A peaceful vacation in the lap of nature

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It took us swerving off the normal tourist trace into uncharted corners. Away from the head-reeling traffic, machined foodstuffs, fast-swelling cities the serene landscapes of North East made a great vacation. In the lap of nature, most pleasurable climate, vivid flora, uncomplicated people with inviting smile, the raw environ – what better a change can one expect?

A long planned vacation with my family to North East. I don’t remember when it was last did my father avail his LTC.I no longer fall under his LTC umbrella as the Govt thinks I am big a girl to take care of my own expenses. We started off on our journey, we –appa, amma, brother, periappa and me. Having spent enough hours surfing for the places of our visit on the net, we did have some expectation from the trip picturing charming tourist spots which could awe one's senses.

The journey commenced.

Day 1:

B’lore – Calcutta – Bagdogra (flight)

Bagdogra – Siliguri (alongside river Teesta) - Gangtok (Mini bus)

The airports of Calcutta and Bagdogra are no close to even the old Govt offices. Bagdogra is understandable owing to not much travelers’ stopover. It is just an air-gateway to North East India; but Calcutta cannot be an exemption knowing the kind of busy airport it makes.

We were received by our Tour Manager Mr Harish Rao of Vikram Travels, a typical Mangalorean in an alien land.

The drive from Bagdogra to Gangtok was beyond earthly imagination. The route stretches along a chain of cris-cross Mountains. Alongside, the river Teesta (originating from China) roars down all the way as one drives up to Gangtok. The frothy and cavorting Teesta gave us company all through our drive to Gangtok. Gangtok is an amiable town cuddled up in the Himalayan foot hills.

The mountain peaks all around are decorated by the misty clouds and the valleys garland them. The Buddha collectibles, Tibetan jewellery and short petite people dressed in richly woven textiles are a sight to see. It was around 7:00 pm when we reached Gangtok and it was raining then. Hot chapattis and Sabzi made our dinner followed by a cozy night stay at the same place - Hotel Highway.

Day 2:

Tsomgo lake (12,400ft ASL)

Baba Mandir (14,700ft ASL)

Hanuman Tok

A wakeup call at 6:00 am with nice hot tea followed by poori-baaji for breakfast made our morning easy. We started off on our Day 2^nd program. The first place in the list was Baba Mandir. The drive to Baba mandir above Gangtok is along mystical environs, through the clouds, surrounded by stunning green valleys.

Baba mandir is built after the Indian Soldier (sepoy) Harbhajan Singh of Punjab regiment who was drowned in a fast flowing stream and went missing. The army troops failed to locate him and his weapons. For the army, it is a belief that unless the soldier’s weapons are found, he is alive. So the search for Singh went on, on for days. One fine night, the Singh showed up in the dreams of his comrade sepoy Pritam Singh and hinted him the location of his sunken(under ice)weapons .Legend also has the say that the Singh would warn the Indian army about the attacks at the border in advance. The Singh is known for his adherence to discipline and as a tribute to this great soul a shrine is built in his honor and army folks salute him with due respects. A camp bed, polished boots, army uniform are geared up at the shrine everyday in the belief that Harbhajan is still alive serving the Indian army. The Singh’s family is given salary drawn in his name till recently, till his retirement date. He may be drawing pension now on :) .Indian Govt is munificent you see ;).There is an idol of SaiBaba kept in the shrine, hence the name Baba mandir.

Stories apart….It is a beautiful place to visit. The shrine is near the Nathu-La pass (Indo-China gateway), the route more commonly acknowledged by the name “Silk route”. The drive is extremely scenic .It was the blossom period for the rare yellow flowers which can be seen only at heights more than 10000ft. As told by the localites a particular variety of drooping yellow flowers when smelt is unsafe and may cause dizziness too - No second thoughts they were a way too attractive. The route is prone to landslides. BRO (Border Road Org) is doing a great job in clearing up the path and maintaining the route usable all the time without much inconvenience.

There is a small memorial opposite to this shrine where we can get ourselves certified for having visited The Watershed memorial, Sherathang. All of us took the certificates with pride, did little shopping in the local store there and got on to our vehicles. (Sumo)

On the way back to Gangtok, we halted for lunch at a small hut. Fortunate to get a taste of typical Chinese food - noodles and fried rice (The mummies and daddies in the trip did not fancy it though). Heading back, we got down at Tsomgo lake – a lake formed entirely by glaciers. It's cool, placid water complements with the scenic beauty around. Also known as Changu Lake, Tsomgo Lake is regarded very sacred lake by the local Buddhists and the Hindus, no boating, no dipping or any kind of water sport is entertained here except for the fun of enjoying Yak Ride near the lake. Not a big one, but a rarity to find such a beautiful lake at such heights.

On a bifurcation road of the Gangtok-Nathula Highway, is a temple devoted to Hanuman-Hanuman Tok. The temple is beautifully maintained in partial collaboration with the Indian Army at Gangtok; it can be easily gauged by the neatness and beauty of the tok. The local Army makes the most devotees to Hanuman. When we visited the temple, we could see a group of sepoys framing the Bhajan group. Our family sat to chant Hanuman Chalisa. It was so refreshing to bestow our prayers to Lord Hanuman at such great height. The feeling was totally different, as though amidst the clouds. The Himalayan range presents a panoramic picture from the Tok. We can get a bird’s eye view of the beautiful town of Gangtok from Hanuman Tok.

These places marked our day and we were not left with many hours in our pocket than to just get back to our rooms and rest.

We headed back to the hotel and halted there for the night. Worth mentioning was our driver’s company throughout the journey. Minmoy, a Sherpa by birth was so engaging with his tuneful company, playing Mukesh, Rafi, Kishore hits and humming along. I still can’t forget his drooping eyes dancing and smiling to his hum in the vehicle’s rear mirror.

Day 3:

Darjeeling

Padmaja Naidu Zoo

Himalayan Mountaineering Institute

Tea estate

Started off to Darjeeling in the morning. The queen of hills is bordered by Sikkim in the north, Nepal in the west and Bhutan in the east. We reached Darjeeling by noon 2:00, perfect for the lunch time. Stay at Hotel Princess. The local restaurant “Hasty Tasty” was the only decent Veg restaurant near our hotel; it took them a while to serve us-a group of 25 people. After lunch, we headed to Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) in a private vehicle engaged by our Tour guide.

The zoo boasted of having the Siberian tiger, Himalayan black bear, red panda, snow leopard and many other animal and bird species. But we weren’t lucky enough to see them all. The most commonly seen animals there were the deer, leopard and fox species. The HMI has a museum housing a historic collection of mountaineering equipments, Himalayan conquest legends, the route maps taken by the old mountaineers to reach the peak, their success stories etc. The institute situated on a small hill top is a pilgrimage for all mountaineering enthusiasts.

We continued our drive to a tea estate near-by and enjoyed the Darjeeling tea prepared out of raw tea leaves of the same estate unlike the normal tea primed from tea dust; halted a while for photos.

Back to hotel, had good dinner and played a round of rummy. We played almost till 12:00 in the night and wishfully hit the bed as we had to rise up by 3:00 the next morning to sight the Sunrise at Tiger hills.

Day 4:

Tiger hills

Batasia loop

Buddhist monastery

Pashupatinagar

Mirik

Headed to Tiger Hills at 3:30 am, the place renowned for the sunrise view over Khangchendzonga (Kanchenjunga) and the eastern Himalayas. The first rays of the sun shot ahead and shed light upon the twin peaks of Kanchenjunga and gradually painted the whole of its snow body visible. The wait was a little restless for the curiosity to get a glimpse of the snow clad Kanchenjunga was taking us over. Though the time of our visit was cloudy, we were fluky enough to get a glorious sight of the snow-clad beauty at 5:10 am-the sunrise time for the day. No camera of any high resolution can arrest this beauty. We experienced heaven. No paints, no colors would match the rich dye of the mountain range and the sunrise. Nature was at its best; beauty at its paramount! We quenched our thirst with the most glorious sunrise followed by a flavorsome hot Darjeeling tea and headed down to Batasia loop and the War memorial.

Batasia loop is an engineering marvel. The railway line here makes a 360 degree turn to get a panoramic view of Kanchenjunga. We could just get enough lucky to enjoy the scenic beauty at the place and wonder at its Engineering; missed out on the toy-train ride. There were a few localites at this place advertising Darjeeling clothes and accessories .We all clad ourselves in those exquisite dresses and posed for a few good shoots. The toy train and Batasia loop are a few striking examples of the British influence on Darjeeling. Way back to the hotel, we visited a Buddhist monastery, admired the fine-looking paintings captured a few photos.

Back to hotel “Hasty Tasty” for breakfast .We started off in our mini bus to Mirik.

We drove via Pashupatinagar – a well known shopping street on Indo-Nepal border. Shopping malls in Pashupatinagar are known for their wide variety of electronic goods, winter clothing, cosmetic-creams etc. A word of caution here: Buy only the goods which you can make sure like the clothes, creams, shoes .We went for pen drives tempted by their relatively cheaper rates, but were totally disappointed to learn that none of them were working right. Sweaters, shoes, winter wear, cosmetics make a good buy here. From this market, Mirik is 4 kms distant.

Mirik is a lesser known hill-station not much visited by all tourists except for those who go with package tourism. We stayed at a hill-resort “Sadbhavana”. The landscaped gardens, small beautiful tourist cottages, pleasant weather surrounding the Sumendu Lake are the attractions of Mirik.

Not many tourist vehicles to take us around. Our Tour manager hired us a local 4-wheeler (Santro Zing) to visit a monastery atop a small hill.

The lake is the main attraction in Mirik and there is a 5 Km path around it. A walk around the lake took us through the dense forest of pine, cardamom - absolutely captivated our heart. Amidst the forest is a small Durga temple - the local deity (GramDevtha). One can enjoy boating in the lake. To complement the cool serene atmosphere, horse riding is facilitated around the lake. Beware of leeches in the lake area (Appa carried one all the way to the hotel).That’s about Mirik.

There isn’t much to say about this place; but lots to experience and take back home (Am not talking of leeches :)). Unlike our Ooty, Kodai, the place is not so commercialized and still holds in it a sense of originality and freshness.

Day 5:

Mirik - Bagdogra (Mini bus)

Bagdogra - Calcutta - B’lore (flight)

Our vacation had come to an end. We had a lazy rise and started back on our journey after morning breakfast at Mirik. The drive back to Bagdogra over a long, rutted road nudged us to reality. Our tour manager was capable enough to entertain us till we reached the airport at Bagdogra with his puzzles, jokes and wit-lines.

We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation programmed by Vikram travels. We were particularly pleased by the services provided by them. Our tour guide Mr Harish Rao made our trip more memorable with his timely corny jokes. We are all back home with lovely memories imprinted in our hearts, still lurching in the heady scent of tea leaves, steamy momos, sight-blurring mist, Sikkimese masks ,Buddhist figurines.

Time of visit: July end

Mode: flight till Bagdogra And bus, sumo, cars - as the roads demand

Climate: pleasant

Food: Good vegetarian food (customized to suit travelers from South India –Thanks to Vikram travels)