Visit to Gangtok (Part - 4)

[Continued from Visit to Gangtok (Part - 3)] The next day we were all tired from the previous day's journey. So we started late in the morning. As we had no more plans about where to go or what to see we just strolled around the MG Marg and the NH6 - the road on which our hotel was located. We came to know about Yumthang Valley from a travel agent's office. The photos of the place amazed us and in our minds we had decided that our next destination would be Yumthang. After having lunch we came back to our hotel. In the evening we went for shopping at the M.G. Marg, the heart of the city of Gangtok.

MG Marg, Gangtok

The next day morning we started early. We inquired at different travel agencies office to find out the rates of package tour to Yumthang Valley. The rates of the 2 Days/1 Night tour consisting of Lachung and Yumthang Valley were around Rs. 1200-1600. There was another package of 3 Days/2 Nights consisting of visit to Lachen, Gurudongmar Lake, Chopta Valley along with Lachung and Yumthang. Finally we booked the 2 Day/1 Night tour through Woodland Tours and Travels (the office is at the Woodland Restaurant). That day evening we bought jackets, shoes and other winter clothes from the market as a preparation for our visit to Yumthang Valley.

Visit to Gangtok (Part - 3)

[Continued from Visit to Gangtok (Part - 2)] The next day we woke up early. We got ready quickly and were there at the Alternative Tours & Travels Office by 7:35 am. There we waited for some time. Then we were taken to the taxi stand opposite the office and told to get on one of the cars. The car took us to the North Sikkim Taxi Stand. We had our breakfast at a small dhaba in the taxi stand.

Changu Lake (Tsomgo Lake)

Our car started at around 9:30 am. There was a checkpost on the way where our car stopped for a while. We bought packaged drinking water bottles from there. Again we started our journey. After some time we were not able to see anything on the side of the road. Everything was covered with fog. The road as well as the weather was bad. On the way we saw a few waterfalls. Then we saw Tsomgo Lake on the side. But our driver said that it would be better to first go to Nathula Pass and then see Tsomgo Lake while returning.

Visit to Gangtok (Part - 2)

[Continued from Visit to Gangtok] The next day we slept till late in the morning thus ruining all chances of seeing Mt. Kanchenjunga if it was visible. Talking to local people we came to know that it was raining everyday and hence there was little chance of viewing snow capped peaks. They had also added that if by chance it becomes visible it would be at dawn.

Common Leopard at Himalayan Zoological Park

As we had decided to go to Nathula Pass and Tsomgo Lake, I booked the one day tour to Nathula, Tsomgo Lake and Baba Mandir from Alternative Tours and Travels. The cost of the tour was Rs. 1200/-.per head. We were told to produce xerox copy of Voter ID Card and two Passport size photographs of each member. After that we had lunch at Woodland Restaurant. Bengali food was available there and the food was good. Then we walked to the S.N.T Bus Terminus. There was a local taxi stand near the terminus. From there we hired a taxi to go to the Himalayan Zoological Park. The zoo was located near Ganesh Tok. We had to buy tickets worth Rs. 100/-.

Visit to Gangtok

Gangtok is a hill station located in the eastern Himalayan range. Situated at an altitude of 5600 ft, Gangtok is also known as Switzerland of the East for its cleanliness. It is the capital city of the state of Sikkim. Gangtok is also a popular tourist destination. The city offers beautiful views of the surrounding hills and Mt. Khanchendzonga from the town itself. Gangtok also serves as a tourist base for visiting places like Tsomgo Lake, Nathula, Lachung and Yumthang Valley. This time in the month of June I went to Gangtok.

River Teesta (On the way to Gangtok)

From Kolkata station, we boarded 12363 Kolkata-Haldibari Express. The train left the station at 09:10 hrs and reached New Jalpaiguri at around 19:05 hrs, just 15 mins behind scheduled time. We came out of the station and took a cycle rickshaw and told the rickshawala to tale us in a hotel. where the hotels. We found a room at Hotel Miami. The rooms of the hotel were quite clean but not very good. After keeping our luggages and getting fresh we went down to have dinner. We had our dinner at the restaurant below our hotel.

Deoghar Trip and Visit to Basukinath

From Howrah railway station, we boarded the Howrah-Patna Janshatabdi Express. The train left Howrah station at around 2 pm. But after finding our seat we found that the window beside our seat was jammed and could not be opened. This was quite annoying as we were unable to look out of the window. The train reached Jasidih at 06:40 pm. We quickly came out of the station and took an auto to go to Deoghar. I had thought that if we could reach Deoghar before other passengers then we might get an advantage in booking rooms in hotels. But after going a little distance the auto driver went inside a petrol pump. And snap went my plans. We had to wait about 10 minutes there. Somehow we reached Deoghar and found a room in Hotel Mayur. The room was in the ground floor and there were no windows. That night we had our dinner at Sindhi restaurant. The food was very good.

Baba Baidyanath Dham Temple

Visit to Tarapith (Part - 2)

[Continued from Visit to Tarapith (Part - 1)] The accident took place just in front of us. A speeding motorbike was coming through the highway. As it approached that point it came to the edge of the highway and lost its balance. The motorist was injured. He was taken to the hospital by some local people in a rickshaw. After that we went inside the restaurant and placed our order. The food arrived but the food was not up to the mark. In the shop there were  plenty of mosquitoes which  made us very uncomfortable. Somehow we quickly had our dinner and went back to our hotel.

The next day we woke up late in the morning and quickly got ready and went to the bus stand. That day the sun was extremely hot. We felt as if our skins were getting burnt. We once again enquired at the bus stand whether there were any buses to Bakreswar. They replied that there were none. We could get bus to Siuri. From Siuri we would have to take auto to get to Bakreswar. But I decided not to go there. So we started walking through the streets of Rampurhat in search of a good restaurant. We did some shopping at the market area of the town. Most of the goods sold here were locally made and the price was also low. On the way we saw a restaurant named Panthasala. After strolling for some time we entered the restaurant. We went upstairs. The restaurant was quite good, neat and clean. We were served Bengali thali. The food was nice. After having lunch we went back to our hotel.

Visit to Tarapith (Part - 1)

We boarded the Howrah Rampurhat Express from 11:55 am and reached Rampurhat at 15:50 pm. We came out of the station. It was raining. There were a number of auto and cycle rickshaws. Also there were trekkers which were going to Tarapith. But we started walking. We asked at a tea stall, whether there were any hotels nearby. They told us that there was a hotel, Prachi Lodge. We reached Prachi Lodge but there we were told that the rooms were dirty and not good. The person at the reception told us that there was a hotel named Gouri Hotel a little distance away. As it was raining we took a cycle rickshaw and went to Gouri hotel. The rooms of the hotels were clean and good. I booked a room there. Rain had not allowed us to go out, so we stayed inside and watched TV. In the night we ate dinner at Mondira restaurant, our hotel's own restaurant. We had ordered fried rice but the food was not good and the price was high. It was still raining outside. There was just one shop which was still open. All other shops were closed. The time was 21:30 hrs.

The next day we woke up early in the morning. We all got ready and came out of the hotel. We took an auto to get to Tarapith. On reaching Tarapith we started walking towards the temple. There were many small shops on either side of the street. At Tarapith there are two main types of Darshans - Free Darshan and Paid Darshan. Paid darshan are of 3 types - Rs. 30/-, Rs. 100/- and Rs. 200/-. Free darshan takes about 3 hours to get Darshan. Rs. 30/- takes about 2 hrs, Rs. 100/- about 45 mins - 1 hour whereas Rs. 200/- is instant Darshan of Ma Tara. We went for Rs. 100 paid darshan. The line was quite large. Atlast after about 50 mins we got darshan of Ma Tara. After that we came out of the temple and had our breakfast at a small eatery. We took a trekker which was heading to Rampurhat station. Gouri hotel was on the way so we had no trouble getting to our hotel. That day we went searching for a good restaurant. We had lunch at Bama restaurant. But the food and the condition was also not hygienic there. Then we took a cycle rickshaw and went to the bus stand.