Our hotel The Golden Crest at Gangtok was a little before the city center in Deorali area. We were glad to be at the hotel after hectic day. However, in preparation for our North Sikkim trip, we were to buy a jacket for son. So, we decided to go to main MG road market despite it drizzling a bit. We found a taxi going up and they guided us to the stairs to climb to MG Road. The MG Road is the hub of Gangtok with shops, eateries and general promenade with benches. It was well lit. We did our shopping and easily found what we were looking for. After that had hot momos and we we back in hotel in an hour and 30 mins.
Next day our taxi came to hotel to take us to Changu (or Tsomgo) lake. Due to this being an organized trip, somehow I did not research much on this spot. The lake is close to Nathula pass, at quiet a height, has snow in summer and very cold. Gangtok was pleasant so did not take our warm jacket and all. The driver too was aloof and did not warn us. When we realized that road is climbing height, getting treacherous & how it was getting cold, we were worried but thankfully, there are shops to hire warm clothing much to our relief. We hired jackets, rubber boots, gloves and were all prepared to hit the snow.
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| On the way to Changu lake |
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| Treacherous climbing road full of military installations |
The area around lake was all covered with snow, a bit cloudy and very cold. However, now we enjoyed the snow, especially our son who was keen to play in the snow. We climbed the adjacent hill with our legs burrying a feet deep into snow. There is also a ropeway but we did not attempt it due to weather and rush.
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| Changu Lake |
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| Enjoying on the snow |
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| Enjoying on the snow |
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| Destination board on the road |
Beyond lake like Baba Harbhajan temple who has a myth and legend attached to him. One can read about it
here. There was massive traffic ahead of us which was crawling. We decided to skip the temple and enjoy the surroundings for which our driver was more than happy. We came back to another lake called Hangu which was semi frozen in a small enterprise of Sikkim tourism not so aptly named as "Alpine Park" when the surroundings were all barren due to height. Anyhow, the skys cleared a bit and the fluttering prayer flags and semi-frozen lake provided some photo ops.
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| Alpine Park |
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| Snow clad mountain |
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| Semi frozen lake |
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| Buddhist flag fluttering |
We came back to Changu lake point. There were yaks available to ride on them and few stalls. There was also a Changu Baba Mandir. The lake surrounded by snow clad mountains with cloudy and foggy weather made the place a little ominous. On top of that there were several tourist vehicles all around which made it resemble the hustle bustle one finds at Rohtang pass near Manali.
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| Changu Baba mandir |
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| Yak doing tourist duty |
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| View resembling Rohtang pass |
We left early to back to Sikkim. At the place where we rented the warm clothes, it started raining. We sat inside cosily eating momos and soup. The road to Nathula diverts from the main road a little early than Changu lake. This is all military area due to proximity with China border. Nathula pass and border was open till 1962 when war with China closed it. The pass was also used by Sikkimese to cross over and go to Tibet or Bhutan. In 1959-60 Nehru went to Bhutan via Nathula accompanied by Indira Gandhi, Chogyal of Sikkim (it was not yet taken over by India) on ponies. There are videos on youtube documenting that journey. Even though its China but the main China is far-far away. Noticed a distance signage showing distance all the way to Mansarovar lake which was 1600+ kms away. We did not have much urge to visit Nathula pass and border which one can do after obtaining taking special permit.
We came back to Gangtok to our hotel and after some rest decided to spend evening at Gangtok. There is a ropeway which starts from Deorali, next to Himalayan institute of Tibetology which was around a km walk from our hotel. We ambled to the station. There we came to know that cable car runs only upto 5:30pm and from next day it is going to be closed for some time for maintenance. It was sheer luck that we could ride the cable car on the last service of the day! The ticket is for roundtrip and gets lot of tourists. We rode back and forth. Its a km or so long ride gliding over main Gangtok town which gives great views. This ride was more like a skybus than ropeway of Namchi gains height.
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| Ropeway carriage |
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| View going up |
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| View of arterial road of Gangtok |
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| joyride for kid |
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| Beauty of Sikkim |
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| View going down |
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| Carriage coming up |
We got down feeling really lucky. From here we walked on the road and climbed up the stairs to usher onto MG Road. We went up and down the MG Road, had ice-cream, momos and after whiling way some time, came back to our hotel by taxi. One can hail any taxi going down the road to Deorali.
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| Going to MG Road |
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| MG Road |
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| Please evening at MG Road |
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| Gandhiji at MG Road |
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| Well developed, neat & clean promenade |
Next day we went for Sikkim Day tour. We started from hotel and first went to a flower show. It was supposed to open at 9:30AM so we took a stroll at Ridge Road. When it opened, we went inside to see the flowers. The exhibition was impressive with many flowers which are endemic to Sikkim.
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| Flower show |
From here we went to Ganesh Tok which has temple devoted to Lord Ganesh is a picturesque point to look at almost entire Gangtok and beyond. Here we can dress in local Sikkimese dress which we did a took a tour of the temple gorging on the sweeping views. The place was well managed with parking and a small shop with clean surroundings.
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| Panoramic view from Ganesh Tok |
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| Ganesh Tok viewpoint |
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| Traditional Sikkimese dress |
Next to Ganesh Tok is gateway to Sikkim Zoo. We started walking but our driver came and told us that it is quite a long walk, so he dropped us to the gate. From here it was the most serene walk among the tall trees around and tranquility. First we went to the Bear pen which had a small terrace which opened into another view of the valley and hills beyond. It was so tranquil that we didn't know how to take it in. The Zoo has unique displays of Snow Leopard and Red Panda which are generally not see in other zoos but we were lucky to see both of them. Then there were pheasants and other animals deer, sheep, ghoral, civet etc. The entire zoo is a the most relaxing walk in the nature. One would gain a day or two of life walking in these pure surroundings.
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| Bear pen |
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| Pheasant |
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| Snow leopard |
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| Red panda |
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| Tranquil Zoo |
From Zoo we went to Tashi View point. This point again gives great views of Gangtok and surroundings. There is an small building with a small promenade area setup for people to walk round and click pictures. Here I found a very prominent distance marker. We decided to have lunch in nearby hotel. We order Nepalese Thali, Thupka and Momos. The fare was amazing. Nepalese thali comes with rice, tarkari, dal. Here catering to tourists, they served shahi paneer and gulba jamun. But the tarkari which is local leafy vegetable was delicious as the rest of the fare. Thupka was equally great.
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| Tashi view point |
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| View from Tashi viewpoint |
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| Thupka |
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| Nepali thali with gulab-jamun |
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| 4 important places for Sikkim |
After this we enquired about the paragliding but abandoned when it turned out to time consuming and by going to a particular place and all. We went to Ban Jhakri park instead which has natural waterfall and few adventure activities like zipline, rope crossing of river underneath. It was a relaxing place walking on the cold water and watching people around trying tricks.
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| Ban jhakri |
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| Ban jhakri |
From here we went back to Deorali to Namgyal Institute of Tibetology which was setup by King of Sikkim Namgyal to provide a centre to study about Tibet, its religion, culture. Inside it was impressive displays. We bought a few souvneirs include a broze statue of Buddha. From here we walked (a steep walk) to Do Drul Chorten Monastery which has a huge chorten in a complex surrounded by prayer wheels. The chorten was magnificient and imposing. We did our ritual of rotating the prayer wheels clockwise to pay our respect.
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