A Trip to Heaven of India

"Its better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times"

This quote is perfect for such a lovely place.

Siliguri is the place where you need to land first before entering to Sikkim because Sikkim does not have any railways or operational airport. Sikkim is approximately 120 km from Siliguri. You can reach Siliguri by bus, train or flight.

We explored some places in Siliguri also because one of my friend's bus was running late. There are various shared taxis and buses running from Siliguri to Gangtok which is cheaper way to reach there. We all started from Siliguri to Gangtok by shared taxi and reached Gangtok in evening. You get to see beautiful landscape on the way to Gangtok with Teesta river flowing beside the road. Teesta river is also famous for white water rafting and it starts in Kalimpong area. Rangpo is border town of Sikkim where check post is there. It was time during which corona was spreading in India so they were checking at check post. We reached Gangtok in evening at around 6PM after which we checked in into our hotel.

We had to book 2D/1N plan for North Sikkim on the same day. So we went to M.G. Marg for booking but we found the deals costly. My friend contacted a guy of Dreamland tour who has offered the tour plan affordable. He is very genuine guy and I recommend you to contact him for any tour. We booked for 2D/1N to Lachung and Yumthang Valley and 1D tour for Changu lake. We hired the whole vehicle but there are option of getting in shared taxis which are cheaper. After booking, we explored the famous M.G. market which is unique in its own way. Its such a beautiful place surrounded by nice shops, cafe and restaurant. You can do shopping over here and enjoy wide variety of foods in different restaurants and cafe.

We left for Lachung at 11 Am. It takes around 6-7 hours to reach Lachung including the halts at view point and waterfall on the way. Lachung is very remote village located in the North Sikkim. Everyone is friendly in Sikkim and they will always be ready to help you. One more good thing about Lachung is that plastic is completely ban in Lachung and Lachen which makes them completely clean. Lachung is home to the Bhutia people and have unique system of self governance body called Zumsa. Our hotel was booked by the tour organiser and it was located at the perfect place near the river where you can enjoy the burbling of river along with the chirping of birds. It was really chilly night over there with temperature falling below Zero degree Celsius. Our hotel was more like a home stay and they provided us very simple style local food which was perfect for us after a long 6 hr journey.

We left for Yumthang valley at 7 am in the morning. You need to obtain permits for Lachung and Yumthang valley which will be taken by your tour organiser. Yumthang valley is also known as "valley of flowers" which is home more than 24 species of rhododendron. The valley of flowers in the month of April and May. These areas are controlled by Indian army because of the closeness to China and security reasons. Yumthang valley is around 2hr journey from Lachung. We did not the permit till Yumthang valley because of heavy snowfall and snow on road. So we got the permit till place which was 16 km before Yumthang valley. When we reached there, it felt like we are in heaven. The place was covered all over with snow and tall pine trees standing firm. I cannot describe the beauty of this place in words because words are not enough to describe its beauty. You can see the pictures below.

We did not get the permit to Nathula border and Baba Mandir because of heavy snowfall. I would suggest to visit Sikkim in April so that you get permit for all places. We thought that the place would be same again like Yumthang but we were wrong. We saw different landscapes towards Changu lake and the roads were rough and slippery because of snow. There were heavy clouds present all over the places which sometimes made difficult to drive. We reached there after 2 hr drive and this place was even more chilly than the Yumthang. We had to rent boots because the layer of snow was fresh and very thick. Changu lake was completely frozen and it looked complete white.