STARK BEAUTY

THE RUGGED TERRAIN IN THE UPPER REACHES OF NORTH SIKKIM NEVER FAILS TO AMAZE VISITORS.

- KRISHNANDU SARKAR

JUST A few days before an upcoming long weekend in May, my friends with whom I generally travel, asked me whether I would like to visit North Sikkim with them. Being a passionate hill lover I immediately agreed. Finally, the day arrived and six of us boarded a train in Kolkata and within one night’s journey, we reached New Jalpaiguri (NJP).

Being budget travellers we went to Tenzing Norgay bus stand and took a shared cab from there to Gangtok. The journey to Gangtok was mostly uneventful. We reached the Deorali taxi stand by evening and from there we hired a local taxi to our hotel in Development Area. If you are hiring a West Bengal registered vehicle, it’s only allowed up to Deorali taxi stand. From there you need to hire a local cab to your hotel. A lot of Sikkim registered vehicles comes to NJP to drop passengers. So if you can take one of that, you’ll be dropped directly to your hotel.

We preferred to stay in Development Area as we wanted to avoid the chaos of MG Marg. As we reached our hotel it began to pour like cats and dogs. Only an ardent hill lover can feel the beauty of monsoon in a hilly region. With such amazing weather we spent the rest of the evening in the rooftop restaurant of our hotel Lamaz Residency overlooking the whole of MG Marg.

In the meantime, we submitted the necessary documents (photocopy of Voter ID card and Passport size colour photos) to our hotel’s Travel Desk to apply for entry permits to North Sikkim. We hit the bed early after having dinner, as we had to wake up early the following day.

DAY 2

We woke up at around 5 am and prepared for the day’s expedition. Even though we were budget travellers, we reserved a vehicle for ourselves as the journey was long and the road to North Sikkim can be rough at stretches.