My Journey to North Sikkim- PART 2

Thanks a lot dear readers for giving your precious time to read my first post on our tour to North Sikkim and also thanks a lot for sharing your experiences with me. That was a quite an encouragement for me to go ahead with the Part 2 of the same trip. You can read the first part of this post – My Journey to enchanting North Sikkim- Part 1. Since I wanted to include everything related to my journey to North Sikkim, I have written the whole trip in two parts.

Without much ado let me begin with what I left from the previous post. Well, after we had our lunch at the homestay in Lachen. Wheels rolled on to our next destination was which was a small village called Lachung. It was a wonderful place too. The road was good not throughout but still enough for a smooth journey.

Lachung is situated by the bank of the Lachung river and one of the best places for nature lovers. The word Lachung refers to “small pass”. Indeed it is a small pass to reach the ultimate paradise. Located at a height of 8610 ft, Lachung is also the place of the 19th century Buddhist Lachung Monastery. Lachung is also famous for its apple orchards. You cross Lachung while going on way to Yumgthan Valley and Zero Point. There are lost of hotels and homestays in Lachung.

The journey itself was a splendid one, with mountains surrounding you, small streams flowing here and there and very often you get to get down your car and take some candid clicks with the waterfalls. We stopped on our way to click photos. Each and every place was a perfect frame. Feel free to ask your driver to take some breaks  as the journey is more beautiful then the destination.

It’s a breathtaking view altogether. We reached Lachung quite late, the people in my hotel had already prepared dinner for us. It was quite an early dinner as the temperature was dropping with each passing moment.

The hotel was  very comfortable. But we were not sure how the place around our hotel would look like since when we reached it was dark, until we woke up and the view from our room took our breaths away. It was spectacular, with clouds hovering over huge mountains, we felt like we were in some foreign destinations.

We had our morning tea and then the driver took us to Yumthang Valley, also known as ‘valley of flowers’ at an elevation of 11,693ft above sea level. In the spring season it becomes the seat of various colorful flowers specially the Rhododendrons, poppies, iris and many others.

A stream flows past Yumthang Valley and also the town Lachung, it is a tributary of the river Teesta. It had an air of agelessness, a sheer paradise, a moment to cherish that Thank god! We came here .It was so beautiful that words are falling short to describe that place.

It was very cold there so we spent as much time as we could.The  After that out next stop was zero point , but that was not included in our travel package, so we paid extra 3k to the driver to take us there. The journey to Zero Point was indeed a memorable one.

It was huge barren area and guess what it was filled with fresh white snow, everywhere it was white and I was like….Ohhh its so cold! yet I want to lie down, roll on, skip, dance, jump and do whatever madness I can do there. There are one or two stalls in the Zero point, I had tea and obviously Siddhartha my husband had some Brandy to keep him warm, its easily available there.

We also ate Maggie, a few boiled eggs, biscuits, it’s better to stuff your stomach. By the time you reach your hotel it would be quite late and there are no food stalls, fancy restaurants or dhabas anywhere on the way.

On way back there was a hot spring, you can go but we skipped cause after all the craziness we did in Zero Point , we were not able to set even a single foot forward. We reached hotel at about 4pm, we had some food and started for our jouney back to Gangtok from where we started.

We reached Gangtok at about 9pm, our driver dropped us at our hotel from where we left. He was a delightful guide and companion throughout the whole journey. We packed our dinner since it was quite late and slept peacefully. Next day we had our train at 7pm from New Jalpaiguri Station. We had almost 12hours in hand, so we decided to visit the Rumtek Monastery.

VISIT TO RUMTEK MONASTERY

We didn’t want to waste even a single moment to see whatever we can while in Sikkim. We hired a local taxi driver to take us to Rumtek Monastery and after that to New Jalpaiguri Station. On way to the monastery you will find lots of shops, you can buy moments or gifts for your relatives and friends, junk jewelries, but make sure to bargain as much as you can.

Our journey ended but we are not satisfied yet, we are planning to visit Yumthang Valley again the month of April or May to enjoy the rhododendrons and other flora in its full bloom. Carry lots of warm clothes, jackets, sweaters, socks, mufflers, hand gloves and whatever warm clothes exist in the markets, it’s really cold there. wear sneakers, avoid wearing canvas shoes because Yumthang Valley is a pasture

land and you will find the grass wet. Thanks again for having patience and reading my post, make out some time from your busy schedule and do visit North Sikkim at least once.

Posted By- Ishani Nath