SIKKIM

 Because of the boredom created by Corona, when some relaxation came for lockdown and as we got a three day off from work due to Holi, myself along with my colleagues Devu and Tanmoy decided to go for a trip to Sikkim. We were also accompanied by Hari, who was my junior in the College. Hari, who is a talented wildlife photographer, actually had a plan to visit Assam which is nearby West Bengal where I was working. We had planned for a four day trip, which started on March 27, 2021 night. Hari reached Farakka on the same day from Kerala.

We headed off to New Jalpaiguri from Farakka via train on March 27th night. We reached New Jalpaiguri on the next day morning. Since Jalpaiguri is Devu's hometown, we had less difficulty in finding a good hotel in the morning. We went to a famous local hotel in Jalpaiguri- Netaji Hotel, which was a fifty years old hotel, from where we had bread toast and egg as breakfast. After completing our

breakfast, we went to the bike rental from where we had to get our riding companions for the rest of our journey. We pre-booked two Royal Enfield Himalayan for our journey, but we were able to get only one Himalayan and the other was Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350x. We finished our paperworks quickly as possible. Hari started with his vlogging, and this is going to be his first vlog in youtube.

Time passed nine while we started our bike journey. We wanted to ride quickly as possible as we've to reach MG Marg(Sikkim) before lunch, from where we've to get our permit for the next days journey to North Sikkim. Permit was usually issued

within the next day in which we've submitted the application through a travel agent. We've to pay the travel agent the fees for the purpose of making permit.

We reached MG Marg (Mahatma Gandhi Market) by 2pm. We directly went to Zostel, which was a backpackers hostel, which we'd pre-booked online. After placing all our luggage in our room, we went on searching for travel agent, who can make permit at most discounted rate. But most of them had same rate and some of them even had much higher rate. We finally made permit from an agent who made it for us at a rate of rs.800 for two person. On that day, we explored MG Marg, took pictures, had some local foods and pudding available in the street. Hari was busy in his world of vlogging. It rained slightly that evening and we were lucky that we wore jacket. We left back to Zostel by 7pm for attending the small local music program arranged by them on their roof top floor. There we had carroms, table football for time pass. We can also get beverages and some nice food prepared by the hotel on paid basis. There were other backpackers like us, some of those who were traveling solo, couples and those who were working from home finding it as place to do their work, enjoying the vibe

of that place. Most of them were open for chating and that made Zostel the place of vibe. I was also able to get in company of three new faces, of which one was a couple and one other lady was a HR professional working independently for companies. We were playing carroms and were also chatting about ourselves and about our journey. Altogether that night went on very well.

Next day morning, we had our breakfast from Zostel and then we went to the agent for getting the permit. Time was around 8:30am, which was late actually. We wanted to try paragliding. So we went on for searching for operators. But all our time gone waste as they were all in their Holi's holiday. We've got the pass which included permit for North Sikkim and East Sikkim. We headed on for Lachung, which is in North Sikkim. We actually planned to visit Lachung and Lachen of North Sikkim with the three days we had, but we were only able to visit Lachung.

It was night, around 8pm while we reached Lachung Town. Road was fully dark and scary after 6pm. There were no shops and vehicles on the way and travellers were less as it was lockdown days. Roads were hilly and full of twist and turn, and was less in width. Since it was also raining, we were only able to ride slowly. We booked a room at Lachung Town that night. Eventhough room rent was high, room

was good with all facilities. Temperature was low, which was around 4°C. We had our dinner that night from the same hotel where we stayed. That night we spent our time by chatting, editing the photos we had taken in our way from MG Marg to Lachung. We had encountered two beautiful waterfalls in our

way to Lachung, from where we all got some good photographs. Hari editted that for us, and we all were in no time to upload it in our whatsapp and instagram account.

Next day morning, after having our breakfast from the hotel, we went to Yumthang Valley, which is known as Valley of flowers. Road was beautiful on its both sides, after travelling some kilometres from Lachung Town. We met a Punjabi, who was staying in Kerala, in our way. His name was Aravind Singh. He was working in Air India office at Kozhikode, Kerala. We met him on the way, as we sided our bikes for our Bengali friends to have their beer. He joined us for the rest of our journey. After we finished our journey and returned back home, only then we came to know that he is the husband of famous malayalam actress Nitya Das. 

As we continued our journey, we were happy to feel the snow that was falling on us. We stopped our bike at Yumthang Valley for having a tea and to make ourselves warm with the fire which they had

made inside their shops. We were getting sick by the cold, which we had experienced never before in our life. It was -3°C temperature at Yumthang Valley. Eventhough I had riding gloves worn on my hand, it was not even able to protect me from the cold that we are experiencing there. After spending some time there, we continued our ride further. We saw an open area, which was vast and fully covered by snow. Aravind Singh who was riding

infront of us went further without stopping there. He was really enjoying his ride and the climate, I thought. We took some pictures and some videos from there. After seeing the snow, we were like children. We were throwing snow on eachother. We were falling, throwing, rolling- doing whatever we can do with snow. I felt like a warrior who won a war. 

From there, we followed the path Aravind Singh went. As we moved further, snowfall was becoming heavy, temperature was becoming even lower, and visibility was becoming less. Road was full of twist and turn and was also narrow. Both sides of the road was covered by snow. There was good chance for skidding, if we missed out road for snow. I started feeling my hand becoming frozen and immovable. But we moved further, with a mind of a warrior who is never willing to give up. We doesn't knew where this road was leading us. But the path was beautiful and riding was very enjoyable. As we moved further up and up, we started feeling the difficulty in breathing and we are becoming even more weaker and sick. So at one point of our journey, we decided to return back leaving the warrior in us somewhere there. As we all were feeling sick, we decided to take room in the same hotel where we stayed last night and spend rest of the day there. Hari started vomiting that evening. Rest of the day, we slept, without doing much. We decided to return back to Farakka the next day as work related call started coming for Tanmoy and Devu.

Next day morning, we left for Farakka from Lachung. We rode our bike as fast as possible, so that we

would reach Jalpaiguri by evening. This time also rain came in our way. By 7pm, we reached Jalpaiguri. We changed our wet dress from one of the mall there and went to KFC for having our food that night. We returned our bikes and left for Farakka from Jalpaiguri by train that night.

Eventhough we were not able to visit all the places that we planned, we were happy for the beautiful memories that Yumthang Valley gave us. Bike ride through those difficult terrain and climate was the most challenging one and was the one that I enjoyed the most. We completed and returned back after the beautiful journey, still leaving some more beautiful places to explore in the future.