Sikkim Tour

rohit_hit

I have been busy in my work these days so could not look at this post. But thanks a lot guys for posting your comments.

Rajeev, I haven't finalised my trip yet.

Sradha, Thanks for your post. You have confused me now.

well.. I cannot extend my stay by one day but Now, I would like to know If you compare these tours
1. Tsomgo lake - Nathu-la pass
2. Lachen - Gurudongmar - Chopta Valley - lachen.
Which is the one do you guys think is better. I am thinking of touring only one of these.

So, If I chose Gurudongmar, my trip would be :
2/May/07 - Drive from Darjeeling to Gangtok. Visit Rumtek monastery if possible. ( ~100 Km ~ 5 hours)
3/May/07 - Drive to lachen with breaks to do the site-seeing enroute. ( ~130 km run ~ 7 hours)
4/May/07 - Visit Gurudomgar lake - thangu and chopta valley. Drive to Lachung the same day . Stay in lachung.
5/May/07 - Visit Yumthang early and return to lachung by lunch time. Drive to gangtok after lunch. ( ~ 170km run)
6/May/07 - visit the gangtok bazaar in the morning and by lunch time drive back to new jalpaiguri to catch the darjeeling mail.

Also, are any special passes needed to visit Gurudomgar lake. Can we visit it in first week of May ?

I'll have to reorganise my trip now

regards,
Rohit

Sradha Sharma

Hi Rohit,
I’ am really sorry that I confused you lol … But coming back to your query I think North Sikkim is definitely worth a visit, so I would second option no 2. Your new plan looks pretty good to me, it’s spaced out and you can enjoy each place a little better without rushing too much .

Hey if you are still confused you can check out my blog for some picture proof.

Just one small favor please avoid throwing plastics and chips pack along the way, its so painful to see these places littered, if you see anyone do the same kindly point it out to them as well (I hope you understand)…. Other than that enjoy the experience and have loads n loads of fun…. If I can help you with anything else let me know.

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Nature Bug
http://naturexperience.blogspot.com/

Sradha Sharma

Hey Rajeev,
Sorry 4 the delay… answering your query, from Lachen to Thangu its abt 1 hr. Yes, you are right Lachen is definitely more evolved as a tourist destination but Thangu too has hotels… but please make reservations before if you choose to stay there, believe me it’s a different feeling to wake up there .

I will not be able to recommend any travel agency to you because I have not used one till date… but if you want I can give you a sumo drivers no who is very reliable.

Regards

abilen

My friend recently travelled to Lachung and told me about accommdation there. I am intersted in staying there but she can't remember the name. Can anyone help. Is is opposit a couple of shops, there are 3/4 floors to the hotels with the top floor accessed by very steep stairs. You eat in the kitchen and see the boys of the family making and rolling out the chapatis on a stone then cooking them on an open fire. The accommodation is very basic but it sound interesting. Has anyone stayed there

WILDEASTINDIA

Yeah i agree to Bhaswaran, one should get to Gangtok to make all the bookings.......

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Barsey Rhodendron trek

tacita

i haven't been to the places that will occupy the middle portion of your trip, so limit my reply just to the above.

if you get an early start from darjeeling, you should have time to visit rumtek. you will actually will pass it on your way to gangtok.

as for your morning in gangtok prior to departing for the DJ mail train, i think there are more interesting local sights than the bazaar, but i qualify that by saying i'm not much interested in strolling through bazaars! if you rise early and hire a taxi, you could squeeze in quite a bit. there are 3-, 5-, and 7-point tours, but you can choose what you like and customize a little local tour. negotiate with taxi drivers - there are dozens waiting for your business! another option would be to ride the ropeway that morning and have a lovely panoramic view of the area. the ropeway takes you to the south of gangtok, where you can visit the do-drul chorten (with its 108 (?) prayer wheels) and the very interesting institute of tibetology.

the DJ mail train leaves NJP (near siliguri) at 8 pm, if i recall correctly - i took it myself to kolkata just recently. if you are driving down from gangtok, it'll take @ 4-5 hours, depending on road conditions, and maybe even less, but you do have that train to catch! in any event, this still leaves you a fairly good chunk of time to see the gangtok area - again, if you rise early and plan well. you might want to arrange a taxi the evening before to pick you up at your hotel and squire you right off to some local sight-seeing.

i'll share further details later - i'm still "debriefing" from my own recent trip and am long overdue posting my trip report!

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Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. ~Helen Keller

rohit_hit

Thanks Janice for the information.

Well, we get to stroll around the bazaar during our first day in gangtok. So I would like to do some local site-seeing on my last day. I did not know there is a ropeway in gangtok as well. I thought its available only in Darjeeling. Did you take a ride in the ropeway. How is it ? I mean is it safe ? We are actually 8 of us so not sure how many of us can take the ride at a time. But I would surely like to take a ride and visit the 108 wheels temple.

If it takes 4-5 hours to reach NJP from gangtok, I think we will have to depart no later than 2pm from Gangtok.So yes, I'll get around 4-5 hours if we start early on that day for local site-seeing. Will try to capitalise this time.

btw, i have booked potala tours and travels for my north sikkim trip. I came to know about them from your mails. As you mentioned they are really prompt in responding to your mails. I interacted with around 5-6 travel agents mentioned on www.sikkiminfo.net and chose potala for their competitive rates. I could have got probably a cheaper deal if I had done it after reaching gangtok. But I don't want to risk my trip as it is a peak season. Hope that I get the same good service that you got from them.

regards,
Rohit

rajeev1008

Hi Rohit,

Could you please share the details of your planned North Sikkim trip - final itinerary , quote from Potala ....

Thx,
Rajeev

rajeev1008

Hi Rohit,
Sent you a pm. Would be good to get a reply .

Thx
Rajeev

rajashrik

Hi

I mean places to visit. Stay is already booked in Gangtok. But from above discussion I feel that I need to stay in other places also. Actually we are going to Kolkata - NJP- Darjeeling - Gangtok and back to Kolkata. We have stay of 3d in Darjeeling, 3d in Gangtok and 1 day at Kolkata. So how should we plan.

Thanks

tacita

most welcome!

yes, there is a ropeway. it's safe and can accommodate your group. you can read up on it in any guidebook for sikkim. the ropeway in darjeeling had a fatal collapse some years ago and, when i was there in february, it still wasn't operating (not that i'd have taken it!) the ropeway in gangtok spans about 1 km. it takes you to the monastery i mentioned and the fascinating institute of tibetology.

i understand completely about wanting to get things nailed down. if you shopped around and determined potala to be competitive, that's great. they helped me organize an efficient overland route, gangtok-yuksom-pelling-darjeeling; it covered all the places i'd wanted to visit. try to see the sweet little bon (or "lingbon") monastery en route; potala knows where it is, but it's not often mentioned in books as a highlight. the novices there took me into the sangha, allowed me to photograph, and also showed me their lovely little library.

i'll post a link to my pix and captions here as soon as i finish organizing them.

all the best!

rohit_hit

Well , I returned on 7th May. But i was engulfed in clearing the backlog at my workplace so did not get any time to write.

First of all, thanks to all the folks @ indiamike for your wonderful advice for arranging the trip. Thanks to Sradha especially for confusing me and to help me in deciding gurudongmar.

Here was my itinerary

May 2.

• Left Darjeeling at 730 am reached gangtok at 1130 am. Drop by taxi - 1250/- .
• I had booked Shilton Lodge at P.S. Road and I would recommend it strongly. Kalu Sherpa, the attendant over there has kept it really neat and clean. The rates are published on their website. It costed me 700/- for a triple bedded room and 600/- for a double bedded room.
• In gangtok, we had all our meals at Parivar pure veg restaurant at M.G. Road. It is the most sought after restaurant and the one with real tasty food. Recommended.
• We then went for 7-point local site-seeing trip in and around gangtok.In Gangtok, maruti omni vans / maruti cars are the only mode of transport for local site-seeing.Since we were eight, we had to book 2 taxis. Each charged us 650/- bucks. The points covered were:
  1. Chorten Stupa
  2. Tibetology Museum
  3. Ropeway
  4. Emchay Monastery
  5. Flower exhibition
  6. Hanuman Tok
  7. Ganesh Tok
  8. Tashi View Point.
  Out of these, I would say Tibetology Museum, Ropeway, Flower Exhibition and Hanuman Tok are really worth visiting.

3. May

• We had booked a 3 nights 2 days tour to North Sikkim from Potala Tours and travels. They had charged us 18500/- for the package tour that included an exclusive jeep for us , one night hotel stay in lachen and lachun each, all meals and breakfast included. If you are less number of people and go on a sharing basis you might land up in either a non-window seat or a back seat in the jeep. So be cautious before booking your deal.
• We checked out of shilton lodge and boarded our jeep at 11AM. We reached lachen by 630 pm. En route we had many stops in between to gasp at the nature's beauty. I would not quite describe the whole experience in this post alone as I want to make this post quite compact.
• We were accomodated in hotel shangrila retreat in lachen. Its an upcoming hotel and the owner was really very hospitable. Rooms were big, neat and clean and we really enjoyed this stay.

4. May

• We left for Gurudongmar at 6 AM. We had breakfast at Thangu. We reached gurudongmar by 9:15 AM. We spent around an hour in Gurudongmar. The whole route to gurudongmar is too good. The lake is pristine. Since it was our first time experiece to see snow-capped mountains everybody was thrilled. Please do note that you will experience slight breathing problems at gurudongmar lake. But if you don't do any strenous things like running or walking or shouting then you can cope up with it. I was trying to shoot some photos and in doing so I was directing my family members to pose and in between this I had to take many deep breaths. My Parents - aged 63 and 58 years old and my niece - 9 years old were able to cope up with it. So its only that you need to take some precautions.
• On our way back, we experienced a light snowfall as well - again something that we were experiencing for the first time. We also visited chopta valley. We reached lachen by 2pm.
• We had lunch and then moved towards Lachung. Reached Lachung at 7pm. We were accomodated in Hotel Mystique. Considering the luxurious stay in lachen, this hotel was really mediocre. It wasn't that clean and neat. A budget hotel with basic services. Please note the rooms that we were housed in had indian style toilets.

5 May.

• We left for Yumthang valley at 9 AM. Yumthang valley is quite refreshing. Those lovely Rhodendron and Primula flowers in the Rhodendron Flower Sanctuary on the way are very pleasing to your eyes. We reached Yumthang valley at 1030. Spent an hour there and on our way back visited a hot spring.
• You can visit khatau from lachung as its just 31 kms from there and In khatau, we were told that we could experience snow everywhere. But we avoided this trip as we thought we were spending quite a lot of time in journey and needed some rest.
• We reached gangtok at 7 pm. Checked into Shilton lodge again.

6 May.

• We had the morning session free. So we thought of visiting Rumtek Monastery.
• We hired two cabs and they charged us 500/- each. It takes around an hour to reach Rumtek. The monastery is worth visiting. It will be good if you hire a guide over there to walk you through the shrine. He took 50/- bucks for it. We came to know more about buddhism ,the different sects in buddhism and their gurus.
• We came back and checked out of our lodge and boarded our jeep for New Jalpaiguri at 1 pm. Potala tours charged us 1500/- for the drop.

Please note that since the taxi drivers in gangtok tend to make it most out of the tourists so please bargain hard.

I would soon uplaod the snaps.

Once again thanks for all those who helped me in deciding my tour. My family truly enjoyed this tour.

thanks,
Rohit

Sradha Sharma

Hi there,
I’am glad that you enjoyed the trip. North Sikkim is amazing, isn’t it? Well look forward to seeing your pictures.

Till ten take care and have fun.

tacita

delighted to hear you had such a successful trip and especially that you were able to cover as much as you did in gangtok. as hokey as they sound, the 3-, 5-, and 7-point tours really are a great way to cover the main sights easily. i agree with you about the tibetology museum - fascinating! did you spin all 108 prayer wheels at the dodrul chorten nearby it?