Trip to the Himalayas and Back... Now i know Y its d Abode of the Gods!!

When i had 1st thought of writing this post, I wanted to write a 1st person account of my Sikkim trip with family in Nov'09. But then , it would have been too

specific in many aspects so thought of making a trip log of the entire trip which can act as a North Sikkim trip planner as well. And to keep the personal (read Family) touch, i have put in photographs of our trip as well to match the textual description of different phases of the trip. Starts with a map of Sikkim which is very helpful as it has the altitude nd distances of all places worth going.

NIGHT 0: kolkata/Mumbai to new jalpaiguri(NJP) by train

DAY 1 : NJP to gangtok . Mode of transport is cab. Rs.140-Rs.200 per person. Rs.1700-Rs.2000 for booking an entire cab. Time taken is approximately 3.5 hrs to 4 hrs.

Reach gangtok by 1pm. Get a decent hotel on the mall road (MG Road) by 2 pm. Can stay @ gangtok for the whole of the remaining day. In the mean time can talk to the local travel agents and plan && book for the other

places.

DAY 2: gangtok to lachung. Distance is approx 120 km. takes around 6 hrs time. Can reach by 4-4.30 pm.

Lachung is a small village with scarce accomodation. So accomodation has to be arranged from gangtok. In fact, the entire trip of north sikkim (consisting of lachung, katao, Yutan, yumesangdong, Lachen, gurudongmar) comes as a [ackage trip. Cost us around 25000 for the entire 2 nights-3 days starting from gangtok to north sikkim nd bak to gangtok. But we were 5 people. So it comes to approx 5000 bucks per head. However lesser no. of people might mean higher costs per head. The package is all inclusive by the way. Lunch is usually at some tidy restaurant on the way while going. Consists of home made dal, chicken curry, rice, bhaji, papad, salad.



All meals in north sikkim will be cooked at the hotel where aCcomodation will be arranged. Altitude of lachung is approx 9000 feet and is quite cold. By the time u reach from gangtok, its time for sunset and after that there’s pretty much nothing to do for the rest of the evening. Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) is cheap and a good way to keep oneself warm and the spirits high! (punn intended :P) . the driver will go to the nearest army cantt in the mean time to get the permits for next days travels(again part of the package). Do hit the bed early cos next morning u’ll be in for a lovely surprise wen u get up in the morning, have ur cup of tea ready, and can see the Himalayas sitting cozy on ur bed in double layer of blankets.

DAY 3:

Leave the hotel ASAP after a hearty breakfast made to order. Head straight to katao valley as it’s the highest point in the

region at 15,800

ft and is closed by the army by 10am or so.


















U can go down to the river and after spending some time, head for yumesandong, around 25km from here and the last point on this circuit. Then return to the hotel @ Lachung, have a late lunch and start for Lachen , which is at 9800ft . The evening here will be similar to the previous one. Make sure the driver/guide gets the permit for gurudongmar lake for the next day.

DAY 4:

The gurudongmar lake is one place which u would not like to miss. At 17,800ft, its frozen thru out the year and has a milky white appearance. There’s one area in the lake which is clear and unfrozen. This acts as a source of drinking water for the local people and was blessed by Lord Buddha wen he was passing thru this area.
There’s something to be kept in mind here though. Gurudongmar lake is not accessible thru out the year. Best times to reach the lake are april-may and September-October. In January its most likely to be cut off due to heavy snowfall and only if you are lucky and have clear skies during ur visit with no snowfall, can u get a permit from the army. This u can confirm from Lachung itself and if this is the case, then there is no point in halting at Lachen for a whole night.
So in case, gurudongmar is a go-ahead, day 4 will end with returning back to gangtok. If not, then u can come down to gangtok on day 3 itself.
With that the 3 day-2 night north sikkim trip (can be 1 night-2 days as well) comes to an end.

DAY 5:

This day wont see so much of traveling like the previous 2 days. Visit nathu la pass and Tsomgo lake ( pronounced as chhangu). There is an Indo-China border near nathu la pass for which again u need an army permit, albeit an easy one to get. Baba mandir is worth going to. it’s a temple built in the memories of the soldiers of Indian Army who died in this area. Come back to gangtok after that and relax for the rest of the day.

DAY 6:

Leave early in the morning for Darjeeling, which is in west Bengal. it’s a beautiful hill station with the old-world British charm evident all around. There’s not much sight seeing to do except for the Himalayan zoo, where there is a good collection of animals found at high altitudes and not to forget the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. Both are walking distances from the Darjeeling mall. So basically Day 6 will be quite relaxed and laid back.

DAY 7:
Darjeeling to NJP for taking the train back to kolkata. Train’s usually at 8.30 - 9 pm , so you can start from Darjeeling at 3 or 4 in the evening which pretty much gives u more dan half of the day to spend there.

Yet another encounter with Mumbai police

For some reason I am attracted to the nocturnal aspects of Mumbai life a lot. Nd tat results in regular night time experiences of various kinds. One of them i have written about in an earlier post which u can read about here. Now, this post is also about a similar encounter with mumbai police in the middle of the night. The reason i use the term 'encounter' is that there are several images of the police fraternity in our minds, most of them being negative. However, I have developed a lot of respect and liking towards the "police" community of late, mainly coz i think they deserve that much at least.

It was a Saturday night, which is a time in the week everyone looks forward to, especially techies like me who are deprived of all social life. I had been out on my Bullet since the evening , even as Yuvraj was murdering the Lankan attack mercilessly. Had a gr8 evening out with my Bullet Club,"Torquehub", buddies and as usual we headed to a dhaba at Panvel for dinner and beer. By the time i started back towards Vashi, it was 2.15am and BOY! wat a ride it was. For people who complain about hot winters in mumbai, I would request them to be out in the night anytime after 12.30 , if not as late as me. My knuckles had almost frozen by the time i reached Sanpada stn., never riding below 80-85kmph.

Even then, i was adamant at not letting the night take over and end, so soon. Picked up my roomie and went for chai on the highway. We got to chatting over few steaming cups, updating each other about the events of the week and stuff and completely lost track of time. Wat we failed to notice was tat a couple of policemen on their bikes had already taken notice of us, jus standing and chatting with my bike parked alongside. Finally they proceeded to make the killing and approached us. Checked all the papers of ma bike and myself. Everything was in order except the fact that i had not yet transferred the bike to my name. Also, my wrist watch said tat d time was 4am.

Now i agree tat is a stupid mistake , more so coz it has been almost 6 mnths tat i have been owning the Bullet now, but there's a lot of respect with which policewallahs talk to you wen u own a Bullet and i have never had any problems till date regarding this particular issue. But somehow i felt that nite tat those 2 were the 'corrupt' type and proving me rite, they started grilling me about how my papers weren't in order and all. The senior fella asked for 5000 bucks and I also made up my mind to get off without paying anything .

Wat ensued was 45 minutes of logic, counter-logic, pleading, scolding and lotsa acting. To be fair to them , they had come down to Rs.1000 and i was looking up to d heavens saying "Please God, u know i respect these guys a lot. Don't let these ones loot me" !! :P The senior one den asked for my bike keys and after much effort, started d bike (engine was cold by tat time). He den took the bike out for a ride while the other fella was busy writing down my details in a letter of complaint against me. It was a game of nerves and I wasn't the one to blink first. Senior came bak with my bike, informing me tat my rear brakes' liner needed tightening. I knew den, that my Bullet's charm had again done the trick. :D They both den said,

"Chalo abhi fatafat bolo kitna do ge? Apne ko akkha raat tere saath magaj maari nahi karne ka. Aur bhi kaam hai"

my roomie replied,

"Sir, Please warning de ke chhod dijiye! Mere ko toh naukri se bhi nikaal diya. Mera dost 1 mahine se mere ko khila raha hai"

Nd i said,

"Sir paise dene ke condition mein hai nahi apan. Aapko main apne haathon se chicken bana ke khilaunga kal. Aap ghar aana. Lekin paise nahin de paunga."

Den Senior replied,"Chal tu itna bol diya , kaafi hai! Lekin ainda se raat ko awara-gaddi mat karna. Aur bike paper transfer karwa le ."

YES!!! I had won. I had brought down the bribe amount from 5000 to "Zero", jus by perseverance and pleading :P :D

But, more importantly, once again I was impressed with the Police. No doubt they take bribes and are corrupt. But, tat nite's incident proved that they r not blood suckers nd tat they wud not always stoop down to any level to get bribes. Of course, it helps if you have a Bullet :D . But den again these people , who are branded as villians by the media, movies etc. , have a humane side worth appreciating. And it takes jus tat to make them happy. And I take this oppurtunity to mention yet again about how hard they work to maintain Law & Order. No doubt it is their duty to do so, but tat doesn't mean tat it shud go unnoticed. How many times do we complain tat our bosses don't appreciate any good job done by us? We expect our bosses to pat our backs for doing something which we are paid for but fail to do d same or the Police.

Nomadic November

It has been an amazing november in 2009 for me. the travel Gods showered their blessings on me and i travelled right across India. It all started with Goa in the first week of November with my roomies. 3 days of great food, good beer, plenty of sun, sand and the sea made it one of my best trips till den. Then i started for kolkata in mid-Nov and from there to the himalayas of Sikkim. will put up the individual trip blogs, which are long overdue by the way, soon. By the end of November, I had travelled thru/touched/crossed 8 Indian states (Goa,Maharashtra,Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal,Bihar, Sikkim in chronological order) in a months time. Made me realise once again how beautifully diverse our country is , geographically and culturally. Putting up few snaps to elaborate d diversity and the joy of travelling :)

Saved by the police in the middle of the night

It has been a regular habit of mine to take a dead-of-the-night walk/ride since the last 2 years that i have been in vashi (mumbai). The other night, i went out in search of tea and ciggies at 2:30am approximately on Hidalgo (my std 350cc bullet) and as usual 2-3 dogs started barking and running after d bike as part of their social duties. And as usual, i screeched to a halt, scaring the dogs. And i whistled to d dogs and they were all over me in no time , waggin their tails and standing up chest high. I was confident enuf of shaking them off and jus playing along. It might have looked as if I am in trouble and along came two policemen on their bike who were patrolling the area. They shooed the dogs away nd asked me the customary questions as to y i was out so late nd where i worked nd stuff. Then wen i was jus bout to leave, the senior policeman asked me "Abhi tu problem mein tha toh policewallah aaya na help karneko??"

I said "haan bilkul"

He then asked, "toh log kya bolte ki police apna kaam nahi karta aur kisiko help nahi karta karke"

I told him that i have very high regards for the police force, especially that of mumbai. I also told him the way police has tightened security all across the city since the last year is remarkable.

And believe it or not, the changes in the security aspectz of the city are clearly visible. Two years bak, me and my friends used to have a gala time at a couple of our hang outs. Although the hang outs did not involve anything other dan d customary long chats over chai nd sutta, never were we "disturbed" by any police patrol vehicle. The night time patrols used to be visible only during election times and when d entire city used to be on "high alert". But starting with the ahmedabad blasts and after 26/11, security has been beefed up many a notches. Almost all the chai tapri's open till wee hours in the morning have shut down and i have to keep searching for new joints. The idea is to not let any place operate where people gather at odd hours of d night. There is active patrolling thru out d night and i have been stopped and asked for ID and reason for venturing out so late, more than once.

Inspite of the good chai-sutta-bhurji pav joints shutting down and me being stopped and questioned by d police, I am happy for these changes. It has created a sense of security in the minds of the people and will make anti socialites think twice before attemptin anything.

Three cheers to the Mumbai Police.

Hip hip hurray