Amazing Kanchenjunga

If there is one thing I miss from the USA that would be the snow and winter. Though I am not a big fan of cold temperatures, I loved the snowfall and the white wintry landscape. This year when our annual vacation got postponed from Oct to Dec, we decided not to change the destination - Sikkim. Though it snows very rarely there, we were assured we would run into snow at places like Tsomgo Lake and Nathula Pass. Apparently, a couple of days after our return, it snowed at Gangtok and Darjeeling after a decade!!!! What luck!!!

As always we went with a package tour from Make My Trip covering Gangtok-Pelling-Darjeeling.

As luck would have it, IndiGo introduced a direct flight from Hyd to Bagdogra and we saved a lot of travelling time. We were reeling under a cold wave at Hyd and when the pilot announced that Bagdogra was at a comfortable 13 degrees (which was the minimum at Hyd) we wondered about the comfortable part. But once we landed at Bagdogra it didn't feel that bad. We were greeted by the car and driver and were whisked off to Gangtok. Unlike other trips, at Gangtok apparently, we don't get a dedicated car and driver. Each day, depending upon the itinerary the driver and car change. So this guy just dropped us off at the hotel and disappeared. Mostly we look for hotels near the heart of the cities so that we can move around freely. So once we unpacked we decided to explore the city a little. 

That's when we had the first glimpse of the amazing Kanchenjunga peak. We were so stunned that we had to get a confirmation from the locals, we were not expecting to see the peak so clearly.

Kanchenjunga from Gangtok

The next day we were supposed to visit the Nathula Pass and the Tsomgo Lake but the tour operator couldn't get the passes and we had to settle for local site seeing. 

Banjhakri Falls

Local sights included Lingdum Monastery - peaceful with a breathtaking view, Banjhakri Falls - adored the 100 feet multi-level waterfall, Do-drul Chorten - typical Buddhist Stupa, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology - didn't realise so many variations of Buddhism and a Flower Show - amazing flowers and the show is on throughout the year!!!

Of course, what is life without a little adventure, I was lured into paragliding for an amazing view of both the city and the mountains around, that was the highlight of the day.

Unfortunately for us, NathuLa pass was snowed in and we couldn't get permits to go. So we had to settle for the glacial lake Tsomgo or Tshangu as it is called locally. Now a word about the temperatures before we go any further. They were brutal. Though I was prepared with everything I overlooked two things - footwear and gloves.  Gloves I didn't want to buy any but footwear was a complete oversite. I rectified it by buying boots at Gangtok on the second day. On the way to the Tsomgo Lake, with temperatures dropping by the second it was becoming unbearable. Like with all tourist places, locals were pretty enterprising, and we could rent jackets, boots etc. So we rented boots, the rubber ones which would keep the moisture out. And finally decided to buy gloves, which we can not rent. Totally worth the investment though.

Tsomgo Lake

Tsomgo Lake at an altitude of 12,400ft was an amazing, pristine beauty. The lake looked frozen, we took the locals' word for it didn't test it. There were multiple options - we could walk around in the snow risk slipping and falling or take a yak ride. We opted for the first option - slipped and fell and generally had fun!!!

On top of the World

Then, there is a ropeway taking us to a small hillock from where we had a breathtaking view of the Kanchenjunga peak. Nothing can beat the experience and no words can describe what we felt. And I got to play with snow!!!!

Due to the winter, the day ends very soon. The drivers would drop us off by 4pm and then we were on our own. Each of the three evenings at Gangtok, we visited the shopping areas and were tempted by all the woollens on display. Of course one evening for the want of anything to do, we visited the local cinema hall and watched Zero - both the movie and the theatre were a complete rip-off.

The next day was the drive to Pelling, situated at the base of the Kanchenjunga range. Visiting Namchi on the way to see Char Dham and Samdruptse Hill. Both had imposing statues which we could view all the way to Darjeeling.

Char Dham

Samdruptse

Triveni

The next day was the drive from Pelling to Darjeeling - a drive I would not forget in near future. The road was under construction, it was horrible all dug up. There were places where the road would be closed for construction work to proceed. Since the construction involved cutting the hill and the risk of landfall, the traffic would be closed for hours together. Luckily we hit these areas around lunchtime, so the workers stopped pretty soon. The distance of 100kms from Pelling to Darjeeling took nearly 6hours!!!! The highlight of the drive was Triveni - the confluence of two of the major rivers of Sikkim - Teesta and Rangit.

DHR, Darjeeling

Once we reached Darjeeling, though we were tired, we wanted to stretch our legs a bit. So after unpacking and freshening up, we went around the Darjeeling Mall road, and visited the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway station, had steaming hot momos. The joyride was overpriced and we were told it was not worth the money, so there ended my dream toy train ride.

The creme da la creme of the trip - watching the sunrise over Kanchenjunga from the Tiger Hill viewpoint. For this we had to go at 4am, to beat the crowd and to get a vantage viewpoint. From then on it was a waiting game, if you move you lose your spot if you don't move you will be frozen, literally, it was one degree!!! We survived, first the light crept it around 6am half an hour before the actual sunrise. We could see the peaks and all. I thought that was it, so disappointing. And then 6:20 am sunrise time, the sun's rays strike the peaks, the peaks turn orange, golden and bright. It was a sight to behold and we were lucky to view the Everest, too!!!!!! I can not and will not describe the spectacle in words, it was out of this world. Totally worth the effort.....

The next day entire Darjeeling was shrouded in clouds and no one could see the sunrise.

The Himalayas from Tiger Hill

The rest of the day was like a dream, we went to Batasia Loop - war memorial; Darjeeling Zoo which also houses the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute; Tibetian Refugee Center; Japanese Temple and Peace Pagoda and of course Tea Garden.

I was not impressed with Darjeeling or Sikkim. Two years back we visited Bhutan and people who saw the pics compared it with Sikkim, that was the main motivation for the entire trip. Though the scenery is much similar, the cities in Sikkim and Darjeeling were crowded with narrow dirt roads. We kept seeing posters of Swach Bharat, and Sikkim boasts to be plastic-free but felt like the basic sanitation and hygiene were lacking. Though one thing needs to be said about the people they are very friendly and polite, like in the movie theatre the couple sitting next to us offered us popcorn!!! And Sikkim being an organic state, I found the vegetables very tasty and meals sumptuous. Their local cuisine - Momos (yummy) and Thukpa (not a big fan of noodle soup) was also good, the chillis are supposed to be very hot, the chilli sauce served with Momos proved the point. Overall it was a satisfying trip (my Fitbit was ecstatic with me exceeding my daily goals), the closest I would get to the Himalayas, I guess!!!!