1 Sikkim
The first leg of GHiRT-1 was Sikkim
We covered Gangtok & Tsomgo Lake in East Sikkim for first 2 days ..... and then headed South & West Sikkim to see Ravangla, Legship, Tashiding, Yuksom, Khecheopalri Lake, Pemayangtse Monastry, Changey Waterfall etc.
Sikkim
Five of us on this Scorpio-SUV tour of the North-East. Veteran driver HV Kumar, his wife Deepa, their 13-yr old son Hariharan, Hariharan's school classmate, 13-yr old, Srinath .... and an old man, me (KS), all of 60-years! We loaded up HVK's black Scorpio, with our luggage & stuff and left Thane via NH-3, at 8:10pm on 9th April 2009. At Dhulia, we turned right onto NH-6 and headed East, all the way to Kolkata & Gangtok
Our drive across India from Mumbai to Kolkata, Siliguri and Gangtok was pretty uneventful; except that we had to enter Kolkata (unplanned) to change our rear tires. At Sambalpur, HVK noticed that a long crack was developing on the sidewall of the rear-left tubeless tire and so he decided to go to Kolkata and change both the rear tires. HVK's network of TeamBHP members helped in keeping the new tires and the change shop crew ready. That took an extra 3 hours and HVK more than made up for it, by driving all night to Gangtok.
12th April - 10 AM: We reach Gangtok earlier than planned. We had driven 2846 Kms from Thane, more or less continuously, with just one night stay halt at a hotel in Sambalpur, Orissa. In Gangtok, we stayed at Hotel Rajnandini, near Raj-Bhavan. It was an OK hotel at Rs 600/- for a DBL room. We did some local sights and next day (13th) we went to Tsomgo Lake in a hired Maxx. We could not get permit to go to Nathu-La due to snow conditions on route and only army trucks with chains were going to Nathu-La.
Circuit House at Gangtok, from where we climbed to Ganeshtok
Enchay Gompa, Gangtok
Ganesha Temple at Ganesh-Tok, Gangtok
Gangtok town from Ganesh-Tok
Prayer wall at Enchey Gompa
Enchay Gompa, Gangtok
14th April: We left early at 5:00AM to visit some parts of South and West Sikkim, along a scenic route. First to Legship via Ravangla and then to Tashiding after crossing Rangit river on a suspension bridge. The new Tourist GH at Tashiding is beautifully located and well-furnished. We stopped here for tea. Next time I must to stay here in this nice Guest House (WP103), located on top of a high ridge below the Tashiding Monastery.
Tsomgo Lake (WP90) E. Sikkim
KS at Tsomgo Lake, Sikkim (WP89)
Hariharan, Srinath and Mrs Kumar at Tosmgo Lake
Srinath & Hariharan at Tsomgo Lake
Upstream of the Rangit NHPC Dam ... and where Rohtang Chu joins the main Rangit river (WP100) ... and the Buddhist Chorten at the confluence
After Tashiding we went to Yuksom via Phamrong Falls. At Yuksom (10:45 am) we had lunch of puri-bhaji at the main street Gupta's restaurant. We then left for Khecheopalri Lake.
As we descend to Legship
Legship Market - W. Sikkim
Dam and Reservoir on Rangit river
Prayer wheels - Khecheolpalri Lake
KS at Kecheolpalri Lake
West Sikkim Kid we pass on the street near Rangit river
Ravangla - Scenic S. Sikkim
Yuksom has changed! ... many modern new hotels in Yuksom!!
Yuksom - Gupta's Restaurant
Khecheopalri Lake, West Sikkim (WP111)
After Khecheopalri lake we went to see the famous Pemayangtse Monastry, via Pelling.
People wishing at Khecheolpalri Lake
Our Scorpio crosses the Rangit river Suspension bridge (WP102)
The yard at Pemayangtse
Pemayangtse Monastry
Pemayangtse Monastery (WP115)
Pemayangtse Monastery
Pemayangtse Monastry
Srinath, Hari, Mrs & Mr HVK
Tashiding Tourist GH (WP103)
Phamrong Falls (WP105)
Changey Waterfall near Dentam (WP117)
In going to Dentak at Western end of Sikkim, we faced bad roads and lost extra 2-3 hours and reached Jaigaon in WB-Bhutan border late at 9:45pm. The Phuntsoling border gate was closed for vehicles and so we had to stay in Hotel Kasturi, Jaigaon, Rs 500 for a non-AC DBL room.
Jaigaon in WB at Bhutan border a dirty town with uncleared garbage in the streets
Hotel Kasturi at Jaigoan where we stayed one night.
Again at Coronation Bridge (WP136) over Teesta to go to Jaigaon
Note: WPnnn = WayPoint# for that location. The GPS Waypoints for this tour is labelled as "S2SApril2009.zip" in my "Files D/L" page here
If you download that file and click on the unzipped file, you can see the entire route we travelled in Google Earth if installed in your computer.