Sikkim and Darjeeling Trip

As summer vacations are here, we decided to visit the hills of Sikkim. It is currently not possible to take self driven vehicles to Sikkim, we decided to rent vehicles and go around Sikkim.
The plan was to reach Gangtok and then continue our road trip in Sikkim finally terminating it in Darjeeling. Following was the itinerary that we decided to follow.

1. 05-April-2014 Reach Gangtok, rest for the day -- Day #1
2. 06-April-2014 Local sightseeing Gangtok -- Day #2
3. 07-April-2014 Leave for the Lachen, Arrive in Lachen -- Day #3
4. 08-April-2014 Trip to Gurudongmar Lake, Lunch and leave for Lachung -- Day #4
5. 09-April-2014 Trip to Yumthang Valley, Zero Point, Lunch and Leave for Gangtok -- Day #5
6. 10-April-2014 Local sightseeing in Gangtok, Natu La, Baba ka Mandir, Tsomgo Lake -- Day #6
7. 11-April-2014 Leave for Pelling vial Namchi -- Day #7
8. 12-April-2014 Local sightseeing in Pelling and leave for Darjeeling -- Day #8
9. 13-April-2014 Local sightseeing in Darjeeling -- Day #9

Sikkim and Darjeeling, Summer 2014, Day 9 of 9, Road Trip Darjeeling Local Sight Seeing

13-April-2014
The final day of the trip was dedicated to the local sight seeing in Darjeeling. It did not start too well. As we were ready after the breakfast, we heard from the hotel staff that there is a election rally organized by West Bengal chief minister. We waited for a while.
Since there was nothing to do, I decided to look around the hotel itself. Even though the service was pathetic, the hotel itself looks very good.

Views: Hotel Mayfair Darjeeling by Vinay Avasthi

Finally we left the place. The first stop was Zoo and Mountaineering Institute. The zoo itself is pretty ordinary except the Red Panda which is a special attraction of the place. I have never been fascinated with the zoos. Nothing beats animals in the wild and zoos just don't impress me that much.

Views: Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park by Vinay Avasthi

The next stop was Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. It is within the same complex. The place is really great. There are many actual equipment used by mountaineers from different era who have conquered the summit. The whole place takes about 2 hours to complete.

Views: Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling by Vinay Avasthi
By this time it was time for lunch. We took the advice of the taxi drivers and that turned out to be a bad idea. We had a quick lunch and moved on to the toy train.

The train itself is pretty hard to book. We tried online but could not get tickets. Finally we asked the taxi guys, they had arranged tickets with us, some in the first class and some in second class. The train itself was a let down really. Probably could not comprehend what all the fuss is about. Anyway here is a photosphere of the railway station.

Views: Darjeeling Heritage Toy Train by Vinay Avasthi

Sikkim and Darjeeling, Summer 2014, Day 8 of 9, Road Trip Pelling Local Sight Seeing enroute to Darjeeling

12-April-2014
9:15 AM We leave for the monastery. Pemyangtse Monastery is just across the Mt. Pandim hotel.
The first floor of the monastery has a notable collection of ancient Buddhist antique idols, scriptures as well as sculptures and decorated paintings.Padmasambahva's eight incarnations in fierce form are also seen here.Of particular note is a seven-tiered painted wooden structure, portraying Guru Rimpoche's Heavenly Palace known as "Sanghthokpalri" also spelt "Zandog-palri", on the top floor of the monastery.

The monastery is 15 minutes walk from the hotel. There is a small climb to the monastery but the walk is pleasurable.

Views: Pemyangtse Monastery by Vinay Avasthi

10:30 AM We walk to Rabdentse Ruins just around one and half kilometers from the hotel. The ruins seem to be in good condition but not many visitors around. Looks like a places that is not well publicized.

Views: Rabdentse Ruins, Pelling by Vinay Avasthi

12:30 PM We leave from the Pelling and continue our journey to Darjeeling. As we cross over to West Bengal from Sikkim, you can do river rafting in Teesta River. It is really a fun things to do. It does take around 2 hours.

6:30 PM We reach Hotel Mayfair in Darjeeling. Here is my review of the hotel.

Sikkim and Darjeeling, Summer 2014, Day 7 of 9, Road Trip Namchi and Pelling

11-April-2014
After east and north Sikkim completed, the last stop was South Sikkim. We had to leave by 8:30 AM but because of some reasons, our departure got delayed and we could start much later.
9:40 AM Left the hotel for Pelling.
12:10 PM We reached Temi Tea Garden. This is a nice place to have tea.
1:10 PM We reached Samdruptse. The world's largest statue (at 118 feet) of the Buddhist Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, the patron saint of Sikkim, is on the Samdruptse hill.

Views: South Sikkim, Sikkim, India by Vinay Avasthi

3:12 PM We reached Char Dham. This the lunch time as well and there is a good restaurant just before the Char Dham entrance.
3:50 PM After finishing lunch, we entered the Char Dham compound. There is a fee for camera and video camera and large bags are not allowed inside. So it is better to leave them in the cars itself.
This effort, Char Dham, by Sikkim Government is a really good effort. They have tried to create replicas of most North Indian Hindu temples in a single complex. The place is well maintained and clean.
It is a large complex and one must have atleast couple of hours to do justice to this complex. The center piece of the complex is a very large Siva statue with enumerations about facts related to Lord Siva.

Views: Char Dham, Namchi, Sikkim by Vinay Avasthi

6:00 PM We leave the Char Dham complex.
8:00 PM We reach Mt. Pandim hotel in Pelling. Here is my review of the hotel.

Sikkim and Darjeeling, Summer 2014, Day 6 of 9, Road Trip Natu La and Tsomgo Lake

10-April-2014
In the phase 2 of the Gangtok local sightseeing, the first stop was the Natu La. This place is the chinese border so the passes are tightly controlled and restricted number of vehicles are allowed every day. Fortunately for us Yak & Yeti guys managed it well and we got our permits in time and were ready to go in time.
9:00 AM We left for Natu La and reached the check point by 9:10 AM. There was a long queue of vehicle but we were out by 9:30 AM and on our way to the pass.
11:10 AM We reached Tsomgo Lake. This is the place where there are shops for refreshments and any snow gear that one may want to rent. We had tea and rented snow boots here.
11:40 AM We were on our way towards Natu La.
12:45 PM We reached Natu La. There is a fair bit of walk towards the border point and there was snow on the stairs. With the constant movement of people, the snow had turned into a slush and it was very slippery.
I was surprised how ill equipped people reach there. These are not poor people but I was ladies in high heals trying to climb on to snow deposited stairs.
The army people don't want the border to be crowded for obvious reason, so they ask people to leave after few minutes.
1:40 PM After roaming around the place, we left the place. The next stop was Baba ka Mandir. This mandir has an interesting story. Have a look here. While I was there, I saw many army personnel continuously drop in and salute the baba and move on.

At both the Baba Ka Mandir and Natu La Pass, military personnel issue a certificate for people who visit the place. I think the money goes towards Army Welfare.
1:55 PM We left the place for our return journey.

Views: Tsomgo Lake by Vinay Avasthi

2:30 PM We reached Tsomgo Lake. This is where one could also have a Yak Ride and take a picture with Yak. For some reason the Yak guys were very pricey, we decided to give it a miss. We had to return our rented snow gear and Yak and Yeti had arranged for lunch in the same place. It was simple but hot lunch that we had and finally started for our journey back by 3:30 PM. It is not a good idea to stay in that place any time after 3 PM. We were late by half an hour and as we were half way through, extremely thick fog turned our visibility to almost zero and we had to crawl back to Gangtok.
 5:30 PM We were back in the hotel. We had planned to visit M G Marg but it was very foggy and a small rain that turned into a full blown hail storm.
Finally it was time to retire for the day.

Sikkim and Darjeeling, Summer 2014, Day 5 of 9, Road Trip to Yumthang Valley, Zero Point, Back to Gangtok

09-April-2014
Lachung is the base to visit Yumthang valley and Zero point. Our plan for the day was to visit both Yumthang Valley and Zero Point and travel back to Sikkim.
8:00 AM We leave towards Yumthang Valley and Zero Point. The quality of roads is again mixture of good road and bad roads. But roads here are definitely better than Lachen to Gurudongmar Lake section. One very quickly notices that Lachung region has more flat surfaces compared to lachen area.
9:00 AM We reach Yumthang valley. This is where one needs to rent snow shoes and can have some refreshment if needed. The climb after this place is again very steep and very quickly one gains altitude.
Unlike Gurudongmar Lake, this area seems more crowded with many vehicles parked on the side of the road as one reaches the Zero Point.

Views: Zero Point, Sikkim by Vinay Avasthi

10:10 AM We reach Zero Point. This place is full of people. This is also at an altitude of almost 15,000 ft. so one needs to be careful not to over-exert himself. We stay at this place for around 45 minutes and leave.

Views: Yumthang Valley by Vinay Avasthi

11:55 AM We reach back to Yumthang Valley. We return the rented snow gear and have a tea/coffee. Normally one could spend some time here because this also known as Valley of Flowers, but to our disappointment, we realize that flowers have not started blooming yet.
We wait here for 10 minutes and leave for the hotel.
1:00 PM We reach the hotel, have a quick dinner and checkout from the hotel. We have a long journey ahead of us. Our night stay is planned at Gangtok.
2:00 PM We leave the hotel and start our journey back to Gangtok. Chungtang is the last place where one sees cellular connectivity when one drives towards north sikkim.
3:20 PM We cross Chungtang.
4:35 PM We cross Manul
5:35 PM We cross Mangan, We stop for a tea and car needs refueling here.
We had booked different hotels in Gangtok on our return trip, hence we needed to go to our old hotel to pick up luggage that we had left there. In hindsight, it is just more convenient if one has same hotel in both the journeys.
7:30 PM We reach our hotel and check-in. This time we had planned on staying in Hotel Tamarind. My review of the hotel is here.

Sikkim and Darjeeling, Summer 2014, Day 4 of 9, Road Trip to Gurudongmar Lake

08-April-2014
Hills have very different character and it takes a while for one to understand the hills. Day 4 into our trip and we realized that we need to adjust our clocks. The best weather in Hills is what you see between 7AM to 12 PM. Just after 12 PM, the places become windy, cloudy and rainy.
Day 4 was for visiting the Gurudongmar Lake. Since the drive to Gurudongmar lake takes atleast 5 hours from Apple Orchard Resort and the best time to reach there is before 9, we had to leave the place at 3:30 AM. I belive we left the place sometime around 3:45 AM. Generally the resort packs the breakfast as a take away that one can eat on the way.
7:15 AM We cross Thangu Valley. Somewhere around this place one needs to cross the final army checkpost. They inquire about the health of everybody in the car specifically respiratory health.
 If you or any of the co-passengers are not feeling well, this is the place to stay back. There is no medical facility available once you cross this point.
We crossed the check post and stopped for a while when one generous Subedar Lakhveer Singh offered us tea. At almost zero degree temperature, we had no options but to accept the invite. We stopped for around 15 minutes there.

Views: Thangu Valley, Sikkim, India by Vinay Avasthi

There is a small settlement in the Thangu Valley where most vehicle stop for tea, maggi and bio break. People here are extra nice and without their help and generosity this trip would be almost impossible.
7:40 AM We leave this place for onward journey. The whole areas from here onwards is under Army control. There is no other civilization. The only company you would get is from fellow tourists and Army convoys.
9:25 AM We finally pull into the parking for Gurudongmar Lake. The first sight of the place tells you that it is one of a kind, out of the world place. The place is really cold. The lake itself was frozen. but the view is phenomenal.

Views: Gurudongmar Lake by Vinay Avasthi

It is very hard to stick around this place for more than 1 hour. Most people would leave the place within half an hour but one hour is just about outer limit. There is gentleman that provides you with hot water for drinking, tea is also available. As expected, the place is not really crowded.
10:10 AM We start back for our journey back.
11:20 AM We are back at the Thangu Valley, another round of the tea at the place.
3:20 PM We are back at the Apple Orchard Resort in Lachen. We just about have enough time to have lunch and depart for Lachung.
In hindsight, we felt that between Lachen and Lachung, we should have added another day to make the journey less tiresome.
5:10 PM We are back at Chungtang.
7:15 PM We reach Lachung. We had booked Yarlam. This is one of the better places in North Sikkim. Here is my review of the place. 
A good night sleep is what we all needed and after a quick dinner we just opted for that.

Sikkim and Darjeeling, Summer 2014, Day 3 of 9, Road Trip to Lachen

07-Apri-2013
The road segment of the trip started on day 3. The first stop was Lachen. Lachen is the point where people take a night off enroute to Gurudongmar Lake. Since It is a steep climb, from around 3000 ft to 17000 ft, the night halt in Lachen does help in acclimatization.
It is important to leave early, since even though the distances are not very large, the drive is treacherous. Unfortunately, for us, the permits got delayed and we were not able to start from Gangtok till 11:30 AM.
It is also a good idea to leave some luggage at the hotel in Gangtok since in all likelihood one would be traveling back via Gangtok and it is not a very good idea to carry all the luggage in the hills. The typical vehicles (Xylo, Tavera, Innova) are not powerful enough to carry a car full of passengers and luggage up the hills.
1:30 PM We get on to Singtam-Dikchu road that goes just adjacent to Teesta River. The road is narrow, good at times and not so good at times.
2:15 PM We cross Mangan. The supply of fuel after this place gets difficult so most drivers fill up here.
3:20 PM Crossed Kajor
3:50 PM Crossed Manul
5:30 PM We crossed Chungthang. This seems to be last civilization that one sees before one reaches Lachen. After this place, the road is narrow, going through hills and the altitude increases quickly.
7:15 PM We reached Lachen and Hotel Apple Orchard. This is the only decent hotel that we could locate in this area. Here is my review of the hotel. The views are breathtaking from this place. Lachen is almost 9000 ft from sea level.

In the month April the place was pretty cold. In the night one feels the need for thermals and layers of clothing. Since it is a remote area, the power is erratic and one can't depend on room heater provided by the resort to survive. When we were there, the power went off for whole night and it was difficult.
Another point to note is that one needs to leave really early (3:30AM) next day to Gurudongmar Lake. In our case, we found that there was no power when we got up and we had to get ready in absolute dark. The lesson learnt was, carry a torch when visiting remote places.

Sikkim and Darjeeling, Summer 2014, Day 2 of 9, Gangtok Local Sightseeing

06-April-2014
This day was planned for local sightseeing in Gangtok. 
11:30 AM Reached Rumtek Monastery. It is the largest monastery in Sikkim and was built by 16th Karmapa. It is around 25 kilometers away from Gangtok and takes around 45 minutes to reach.

Views: Rumtek Monastery, Gangtok by Vinay Avasthi

The place is nice to spend couple of hours in peace. We left the place around 1:15 PM.
1:30 PM The next stop was Ropeway. The the ropeway ride is a good ride to get a birds eye view of the city. When we reached, there were few VIPs who shows up and we were pushed in the queue. We decided to first have lunch and then take the ride.We were done with the ropeway ride by 3:45 PM.
Once we were done with the ropeway, we decided to visit Do Drul Chorten Stupa. This place is very close to the ropeway.
4:00 PM Reached Do Drul Chorten Stupa. This place has largest collection of prayer wheels that I saw in Sikkim.

Views: Do Drul Chorten Stupa, Gangtok by Vinay Avasthi

4:45 PM Reached M. G. Marg. This place is the downtown of the Gangtok. The good thing that I liked about this place is that for a significant stretch of the road, there is no vehicles allowed. There are large number of benches to sit and decent landscaping around the road.

Views: M G Road, Gangtok by Vinay Avasthi

There are lots of shops around the MG Marg. Even Sikkim Tourism office is at the end of MG Marg.

One can not, but be impressed, with the way M G Road is maintained as a litter free zone. Lots of trash cans around and people who are using them. Finally it was the time to call it a day. Left for the hotel. Tomorrow was a big day.

Sikkim and Darjeeling, Summer 2014, Day 1 of 9

05-April-2014
We flew into Kolkata and then took a connecting flight to Bagdogra. We had arranged our travels through Yak and Yeti Travels and they had sent us vehicles at Bagdogra Airport to pick us up.
10:10AM We landed in Kolkata Airport. The new improved terminal is much better compared to earlier terminal that I visited few years back. Here is a photosphere that I did in the terminal.

Views: Kolkata Airport, New Terminal by Vinay Avasthi

12:30PM Landed at the Bagdogra Airport. Yak and Yeti Travels had sent their vehicles to pick us up and we were on our way to Gangtok.

Bagdogra Airport Parking

We stopped for lunch at a small road side eatery called Tirupati Citi Dhaba. Not very hygienic and great but the food was good enough. The place is approximately 10 minutes away from the airport.
2:35 PM Crossed Sevoke.
3:45 PM Crossed Kalimpong
4:25 PM Crossed Rongpo, crossed check post at around 5 PM. Stopped there for a while because the passengers in cars were feeling dizzy. Had a cup of coffee and discovered a new brand of coffee.

7:00 PM Reached Hotel Suhim Portico and checked in. My review of the hotel is here. It was pretty cold when we reached, the best idea seemed to have dinner and call it a day.