Riding through the heavenly North Bengal and East Sikkim! #lockdown

I was waiting for my upcoming April trip which already had been cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic but in the month of January I had no idea about the current situation happening,and at that time I was just really wanting to be in the Mountains again, as in the last trip I left my JBL flip 3 in the car mistakenly but the car owner promised me he would return it if I give a visit to his village. So suddenly I just started my journey from Odisha on 15th of January towards New Jalpaiguri with no proper plan. Inside the train I decided to ride through Zuluk and Gnathang valley via car owner's village. On 16th I reached there in the evening and rented a bike and decided to start my journey next day early Morning towards Gangtok as I have to take permits for Gnathang valley and Tsomgo Lake.

Well, next day I woke up and directly went to permit office and came back with a bad news that no more permits will be issued untill further notice as there was huge snowfall into the higher altitude area. I was upset little bit as my plan went into wrong direction. After few minutes I was checking where should I go now, so nothing came into my mind at that time and headed towards car owner's home at Rolep. I decided after reaching there I would decide where I should go to the next day. During my riding towards Rolep I had gone through many bad experiences while driving the bike. Bike tyres slipped twice as the roads became huge muddy due to rain. But safely reached there and car owner, named Goverdhan Gurung welcomed me with full of joy. Around 2 pm I reached there and after having Lunch he decided to take me to some places inside his village. Yes! I got a splendid view when he took me towards a Mountain top where a Monastery is getting built by the locals and I think it will be finished within 6 months. Then he took me to meet with his brother, sister and also parents. They are really cool and treated me like I had known them for a long time, it was feeling like a home for me! I had bonfire in the evening and there I little bit studied for where I should go to the next day and decided to head towards Dhotrey village near Darjeeling. It was a remarkable day at Rolep and I will visit here again.

So next day yes! I had to watch the sunrise and I think it was the best Sunrise I have witnessed till date. I seriously can't express it with my words. After breakfast I started my trekking towards Tonglu which is a 5 km uphill trek which will take around 3 hours. Through the deep jungles, having snow in the trails, I enjoyed my this journey also with the view of Kanchanjungha which was changing always. When I reached Tonglu, I just sat on a mountain top where Nepal is just few meters away and my heart is literally telling that I should not leave this place. I was watching how the clouds were playing with me. Enjoyed the sunset but after the sunset the temperature went down very fast and when I talked to some locals they told me that it's already minus. I met two new friends inside the homestay and decided to watch the Sunrise at tonglu top together.