My travels: Day 29 (May-10) : So much to tell

Snow peaks over Yumathang valley

We stayed in small hotel called "Orchid Valley Hotel" last night. It was a small hotel costing 800 for two rooms. All the better hotels (there is one from Mayfair group of hotels costing 7000 upwards per night! Since Yumathang Rhododendron season is well known internationally, many will look for luxury hotel) were already booked. Since almost all the tourists visit North Sikkim through tour operators, all the hotels get booked from Gangtok itself. Most of the hotels do not even have proper reception area the hotel staff does not even know how much to charge if you land up there like us! Our hotel rooms did not have functioning latches to lock the rooms from inside or outside. They told us not to worry about that. But the beds and toilets were clean.

We woke up at around 6 o’clock in the morning. By the time, the breakfast was ready and we left the place, it was already 7:40. The plan was to see the rhododendron forest and then proceed to Zero Point, the farthest point where road (or what passes as road in these remote high Himalayan areas). The way to Zero-point went through the Rhododendron sanctuary. The weather was unusually clear. Snow peaks were surrounded by necklaces of clouds. They looked like the dwellings of god. The rhododendrons covered the entire valley. Other than a certain type of pine, no other tree could be seen. No explanation can describe the colours of the flowers. We couldn’t reach Zero-point though. We turned back as we had to drive back 140 Km through Lachung and Lachen to Thangu

Most tourists visiting Gurudongmar stay at Lachen. But we decided to spend the night at Thangu as it is at higher altitude (3780 meter or around 12800 ft) which will prepare us for even higher altitude of Gurudongmar. It will also save us 2 hours the next day and we will have better chance of reaching the lake before the weather turns bad later in the day. It started raining as we drove up from Chungtang to Lachen. There was hardly any other vehicle on the road and we were virtually alone on the Lachen to Thangu leg. Weather plays a big role in deciding your mood in high hills. The continuous drizzle and fog creates a feeling of mystery in green hills of Sikkim but it also makes it a bit dull and depressing!

Thangu is a seasonal village of around 400 people. These people also go back to lower altitude in November and return in April. From Lachen onward you mainly see Army or ITBP camps. They stay here in winter also!

Checked in to the best hotel in Thangu at 600 Rs a night! The family running the hotel stays on the ground floor and while the rooms are on first floor. The best part was the big kitchen and dining area with wooden stove complete with big chimney etc. It was fun sitting there as the lady there cooked food and her 2.5 year old son (Rengchen) kept playing. I and dad took an hour-long acclimatisation walk while Mom read her book on Tagore.

After returning from walk, a person asked us weather we had got our permits stamped at the check post 200 meters away from the hotel. We had missed seeing the post in fog. So Dad and I walked back to the check post only to find it locked. When we came back, the same person told us that he knows where the officer manning the check post stays and will take us there. Dad had to make two trips with that person before they finally located the police person in a local, makeshift bar! He had his permit stamp with him there also. He signed and stamped our permit. It seems no one comes to Thangu after 12:00 PM or so while we had reached around 4:00 PM