The wonderland of nature, beauty and Mt Kanchenjunga

Thank you Mithun for this nice trip report thogh I am still not able to move beyond Sillary, but have to land to work directly from the mystic mountains and lovely kids of Sillary. But I must say I enjoyed reading every lines, it is full of emotions, and amazing photos.

I will try to copy your style of writing in my next trip report

Hope I will be able to travel(by reading your log only) to rest of your destinations very soon.

Thanks Ruchira. Happy that you liked it.

Sillery is absolutely gem of nature - the people there are so simple that sometime you will lose yourself in their simplicity. They have just started seeing tourist in their place since last 1 year or so. So to me , it is the best time to visit that place - because things have just started getting commercialized. And without these beautiful people Sillery wont have that charm , which you could find today.

Ruchira , I have read every word of your trip report multiple times in last few days.I am a great fan of the trip reports of Kaushik da, mousourik, Amit-da , Anirban Da(In team-bhp), Harsh Vardhan(Team-bhp) , Tanveer(Team-bhp), Praveen(bcmt) and many others. And with all the due respect to all the above mentioned names of the trip log wrtiters ,IMO, your report is the best one in Sikkim forum in IM(No I didn’t forget Amit-da’s report on West Sikkim and Dzongu, neither I forgeot that Sagarneel is still alive!!!)- so informative and in such details. After reading your report , everyone will fell they have travelled to Sikkim with you- So lively. In Bermoik , for the first time , I have read your report. And beleive me or not , when I had called Amit-da and Koushik-da that day, for a long time your report was the only matter of discussion- it was even more attractive than Mt K on a bright sunny morning(Which we had got in Bermiok).

I am honoured

I have started planning to visit Sillery Gaon in April.

That's a great news Ruchira. I would be eagerly waiting for one more log of this route. I would always suggest you to include Zuluk and Mankhim along with Sillery.(Reshi and Aritar was good but not exceptional IMO,specially considering view from these location.)

Happy planning.

What about your plan for the Kashmir trip? I want to join you all in that trip too. But only one is possible with my leaves and budget .

Other than Kashmir, there are few more plans in the queue.

As this is related to hills and both Koushik-Da and Sagarneel is in planning committee for this trip - I am very hopeful that the trip will happen!!!

Sagarneel have a short trip to Chandni Chowk next week , the planning for Kashmir trip is in hold as of now.

We would be more than happy to have both of you and Amit-da as our co-traveller. ( I could imagine, how much time I will spend reading the trip blog, if this group(All my favourite trip-log writers) could make it to Kashmir ..

Not a solo trip...that's a very very serious IM trip for buying blankets for Subhajit due the forthcoming winters.

The plan of Kashmir is always on in my head...its gonna be either Kashmir or Ladakh next year for sure.

Yes planning to cover Bhalukpong, Dirang, Bomdilla and Tawang.
Thanks a lot for your wishes. And please be assured of a detailed travelogue once I return

‘Mankhim’ means temple in Nepali, at an altitude of 6500 ft , is an hill top over Aritar. There is a Hindu temple of Rai community at Maity Village . Aritar located on historical silk route , which gained popularity during 1904 when Col Younghusband has marched toward Lahsa and conquered over the Tibetans. During the silk trading to China through the Silk Route , Aritar was a popular stopover, hence Sir James Claud White has set up a rest house in Aritar , which is popular as Dak Banglow now-a-days , which provide an tourist accommodation in Aritar. The Lompokhari (Which means Long Lake) Aritar was used to quench the thirst of the Mule and the merchants during their journey to Tibet for silk trading.
Mankhim on top of Aritar provides an excellent view of Mt Kanchenjubgha Range , and its surrounding hills.On a clear day the hills above Zuluk , even the winding road of Zuluk can be visible from her.
We got an excellent welcome in “Shanti Kunja”. It’s a hotel owned by the local MLA there and the rooms are great. They have 3 cottage consist of 5 different rooms. We had been offered an accommodation in the main building, on which the top floor is still under construction and the rooms are just smaller than a mini football ground. The food was OK , and due to lack of staffs , the maintenance of the room cannot be considered as excellent- though it was good enough. The rooms are very well decorated.

Mithun, Thanks for those details. I feel your inputs will be very helpful to lot of people.

Mankhim - World of flowers and Mt K.

After a very tiring day Yesterday,I was in deep sleep and suddenly heard somebody knocking in the door
‘ Wake up!!! Its already 5:30’ – A very manly voice .
‘Who is this? ‘ I asked.
I got no reply. I waked up and saw two of my friends at two far end of the room. Both of them was snoring in deep sleep. Utpal had slightly higher pitch and Soumya in slightly lower.
‘Gharrrrrrrrrr…. Girrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr… Gharrrrrrrrrrr… Girrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr……………………………. ’.
I have also found out Utpal has found out an very innovative way of sleeping … he has no contact with his pillow . His head was supported by his left arms and his left knee was supporting his whole body- as if someone asked him last night that there is high possibility of a war in Aritar … and Utpal is all set to run away as soon as he got any information. I had got my camera and clicked some picture in that posture – so that he cannot deny it later.
In last few days , several time in my dream I have saw that beautiful lady ‘Kanchen’ calling me. I might not get surprised if I had heard a female voice knocking my door – because recently I have developed that bad habit of imagining Mt Kanchenjungha everywhere, but I had clearly heard that male voice . ‘Who was that?’ – honestly I got little scared. Then is this ‘Mount Everest’ who knocked my door and waked me up to watch her beautiful sister.
I watched the clock and it was 5:40 AM in the morning.
‘Ohh God !! I have got late today” – I can only blame myself.
“Are you guys coming to watch the sunrise” – I have asked both Utpal and Soumya.
“ Will watch it tomorrow… Gharrrrrrrr…… “ – I have got the reply from Utpal. He is in his dreamland. And got no reply from Soumya.
I opened the door and rushed on toward the viewpoint .. which is just 6 steps up from our room. Today was slightly cloudy , and though Kanchenjunga Range is visible but not very clear today –atleast not anywhere close to the visibility we had got yesterday. Took some pictures- but not very satisfactory . The other side of the sky is fully cloudy.
‘ She kept her promise , atleast showed her beautiful face behind the cloud cover’ – I told it to myself. Thank God , I didn’t forcefully pulled up both of my friends (What I did in all the previous mornings) , otherwise they might had used all the bad words in their dictionary after watching this cloudy morning.
“But who has knocked in my door in so early morning?” – I asked myself.
Within a few moment I saw Dilip ji standing near the far end of the view point with our parent.
“ Good Morning.. Do you know who has knocked my door a few minutes back?” – I asked Dilip Ji.
“It was me… “ He replied.
“ Why didn’t you answer , when I asked who is knocking the door?” – I asked him in a serious mood, “ I thought Mount Everest!!! “ – I started smiling.
“ I went on to call Mummy Papa “- very innocently he has replied “ They were not aware of this view point”
It was a great start of morning , though Kanchenjunga was not clearly visible , but I had got a great portrait of a sleeping solider , heard the call of Mount Everest. 
Yesterday , when we had reached here , it was dark , though we had smelled these flowers, but didn’t had any idea of how many different types of flower is here. In the bright morning for the very first time , I have realize what this place and this resort offers. So many butterfly are flying together , the birds have started their slow morning walk in the garden of the resort, we can clearly see the “Mankhim”(Temple ) at the hill top, Orchids are blooming at its full glow. There is a beautiful sitting area covered by the flowers- I am in awe of what nature offered me this morning- Its different from every other day. Lompokhari is clearly visible below the hill and it looks like a beautiful form of the third eye of nature. The dense forest beside the lake appears as eyebrows. It is dense forest all around and we are in a beautiful resort inside the dense forest. The prayer flags have enriched the beauty of this place. The hills of Zuluk is clearly visible- it reminded us the 8 dream hours we have spend in these dream places.
After taking so many pictures of these beautiful flowers of the resort , we finally started getting ready for our next destination.
After heavy breakfast We have planned to walk down amidst the deep forest all the way to Lompokhari. It is a beautiful lake of green water , surrounded by deep forest in all the direction. ‘Lompokhari Village resort’ is situated in a wonderful location just beside the lake. There are so many ducks floating around , and they will disappear whenever you will try to click a photo of these. There are so many colourful fishes inside the lake. All of us started boating , and clicked a few pics of the surrounding of the lake.
After last 6 days for the first time Mahindar Ji had spent a night with his family – and he is in a very refreshing mood today. We visited the Old Dak Banglow and started toward our next destination – ‘Borong’.

Like common practice in this forum..off topic bound to come.. On a serious note, we shall buy some gears too for winter trips.
Now Sagar'da & Kausik'da both know my positions, it's your duty to include me in the trip for Kashmir/Ladakh . Mithun, I am also in the queue for "others".

Subhajit ,

I know your position as well. But do you think , will you have enough privacy and leisure ( I am not sure , if that is needed, I have no experience at all!!!) , with these crazy traveller like Sagar and Kaushik da? But , we would love to have you and your family in our group....

Congratulations Subhajit. You ignored my question last day, but now I know my guess was right

I am also joining the group (Not asking for permision and following the way Sagarneel suggested)

Great going Mithun, loving every bit of it and yes Sillery Gaon seems to be my next spot as well; just wondering whether my Alto can do the track !!!!