Returned from Sikkim

vkarwal

Hi All,

Thanks again all in the forum for helping me in planning for a successful Sikkim Travel.

My stay in Sikiim was short but with all your help I was able to plan it well.

Its a beautiful place.
Apart from the picturisque beauty of the place, the best thing i liked abt Sikkim(atleast Gangtok) was way for pedestrians on all major roads.

The traffic was well managed and kudos to Sikkim ppl and Sikkim Police Administration. One early morning I saw all police troops attending a Yoga camp at the police head quarters parking area.

I stayed at Mt. Jopuno(of Sikkim Tourism and next to Hotel Tibet), the view of the Paljor stadium and Kanchenjunga was fantastic frm the room window. The staff was courteous and nice, food was good too.

Another thing that I liked was school going children in remote areas of sikkim. The same national study boards apply here as well(CBSE/ICSE).

Paljor stadium use to be filled with players practising all day. I chatted with a local on my walk on road and came to know he played till state level. I am impressed by the sports awareness is the state for football and other sports. Pity that Govt couldnt give facilities to players to shine in National and beyond levels.

We also visited GuruDongmar lake and yumthang(thanks to Smita and other members for the tips). GuruDongmar lake is amazing. There is a sarv dharam(all religion) temple next to it.. with Guru Nanak Dev ji in the centre and hindu and buddhist gods along with Sai baba and also a picture depicting mohammadism(if i remem correctly). On way, the Maratha regiment sepoy(also from other sources) told me the legend that once Gurunanak dev ji hit the lake with a charri and the water in that corner doesnt freeze since then(i was surprised to see only mention of the Guru Padmasambhava in Sikkim Tourism official literature).

The travel agent arranged a Mahindra Maxx jeep for us. There were three couples more and to our surprise everybody paid different price for the same package.(1600 Rs pp, 1800, 2000 and we paid 2900). The pricing actually varies with season and no. of people going in the jeep. We got our 900rs pp refunded by our travel agent when we came back.

It may be best to contact the Taxi drivers or the travel agent who is actually arranging the tour(otherwise broker travel agents take their cuts).
Yumthang valley was very nice but no flowers in mid of April. This time the snow was late and hence flowers got delayed too.

On my way back to Darjeeling I preferred to take the Namchi route and enroute we saw Temi Tea and the majestic 132ft high statue of Guru Padmasambhavaa at Samdruptse. It was a longer route but well worth.

Wish to visit Sikkim again sometime.. but this next time I will try to visit Bhutan as well.

I am my short trip we also visited Cherrapunjee, Shillong, Kamakhya Temple(Guwahati), Darjeeling, Kolkata.


Cheers,
Vivek

jyotirmoy

Another very good thing about Sikkim is no polythene bags.
I had the same experience in our north Sikkim tour. We were with another two couples and found out that I was paying much more. When I confronted the travel agent after returning to Gangtok he said that I was paying more for occupying the front seats !!! Any way he refunded some money.
The Temi tea estate is worth visiting and you can see how tea is processed. There is a Raj style bungalow in Temi completely secluded.

rajkumar

hi vkarwal,
Nice to know that you had a great trip. Please post the pictures of Gurudongmar.
thank you

vkarwal

I wish Polythene bags ban could be imposed everywhere. And may be recycled brown paper bags could be used instead as a substitute(considering our govt's emphasis on waste management thats a distant dream).

In Sikkim, they just wrap the commodities in newspaper.. no substitute to convinience of a bag.

GuruDongmar lake pics uploaded. Will upload few more later.

Cheers,
Vivek

avanind

hey vkarwal...
we are 7 guys also from noida and planning to go for sikkim tour from 05-05-07 to 11-05-07 our itinery is as follow:
(05-05-07):Bagdogra airport to Gangtok at around. night stay at gangtok.
(06-05-07):Return trip to changu lake and babamandir, nathula night stay at Gangtok.
(07-05-07):Transferr to lachen and night halt at lachen .
(08-05-07):Tour to gurudongmar lake, thangu, chopta valley Transfer to lachung. night Stay at lachung.
(09-05-07):Tour to yumthang valley and yumasomdong return to gangtok at night by exclusive vehicle. night stay at Gangtok .
(10-05-07):ransfer to pelling. Half day sight seeing.
11-05-07 : Transfer to Bagdogra Airport.
i have the following queries:
a. any suggestion on itinerary
b. where did u stay and any nice budget hotel at Gangtok/pelling, cost.
c. nathula pass/ north sikkim tour cost??

pls advise

vkarwal

U effectively have 5 or 5.5 days. 3 days wd be GuruDongmar and yumthag trip. 1 day for Nathula. 1 day for Pelling.

At Gangtok, I stayed at Hotel Mt. Jopuno. Got it booked with the help of Sikkim tourism office at New Sikkim House, 14 Panchseel Marg.

For Nathula, check which days of the week its open.. hope its open on 6th may.

North Sikkim cost(GuruDongmar/yumthang package cost) varies as per season. For least fares, check with Taxi drivers at taxi stand near Paljor stadium or taxi stand near police headquarters. Diamond tours and travels actually arranged the tour for us, its right opposite the taxi stand police head qrtrs.

No idea abt Pelling region. You would miss rumtek and lingdum monastries and other places included in Gangtok Sightseeing.

hope this helps.

carsten

Paying more for front seat is the custom in Sikkim. I have rarely met more honest people than in Sikkim.