Pristine Gangtok city in the Monsoons

This is a guest photologue by Ar Soumyajit Mishra, one of my blog followers and a travel lover. This article is his recent personal experience of visiting Sikkim’s Gangtok this monsoon. All the pictures in this post are copyright of Ar Soumyajit Mishra. If you wish, you can also share your story here on ‘be on the road’.

Hill stations in the monsoons have their own magic. Lush green terrain, clean and clear roads, contrasting horizons are really awesome during the monsoons. This also gives an opportunity to the visitor or tourist to explore the places with little crowd and with lower travel costs.



I was looking for a small break from my regular schedule. Few places are highly exquisite during the monsoons with splendid flora and fauna. Goa, Kerala, Sikkim and the Western Ghats lead the list. This time Gangtok was on the top of the list for me.



As per schedule, we landed at Bagdogra airport on the afternoon of 17^th July. Bagdogra airport is well connected to Kolkata, New Delhi and has a very good user friendly prepaid taxi system managed by the city police. One way taxi trip to Gangtok will cost around Rs 2200 in off season (mainly during the monsoon and winter months). It took us more than an hour to cross Siliguri city because of horrible traffic congestion. 



Gradually, we touched the beautiful NH 31 road, which guided us through Sevoke and the Mahananda sanctuary area. It was awesome to be welcomed by a light drizzle and the drive through the dense forest area with slow instrumental music was surreal. We were informed about the probable landslide at few identified areas. Local people and BRO (Border road organization) advised us to be cautious and alert while climbing up the mountain.

 

The road was affected due to continuous landslides and few stretches were controlled by BRO to avoid any accident. BRO has a tremendous presence throughout the stretch. The hard work is really appreciated. Gradually, we crossed Teesta river, Ranpool and reached Gangtok at 10 pm. Normally, the duration to Gangtok from Bagdogra is 3.5 hrs, but it took us 6 hours due to heavy rain on the way. You should never be in a hurry while driving in hill area. I had pre-booked my accommodation at Tashi Thendup hotel which is in Nam nang area and just 5 minutes walk from the famous MG road.



Next day morning, I wanted to take a stroll on MG road . The lifestyle is very simple and lively here. The market opens early in the morning and plenty of breakfast options will welcome you. Gangtok is a nice and clean city. You hardly can find any used packet or waste items on the street. Spitting or smoking in public places is a punishable crime in Gangtok . I really liked the way people obey the rule.Cops are young, smart and stylish. You will enjoy talking to them. Few of them follow soccer very much and keep good knowledge about the football clubs.



18^th was Rathyatra (Jagannath). There was a small gathering at thakurbadi area with a small chariot for Lord Jagannath, Balbhadra and his sister Suvadra. It was an awesome feeling to pull the chariots. We spent the whole day visiting the development area, Legislative assembly and strolling on MG road. Few buildings are designed well with hill architecture. We tried momo, rolls and Chinese items. Roll house serves mouth watering momos and a must try.



Next day, we carried out a case study about the health care system, hospitals, traffic management as a professional part of our trip. The city hospital is good and caters a good catchment area. Subsequently, we hired a taxi for a half day local sight seeing.



Hanuman tok, Ganesh tok, Rungtek monastery are beautiful places and must be included in your itinerary. Rumtek monatsry is one of the biggest in its class. The city view is awesome from the monastery and was one of the highlights of my day trip.



Our evening in Gangtok was enjoyable with live concert of few bands in pubs. Few local bands will entertain you with their magical touch. You would love it. Gangtok is little bit crowded and is a base station for visitors who would like to visit Nathula pass, Changu lake. But, I feel Gangtok itself has a lot of things to offer. Specially the cable car which gives panoramic view of the beautiful hills and town. One should not miss this.


 
 
We enjoyed the short trip and the monsoons in this hill station. Gangtok should be visited at least once in a life time during the monsoon season to feel the eternal beauty. You will enjoy it.

Few good hotels : Tashi Thendup, May fair resorts, Sai kripa hotel, Doma residency

Few food joints: Roll house, Pub 25, Downtown, Agarwal snacks , khan chacha



Few must visit places in town : MG road, Secretariat, Lal bazaar market, Dengzong cinema area, Deorali area, Sikkim legislative assembly, Sikkim manipal institute.

Do not try in public place : smoking, spitting, abusive language, road side urination

Sikkimese would love you because of your : politeness, friendly gesture, behavior



What will make you happy : Clean roads, nice people, beautiful dressing sense of police, fire officials, tax free wine, affordable taxi services.

What you may not like : Internet connectivity, Mobile network, connecting steps in bad condition and rapid construction disturbing the landscape.

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Sikkim Earthquake: Let’s help the people of the hills

Today evening’s earthquake epicentred in Sikkim is a tough natural calamity to have affected the Himalayan Kingdom. My heart goes out to all the kind and helpful people of the hills. Even more so because the bulk of the population stay in the crowded hill stations of Darjeeling and Gangtok, making them even more vulnerable to a natural calamity of this magnitude.

I have very happy memories from this entire mountain belt having trekked the Singalila ridge from near Darjeeling on the Indo-Nepal border not far away from the epicentre of the quake. I am sure a lot of us have great memories of this place and would like to see things get back to normal soon. Hence, keeping that in mind, let’s try our level best to contribute to the quake relief and renovation efforts. Even a miniscule bit from each one of us will make a huge difference.

Let’s help the people affected in the Sikkim Earthquake!

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Nathu La (Nathulla Pass) – The Chinese Connection!

Why do people travel to Nathu La? Is it to see the Himalayan beauty of Sikkim? Is it the urge to see snow clad peaks? Is it the fantasy of being able to survive in low oxygen levels?


If you said yes to the above, then you form a very small percentage of tourists that go to Nathu La. The major percentage of tourists go there only to shake hands and take photographs with the Chinese.


Such is the obsession that I guess the Chinese soldiers must have a hard time. In fact, when I was there as recent as three weeks back, I saw the look of scorn on the faces of the Chinese soldiers when people used to shake their hands. I guess, if I were in their place, I would get mad too.
 

How many strangers can you shake hands with in an hour. I guess in peak tourist season, these soldiers might have to shake hands with at least a 1000 people. And by the way, this is a very pessimistic number.


There is nothing as such to see at Nathu La except for the experience of actually being close to the India-China border. There are a couple of bases from either country and there is a thin line of peaceful agreement where Indian and Chinese soldiers stand side by side.


But, you have to give it to the soldiers of both countries to be able to survive in such unforgiving conditions. If you are planning a trip to Nathu La, I would request that you do not bother the Chinese soldiers and instead show your gratitude to both the Indian and Chinese soldiers (if you know to speak Chinese) coz the soldiers of both sides are showing great character for their respective countries.


Nathu La, is a trade route between India and China and is situated on the eastern side of Sikkim at over 14,000 feet. The winding border roads connect Nathu La to Gangtok. The distance from Gangtok to Nathu La is about 50 kilometres. As part of the trade agreement, Chinese import pulses, rice, cotton clothes and cooking oil from India, while India imports quilt, jackets, electronics and other small items from China.

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Scenic Kyongnosla Market enroute to Nathu La

There are three check points between Gangtok and Nathu La, but my personal favourite is Kyongnosla. Situated at close to 10,000 feet, this place has its own design of nature.


The check post that marks this area falls under the purview of the Kyongnosla Alpine sanctuary. When one goes to visit Nathu La, the time consuming check posts can sometimes get really painful and Kyongnosla comes as a breath of fresh air in such a situation.


Kyongnosla, in that way offers the services of a lively market to the tourist who can disembark and relax while the car drivers do the job of sorting out the permit process. This break also serves as a first level of acclimatization.


The market as such is very vibrant and colourful. It is here that one can buy themselves various woollen and thermal gear to beat the cold winds of Nathu La or treat themselves to some hot pakodas, momos and tea/coffee.


If you are not the shopping type like me, then you can climb to the neighbouring hill from where you can get great views of the entire Kyongnosla valley. This is exactly what I did when I was there a couple of weeks back. And this is what I typically do when the group takes a break at Kyongnosla.


I was feeling very stiff and decided to stretch out my limbs by climbing up to the peak. It was here that I got treated to some fabulous views of the fall colours in the valley and aerial views of the Kyongnosla market, the army bunkers and the small village houses below.


The meandering mountain river in the background adds charm to the overall beauty. To me, it feels like one can spend an eternity watching these pristine surroundings, but when the chilly winds wake me up from my dreams, I run down and join the rest of my travel friends for a cup of steaming tea and some hot momos.

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The Aura of Lingdum or Ranka Monastery, Gangtok, Sikkim, India

The Buddhist culture of Sikkim makes it home to more than 200 unique monasteries and each one of them has a certain aura about it. While I was recently at Gangtok, the plan was to go visit the Rumtek monastery, but due to a delay in our plan for the day, we had to visit the Lingdum Monastery instead.


While the Rumtek Monastery is a high security zone, the Lingdum or Ranka monastery is a fairly peaceful place and hence the entire group loved exploring it.


The long line of prayer wheels greeted us upon our entry. We made our way inside after spinning these prayer wheels. The group spun these wheels for good luck, for photographic opportunities or simply for the fun of it.


As soon as we entered the monastery, we were greeted by the sight of young Buddhist monks who were getting trained in the Lama dance. It was quite enjoyable just to see them undergo this training. Bad students were reprimanded by the trainer’s stick.


I personally saw this training session for about 20 minutes before climbing up the steep flight of stairs and into the inner sanctum. Here we were greeted by a prayer session that was in progress. Only Young Buddhist Monks were around and it was them who conducted the evening prayer session.


Buddhist chants were sung and various musical instruments were used along with the traditional Buddhist gong. It was quite interesting to note that the entire monastery was functioning with young monks.

 
The inner sanctum of the Lingdum monastery is very much like any other large Buddhist monastery. Large sized Buddha statues plated in gold could be seen. The insides were colourful with depictions and drawings.


There were colourful wall hangings too that swooned nearly all the way to the floor. The best part about this monastery is that most of it is open to tourists and one can happily explore the entire perimeter.


There are certain vantage points from where one could get brilliant views of the monastery sanctum, the training session taking place in the courtyard below and even some great sunset views on the neighbouring hills. We had such a great time here that we did not at all rue our missed opportunity of visiting the Rumtek Monastery.

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