Every hamlet  has a school like this one or bigger. We stayed in a place in Lachung where the girl who was employed in the restaurant went to school in the morning and worked the rest of the time. Looks like everyone goes to school in this state and education is given a lot of importance. We stopped at a small hamlet for lunch and this school below served this population's education needs.

A school in a remote hamlet on the way to Lachung.

A kid who goes to the above school

After a 6 hour drive we reached Lachung to find a small town with probably less than a few hundred houses. This town probably owes its existence to its proximity with Yumthang Valley that was our destination for tomorrow. The hotel booked for us by the travel agent who we hired at NJP Station, Siliguri was a fleabag place that we would never enter let alone stay. We refused point blank to move in and with the help of the cab driver found a much better place run by a lady and  her mother which had clean sheets, clean bathroom, a geyser and a reasonably good appearance. We accepted this acccomodation gratefully and moved in.
The bonus points of this place was, a lovely river that runs just behind it and fabulous home cooked meals.

Another advantage was it was located in the center of that town and my kids made a new friend

new friend

There was no power when we moved in and I was getting concerned about how long my Samsung will last. There was no mobile connectivity but this was also my camera and I would not have any pics if the power doesn't come back on.

We just dropped our bags in the room and traipsed off to the river to drink in the view and the atmosphere.

rock climbing :)

After an hour of frolicking there, we returned to our hotel to find that there still was no power. This is the view from our room.

I wonder when power would return. The whole town was in darkness and we wondered how we'll manage if power doesn't return. My phone would definitely give up soon and tomorrow was Yumthang valley and I was so looking forward to taking snaps of that lovely place.