A beautiful journey to Sikkim:

A trip is something that every mind wants either consciously or unconsciously. When you feel irritated about your routine life, want a change, TRIP is something which can do wonders. So now the time has come for us.

After lots of tipi tap, we decided to land in Sikkim for our vacation. A vacation from office life ...a vacation from Delhi pollution...a vacation from household chores....& most importantly a vacation to refresh our minds...to live the god gifted life.



This is my first blog for my traveling experience. For this Jatin motivated to write about it.

The trip was planned during late Sept.October being the festive season there was no time to look for where We were going, which places to visit, which travel agent to book, nothing.....I remember one of my colleagues visited Sikkim last to last year. I just asked him about his experience. By chance he had the contact number of his travel agent.I contacted the same agent and booked our trip without giving it any second thought.



By October end all the bookings were done. The day finally came. The trip actually started with a very hectic day at the office followed by our packing for the trip which took us around 3 hr to pack our stuff, but we made sure we have enough stuff to eat in case we did not get veg food to eat





So we were done with our packing and ready to take flight the next day.



Day 1: In the morning we prepared breakfast and packed enough sandwiches for the day. So we booked our cab and reached the airport on time, checked in and we were ready to fly. Fly to the land of mystic beauty....but before we actually land in Sikkim we had a long journey from Bagdogra (West Bengal) to Gangtok (Sikkim) which we covered via taxi and it took us around 5 hours. So crossing the boundaries from Delhi to West Bengal and then to fun-filled Sikkim we reached Gangtok (capital of Sikkim) by 9.30 in the night. As we booked our package with our tour agency, they made sure everything was in place from a taxi at Bagdogra airport to taxi to a very beautiful hotel in Gangtok...On our way to Gangtok, we did enjoy long highway jams in curves of hills leading us to our destination. As Jatin feels some motion sickness while traveling in hilly areas, so I was a little worried about him but he took medicine and just let me feel comfortable again.

Day 2: This day was scheduled for our visit to India China International Border known as Nathula Pass. We started our journey with driver Mandup to Nathula Pass followed by Yak ride @ famous  Changu lake. As we headed towards our journey our driver narrated us few important protocols to be followed as we were heading towards International Border. Our driver got us Permit to Nathula Pass. As per govt, only 200 vehicles per day are given a permit to visit Nathula pass. Nathula pass is at an altitude of 17200 ft from sea level so few tourists were facing issues while breathing as we get only 20% oxygen at that height and temperature was as low as 4 deg C.This was a sensational moment to salute our soldiers who are there in these adverse conditions to protect our mother  India. One soldier allowed us to visit a conference hall where army officers from India China will meet 5 times a year to talk on different issues. Nathula pass is a link for international trading between India and China that happens for 5 days a week and for about 7-8 months a year. After spending almost forty-five minutes there we started our way back to Gangtok. On our way back we visited Baba Mandir which is famous for Baba Harbhajan Singh who is known to be still protecting the Indo China border by giving an indication in dreams of army men. After that, we visited Changu lake which is famous as a frozen lake in the winter season. We did enjoy yak riding there for the first time and also get to know that this powerful animal yak exists at a height higher than 7k feet and can survive very well in snow-covered areas. After that, we landed up in M.G.Road known as Mall road for some random window shopping and now we have a huge collection of Sikkim art & craft stuff. I will try to share some cute pics of these. After this enthralling experience, we went to the hotel in a happy mood, fooling ourselves of visited China without visa.....:)

Day 3: 3rd day of the trip was scheduled for local sightseeing. Gangtok has a few very beautiful local points to be seen. First in the list is Banjkhari falls where we had a mystic view of waterfalls and along with that we even imagined ourselves in traditional Sikkim dress and get ourselves clicked.



Some other points of attraction include Hanuman Tok where it is believed that Hanuman Ji took rest while carrying sanjeevani booti during Ram Ravan Yudh, Ganesh Tok, Tashi View Point, handcrafts emporium, M.G. Road where we bought authentic Sikkim souvenirs for our close ones. After visiting all these points we roam around famous Mall road enjoying Sikkim special momos, thukpa and desserts at famous Bakers cafe. In the night we packed our bags for the next destination of Lachung

DAY 4: Having sweet memories of Gangtok we left for Lachung at around 10 in the morning. This day we mostly spent traveling. On our way, we visited many waterfalls. Each waterfall has its own beauty and charm that attracts tourists. In Mangan, we had our lunch. Our driver was basically from Mangan so he suggested having lunch there. After lunch, we reached Chungthang to visit the TEESTA dam there and enjoyed momo & tea. At around 5 in the evening, we reached Lachung. Lachung is a beautiful village situated along the river Teesta surrounded by mountains. It felt like we were in a pure world so close to nature where waterfalls play music for you in the night, cold breeze refreshes your inner self and a warm blanket makes you fall in love with Sikkim.

Day 5: We started early morning around 7 for our last visit point that is Yumthang Valley and Zero point. Zero-point is at an altitude of around 16k and is the last highest motorable point of India. Beyond this is the Indo China border that is accessible by the army only. Visiting Zero point made us feel proud of our Indian Army who serves us in such adverse conditions. As this was the day of 550th Prakash Utsav of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Sikh people in the Indian Army managed to serve Langar for civilians despite such harsh weather conditions and low access to daily usable items as well. We were privileged enough to meet some of the army men from our area Barnala & Ludhiana of Punjab. This gave us a proud feeling of being Punjabi who are known for their big heart to serve needy. A day well spent at zero point as this was off-season so nothing much was there to see at Yumthang valley. So after having langar at the Indian army base camp we returned to our hotel and relaxed there overnight.

Yumthang valley is known as lovers' valley...Different types of colorful flowers blossom during the season and fill this valley with romantic colors and welcome honeymoon couples. But unfortunately for us, this was off-season and we could not witness nature's romance but our driver has promised to send us pictures when the valley will be its full swing. There is a famous hot spring as well and people do campaigning and trekking there in the middle of mountains surrounded by trees all over. This hot spring is famous for its healing magic for skin disease as well.



Day 6: We started our way back to routine life at around 4 in the morning and spent the whole day traveling to Bagdogra via taxi. On our way back we also had a glimpse of the Hong-Kong market famous for its Chinese products in Siliguri. Finally, we reached Delhi at around 9 in the night. Collecting all the sweet memories of the trip we had a peaceful sleep and ready for the next day.



So this summarizes our Trip to Sikkim. Traveling always fascinates me. I am just back from my trip and my mind is doing his job to plan for the next trip. The mind is doing his duty and I am doing mine by summarizing the memories of one trip until I go to next.



I wish all readers Happy Reading!!! Enjoy reading and share your feedback. Feedback from friends all around the world is highly appreciated.:) :) :)