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.
