The next morning we rented a tata sumo for one day. The driver Tsering was very friendly. We set out for Chhangu lake and Babamandir. These 2 destinations we covered in one day. Nathula was closed. Tsering assured us Nathula is not that much beautiful at this time of the year. The travel cost us 2000 bucks. First we went to Babamandir(Baba Harbhajan Singh memorial) at 14500 ft I think. Great scenery. Then We went to Chhangu lake at about 12000 ft. There you can ride on a yak spending 20 Rs. We saw some chinese trucks there which were doing business with their indian counterparts, ofcourse under army supervision. We went to a market like place. This market near Chhangu is the place where you can find cheapest chinese goods. Dada and Biddu Da bought yak-leather jackets for 1000 bucks each. But you have to bargain hard. We tried the local Wai-wai noodles. It was not up to the reputation. Tsering was very helpful. He showed us all the cool things to do in Sikkim. After returning to Gangtok we planned for the next 3 days. We took a 3 days-2 nights package tour for 4 guyz for 14000 Rs including fooding, lodging, travelling etc. Goutam and Tsering arranged for everything. They took 4 passport photos and 2 copies of id proofs from each of us to apply for the permisson to visit North Sikkim places.
Day 3 >>
Tuesday morning we left the hotel. We were heading to Lachen, a small village in North Sikkim at about 10000 ft. The journey was great. We bought one crate of beer and took it with us in the car. Lachen was cold. We stayed in Tsering's sisters home. Its a hotel cum home. On the way to Lachen we bought 1 kg of fresh pork from a village. We were stopping at many places thus making us late reaching Lachen. Several water falls were there. Seven Sisters Falls were nice. There was no stopping of photo clicking on the road. North Sikkim is so so much beautiful. Especially the journey from Chungthang to Lachen was a treat to our eyes. it got dark when we reached Lachen. We entered Didi's wooden home and sat in the huge kitchen. Every member of the family was present there. It was very nice to see the young boys helping in household works. Now comes the best part. Tsering brought chhaang for us. This is Sikkim's desi local beer, an instant hit among the foreigners who come to Sikkim. 4 small barrel like wooden containers were served. We had to drink it with wooden straws. The taste can be described as "tango"! Well it really made us high. We loved it right away. To add to this there was the pork, we bought downhill. Didi cooked it for us and cooked it really well. Our cheecks turned red after having chhaang and pork together. So note it down, you must try chhaang and pork there.
Day 4 >>
Woke up very early in the morning and set out for Gurudongmar. It was very cold the previous night and in the morning also. As usual the journey was great. We stopped at a place called changu to have breakfast. We had maggi and jam-bread there, sitting beside a fireplace. Great experience. JFK found a leech inside the car. It sure had its share of our life-juice. The leech was looking healthy. the next morning we found out that the victom was no other than Tsering. After breakfast again we started for Gurudongmar. We were heading to the Tibet border. So there were many army camps. We were gradually going higher in altitude. And gradually the nature was changing itself. At about 15500 ft there were no huge trees, only green grass. Then above 16500 ft it was totally different. There were no grrenery there. tsering described it as cold desert. It was something like what I imagined Afganistan to look like. It was beautiful.We had to keep the glasses of our car up, because a very cold wind was blowing outside. Strange creatures were there. Yaks, large looking dogs and even large rats. We saw ice on top of the hills there. Two sikh army men were standing on the road of the cold desert. They wanted a lifty to Gurudongmar. They got in our car and we started chatting with them. There was so much patriotism in the words they were speaking. Beleive me those words were better than J.P.Dutta films. The strangest part was that they told us they came down from 24000 ft and even showed us the Indian bunkers above the hill in the border. Gurudongmar is 17800 ft above sea level. There was 6% oxygen in the air. We were having breathing problems and these guys came down from 24000 ft walking and then dived into the below 0 degree water of the lake, got up and went uphill and vanished! They must be inhuman. We were standing still near the lake. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. I can not describe it in words. Pictures can't also. Heaven must be like this. We took water from the lake as it is considered very pious. The water was extremely cold. I could not climb up the stairs from the lake. My tongue touched my chin. Heart was beating at an extreme rate. JFK almost fell sick. There were 3 cars including ours on that day coming to the lake. One car returned well before reaching the lake due to the climate. the climate is so much disturbed there that the army does not allow anyone there after 12 noon. After 12 a terrible wind storm blows there with small stones which can damage cars. The army gives hot water, chocolates and biscuites there to the tourists. We felt better after having cadburys. Gurudongmar was dangerrously beautiful. What an adventure! We returned to Lachen and had lunch. Then we went to Lachung. We reached Lachung at night and boarded a bengali hotel. That hotel was not like didi's home. But we managed that night with beers.
Bye for now.
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