They say you need to be friendly to travel well, and more importantly know whom to be friendly with. As we arrived after a short but grueling car drive to the Hill top city of Gangtok, we learned that there are some very different rules about this quite but alive place. For starters the car has junction or stops where it can halt where either you to board or off board. Well we were packed with quite a lot of warn clothes, led by ill advise and fear of catching a chill. Hence a coolie or tuk tuk was the call of the hour. That is when we learnt that the there were abundant taxis, which run both in share (fare being shared by other passengers as well) as on fixed meter from one point to the other. Well found our cabbie, his name Rajesh. Even though at first, his eyes would make doubt him, to be a drunk, he is anything but that. He was honest (was told that it’s a severe crime to cheat tourist and strict action is taken against offenders) anyways he was really nice and gave us loads of information about the town and also about the list of places we had Goggled and had to see. Even though most cabbies are filled with information, some true and some well never mind. Anyways what made take a liking towards this guy, he did not try and pursue us into hiring him. Well anyways as chatty I was, I took his number and asked him how much would he take for a day trip to see all the places around Gangtok? And then made a promise to him, that I would call, I was not real sure if I was going to stand by it though. Anyways we found our way to the hotel, which initial seemed like a gas, since there was no one in the ground floor lobby; I cursed myself at being talked into booking this place by the travel agent in Siliguri, even making an advance payment. Anyways after a night long in the train and the road journey, and not to forget the load I was carrying, I was in no mood to look for another hotel. That’s when some kind person told me that the reception of the hotel was infact on the 1st floor and the way up was a flight of stairs, which was also there bylane, built to travel between the different levels. Anyways against all my gut feelings I climbed those stairs and then found a very smiling face greeting me. My apologies to him as well all of you I don’t remember his name. Anyways I checked in, only after inspecting the room myself, we decided to check in. It was not a grand hotel, but was ok. We were happy to dump our luggage and freshen up and hit the road in search of food. Trust me when I say, don’t search for breakfast in Siliguru or hope to find anything more than very tasty Momos on your way up on the many stop overs. Well I was advised by someone that Gangtok had some real nice small restaurants serving great Bengali Cuisine. I was like, yeah right! I come from Bengal and not that bad a cook myself, anyways after asking a few people I made it to this restaurant which they claimed served scrumptious meals. Well I was prepared to be baptized. I ordered for my usual Chicken Curry and rice. Well there were quicker than KFC, on a Monday. We looked at the food and glanced at each other trying see if were getting any gut feelings, since that’s where it was going to land up. We dipped into the food and trust me when I saw this, it tasted like the best Chicken Curry I ever had, and this is big from someone who has grown up on all kind of Chicken Curries. Anyways before you become a fan and come asking me for the address, take the equation of two really hungry people, having a boost in appetite through generous consumption mountain water. Ok so that’s the truth it was really clean food, but nothing compares with Mom’s Curry, it would even be a close second to mine. In a jiffy the plate was as clean CIF had worked its magic. The boy was nice enough to offer second helping and was also sure to mention that did not cost anything extra. Well I usually was not a vegetable person and the dal served with such Thali’s, would have no takers. However I had done some reading before my travel, and somewhere it said that it was great to have vegetables when you go to a new place. Well I gave it a shot and it was also really good. Anyways after having the awesome meal we strolled nearby, and knew that this was still afternoon and that we had to be in MG Marg in the evening, was told by many that it was something out of this world or atleast the best place to see in the heart of the town. After a quick rest we were on our way to MG, accompanied by Murali’s Sony Cam, we clicked our way to glory. When we asked for direction, we were told that there is a short cut, we would need to take only a few flights of stairs. I am a man of little faith, so asked about how many? I was promptly told about 100, I quickly asked what about the long cut, was told that it was about a kilometer or slow climb. I was smart, or so I though, I choose the stairs. Well after we had done, hundred really high steps we still had some climbing to do. I looked back and could see myself easily falling straight down. At some point it was so steep that I had my hand on the steps that I was going take a few agonizing moments later. It should be called a ladder. After the climb we felt like Norgay & Hillary having conquered the ultimate challenge, we wanted to hoist our flags on Mount MG. A loud cheer, drums would have been nice, or even paramedics checking our vital sign. To our dismay everybody was busy just walking around and did not even pay attention to this historic moment. We spotted a bench and desperately crawled towards it. Only after several minutes, could see what all this fuss was about and it was real nice, not more nor less. Anyways we clicked snaps of shops as if they were Big Ben or the Eiffel Tower. After a while we returned to our hotel rooms, to plan out trip to all the Goggled destinations. Only to be informed that we needed permission and an application had to submitted real early in the day. It would only be possible the day after, I am man who thinks quick (most of the time) and always has a plan B, I called on our friend Rajesh, he was delighted, however it seemed he knew I would call him and was ready to answer my questions. We set to cover the 7 points and also make a short trip to Rumtek, which I had read about while doing research for this trip. I had learnt that this foundation of this place was laid in the 16th century and this place has been a point od conflict among the otherwise peaceful Buddhist people. I knew that I had to see some Buddhist Monasteries and I was told it was where the 2nd to Dalai Lama the Karmapa lived in. It houses a Golden Stupa which contains the relics of the 16th Karmapa. Opposite that building is a college, Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies.
So day to it was…
We stated a bit late, since early in the morning we spotted the mountain, I would like to call the “Ghost” the Kanchenjunga. It is the 3rd highest mountain peak in the world at 8586 meters or 28,169 ft and some calculations have place it higher than Godwin Austin or K2 in Pakistan. It is the certainly the highest peak in India. You would not believe it, it was visible from our room itself.
Our trip with Rajesh included Tashi View Point, The Himalayan Zoological Park, Enchey Monastery, Cottage Industry and a few other places.
Tashi View point was nothing great, but the Zoo was something. We saw red panda, a fw Snow Leopard and a very curios, friendly and show off Cheetah. As all mountain destination this too had a lot of walking, the vertical kind. Enchey was a intriguing place and was once blessed by Lama Drupthob Karpo, who had the ability to fly. For spinning the prayer wheels, with no wishes in mind but photographic opportunity. Even getting to see a place where they would burn something which they felt addicted to, wine, cigarettes or money. Ok before you start worrying about our national currency they would usually burn fake notes, just like it is done in the Chinese events like funeral.
By the time we were done with these places, we hardly had day light left. However we determined to make the most of this day, I also had weaved a tale about Rumtek to my pretty wife and told her how we had to see it, (hoping in the quite that it was something worth or else my credibility built on lies were going downwards).
Traveling to hill station during late summer, you risk the chance of rain and we were traveling in the prime of Monsoon (August). Soon enough the rain was here and then the narrow roads seemed narrower for this relatively well maintained Maruti Van. I missed reading about the part which said that this place had a visiting time. Taking our chances we egged our friend towards the destination. I could see these tiny waterfalls all along the way and asked Rajesh how come this area had this many of them. He told me that these were not waterfalls, they were just the rain water making what ever way it could, downwards, to meet the Teesta River.
Along the way we spotted smartly dressed school kids enjoying the rain as if they were from Dubai or someplace where it did not rain in years. For the kind of place this was and estimated visitors, the road was rather poorly maintained, even after discounting the monsoon/
After a really treacherous drive, we were finally there and it did not seem much at first. Noticing my lack of enthusiasm in getting off the car, more so with the rain now pouring down and taking the temperature from cold to chilly. I promptly was then advised that we had to walk about a kilometer, to see the grandeur. Before, I could be advised that there was a short cut, I was off. We started to walk, and were quite brisk at first to both of our surprise the junk food had yet not dented out mettle, however the joy was short lived as did our vigor. If were on some kind of pilgrimage I am certain that we would be rewarded, just on the amount of stamina we showed in walking all that way. We gave up many times and even sat down on the roadside and once told my wife that it same as Enchey and that there was nothing great about this place. We took turns at giving up and we drew strength from each other, when we had none and somehow made it to the top. Wish the way up was as easy as writing these few lines were. On the left there was a stall, I hoped they sold Coke, even Pepsi would do. On the right was a construction, by now we knew was what you would call a Monastery, it did not seem much from we were seeing it and took picture of some mountain roses outside the quarters. Then we saw two BSF Jawans holding really scary automatic guns, even though they had a pleasing smile on their face, and looked like one of those ladies who welcome the foreign tourists into a 5 star hotel, with a garland. Only difference these dudes had guns, and I did not want to find out if they worked or even if they had bullet in them.
I drew courage that my grand father was in the army, and if cornered would speak of it. If need be, would make if a freedom fighter. I asked them if we could go in. They were like yeah sure, please come in. Once we entered the place, with the rain falling, smog in the air and the chants of the monks. At first I remembered these Shaolin movies, in which these semi nude dudes would practice there martial art.
However as we paced forward and saw the huge building in front (which was the temple) and the rows of quarters (where all the monks were housed) around it, with a cement courtyard in the center we had our jaw reaching for the chest. Add a mountain overlooking the wooden structure. It was multistoried and were asked by the Jawans to venture to the higher floors. I must say this, your eyes are not capable of witnessing so much of beauty at one time. It was really something no word can explain, it was by far the best place I had seen, in my life. And this was not like the Chicken Curry deal. We entered the huge temple, which had all these monk old and young seated all around, busy going through their rituals. It had so many statues and one huge Budha Statue in the center. We did not know how far we were allowed to go. The warmth of these Jawans was only bettered by the monks within the temple. Even though they were busy chanting what they had to, seeing us reluctant, knowing that we felt like intruders into their daily lives. They made us feel welcome, while still at their position and chanting all the time, they waved their hand, to gesture that we you should go further inside and see the place. I was grateful and humbled by this gesture and later wondered why they so nice to us, I realized they were being good advertisement to the Buddhist way of life and in introspection wonder if I uphold Christ or not? Would someone want to follow Him, seeing my life? I probably know the answer, but the true answer is not yet, but may be soon. On our way back, down we found the sloop was so steep that it was really difficult to walk fast, there was a real risk of causing an injury.
We were happy to be back in the car, by then the just kept getting worse rain turned worse. Having knowledge of how flashfloods are formed, I knew this was perfect conditions. Once when our car suddenly stopped and was going side ways, I knew there was only one thing we had to do, is get out and grasp to something, anyways before my thoughts turned in action, the car started to move forward I did not want to distract Rajesh yet had to access the risk and asked him, was it safe to keep going forward. He said don’t worry, since that was the only way out. However thank God we somehow made it safely, to our hotel rooms. I would not be able to bet that I was wiser, cause I would probably do such a thing again and may be sooner than you think. But yeah, the choice of vehicle would probably be different. And unknown to what was in store for us the next day, we had dinner from Domino’s Pizza and watched television till we were off. Just a sneek peak we went to Nathula Pass at 4,310 meter or 14,140 feet (Indo-Tibet or China now border) and Tsango Lake or Changu Lake at 3780 meters or 12,400 ft.
