We finished our undergraduate and wanted to go on the best trip we ever have. And just as we thought we did. We (me and 6 of my friends) started from Chennai. Morning flight from Chennai to silliguri (West Bengal). We arrived around after. We have already made arrangements for travel through a travel agent. They picked us up from the airport and we started for pelling. Peilling is a beautiful town in West Sikkim. We reached and stayed in a hotel we prebooked.
We had our breakfast and visited a Buddhist monastery nearby pelling. And then travelled a little far to witness an engineering marvel, the singshore suspension bridge. Another night stay in pelling
We started our journey to the capital of Sikkim, Gangtok. On the way, we visited Ravangala Buddish monastery. That was a stunning place to be in. The Budhha there was stunning. Then we reached Gangtok. We arranged for our passes to Nathula pass. We stayed in Ganktok.
We had our breakfast and then started to Nathula pass. It sits @14k feet and we got all got little dizzy due to lack of oxygen. It was the best experience in our life. It is a part of silk route. And just as you reach the top point which you have endure through snow covered slipery steps, you can see China. My friend mobile detected China tower and he got charged for it😂. Jokes apart, as I said, the best experience in our life. We returned to Ganktok and stayed there for the night.
We started to Lachung, an amazing town in North Sikkim. It's almost a 7 hours ride, which was quite scenic. North Sikkim requires special passes, which for us was taken care of by the travel agency. We reached Lachung by nightfall. We stayed in a hotel. We had a horror experience. We have been allotted a section of the hotel with 4 rooms. In that we occupied 3 room and other was left empty with the door locked from outside. At around 10.30 pm, we were watching IPL, a door knock was heared. We thought someone is knocking the door common to the 4 rooms. And 2 of my friends went to check. But to our surprise the knock came from the locked door. We were in a confused and feared state. We just went to sleep.
We just left the hotel for the good and moved rooms to another hotel , very first thing in the morning. And then we started to zero point. Another snow covered border. It was another stunning experience we could hardly forget. On the way down to Lachung, we visited the beautiful yumthang valley and hot water well. Then we reached Lachung by evening and watched IPL ofcourse.
Trip was almost over. We packed our bags. This time it's all road from North Sikkim to silliguri. On the way, near WB border we went for river rafting. I never had such adrenaline rush in my entire life. Such a thrilling experience. After we done with that we left for silliguri. We explored the Hong Kong market in silligur and bought some stuffs. And then we went to railway station to catch out train (Humsafar express) which was scheduled at 2.00am, which eventually got delayed by 6hrs and reached by 8.00 am on the next day.
Full day of travel. Nothing much to say about this day. But we had lot say on this day about the experience we had in the past week. It was just a memorable journery just sharing our memories.
Another day of travel. Scheduled arrival of the train in Chennai was today @3.00 pm which reached only @11.00 pm😂. But never mind, we had Vijayawada biriyani for lunch to compensate the delays. That's it. Back to Chennai.
Overall this is the best trip in my life. Sikkim, just one word stunned us. I never thought I would get such an experience there. What we missed was Gurdongmar lake in North Sikkim, which sits @18k feet. Surely, I will visit this NE state again sometime soon and visit the places I missed.