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.