Day 30 (May-11) : Gurudongmor

Yesterday’s walk helped a lot.   I didn’t feel a thing while mom got a bit of headache because of altitude. We went through an army post. The soldiers there gave us tea and soup. The lake was magnificent and the road was as wild as it can be. After the place where the army checked our permits, for 5-6 Km we went through an area where there were no fixed roads. It was like a high altitude plateau at around 16000 ft. One could make their own path!

There was only one other Jeep going to the lake that early in the morning. The tourists in that car were probably feeling so cold that they had outsourced even the job of clicking the pictures to the taxi driver! The driver used to stop the car every once in a while, take the camera from the tourists and click pictures. It was very weird. Those guys threw empty wafers bag also from their car. We picked it up and gave it back to their driver when we caught up with them.

We also spotted a couple of Himalayan marmots.  The lake has circumference of around 3 Km with a Buddhist temple on the farther side. Jawans from Sikh regiment have also built a Gurudwara on the closer side where the road ends. They gave us free hot tea. We spent around 90 minutes there before starting back. Even while driving back, we kept stopping often and clicking pictures.

 Let the pics speak for me... 

Peeping snow peaks

Me again

Long way to go

Approaching the lake

Dad

Himalayan Marmot

Make your own road

Gurudongmar Lake

Clarity

One last look at the beautiful lake

A loitering cloud and its shadow

Splash

We dropped the idea of going to Pelling. Instead, we decided to go straight to Singtam that day and then drive on to Lucknow via Bihar on following days. The road to Singtam was very bad. Waterfalls actually went over the road! Rivers were flowing on the road, and the worst of all, the narrow road was bustling with many huge trucks. Our widecar had to be backed and taken through narrow places, with a deep cliff on one side. It was night so not many pics could be taken. I had to be out of the car to keep guiding dad to carefully manuver the car. It is a tough job for a cleaner. The road clearance of the car really helps!

 We finally reached Singtam at around 8:00pm. it becomes very dark in the east at this time. We stayed at a place called Shimma lodge. Again, I was to sleep alone. However this time mom took my place. The place was dirt cheep. Compared to the other places there, and the one where we stayed in Omerga, the place was great value for money.

What a road

That is a stream flowing on the road

Effect of pressure difference between 17,300 ft and 4000 ft! We drank water from this bottle at the lake and this is what happened to it at Singtam

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

Entering the Yumathang Valley

Riot of colors

Pink rhododendron flowers

Close up of purple flowers

Orange Rhododendron

Gods vacation house

Purple flowers

White bloom

Yumathang Valley from top

Descending down to Lachung

Cool green waters of mountain stream

Kitchen cum Dining room at Thangu hotel

Day 28 (May-9) : Lachung, North Sikkim

Fog on the road as we leave Gangtok

Sorry for the late posting. Didn't get any connection in the mountains. After visiting Changu lake, we drove to Lachung the next day. The trip was a long one. It was very foggy as we started from Gangtok. Though I found it cool, Dad later told me that he was a bit scared driving in that low visibility! The visibility improved after 20 minutes or so!

We showed our permit at the military check posts. Sikkim is very green. The hills are full of waterfalls. Since the rainy season had already started, there was a lot of water in those falls. We realised that while May is a good time to visit rest of Himalayas, it is not the right time for Sikkim. The best season is March to April and then from September to November.

I slept most of the time as I had off time for the day as a cleaner :). We ended up in a hotel somewhat short of the dream hill station lodge. The place was called Orchid valley resort. All said and done, the food was extremely good. The cook seemed to take pride in his work. We did take a short acclimatization walk.

Sikkim is full of waterfalls

The Offroader

Another Waterfall

Washing car right under the sign that prohibits them from doing so!

bridge on the way to Lachung

A child in the window of a house in Lachung

Prayer flags over Lachung village

Day 27 (May-8) : Changu Lake

Changu lake in clouds!

Left for Changu lake by 8:30 AM. The road was pretty bad. I now realised the quality of our car as we travelled in a Sumo. The road clearance makes a great difference. The lake is beautiful and so are the yaks. I did not want to ride the Yak to reach the Pagoda though I did pose for a picture with Yak :). A walk is much better (and cheaper)!! I hate the people who litter in such a spot. The lake looked very dreamy with fog and clouds. 

It started raining as we walked back from the Pagoda. Mom took a slightly different route as she was confident that that was a shorter route to the taxi stand. She was wrong! Dad and I reached there much faster. We then took out the umbrella from the car (we realised that whenever we did not take the umbrellas with us, it used to rain L ) and ran back to escort mom to the car.

On the way back, our Sumo got stuck in a jam as the bulldozer there was clearing a mud-slide. As we were parked there, stones started coming from the hillside. It was scary but nothing serious happened.

One more interesting thing on the road was ANDA bridge. We first thought that it was acronym for some army related term. Our driver told us that it stood for egg in Hindi! The bridge is situated exactly at 8000 ft which is considered by Army as the starting of high altitude. So if you are working below the ANDA bridge, you get one ANDA (egg) as part of your ration and if you work above the bridge, you get two!!

Then, we decided to go back to the zoo. We got to see the leopard and most amazingly, the leopard cat. After around four years of longing to see the creature after my visit to Dudhwa, my heart thirst was finally quenched. No photo to show of it though...

   The next discovery, was that on the wet trail to see the leopard cat, leeches had attacked us. First time, these creatures ever sucked my blood. Disgusting really, but on a second thought, how much will little creature drink??

For once and for all, my fear of leeches has been overcome.

Walking track next to Changu lake

That is at the lake

A Taxi driver on the way to Changu lake :)

Our room in Royal Deemazong

Day 26 (May-7) : The Permit

Well, early in the morning, we went to Gangtok to take the permit to enter North Sikkim border area. First, we parked our car on M.G. road. The tourism dept office there told us that one was not allowed to take our own car there and had to take a Taxi. When we insisted, they told us to try our luck at Police check post.

It was difficult to locate the permit office. After a long search, we reached a Xerox booth in an area where the office was supposed to be there. The person there was very helpful. A policeman came there. We told him that we wanted a permit. The guy said that we cannot get the permit. So, dad marched to the permit office and talked to the higher official. Finally, he agreed.

After getting the permit we ate in a local pizza joint. The place was very very good.  The pizza was as good as gold. We then realised that our permit did not include Changu lake so we decided to take a taxi there the next day. 

We then hired a taxi and decided to tour around Gangtok. The taxi first took us to the zoo. We saw the birds, the Himalayan bear. One thing about this zoo, is the concept of emergence zoo. The cages are very large. And we view the animals from a place high up. It sometimes becomes difficult to spot the animals, but, in this zoo the animals are the greatest priority. We also saw Himalayan birds like the Monal, red peasant and red panda. We couldn’t go further as it began to rain. We returned to our taxi and went to a flower show. The flowers were very pretty. Then, we went to the ropeway. Surprisingly, there was absolutely no crowd at the place when we reached there. We had the cable car to just 3 of us! By the end of the trip, as we got down, there was a huge crowd waiting to enter the cabin. Talk of luck
.

Parking with a view

M G Road at Gangtok

Red Panda

Himalayan Monal

Spotted Flowers

Gangtok from the ropeway