May 10 | Got a sneak peek into the hippie culture from the flower-child of the late 60s

The trip was now drawing to an end and Kalimpong would pretty much be our last destination after which we will be on our way back. But who said one has to sulk on the last day of the trip, it’s in fact a day to enjoy even more because this day has the onus of reminding us what a great trip this has been and the day managed to do a super job of it.

The day started with some basic shopping and getting the luggage carrier repaired. We had our last breakfast at Baker’s Cafe and picked a few essentials for the trip and left from Gangtok at about 12:30PM.

The initial 27kms of the total distance from Gangtok to Kalimpong were pretty much retracing our way from Yuksom, so we reminisced our ride up. Gangtok was where we stayed the longest and i would personally think had the best time; be it the day trip to Tsomgo or our drive with Luckhpa to the highest point we have been on this trip, the memories have been etched in our minds and will stay there, hopefully for the rest of our lives. Sikkim had made a lasting impression on our minds. After having been to four states during the course of this trip, it was only today while exiting Sikkim that we actually felt bad and wished we had some more time here. We thought to ourselves how if we had a few more days, we could’ve done the trip to Gurdongmar Lake as well, but all these were thoughts and nothing could be altered, so the ride kept on.

After reaching Singtam, the roads except the last 18kms were plains and ran along the River Teesta. It’s during this ride that we could see a few different shades of river; violent like an ocean in the grip of a storm and calm as a lake in the mountains. With the river running along, the ride seemed like a breeze, we seemed to be flowing with the river and within no time, we were already at the foot of the hill that we had to go up to reach Kalimpong. Once up the hill, we checked a few places and there seemed to be enough options, but our impression of a Tourist Lodge hadn’t changed, so we went looking for one, after some effort we did find not one but two Tourist Lodges, but both were fully occupied, so we kept scouting for more places and came across this lane that went a little inside and pointed towards the ‘Park’. The hotel was nice, but we wanted to once check this small place we had seen just at the entrance of the lane. This is when we came across Hotel Cloud9 and on checking the rooms, decided to take the room even though they weren’t as comfortable as the ones at the Park. And i must admit it was a brilliant decision.

Binod Thamang, the owner of Cloud9 is among the few left from the hippie culture. He’s the erstwhile flower-child of the late 60s who grooved to the tunes of Beatles, high on spirits about changing the world and believing in a definition of utopia which could be achieved by just making things simple. Unfortunately the culture died but left behind a man who still reminisces the golden days. The difference is, now Binod runs Cloud9 and transports himself back to those beautiful days every time he finds someone who he could share his stories with. We got lucky and had Binod talking to us for hours about how he was a performer himself and has had so many others perform at his small hotel. He admits his lack of modesty and tells us, “i must admit, i’m one of the coolest guys in Kalimpong when it comes to the music scene” and frankly with the likes of Lou Majao jamming at his hotel, it does make Cloud9 the hot-spot for music lovers. More about the chat ahead, but before that, we had to step out to see whatever little we could of Kalimpong.

Being a small town, the place pretty much dies at 7:30PM and we managed to reach the market only at 7PM, so a little bit of looking around and the place was out and done with. But i much admit, there’s a lot to shop at Kalimpong especially apparel. We knew that there is a monastery at one end of town and from our experience at Mirik, the monastery tends to stay open even late in the night, so we decided to pay a visit. We could only see the structure but the stupas are now surrounded by a whole lot of people and an electric tower! We asked the cab to hang on there and start coming down from the monastery after ten minutes which is when we wanted to walk down the slopes. At one point, we could see over the cliff the town of Kalimpong below us, with the typical quintessential night light scene, but something brilliant happened here. First, the lights above our head went off, we thought it must be a regular power cut in the area we were, but a few moments later, another phase darkened and a portion of the city was darkened, then another and finally the last phase which dowsed the entire town in darkness but seeing it all go one phase at a time was like watching a Hollywood flick. The darkness was scary but soothing and just than our driver came and dropped us back to the hotel. Just as we entered, Binod announced, a little irritated that the dinner is ready and will be served, so we should just park ourselves directly at the table. We did not want to upset him and also it was dark so we didn’t see any point going to the room. We sat there to enjoy the very brilliant Bhutanese dinner. While we were waiting, Binod called his contacts to try and revive the electricity but was told that this is a big block and that it’ll stay dark for at least another hour. Binod still requested and hung up.

Binod has a clear rule, while he’s managing the hotel, he would drink only in the perimeter of the reception area, which means he had his glass with a large peg of Vodka with just water lying on the reception table from which he’ll sip at regular intervals. Half way down our meal, he came to chat and called for some special sauce that is his preparation; by the way, Binod is also an expert chef and supervises his restaurant personally. The sauce was yum and pungent, Binod seemed to enjoy the fact that we liked the sauce. He then asked us, how can young boys like us just have dinner and crash so early, he offered us a drink and said it was on the house with the caveat that only the first drink is on the house, if any follow will be charged. By now Binod was really warming up to us. We tried telling him that we need to leave early tomorrow morning, but he insisted so we gave in. When the drink was at the end, Sushant and i decided we should order another else it’ll look like we just had the free drinks and left. Our drinks ran parallel to Binod’s dinner and that’s when he told us about his hay days as a flower-child. After that, the evening seemed to fly with Binod getting his guitar and singing classic Beatles and Dylan for us till about 2AM! We hardly realized that the electricity had come back but the lights remained switched off and the candle light created the perfect ambience.

In the end, we settled the bill and Binod confessed that he’s not much of a morning person but will try his best to be up when we leave, we knew he won’t :)

Morals: Go by your gut while choosing a place to stay, sometimes the smallest of places can offer the best experiences. Budget sometime to shop at Kalimpong, especially for apparel. Don’t miss making a trip to the monastery at the top of the mountain. If at Kalimpong, make sure you visit Cloud9, at the least for on meal.

May 9 | Witnessed the best color contrasts ever

While our friendly travel agent had fixed Zero Point as the additional stretch that most tourists do not take up but during the journey Luckhpa spoke more enthusiastically about another similar place, Khatua. Last evening he wanted us to decide where we want to head. Even after knowing that we did not have the requisite passes for Khatua, Luckhpa said he’ll risk it and take us through if we wanted to. When we asked him for his opinion on which place we should go to, he was non-committal and we could not make up our mind last evening. So we decided to meet in the morning at 6AM and decide, but the debauchery from last night left us very tired and sleepy, so we managed to get out at about 6:45AM. At that time, we decided to leave without breakfast and first head to Yumthang.

Yumthang (3612mtrs) is where Sikkim’s Rhododendron festival happened a few weeks earlier. Rhododendron are bell-shaped flowers that bloom in thirty six colors! In the month of April, the entire valley is covered in these flowers, making it the second ‘Valley of Flowers’ after the one in the north. But unfortunately by the time we had got there (May), it wasn’t in bloom instead only a few places we could see the flowers. Nonetheless, they were beautiful. We saw them in Red, Lilac, Pink, Yellow and a few other colors. Yumthang had come highly recommended by locals and we had greater expectations, but we were kind of disappointed because all we saw were a hundredth of the flowers and a few snow capped peaks. By now, the expectations off Zero-Point had dipped, but we progressed.

Sleepy headed, initially our head kept bobbing on the sides because of the lack of sleep. But slowly the place started to reveal itself and i started getting busy with my camera. Its now that i realized that in my inebriated state last night, i had forgotten to charge my camera battery and i could not stop cursing myself. So i made an effort to conserve battery and not randomly keep clicking. By now we had started to assume that any place we go to, there’ll always be fog to play spoil sport and we should not expect anything very different from this either. We were in for some beautiful surprise. As we kept progressing further from Yumthang, the skies became clearer; and not just clear, but bluer as well. For me personally, this was one of the deepest shades blue that i have seen the skies in and there was too much around that was adding to the contrast.

On most maps, this stretch of the road is marked as a trekking path and not for vehicles which should give you an idea of why many don’t go this far but for us, this may have been one of the high point of our trip. On the way, we had the trench of the valley in blood red soil, the base of the hills in various shades of greens, water in the streams making their own way taking the color of whatever they passed over, mammoth rocks in shades of blacks and blues, dews hanging from the tip of the conifer trees shimmering in the sun like decorations on a Christmas tree, intermittent dense bushes of Rhododendrons adding pastel shades, snow capped mountains reminding us what pure white looks like and finally the deep blue skies filling gaps left in the top and over the horizon making it the most beautiful drive i’ve ever had. By now, we had forgotten that we were sleepy and were only lost in trying to keep our eyes as wide open as we could so that we could watch more of this beautiful surrounding.

Once we reached Zero Point (4624 mtrs) also called Yumesamdeng all we could see was a vast stretch of playground hidden between high mountains with patches of snow left from the last fall. Luckhpa suggested we just go take a walk around while he waits, in his mind this was a place for anyone to spend at max an hour. Even we didn’t see much more than a few tourists flocking towards the patches of snow and a few stalls, so we just started walking. For starters, we were not taking the same road towards the snow patch because there was just too much of a crowd, which is when we reached the thin stream, the sight of which made the air look cleaner. From a walk along the stream it moved to crossing the stream to going a few steps over the mountain to several breaks over which we were hardly spoke but just kept looking at the mountains around and the changing colors of the sky. We did not realize but we had climbed atleast an additional 150mtrs, infact Sushant climbed higher while i was busy panting and taking pictures. And that’s when we were the highest above sea-level over the entire trip, about 4770mtrs above sea-level, more than half way up Mount Everest! (Smaller pleasures of life :))

The walk down was tougher but we managed and it was now that we compared where we were on the mountain, to the sheer size of the mountain looking at it from the foot, we did climb quite a bit. Once we got back, Luckhpa smiled and said, “i knew you both are not the regular tourists, you’ll must’ve gone up the mountain” He had this smile that in a sweet way complained about how late we had gotten but yet how sure he was that we had fun. After the niceties, he got back to reality and told us that, there is a hot spring on the way and if we’d like to go there; but when we did not show interest he said, we didn’t miss anything because it’s apparently a concrete tank where the warm water is transferred artificially and with hundreds of people taking a dip, the place stinks. Heading back straight to the hotel, we had a quick bite and left for Gangtok.

It was a tough drive back because it got dark very soon and started pouring heavily. With the rain also came our closest friend on this trip, the fog, which brought the visibility to a mere 5mtrs or lesser. Even with the headlights we could hardly see anything, we even got our flash lights out, but it did not help much. Eventually, the journey did end and Luckhpa dropped us at the hotel. When we tried tipping him, he refused! When was the last time you heard someone refuse a tip? But with some serious coaxing, he did take it but it was a real heartfelt tip and not a formality.

We stepped out for a quick dinner and got back to just crash.

Morals: Always charge your camera batteries or carry spares. The Valley of Flowers blooms in April, so if that’s what you want to see, plan accordingly. Carry sufficient woolens while on this stretch, it does get quite cold. Be prepared for a rough ride. Never underestimate the weather, it’s out there to surprise you. Don’t just go to Yumthang and return, make sure you do the Zero Point, and if possible Khatua as well. If possible, carry a flask with tea when you go up on the hill at Zero Point, it’ll surely be beautiful to sip on chai when its sooo cold. Read about migratory birds in this region, there’s a good chance you may spot a few. Please avoid debaucheries before hectic trips like this.

May 8 | Met ‘Luckhpa’ the smartest and coolest driver one could have for a journey like this

Being a weekend, it was not just the tourists who were getting out of Gangtok, but the locals as well, hence it was a little fight for our friendly travel agent to find a cab for us, though later we found out the cab he assigned to us was his own, so don’t know what the fuss was about. Anyway, the permits also took sometime, so we were asked to report at Vajra Stand only at about 10:30AM. So after another good breakfast at Baker’s Cafe, we reached the stand in time only to end up waiting another hour for all to be fixed and packed and the departure.

Here we meet Luckhpa, our friendly driver cum guide on all matters of Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Nepal and the cultures of each of these places. We would guess he is about 27-29yrs old but with the wisdom and experiences to share of someone who’s over 40yrs. In the start he had realized that we were already late, but he needed to get his tyres checked, he rerequested and added, “don’t worry, i know we are late, but i’ll make sure we cover everything you want to watch” his confidence was striking and we almost knew that he would either be an asset showing us around or a talkative burden we’ll have to live with.

Along the way, Luckhpa had stories about most of the places and solutions to any of our problems, be it the need of an ATM or a quench for thirst, he would almost instantly fix the problem. He told us about various landslides that had happened on the way and how things were different on the road when he was at the same place the last time. On the way he gave us short notes about each of sights that had anything worth watching. He even told us about all the formalities that go into getting a permit and how far we could go on our bike without the permit. All this information was good, but Sushant seemed to be bored with all the waterfalls and overwhelmed crowds around these falls, so he asked Luckhpa to take us someplace that had fewer people but was a good scene to see. The solution had already popped in Luckhpa’s head and he knew where he would take us as a offering to our request. We continued on the roads watching the various waterfalls, one of them was the ‘Seven Sisters’, these are basically a single stream falling off a high cliff but falling on flat beds and falling over again seven times, which means there should’ve been seven falls in a single line, though we could spot only four, but still it was a good stop. Even in between, we kept stopping and sometimes just passing places that the others stopped at. Finally, just as we were reaching ‘Chamthung’, Luckhpa stopped to show us the construction of the dam across the River Teesta and the scale of the constructions was mind blowing. We can see why people didn’t generally stop here because to them this was hardly a scenary, but we, he realized would appreciate the scale. Its here he told us a lot about the original Sikkimese being the Denzongpas and the Bhutias, all others had either migrated or were offshoots of others who had migrated earlier.

The last 10kms Chamthung were probably the worst stretch in the entire journey. But once we crossed Chumthang, the drive was amazing and would be an even better ride. Again on the way, we came across more falls, a few discovered and a few others that were still virgin. All along the route we were moving along the river Teesta and other rivulets that eventually join the Teesta. When one would peep in the valley looking at the stream of water, it would look like a small stream of water surrounded by mammoth giant mountains covered in very thick garbs of trees, to which Sushant commented “This would be how Cambodia would look” and it reminded him of the movie Tropical Thunder where the choppers move along the valley. On the way we had stopped to flash our permits, where Luckhpa suggested we stock up on refreshments and water because all the things are twice as expensive at Lachung.

We reached Lachung around 7:30PM, the rooms were the kinds that we did not want to stay in when we reached Gangtok, but then it was just a night here and we did not want to make any fuss about it. When we had gone to the travel agent to book ourselves for Lachung, we wanted just the vehicle, and he said that we would not get rooms because all are always assigned to one travel agent or the other, so we should go for the entire package, but a mistake we made was that we did not go to the bigger agents, they probably would’ve been able to put us up at better places and just to find if there are any better places we ventured out and came across a Mayfair Hotels’ property. The place was lavish and looked expremely cozy from the outside so we went in to check on the tariffs and also spend sometime at the restaurant. To our surprise, the rooms were all full and they explained to us that because of the hotle being full they will not be able to servve us at the restaurant and that we look for another place, it was surprising how a hotel could refuse guests to the restaurants instead of suggesting a waiting period, but anyway, guess we understood and would not blam them.

Just taking a walk on the main street, we came across a small hole in the wall run by a man who was over 60yrs old. He seemed to be retailing the general store stuff and also alcohol, but we did not need the bottle, we just needed a drink or two, so we asked if he would serve us a drink outside and also organize two chairs to sit. He obliged and trust me it was a beautiful evening to sit out and sip on an Old Monk in the chill of the evening. Not in the first drink that he served but in the second, we realized, each of his large was basically a double of a large, a Patiala Peg! We were happy very soon and started to feel extremely hungry so requested for something to eat and were served Omlette. We requested the owner of the shop to sit and have a drink with us and he said that he would just stand behind the counter with his Chang (the local alcohol made from fermented millet seeds) but he told us a lot about how earlier he was into farming, but a lot of his land was taken over by the army to set their base here, it was difficult to judge if all he said was right so we did not want to take sides or form opinions. By now, we had completed our second drink and were joined by an officer from the Sikkim Police who had earlier served in the Army and the ITBP (Indo Tibetean Border Police) he was part of the contingent that came with some minister and part of the contingent was also the PSO and a few other officers. We had a general and entertaining chat about why our first guest left the army and eventually joined the police and what he intends to do once retired. It was a good and entertaining evening with the locals. But in the whole session, we forgot to eat enough food and drink lots of water and this would eventually catch up with us on our way to Yamthung tomorrow.

Morals: Local cab drivers very often have great stories to tell, so always befriend them and find out more about the place. No need to rush and reach Lachung, there’s nothing there, its a place to just go and crash, so rather soak in the scenary and other places on the way. Visit bigger travel agents if you are fussy about the room that you have to stay in, the ones provided are not extremely comfortable. If you find a place where you want to have a drink or spend sometime, ask the owner of the place, do not hesitate, the locals will most often oblige, even welcome you into their homes to make you comfortable.

May 7 | If groomed well, Yaks can look really elegant and cool

A visit to almost any part on the North of Sikkim needs a permit provided by the Tourisim office at Gangtok and since we wanted to head to Tsomgo in the afternoon, we headed to the tourism office early morning just to realize that the office opens at about 9AM. We then just peeped into the travel agent’s to see if anything can be done, and as all travel agents there are, this one too was enterprising and said, he’ll make it happen but leaving in the afternoon is not an option, we’ll have to leave by latest 10:30 and we agreed.

After a good breakfast at ‘Baker’s Cafe’, we headed to Vajra Stand at Gangtok which is where we had to meet our friendly travel agent who will put us onto the vehicle that will take us to Tsomgo. There are basically two options, either you take the sharing system, with which they charge a very reasonable INR250/300 per person, but they pack 10pax in a single Sumo/Maxx. We decided to make this comfortable so hired the vehicle to ourselves and the two of us paid an amount that they would make off 10pax, we did not regret the decision. We were given a nice clean, new Sumo Victa and the driver who called himself Kailash.

The drive to Tsomgo is everything other than not bumpy and safe. A distance of about 38kms takes more than 3hrs to cover. There’ve been multiple landslides int he past and the BRO is working hard on mending them and at the same time they are also widening the roads. So most of the journey feels like roller coaster ride in the mountains. But most of this discomfort is compensated with what you see a few feet away outside your window. The valley is beautiful and full of greens with roads tucked in between the foilage somewhere. The air in general is cold but not freezing, so it was pleasant but the smoke bellowed by the hundreds of tourist vehicles bothers. The attempt there is to connect the Gangtok ropeway to Tsomgo, that’ll make the journey much more comfortable and quicker as well. But come to think of it, i’m not sure if the place will remain as beautiful as it has remained even after the gross invation by over thirty-five chai and noodle stalls. A comfortable ride to this place means a lot more people, which means even more stalls, which means more of the scenic space taken over by even more stalls selling chai in plastic cups that’ll eventually land up in the lake killing the beauty and serenity of the place. Then is it still a good idea to make the ropeway? I would think it may be a bad investment, because without the serinity of the place, the lake has nothing else that is spectacular and once the hoards of people and stalls have killed the place, people would not want to travel there anymore and hence the investment by the government in the ropeway may be a dead investment!

Irrespective of what the future holds, we had a beautiful day to Tomgo, 4040mtrs above sea level. One can either walk the cobbled stoned path along a part of the lake or mount oneself on the giant decorated goog-looking Yaks who will take you to pretty much any part of the lake for a price. The two of us trekked much higher up into one of the surrounding mountains, high enough to have a nicer view of the lake. The ide was to go all the way to the top to see the valley on the other side, but mist started coming in which meant neither will we be able to see anything on the other side nor will we be able to see path back down clearly. On the desent down, we met the guard who was getting the people to leave because if the mist came in too heavy, the roads will become even more difficult to negotiate. It had been drizzling for sometime, but now it started pelting, which was the other reason to drive the tourists down the mountains beacuse roads get even further roggered with heavy rains.
Kailash our driver was to meet us at a specified stall, which we later got to know is run by his cousin, so while he’s waiting for his guests, he helps out with some work at the stall, so when we got there, we got a kind of special treatment. When we went there for chai and momos, Kailash sneaked us into an inside room, which had a fireplace in the centre area covered with tin and a chimney taking the smoke out of the room. The room was super cozy and the table was nice and hot. Sushant’s tees were soaked so he got it out and laid it on the table and it pretty much dried in sometime. After a quick chai, Kailash asked us to rush out because the rain seemed to get from bad to worse and that would not be good news for the roads downhill. Just as we were leaving the lake parking area, it started snowing while it was raining. We could see that it was not hail but snow and the worse part was that because the snow came down with the rain, we could not really feel the snow, but only see it crashing against the windshield.

On thedrive back we agreed that in the extra day that we have, we should make a trip to Lachung, its a beautiful little place tucked in North Sikkim. In the evening, we stepped out to find out the details and again landed up as another friendly travel agent who booked us a cab to Lachung, Yumthang and Zero Point along with accomodation and food as a complete package. Apparently, all agents there prefer people taking packages for obvious reasons.

Morals: If possible, plan a trip after checking if the Nathu-la pass is open for public because it’s not just the pass that one misses if the road is shut but also the ‘Baba Mandir’ and a beautiful lake close by. Unless you are really low on budget, take the cab all by yourself, its important to have a comfortable drive on these roads and space becomes crucial. Carry rain sheeters, it rains pretty much anytime of the year. If you see mist setting in and the rain persisting for long, please head back, the roads are not safe when wet and low visibility. There are patches of snow at places and if you want to play with it, it may be a good idea to carry water-proof gloves along.

May 6 | Would rate today as the worse day of my trip

We had a great stay here at the Red Palace, Yuksom and now was the time to head out for Gangtok. In the morning after a decent breakfast, we wanted to check out. Since we stayed here two nights and ate all our meals here, our bill ran into a few thousands and we realized that we were not carrying as much cash. But than considering this is one of the best hotel in Yuksom and also it looked it, we felt they would accept cash. And that’s when they told us that they dont and nor are there any ATMs in Yuksom nor are there any other establishments in Yuksom that could convert plastic to money.

To be frank, it was embarrassing to an extent and more so for me because just a day or two before we came to Yuksom, Sushant had told me its better to carry more cash when on trips like these rather than visiting ATMs regularly. I’ve always avoided carrying too much cash in the wallet because i’m not too good had holding one wallet or phone for a long time but this time it worked badly for me. Eventually we spoke to the owner of the place Ms Daichen Wangchuk Bhutia who was very cordial about the whole mess and provided the solution. We had to ask someone to deposit cash into the hotel’s account. Once done, we left but it was a somber start for the next destination, Gangtok.

On the way, we were further convinced that Sikkim is one of the more beautiful states in the North-East. The terrace farms, the umpteen suspension bridges along the rivers, the dense forrests on each of the mountains and most importantly the people. All put together the state made for a great road trip, the roads are mostly driver friendly and what you see around only makes the drive/ride so much easier. Most of Sikkim is at a height, so the weather overall is pleasant, again another reason to take off on the road anytime of the year. But do look at the seasonality of the places you are visiting before taking off.

The month of May being a peak holiday season, making a hotel booking in advance is a sensible thing to do, but since we were not sure about the dates of our travel, we did not. The manager at our previous hotel ‘The Red Palace’was helpful, he connected us to someone who could get us a room. Once we reached, we did contact him but the tariff at this stage seemed steep, so we went looking around. We went to many properties, a few nice a few decent and a few bad, and unfortunately, only the bad ones seemed to have a room available, so eventually decided to take the first contact but after we saw the room, we just had a feeling that we should try a little more and that’s when we came across ‘Sonam Delek’ on Tibet Road, i would strongly recommend the deluxe rooms here, they are reasonable on tariff, have a clean hotel, a spacious neat room with a balcony and a nice view of the sunset. We settled in and called a few friends to find out the best way to spend the evening and the two places that came up were ‘Live and Loud’ on Tibet Road and ‘Little Italy’ at Deorali. Since the prior was closer, we went there first but the band who was scheduled to play that eve, cancelled last minute, so we headed to Little Italy. Its a sweet place, where one could feel like in Goa while in Gangtok because of the decor and the ambience in general. Reasonably priced, the place serves decent food with live music, would recommend anyone in Gangtok to visit there once. But one caveat, if you are staying anyplace other than Deorali (which is a suburb of Gangtok and where Little Italy is) than either make sure to leave the restaurant before 9PM or else book a cab to take you to your hotel later. I would not recommend the first option because 9PM is when the band would’ve finished warming up and will now play the real stuff and for the second option, bargain with the cabs.

A bad start but a good end to the day. Tomorrow we had assigned to some looking around the city and probably visit Tsomgo in the afternoon. The Nathu-la pass is shut because of land-slides and reconstruction of roads hence its just the lake that we are visiting.

Morals: ALWAYS cary extra and enough cash while you are biking around, if necessary stash it in different places in the bag, but make sure you have cash, especially while visiting smaller places. If travelling is peak season, try to make prior hotel bookings in major cities/towns you are visiting. Always find locals to tell you the best place to spend for evenings and if you are a music person, look for the place that has live performances, it’s always interesting to watch local talent. Almost anyplace except Delhi and B’bay i realized shuts shop early and a few places even very early, so if you are headed to someplace that’s not walking distance from your place of stay, make sure to book a cab in advance (Can’t be riding after the drinks!).

May 5 | I wished everyday was like today

We were craving for clear skies and that’s just what the weather had to offer after a heave downpour yesterday. The plan was to look around Yuksom and experience the places and the weather. Our guide and also the manager at the hotel suggested a small lake called ‘Kathok’ also just close to that is also the ‘Coronation Throne of Norbugang’ where the three Lamas met in 1641.

Yuksom which means the meeting place of the lamas was the first capital of Sikkim but it has nothing that can qualify to be even a tier two town now. The roads leading to the Red Palace can be really tough on the tyres so we wanted to avoid the bike ride on them often, so we just took off on a walk after breakfast.

Our first stop was the Kathok Lake, well, when we first saw, it didn’t look like anything great but we decided to generally hang around and then it started to rain and then it just got more and more beautiful. Make sure to spend time chilling here, it’s superbly peacful under those trees looking at the lake. From there a stone’s throw distance is the Coronation Throne, again nothing great to look at but has a great historical relevance.
Another place to visit is the Monastry, but that requires one to hike and frankly both of us were in no mood to exert so we decided to take it easy for now, get lunch done and then decide about the trek or plans for the afternoon and eve. We called for a few beers and followed that with lunch and but obvious, we were all lazy, but then the weather gave us the sign that today is the time to chill at the hotel just sipping on some alcohol and looking into the oblivion. The skies were scary black but a sight to look at, just sitting there i was thinking “What a day and way to spend the day, i would love to do this more often” The eve went past just relaxing and looking at the skies while the skies threw dark clouds and rainbows at us. We crashed early today because we will have a long ride tomorrow heading to Gangtok.

Morals: Have chill days like this planned in every trip, it completely rejeuvenates you for the next round of the trip. While chill days are important, we missed a good trek, make sure you take the trek to the monastry, or the place where the Goechala trek begins, both the places are beautiful and not to be missed.

May 4 | The colors here are striking.

The window in our room at the Phamrong over looked the Kanchenzonga, well that’s what was told to us when we checked-in, but this morning, we witnessed it. The elusive Kanchenzonga showed up once more but again, in parts, covered in mist and extremely difficult to identify one peak from the other. I clicked and clicked trying to get a good shot, but the mist really killed what the camera could see from what i could see with the naked eye.

For breakfast we went to ‘Kabur’, the same place we went for dinner last night. Last night’s meal did not convince us enough to blindly go with the local cusine and instead we had continental, but after the experience, we would recommend you just go with the local sandwiches and noodle soups. The first half of the day was assigned to places around Pelling, not many but a few that come well recommended by travel guides and locals alike.

We first went to the ‘Pemayangtse Monastery’; it’s the bigger of the two monasteries at Pelling. There are three floors that are open to the people, the first and second are predominantly ancient paintings on the wall, idols of ‘Manifestations of Lord Padmasambhawa’ locked in class cabins and hundreds of scriptures wrapped in silk and sandwiched between wooden planks, but the third floor has something more majestic; it’s a 15-20ft tall structure full of intricate carving which enumerates the learning and life of the Gods. One could spend a lot of time just staring into the structure and discovering interesting details. Just another 10mins ride downhill and we reached the ‘Ruins of Rabdentse’; the erstwhile capital of Sikkim has been declared a site of national heritage and maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India. A hike of about 500mtrs along cobble-stoned paths leads to the ruins which have been immaculately maintained.

After checking-out of the hotel, an hour long ride intermittently interrupted by potholes brought us to the ‘Khecheopalri Lake’ (1800mtrs above sea-level), held sacred by the people of Sikkim as the wish-fulfilment lake it is surrounded by trees and mountains on all sides. It’s not just the lake, but there’s an option of a 2.5hr hike up the mountains that leads to Duphuk Caves (2400mtrs above sea-level), we could not do this due to paucity of time, instead we just paid our visit to the lake and wished for a safe trip. Among the ones who visit the lake are not just tourists but birds as well who move within the mountains and the lake. Also, the place is full of locals who are anytime willing to talk about the lake and other topics like which one of the two has better muscles. After this we were on our way to Yuksom. Again, the roads were beautiful, packed with greens with sights of roads and mountains on the other side of the valley and rivulets flowing at every major bend, but with a few roadblocks and bumps on the way. While on the way, one of our pit-stop was the ‘Kanchenzonga Waterfall’, i still wonder why it’s called that, but it has its little settlement of people hawking chai and nick-knacks. Yuksom was just another 9kms away, so we took it easy here. A 2min hike up the stairs and you see the water gushing from about 50feet and falling into a small pond. Suzy and i picked droplets just falling off the edge and followed it till it entered the pond, it kept us busy for a while.

The final ride to Yuksom was watered down with heavy showers and it continued like that for the rest of the evening and part of the night that i was awake. We checked ourselves into this new property called ‘Phodrang Marpoo’ also called as the ‘Red Palace’, just 7months old, it is set on the outskirts of Yuksom but the quality of rooms and serenity of the place worked in its favour and we did not think twice. Once in, we experienced the best service till now. Once the bell-boy (Karma) carried our bags in, he even undid the covers and used them to wrap the bike safe because it rains heavy here, we were impressed. The property is owned and run by Danny Danzonpa’s elder Sister-in-law and they even pointed the house in which young Danny spent his early years. The walk/ride up to the hotel comes through some dense growth, hence it is recommended to keep checking yourself for any leech or other insects, just a precaution.

The colors that one watches along the journey; be it the Monasteries, the flora and fauna, the lake, the people or even just the ride is beautiful and one to watch out for. The Monasteries will show you the most jhatang reds and yellows, the ride and lake soothes the eyes with the greens and the flowers, especially the orchids come in the most brilliant shared of pinks, whites and reds. Sikkim till now is feeling like a color pallete where we have lot more to discover by mixing and matching the shades from each of the above.


Dinner was a basic meal but before that, we were served ‘Seychang’, it’s the local brew made from Millet Seeds and served in a big flask with a bamboo straw jutting out draw the brew into the mouth. It’s a warm liquid that draws its flavour from the seeds that have been earlier soaked and dried in jute bags next near a fire. It’s an acquired taste hence not all will relish it, but definitely worth a try.

Morals: Pelling and Yuksom are very small towns, don’t expect much variety in places to stay or the food. Khecheopalri Lake is quite a distance away from Pelling town, keep enough time to spend there, the trek to the cave could be an interesting experience. Try the Seychang, if you can handle warm alcohol, you will love it. Beware of leech and other insects while walking around.

May 3 | We experienced the fastest decent from an altitude

Darjeeling had been a great experience, the food at Kaventers, the music at Gllenary’s, our first view of the Kanchenzonga and a lot more but now was the time to head out. Our next stop would be Pelling, which means we will be crossing state border today, from West Bengal to Sikkim. Our guide suggested a route that went back to Ghoom and take a detour from there to reach Teesta Bridge, then Jorethang, Legship and Pelling. We intended to take the route but generally asked at the Tourist Lodge receptions if there’s a quicker route and there were the many drivers who have spent years driving through these routes and they had an alternative, but the caveat was that while the route is much shorter, the ride will b tougher because the inclines are tough, but we were up for the challenge.

We lave from Darjeeling at about 8:30AM and decide to take the shorter route. This route basically cuts short the trip to Teesta and instead reaches Jorthang from a back route takeing a detour before Lebong. It started just as we were exiting Darjeeling, just near the North Point school, which is a beautiful school, we had to take the left that brought us down at lightening speed, even with breaks and the engine in the first gear, it was not easy and this continued for over an hour. The incline were mind blowing, each hair-pin bend brought us down about 20mtrs in altitude and this does not include the stretches of roads which were equally steep. But with the steering handle in the able hands of Sushant, we cleared this stretch safely.

On the way we passed many locals carrying the days pluck of tea leaves to the small ‘Mandis’ where they would offload and get their day’s wages. We are sure the work must’ve been extremely strenous because one could make that out from the build of the women, they almost looked like men. Further down the road, we came across the Rangeet River passing us and a little ride closer to the river was difficult to resist. Nothing great about the river, just a large stretch of deserted land with the river flowing and some activity happening at a distance. From here on, the cruise got more an more pleasant; we passed a small village where a lad was trying to practice playing the guitar, kids generally fooling around and the surrounding got more and more picturesque. Further down the road, we crossed the Rangeet to reach the Sikkim Border. While we did not get asked for it, but foreigners definitely have to register their pasport and visas here. Even Indians are asked where they are from and if the replies seem suspecious, papers could be demanded, but nothing like messing with the tourists aimlessly, these are the rules set by the Sikkimese govt because Sikkim shares it outer border with Nepal, Bhutan and China.

We just touched Jorethang and headed towards Legship, a beautiful ride i must admit, the lush greens in Sikkim were a different hue from most that we have seen on the ride in the past twenty days. Also, as soon as you cross over from WB to Sikkim, you will start noticing that the roads are better marked with milestones and directions, it helps and goest to show how a better managed BRO (Border Roads Organization) functions. There were few stretches where getting the bike across was tough, but those were negligible and were made up by the extremely friendly locals who never fell short of waving to us. It was sweet!

We had a grub at a restaurant called ‘Trishna’ at Legship and from there moved towards Pelling. Again a land of umpteen schools and beautiful campuses, you must keep looking out from the school buildings, it’ll make you wish you studied there. The stretch is covered with vegetation with people growing maize, potatoes and a few other crops. Being mountains, it’s beautiful to see the step farming in action, it makes the mountains look so organized. Sikkim is a land of monastries and on every stretch after regular intervals, we found these long flags hoisted on bamboo, not one but many in a row, these are to protect the people and the land from eveil forces from across worlds and borders.
Pelling is a small town that has recently started inviting tourists, so there are no big names there but smaller lodges. We looked at Kabur, Green Valley and Phamrong, while it was the steepest, it had the best view and clean rooms so we settled at Phamrong. Later in the night for dinner, we went for a walk around the town and found that 80% of the shops or buildings there are restaurants or hotels, which is the clear sign of a tourist city. The roads, except the main junction did not have lights and we had to use the phone flash to direct us, it would’ve been nice to have carried our torch. On the way there are a few other hotels we found like the ‘Residency’ and ‘Chumbit’ which looked decent but now it was too late. Eventually for dinner we came to ‘Kabur’ a quaint little place with a lot of local art displayed all over the restaurant. We tried some local food and ordered for ‘Thukpa’ and ‘Geythuk’ which are pretty much the same gravy but different type of hand made noodles. The portions were extremely large, ideally one between the two of us along with some momos would’ve done just fine.

Tomorrow the plan is to vist a few local places and then head for Yuksom.

Morals: Check the bike, brakes and tyres before taking the route to Jorethang from Darjeeling. There’s not much on the way, so carry grub and a bottle of tang, it helps in those times. Be cordial and willing to talk to the cops at the Sikkim border, they are not there to harrass but just doing their duty diligently. When moving around in Pelling and other small towns, always carry a torch along. Portions at Kabur are huge, order with caution.

May 2 | Thoughts on Steroids

It was the first time where we had the whole day in the same town, until now, either early morning or sometime later we would take off for our next destination, today felt relaxed. But even with a whole day in hand, we were feeling the paucity and were working hard to plan well enough to not miss anything important.

The plan was to head to Tiger Hills at 4AM or earlier (yes, if one has to lay their eyes on the sunrise, this is the time to leave) but we did not go because it was raining outside and the sky was heavily overcast, which meant we would never get to watch anything from the point. After staying tucked in for an additional few hours, we were now ready to gorge on some good food and scavenged through the place for a good breakfast. But before that we needed some bed tea and when the guy came to serve, he told us that the Kanchenzonga range is visible right now, we rushed out of the room into the lawns and laid our eyes for the first time on the elusive range. It’s difficult to describe it in words what it is to look at those mountains. While we could not see the entire range, we kept guessing which one of these is the Kanchenzonga and which are the others. It was a window of about 20mins after that the clouds pulled their curtains on the range leaving nothing more to watch from the hotel lawns. But while watching the range sitting there on morning tea, my thoughts went wandering about how it would be to be there, it was as if my thoughts were intoxicated and could not take a break.

Kaventers came highly recommended for cold cuts and English breakfast, so that’s where we headed. We had taken the bike along and faced some serious issues to find parking, but later when we went up to the cop, he asked us to park at a place where the board suggested, it was meant for Govt Officers and when we pointed that out to him, he asked “Do you want to park or no?” We sheepishly agreed.

Darjeeling is the hub of the Gorkhaland agitations and it’s very often that political rallies with a cavalcade of cars will pass through the narrow lanes of the city. These are normally boisterous young lads who are not there to harm the people in anyway, they are just asking for what they want but a little more loudly than most of us would have. If you do come across a rally, halt and let them pass. Even we came across a rally, though this was something more religious, but what was insane was the length, we did exactly as i told you should be done and ended up waiting and waiting and waiting!

Kaventers has slow service, may be because a few of the servers also cook the order, so be patient, they are generally a nice bunch, just a little overworked sometimes. They have a dish on the menu that has a little of all the meat; Sausage, Bacon, Salami, Pork served along with eggs done as per your choice. The meat in a single dish is enough for two, so order accordingly. Also, remember that they shut shop for breakfast by about 11:30AM, so get there early.
From here we headed to the HMI (Himalayan Mountaineering Institute) the complex houses a Zoo, 2 museums and the institute itself. It’s definitely worth a visit. I found the enclosures for the animals much better than what you find in all other Indian zoos, they were on the incline of the hill and no cage on top with decent area to move around. Though most of the animals seemed sluggish, am not sure why. The HMI area houses two museums; the HMI museum and the Everest museum. While have not been maintained as they should have been the Everest museum is more interesting. They also have a souvenir store, make sure you check what you buy; i got a compass that stopped working as soon as i got back to the hotel.

Tea Garden was what we were looking for now. We were looking for Rangli Tea Estates, but after a whole lot of finding and directions all over the place, we finally figured that it’s really far and may not be doable today, so instead we went to the ‘Happy Valley’ Tea Estate. It’s a little difficult to spot while you are in the vehicle, but ask a few people and you will figure your way. Since it was Sunday, the factory was closed, but the Gorkha was kind enough to show us around. Make the trip it’s interesting to know how the tea that you drink is actually processed.
Sushant had an interesting insight about the bad directions here, he figured that the town is full of mini towns; as in, after every 15mins you will find an area that will have its own shopping, eating, staying, sight-seeing areas, so when anyone asks for directions, it’s always “Aagey” but how much further is for you to find out.

By now we were pretty pooped and needed to little drink to unwind, so we headed to Glenary’s again for a drink and dinner. ‘The Buzz’ today seemed pretty dead, so we went to the restaurant had our little revitalizers and grub and headed back to the hotel.

The plan is to leave for Pelling tomorrow morning.

Morals: I’m not sure but maybe April onwards is a bad time because we have been encountering sever fog and cloud cover all the time, but keep a watchful eye, the Kanchenzonga ranges come out for a sneak peak, make sure you catch them in those moments. Incase of any rallies on the road, just give way, they are peaceful rallies. Plan your meals well, restaurant have clear timings and will not serve after a certain time whether its breakfast or dinner. If you are into trekking and mountaineering, do visit the HMI, but if that doesn’t you may want to skip this place, the zoo though is interesting.

May 1 | Even Monks can be extravagant

On a strong recommendation from our hosts, we went to catch the sunrise at 5AM at the Mirik helipad, yes, Mirik does have a helipad. What made it the morning worse was that the shower did not have hot water and i had a cold shower at Mirik, at 5AM! All over the east of India, the sunrise happens substantially early and since i am from the west, it amused me that it was bright outside even at 5AM.

The helipad was right next to the Model Hotel that we had gone to yesterday; actually it’s a huge clearing and tarred circular area on the peak of the hill. Once again, the sky was heavily clouded and we ended up seeing nothing at all after having been there for over an hour. But from what uncle told us, this is a beautiful view if the skies are clear. Returning back, we got some chai back at the lodge and headed for the ‘Bokar Ngedhon Choekhor Ling Institute’ which was essentially the monastery we had tried going to yesterday to get a place to stay. It’s a red building with golden roofs that make the building easy to identify from any distance. Inside it has the main prayer hall building that houses the body of the monk who first came to Mirik to establish this monastery. They open that room only on very auspicious days and today is not one. Apart from the main building there are classrooms and living quarters for the lamas, smaller temples, admin block and open areas. The main prayer hall is open for all to see and we witnessed the Morning Prayer with about sixty lamas sitting around on benches with a senior monk leading the prayers. Kids as young as four and five are enrolled here and can’t be blamed if they are not the most attentive lot i have known. Even here the back benchers are still the naughtiest. We also went to the living area, where the lamas lived a very simple life but the prayer hall was nothing less than opulent with intricate painting on walls, ceilings and pillars.

It was time to leave and this time to Darjeeling for sure without any more detours. We were hoping that the skies are clear and we can see all that we missed yesterday. In the start we passed by a few tea gardens, the biggest of them all was the Goodricke Gardens. On the way de decided to just take a stroll on in one of the gardens that did not have a fence. It was a good walk with greens around us.

Passing ‘Fatak’ we noticed many cabs around a particular junction, a little curiosity and decent eyes took us to the board that read ‘Photography Prohibited. Nepal Border’. For us it was just overwhelming to be at a border in such proximity. Curiosity and kiddish excitement made us get the bike and camera registered to enter Nepal. The only papers required are the vehicle RC papers and driving license, if you have these you are eligible to enter another country. But once we got ourselves registered at the India side, we were asked to go with a similar drill on the other side as well. These guys were more inquisitive about the bags, but we were in no mood to open them incase they ask us to, so we decided to retreat.

Another point on the way is where one can look across the Nepal border, but again, we could not see anything. But another interesting incident happened here; we met two other bikers, another Delhi-B’bay duo. One of the guys, Donny works with MTV and we even figured that we had a common friend. The world felt like such a small place and makes the ‘seven degrees of separation’ so much more believable. Donny was headed to Bhutan after a few other stops and promised to let us know the details, i’m sure we will catch up once back in B’bay.

Sukhia onwards the air was again fogged and we could not see anything beyond 10-15mtrs. A careful ride and we were at Ghoom from where it’s just 8kms to Darjeeling. Being the weekend, it was even more crowded and entering Darjeeling felt like entering a city except that the roads were all inclines. The traffic’s quite a mess and one needs to be patient because the roads a not wide enough to allow overtaking. It was about 4PM; we looked for the Tourist Lodge and parked ourselves here before heading out to grab a bite. Our guide book suggested a few places and we landed at ‘Glenary’s’ which is very close to Chowrasta. The place had three layers; the first floor was the restaurant, ground was the bakery and we could hear some good music coming from the basement which was the pub called ‘The Buzz’. The pub with its window opening into the Mall Road and decent interiors was a hangout for the local musicians, there was no single band playing but people from the crowd would come up to play. It was a good evening.

For dinner we had booked ourselves at the ‘Windamere Hotel’. It had a common dining hall with a fixed menu. It was a beautiful setup with candle lit tables and extremely formal looking service, but we felt out of place, we were looking for a beer place with good food, but this was more like the place that one may want to come with his girlfriend. So we went scavenging the city and landed at Dekevas where we had steaming thukpas (noodle soup) which was mind blowing. After which we retreated back to our room and crashed.

Morals: There will always be places to visit and sometime they would be best only with a clear sky, but just because its overcast don’t miss the place because you don’t when the sky clears or you find something else that is as interesting. Randomly go for a walk in any tea garden, it’s a little hot but worth it. Always carry personal identification and vehicle papers at all times, keep them handy. North-east has a great talent in music; always make it a point to visit the local pubs to catch the action. Most small towns shut by 8:30PM and so does Darjeeling, so plan well to make sure you have a meal for yourself.

April 30 | Met the sweetest Lodge Hosts ever!

The plan was to head to Darjeeling and since that was not too far, we thought; why not rest till a little late this morning. We got up at an easy 8PM, and after some decent English breakfast at the Tourist Lodge restaurant, we took off for Darjeeling. Since a friend from B’bay, Shyamal Sinha who has done this route in the past told us to visit Mirik; we thought we’ll go there on the way and then head to Darjeeling.

We started the journey anticipating about a 35-37kms ride today because that’s how much Darjeeling is from Kurseong, but the road had something else in mind for us. When we reached the junction at ‘Ghoom’ which is 8kms from Darjeeling, the signboard suggested ‘Mirik’ as 35kms from Ghoom! We were now confused whether to visit Mirik at all, so we asked around about what’s there to watch at Mirik and everyone seemed to suggest a beautiful lake, so we decided to go there and drive back incase the city is boring.

But guess, the weather gods were not favouring us today as well and threw in heavy fog on the way, this substantially slowed us down. Instead of an average of 30-35kmph, we went down to less than 10kmph on this stretch. The fog was dense enough to afford only about 5-7mtrs of visibility add to that the roads were potholed and narrow and there was heavy traffic on the opposite side. Since it was not very cold at Kurseong, we had worn light warms but after Ghoom, the nip grew and so did the pelting, we were both cold so even with the hardship of having to open all the plastic covers of the bag and repack, we stopped at a little shelter by the road to get a few more warms and also put the camera in a more safe place. Shelters like this can be found across the route at regular intervals.

On the stretch there are two important villages; Sukhia and Fatak where you will find some people and food if necessary. We stopped at Sukhia which is about 10kms from Ghoom and had hot chai and steaming momos served with soup at this hole-n-the-wall called Emmanuel. Someone told us that fog will recede after Sukhia, but that did not really happen so we continued inching towards Mirik, by now our expectations from Mirik were mounting. After Fatak though, after losing some altitude, we could see much more clearly. The stretch from there is quite full of Tea Gardens with lush green shoots ready to be picked. We did not really stop because we felt that else it would get dark and we’ll not be able to enjoy the view at the Lake.

But after reaching Mirik’s famed lake, we were grossly disappointed, so much so that we didn’t even get off the bike to walk around it. Also by now it was already late and going back to Darjeeling was not a possibility because with the road like the one we came from riding in the night would be dangerous. Since our experience at the Tourist Lodge was good at Kurseong, we looked for one here as well but unfortunately they were all booked for a conference. The guy there suggest another Govt Tourism property called Model Hotel which he pointed out to us and it looked just the kind of place we were looking for, one with a good view. But there was no water supply in this property so even they left us still looking. But before that, let me tell you that this Model Hotel if functional is a good place to stay. We went down to a few more hotels and checked out the rates and rooms, we eventually had one place where we could stay.

Riding through the city, we had noticed a huge monastery over the hill and casually thought to ourselves that it would be quite an experience to stay in a monastery for a night and this made us go and check at the monastery if they’d let us stay there. It was our NEGA (for those who don’t understand this, it is a Negotiations Course at the ISB) at its peak; Sushant would keep pushing the monk to check and get back even when the monk said they don’t allow, but unfortunately they refused so we decided to come back to the hotel where we had already identified a room. Don’t know what really struck Mirik, but suddenly all the properties were full, we were just not finding rooms. Eventually we came to this lodge called ‘Buddha Lodge’ run by an old couple Mr and Mrs S. K. Tamang. When i asked for rooms while Suzy was waiting outside; before anything else, aunty asked me who will be staying with me, male or female and when i said male she was perplexed and looked like she wanted to ask if we were going to do anything wrong. That’s when i got it and told her a little about us and re-assured her about our characters. From there on, she was a sweetheart. Even uncle when he came out he was super nice and helped us with a lot of stuff and made a personal recommendation of the room we should select, i went with his recommendation.

Just as were about to leave for dinner, the lights in the town went-off and uncle said that this does happen often. The recommended restaurant didn’t seem too appealing because we were looking at a drink to go with the food but could not really say that to the couple. So we went on the lookout and decided to go with ‘Jagjit' is one of the only decent restaurants there, the food was decent and not extravagant.

Getting back home, we just showered and crashed.

Morals: When in these areas, never assume anything about the weather, it can change in matter of minutes hence don’t pack your warms while leaving for journey. Always check your lights before the journey, in times of fog, lights work efficiently to warn the ongoing traffic of your being in front. Small places on the road can sometimes serve great food and also provide a breather, so keep experimenting on the way. If you have found a room but need some time to check a few other properties, make sure you request the hotel to hold the rooms for you while you get back.