A Sikkim trip had been on my Mom’s bucket list for the longest time. That and Coorg (which still sits at the bottom of her bucket!)
Finally in May 2024, she convinced my family for the Sikkim trip using some FOMO statement:
“the Oct 2023 floods have destroyed quite a bit of this beautiful state – lets go before……”
For some reason that seemed to work. I was the last one to be asked, as everyone knows I require the least bit of convincing.
Finally, it was my Mom, Dad, my friend ‘Namit’, my Uncle (Mama), Aunty (Mami) and cousin ‘Nidhi’ – ‘hum saat’.
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Contents
About Sikkim
As a kid, I always thought Sikkim was a part of the ‘seven sisters’. I would always be able to complete my seven sisters list as I was picking 7 out of 8 states!
Later, when my interest in maps grew, I was fascinated to know that Sikkim could not make it to the seven sisters as it was on the other side of the ‘Chicken’s neck’. Fondly called as the one brother of the north-eastern region.
As my friend said, “It is India, until you have a brother, the count will never end!”
Sikkim joined India in 1975 and was the 22nd state to become a part of India.
All that I associated with Sikkim prior to my trip was Monasteries and hilly terrain. Sikkim turned out to be much more than that.
The Planning
The best part about Sikkim was that there was no debate amongst us regarding travelling by car/road/bus. The only way to properly see Sikkim is by car, and as per the rule, only Sikkim registered cars were allowed in most parts of the state as the terrain is very different from rest of India.
And you do appreciate the rule when you travel on those roads.
We split the planning responsibilities between us. My mom was responsible for finalising the car, my cousin chose the food/restaurant and things to do bit while my friend and I were given the hotel selection responsibility.
And I believe all of us did a very good job of our respective responsibilities!
My mom spoke to quite a few tour operators and all of them seemed to be giving ‘copy-paste’ answers which made us believe that the transport scene was quite standardised in Sikkim.
We were offered a Toyota Crysta by all the tour operators with the same range ~8K INR/day. My mom finally chose a particular tour operator who claimed that his was a VIP car and he had taken Virat Kohli-Anushka on the same trip 2 years ago – when he had just bought the car.
Day 1: Delhi to Jalpaiguri
We had the option of either flying to Gangtok (Pakyong Airport)/Bagdogra or take a Rajdhani train to Jalpaiguri station. Most members voted for the train as it had been a really long time since we had taken a train. I was happy with the decision as Rajdhani train for me is nostalgia and it had been more than 15 years since I had travelled in a Rajdhani.
We took the train on Friday evening and were supposed to reach Jalpaiguri at 2 PM where our cab driver was to pick us up and drive to Gangtok.
A day before the journey, our selected driver called us and said that he had been delayed and will be able to be with us from Day 3 onwards. To avoid any inconvenience to us, he had outsourced day 1 and 2 to another driver.
This was irritating but the guy had a way of convincing us – a true art I would say. So we agreed.
Day 2: Jalpaiguri to Gangtok
The temporary driver came to pick us up in a Crysta (good condition).
It was the start of our roadtrip.
The driver was quite rash but did seem to be in control of the car and given the traffic and roads I guess the rashness was needed or else we would have taken ages to reach Gangtok.
Not to mention his unfriendly attitude.
Being the excited tourists, we had so many questions which were met with very abrupt answers. Somehow not the hospitality we were expecting!
His reckless driving coupled with his unfriendly attitude made for a bumpy ride.
But we had adrenaline and enthusiasm on our side since it was the start of our trip, so the mood in the car was happy.
The drive from Jalpaiguri to Gangtok was not as scenic as I had assumed. There was a lot of construction happening on this route as of May 2024.
On asking about the construction reason, we were told that a new railway line was being constructed which would eventually allow train travel closer to Sikkim than is currently possible.
A welcome construction, definitely.
We started our journey from the station at ~ 3 PM and reached Gangtok at ~8 PM
Stay in Gangtok
The weather in Gangtok was just perfect. Not too cold – not too warm. Just perfect.
For accommodation, we wanted a centrally located hotel and finally chose ‘Element Boutique hotel’ near MG road which was a short 10 minute walk (very steep though) to the city centre – ‘the red Panda statue’ on MG road.
The hotel was decent.
We quickly checked in and headed out for dinner.
Nidhi had bookmarked a few famous restaurants and we decided to eat in one of those.
However, we were surprised to see that most restaurants in Gangtok closed by 9PM. After facing rejection from 2 of her shortlisted restaurants, we decided to go into any open restaurant as by now we were famished.
We finally went into ‘Chopsticks’. The food was quite good – the typical desi chinese food.
After the dinner, we strolled around a bit taking in the pleasant weather and appreciating it more since we had come from a sweltering Delhi summer.
Day 3: Gangtok to Nathula Pass
The next morning, our driver was to pick us up at 7AM for the day trip to Nathula pass. We somehow negotiated with him for a late start and after a lot of to-and-fro, we agreed for 8AM.
Our plan was to eat breakfast at some cafe and then leave for the daytrip.
Little did we know that most cafes in Gangtok opened at 9AM. And interestingly, the liquor shops were opened at 8AM.
Later our driver mentioned that liquor consumption in Sikkim is quite high and the rates are actually cheaper than Delhi which was quite a revelation for me.
Since breakfast wasn’t available early on, our driver offered to make a stop en route so that we could eat.
The drive to Nathula pass was quite beautiful and the road condition was amazing. It was quite foggy and the visibility at times was extremely low.
The road was lined with safety quotes from ‘Border road Organisation’ – and some of them were quite amusing.
After driving for about 1 hour, our driver stopped for breakfast. As soon as we opened the car door, the cold air hit us. We were absolutely not expecting it.
The car with its windows all rolled up was so cozy – we had no idea about the temperature outside.
It must have been about 7-8 degree there. We wore all our gloves and caps and were still shivering.
More than a breakfast stop, it turned out to be a acclimatization stop before Nathula pass!
We ordered some bread-omelettes and chaai and while waiting for the food, we also did some gloves/cap shopping from the very strategically placed shop in the restaurant.
The bread-omelette was one of the best we had eaten. The bread was fresh and warm and we all ended up eating two plates. Maybe it was the cold that increased our appetite.
Very happy with our meal, we resumed our journey to the pass.
The pass was lined with cars- all white taxis and most of them were Crysta’s. We were not expecting that kind of crowd. the line to the top of the pass seemed like the one at Vaishno devi!
The pass was at 14K feet and the lack of oxygen coupled with the pollution by the numerous cars was hitting me along with the extremely cold breeze (~1 degree). I quickly decided to not stand in that crazy line and instead opted to wait in the car.
It seems that all of were thinking of doing the same!
Only my uncle was enthusiastic to go and see the border which he did while we were happy to wait in the comfort of the car.
My uncle was back in about 20 minutes and was extremely excited. He had actually rented a jacket from the breakfast place and hence the cold/breeze did not hit him.
On our way back, our itinerary mentioned a few spots.
Mandakini Falls
The first one was a waterfall named ‘Mandakini falls’ which was just a stream of water.
“Why is it called Mandakini falls? Did any shooting take place here”? I asked the driver
“Kya pataa – mari hogi koi Mandakini aake yahaan pe” was his reply! the only thing missing from his reply was “She must have died here, For all I care!”
Changu lake/Tsogmo lake
Changu lake also known as Tsogmo lake is a glacial lake at 12K Feet.
It was lined with a few glammed up yaks – all ready for their photoshoot with tourists. The lake was decent but again it was too crowded.
I believe the lake would look quite spectacular in winters with the surrounding mountains all covered in now at that time.
Kanchandzonga View Point
When we asked the driver about this view point since it was mentioned in our itinerary, he replied “Arey aise hi naaam de diye hai tourists ke liye. Sab yahi pahaaad dikhte hai sab jagah se”!
This was our supposedly ‘Tourist driver’!
Return to Gangtok city
We came back at about 2:30 PM and directly headed to a Nepali restaurant for lunch.
Thankfully this was the end of our first driver’s stint with us.
We were glad to bid Adieu to him and looked forward to the next driver – the one my Mom had selected.
Gangtok to North Sikkim (Lachung)
This was the most anticipated bit of our trip as we had seen some stunning pics of North Sikkim.
Since this was day 3, we had a new car and the driver originally selected by my mom.
We started from our hotel at 730AM as it was supposed to be a long drive. Although the maps mentioned it to be 5 hours, our driver mentioned that it would take ~8 hours as there were a few diversions.
Our new driver seemed to be a typical tourist driver and gave us a lot of information about Sikkim and throughout the way he kept telling us about the surroundings and some stories.
As we had not eaten breakfast (since nothing opened that early in Gangtok!), we stopped at a place after driving for about 1 hour.
The challenge with Sikkim road trips was the scarcity of food options. No where close to the dhabas that we are now used to.
All that we got at the restaurant was maggi and after a lot of persuasion, he agreed to put egg in the maggi.
The route is quite pretty with the Teesta river giving you company for quite a bit of the route. The road condition was decent (albiet a bit narrow) for most part but there were definitely patches of broken roads.
And at those stretches you have to admire the understanding between the Sikkim drivers. They had very clear rules as to who gets right to pass first.
I guess that is the reason we did not really get stuck anywhere in jams. The traffic moved smoothly.
There were 1-2 points where the road was exceptionally narrow with a steep cliff drop on one side.
The driver’s expertise at such moments was truly commendable.
We stopped for lunch at a nice location – however here too they were only serving maggi. This time however, momos were also available.
I was sorted.
Some local people (including our driver) were eating a dish which looked like dal-chawal. It looked warm and as we were famished, we decided to give it a dry. It was called Alu chura which seemed like alu curry with wai wai noodles and to our surprise it turned out to be quite good. Hot and spicy – which was perfect for the weather (It had started drizzling at that time).
With our stomachs now full and bladders empty, we restarted our journey.
After a while we reached the Bheem Nala falls also know as Amitabh Bachan falls – yes, you guessed it right. The name came from the height of the falls.
It was definitely one of the tallest falls I have seen up close till date.
After this we crossed the town of Chungthang which was quite severely impacted by the Oct 2023 floods.
And the impact could be seen on our trip too (nearly 7 months later).
The cloudburst had destroyed the dam along with the village. There were some huge boulders where the dam had once been.
Reading about such natural disasters is one thing and seeing the impact with your own eyes is quite different.
Lachung
We finally reached Lachung at 5:30 PM and checked into our hotel: Jain Lachung hotel.
We had got the room at a steal deal price of ~2K/night including breakfast. For that price, it definitely seemed worth it. The view from our room was fabulous. The food too was scrumptious.
The only issue was that the hotel did not have a lift and since our room was on the third floor, it was a little difficult for the elders in our group. On requesting, they moved the elders to the first floor room on the next day.
Also, it was very cold and we were not expecting it. We rented a heater from the hotel at 150Rs and that helped to some extent.
Exhausted and excited for the next day, we all slept like a log.
Continued in Part 2 (Zero Point and Yumthang Valley): Sikkim Roadtrip (Part 2)
And in Part 3 (Gangtok – Namchi – Pelling): Sikkim Roadtrip Part 3