A City Amongst the Himalayas-GANGTOK......

Who doesn't want to experience the magic of Himalayas.......no one right!!!! ,When you think of Himalayas we often imagine Kashmir ka gulmarg ya Himachal ka Manali which are indeed heaven on the earth kind of places.... But we do know from geography that Himalayas extend all over the north till the north east border.right...! So we thought y not explore off beat(for South Indians 😅) places of Himalayas...then we thought of Gangtok, the capital city of Sikkim .
        Wow.......yes that's the word that came out my mouth as we saw the city...it's a huge city amidst of Himalayas , offering killer views ,in any direction u see....it's just breathtaking😇.
        We got ourselves a room with view to enjoy the scenic beauty of the city at hotel mendang which is slightly towards the city outskirts but never regretted it due to the killer views it has to offer....
         Day:1 we reached Siliguri and took a cab from there to Gangtok  ,which took nearly 4-5 hrs but never on the way were we bored ,bcz along with us came the beautiful river Teesta offering magnificent views with it's turquoise waters and white sand basins with green colored Himalayan background it just was a like picture from all those calendars (which we used obsessed about as kids😝). 
         On the way we had a town named kalimpong which offers white water rafting on river Teesta for all the adrenaline junkies out there .....
         Once in the city u can explore MG market  which is a main market in Gangtok,were you can find all high end brands along side the local shops , downtown to MG market is laal market which is more of a Street market offering local Tibetian items and clothes for much cheaper prices ,as we went there in the Feb which is still winter ,most of the shops consisted mainly of woolen clothes and accessories.which are cheaper in Gangtok ,as they do not have national tax here.
        Along side the woolen clothes ,the other must buy things here are Sikkim cups,Sikkim key chains and Sikkim flags which are so colorful and beautiful.
      Day :2 in Sikkim we visited the Nathula pass which is Indo Chinese border which is about 50 kms from Gangtok at an altitude of nearly 14000ft above sea level,which was completely covered in the snow and we had experienced Snow fall as well ,which made it extremely cold and freezing . No pictures are allowed in the Nathula as it is a sensitive area and controlled by military .we need to take a permit to visit the Nathula pass as only 60 vehicles are allowed up there ,our cab service charged us 5000 rupees for nathula alone ,which we could not digest ,yet we could not leave this once in a lifetime time  opportunity.
           In the same route of nathula to Gangtok we have two more tourist places to visit namely Baba mandir and tsongo lake.
       Baba mandir is a temple constructed in the honor of Baba Harbhajan Singh who died near this place and later appeared in fellow soldiers dream and asked to construct a temple for him. He is considered as "Spirit of Nathula" and believed to give strength to the soldiers here.
       Tsongo lake is the Picturesque lake amidst of the mountains mirroring the Himalayas with bearth taking views.it is mostly frozen during winter which doesn't make it any less beautiful.you can ride a Yak and get on a rope way here.
       Tsongo lake is the only place in these route where you have shops and restaurants in the whole route as rest is maintained by military.here you can have a home cooked meal and rent extra jackets and boots for the snow.
      Tsongo lake is my fav in this route 🤩🤩.
In this route there's also a view point to watch the gigantic Mt Kanchenjunga.
      This is what I experienced in Gangtok in my stay of 2 days ,I'm pretty impressed by the city and the people.but not the cold as it was freezing at night (do keep this in mind if you plan to go in winter,it's literally freezing in Gangtok in winter).