In to the gateway of North East...

Usually any normal couple prefers to go to honeymoon just after their marriage but unfortunately we couldn’t manage to go for honeymoon just after marriage. There were many reasons for our delayed honeymoon but lets not divert the topic.

So after 8-9 odd months we plan to visit Gangtok as our honeymoon trip. One of our family friends were going to Gangtok, they ask us and being a great follower of amen’s I accepted the offer with both hands. Being a resident of Central region of India I can not even plan in my dream to visit North East part of country let alone Darjeeling. So gangtok trip was like a dream trip and it actually proved like a dream.

We took a train from bandel (a place near to Asansol) to New jalpaigudi, which is gateway to enter northeast. We suppose to reach NJP at around 8 am but Indian trains maintains their all good names and make us reached NJP at around 4 PM. We got last taxi from NJP to Gangtok. In hilly areas, even at around 5 –6 PM you will feel pretty dark.

This was our first trip towards any hilly area so Trip to gangtok from NJP was pretty tough for us and at midway we started feeling nausea and vomiting, even at a point we vomited very much.

We have booked our hotels in advance so after reaching Gangtok, we directly reached our hotel. Our host at gangtok hotel was very educated and decent lady. She has a large collection of books at her place and has knowledge of every topic of this . She shared her experience of last year’s landslide here. Her story telling was so strong that we were able to empathize with her pain.

We were so exhausted with the journey that we took our dinner and went to sleep. Providing rich history of my wife’s asthma I was wondering that how we will complete the whole trip. With these thoughts in mind and a prayed in heart I went to sleep.

In the morning we went to catch our hired taxi, which we have to share with 2 more couples. Our guide was a jolly man. He told us many stories of that area. He also told us that Mt kanjanchanga is goddess their and share few local legend and myths with us. I was surprised to know that they consider 2011’s earthquake as curse of Goddess kanchanjunga.

Though Lachen was hardly 80 km from Gangtok but due to hilly terrain we reached there at 7 PM. It was pretty dark there. After reaching Lachen I realized the true meaning of word “chilly weather”. The weather was so cold that despite a decent preparation none of us was able to utter a single word. I also came to know that there is no electricity along with poor BSNL coverage. Initially we were little irritated with it but after 1-2 hours my wife told me that sometimes we need to spend few days like this; without internet and phone calls.

Being an eggitarian we left with very less option for our dinner. We survived on omelet and rice. After dinner we came back to our room. We lit few candles. It was “twilight ” outside so we opened our windows. Natural light outside, candles inside, no disturbance of phone, no noise so it was a perfect dear diary moment.

After some gossips we went to sleep, as we have to leave for Tsangu lake and nathula pass at 4 am next day. One hardly gets a chance to travel at 4-5 am in morning in taxi so it was altogether a new experience. Meanwhile if anyone has to go for urine then they have to do it in open areas usually in shade of big rocks and trees.

The places, which we travel from lachen, were:

(1)Tsangu Lake: - First it took me great efforts to pronounce the name of this. You can't imagine a lake at this much height. Legend says that it is naturally created lake. What I found is that it is most clean lake I have ever seen. Legend believes that nature cleans this lake and if a leaf falls in the lake, a bird will come and take this leaf away. You can also find some clouds in the air above lake. Its green-blue water and layer touching cloud provide it the serine beauty. We also enjoy yak drive here, which my wife loved a lot.

(2)Nathula Pass: - Nathula pass is actually a border area between India and Tibet (Now china). It is situated on a higher altitude. By the time we reach Nathula some of us started feeling nausea. Whenever you are going on mountain heights, nausea is a common problem to deal with.  At this point I was impressed with my wife as being an asthmatic person she suppose to be big victim of nausea but she proved me wrong. She was comfortable wondering here and there while rest of us unable to walk. At nathula pass, there is an army canteen, where we took coffee and other snacks.

After coming back from Nathula and tsangu, mood was light and contented. From Lachen we left to Lachung. Lachung was hardly few km but condition of roads were very bad so it took us around 3 hr to reach there.By the time we reach Lachung, it was raining.  Like lachen, lachung too had welcomed us with poor network and zero electricity. Our guide told us that next morning we will move to Gurdongmar lake so be ready at 4 am. In this chilly weather, it was a challenge to wash your mouth and get fresh at this much early morning. Putting some water on your face will give you feeling as if somebody has thrown acid on your face.
Next morning the places that we have visited were:

(1)Gurdongmar lake: - Prior to this lake, I was wondering about tsangu lake and its occurrence at this height but after visiting Gurdongmar lake one can easily forget former one. This lake is situated at a height of 1200 mtr. Combination of sun, sand, ice and A temple on the shore of lake will make it a divine place. Whatever one can imagine about heaven will look similar to here. Though due to harsh chilly and windy weather we didn’t stay here for more then 15 mins but even this small time was divine.We could hardly stayed for 15 min at Gurdongmar Lake as the wind started flowing with high speed. Our guide told us that these winds are so powerful that it can blow away big vehicles like army trucks.

(2)Chopta Valley: - From Gurdongmar lake we went to chopta valley. It’s a valley full of different flowers. It’s the same place that organizes world flower festival every year in April. In October there were few flowers but it still the scenery was beautiful.
At chopta valley and many places we found big flags with yellow, blue, red colours with some inscriptions written over them. Our guide told us that each flag is in the memory of a departed soul.
As per the plan we have to move to yumthang valley next but our guide told us that if we skip yumthang valley we could get some time to go zero point. Zero point was not originally included in the plan.
When we reached zero point, guide told us to come back in 30 min but it was so beautiful a place that none of us realized when time crossed 3 hour. In zero point, there was a sheet of ice everywhere somewhere thin, somewhere thick. One has to take care while putting a step on this sheet as at few places it was so thin that we can directly go in to pool of water. That was the best and most beautiful place I have seen in my life.
After coming back from Lachen and Lachung, by the time we reached gangtok we were contented. We still had 1 day left in our kitty. Other couple decided to shop while we opt to go for local sightseeing. This time only poonam and I went out to explore Gangtok. Since we already had 4 awesome days in that hilly terrain, we were not expecting from our but what we were not aware that this was most enjoyable day for us. We visited Ganesh tok, Hanuman tok, Tashi view point, one botanical garden, few monasteries and some waterfalls.
Tashi viewpoint is highest point at gantok (that’s how they pronounce Gangtok locally) from where one can take a sneak at whole gangtok. Ganesh tok is a temple that is situated at a mountain. Though we did not have much expectation from local sightseeing but few things stole our heart. They were:

(1)Zapling:- At a waterfall , there were shopkeeper who were approaching us for zapling. It was our first experience of zapling so I was little timid but Poonam enjoyed it a lot. Though it was hardly 100 mts but it was a thrilling experience.

(2)Monastery: - My wife was never willing to go monastery and it was solely my idea to go here. At one monastery there were thousands of prayer bells round shapes, while at another monastery one can lit a “shuddh ghee ka diya” for just 5 Rs to “brighten yourself”.  We also get to meet few lama’s.

(3)Traditional dress: - My wife was complaining throughout the journey that though the trip was wonderful but she didn't get a chance to wear local dress. When we reached to ganesh tok , this wish of her get fulfilled. We took few pics in those traditional dresses and get a walk too. Poonam was ecstatic in that dress. 
In the end it all went well for us. On our way back I was thinking about these peoples and their lives. In mountains you can get plenty of clean air, noise free atmosphere and politics less people. They live at so high altitude that any day there can be danger of many natural calamities like earthquakes, landslide. In case of any such calamity there path to rest of country gets disrupted for many days. They have to arrange for food and water all the time in advance. They didn’t have good coverage, telephone network, and infrastructure but still they are happy. Gangtok will always remain memorable for me and I have promised myself that I will come back again here.