Sikkim, Unlimited

Sikkim it was when we decided we wanted to go on a vacation to North East. Many asked, 'Why Sikkim?'. Well, we did not have any specific reason to quote; but after the trip we definitely have lots of them. The first thing anyone does these days when planning for a trip is to look-up the 'encyclopedias'. Without going into the logistics & all the uncertain, unsealed & unsettled situations we went by to 'make' the trip, I will directly chute into the thrills, exhilaration & serenity of the place.

Destination Gangtok: Located about 5500 ft high on the hills of the eastern Himalayan range, Gangtok is a small but the big capital city of Sikkim. The temperature was quite low or so we felt arriving from a not-supposed-to-be-so-hot Bangalore, we used a heater + 3 overblankets in the room. A very warm & welcoming dinner at Royal Demazong comforted us.

The immediate realizations in the place: Travels & Taxi drivers are very friendly, they will plan your tour around the place quickly, conveniently & at a little higher price. Of course you could bargain a bit & reduce couple of hundreds; traveling around seems pricey, but quite worth. No beggars! And so you start to dig, 'how come?'. Most of them get education & enough resources to manage a decent lifestyle. 'Ah, that's why the driver is well dressed & carries fancy phone!'. Not all, but most of them. Its full of military people & camps, with three nations' borders around.

The state is a menage of Buddhists and so a home for many monasteries. Just in & close around Gangtok there are a lot of them to visit - Stupas at Do drul Chorten, Enchey Monastery, Rumtek Monastery, Lingdum Monastery, Tibetology center. Kanchenjunga is visible from parts of the city; Tashi View Point gives the clear view of Kanchenjunga & the opposite hills.

Sikkim is a small state in terms of the area. Since its mountainous & much prone to landslides, the roads are tough, adventurous & the travel time consuming. A little over 100 kms distance to cover takes 5 hours. Given its area, we chose to visit the East, South & North parts of Sikkim, in 7 days. South takes 2 days, North 3 days & can spend 2 days in & around East. Given the climatic conditions during our visit & the days in hand, we have a spillage of little bit from South & full West for a next visit.

Places to visit in & around Gangtok:
Rumtek Monastery
Shanthi View point
Lingdum Monastery
Banjhakri waterfall & Energy Park
Tashi View Point
Gangtok Ropeway
Hanuman Tok
Ganesh Tok
Flower Exhibition center
Tibetology center
Do drul chorten
M G Road
Himalayan Zoological park
River Rafting in Teesta
Nathula Pass
Tsomgo Lake
Baba Mandir

One needs to get permit from the military to visit Nathula Pass, the border for India-China. Because of the heavy snow falls, even though there were permits issued, we could not make it to the destination. Travels/hotel(s) we stay in takes care of the permit for the tourists. Usually a trip to Baba Mandir & Tsomgo Lake are combined since they are enroute Nathula pass. The lake is an exquisite sight at 12000+ ft height, as delightful is the drive getting there. Yak ride fills in the rest of the adventure & delight sought.


The roads are better, so the drive up to Baba Mandir is smoother & the sight of snow-capped mountains, glorious. If you travel further up to Baba's Bunker, you would reach an altitude of 14000 ft. If the sky is clear, the view is incredible.


We only made it towards Namchi in South Sikkim. Tea is grown in few parts of the hills. There is a Chaar Dhaam under construction, nearing its completion with 108ft high idol of lord Shiva(one of the very few places with lord Shiva's idol portrayal, and not Shivling) and a 135 ft high idol of Padmasambhava in Samdruptse hill. Ravangla is another section of South Sikkim to visit.


North Sikkim: The far-famed places to visit are Lachung, Yumthang Valley, Zero Point & Gurudongmar lake. Just the visit to Lachung & Yumthang Valley takes 2 days & the rest of the distance covered in another day. There are many waterfalls to stop by while driving up North. It was below zero degrees in Lachung & very cold. The morning in Lachung was awesome; watching the sun rise from down the valley, the early rays strike the snow capped mountains & are scattered in angles; the tip of the mountains are ready to vapor.

Yumthang is an hour's drive from Lachung. Its a valley & known as the 'Valley of flowers'. For its name, they say that spring is the best time to visit Yumthang, as the entire valley is filled with the grand colors of Rhododendrons. The rhododendrons around are in 24 marvelous colors! One also needs permit from military to visit the Yumthang Valley.There are many things we look for in a holiday, the most important element is the feeling of relaxation, content & rebound the time spent in a place can bring. Sikkim has all of it, the beauty, serenity, warmth & the quietness sought in a vacation, & more to go back to.

Victoria - Capital of British Columbia

Have been to Victoria twice; the quickest visit covering most of the places in Victoria was with my parents. You will see the list of places covered in one day shortly...

We booked the first ferry to Victoria island; by air & water are the only means to reach there. It was a one & half hour cruise from Tsawwassen port to Victoria. We had packed our breakfast; after we parked our car in the ferry's basement (it's a 5 decks ferry, with facility to park around 150+ vehicles including trucks & personal boats), had breakfast in the ferry lounge & were set to enjoy the morning sunshine in the cruise.

1. Butchart Gardens: The first time we went there was with sis & family in April. Then we made it just in time before the last entry allowed. We had to run through the gardens in an hour's time. Still, we didn't miss a part of it, enjoyed every theme. So, this time we wanted to ensure we spent some good time in the garden, main reasons being its mom's grand interest.
The garden is maintained by 40+ gardeners & has lot more than our eyes, minds & cameras can capture. They change the flora every season & we witnessed 2 different sets in 2 seasons (April & September 2009). The gardens are in themes of Roses, Italian, Hanging, Japanese & Sunken Garden.


2. Butterfly Garden: I wondered if it were just collection of butterflies on display boards & was skeptical to go. Its a home for 3000+ butterflies. I was more than glad to have not chickened-out on the place; you feel as if you are in one of those fairy tale stories, with colorful butterflies flying all around you! We were awed looking at the varieties, colors and how undisturbed'ly they flew around us.


3. Undersea garden: A ship sunk & made into aquarium! The place isn't as exciting as it sounds; has only very few varieties of species, like a lengthy, huge aquarium in a big hall. Vancouver Aquarium is more scintillating than this one.


4. Royal London Wax Museum: Collection of most of the wax idols (not all) from that of Madam Tussauds museum, its a nice visit. The idols of prison captures & their tortures was much horrifying & disturbing. We forgot to collect one of the rare pics that could have been in the collection; that of our heads cut & placed in a plate! May be we should be glad we didn't get one :)


5. Parliament house: On occasions visitors are allowed inside the parliament, which that day was not. So, we spent ample amount of time in the open grounds of the parliament house. Could see horse carriages taking tourists around the place; and the horses' tail plaits were worth pictured.


6. Craigdarroch Castle: The Castle of the Dunsmuir's from the 1800s, a wealthiest man of a time. The Castle has all the arrangements as left by the Dunsmuirs, their family history, the rooms & dressing rooms arranged as per their times with beautiful furnishings & glass works.


7. A Street show: After all the roaming around we still had some time to watch the street show that happens around the harbor area. After all, the true way of visiting a place is to know & familiarize such displays on streets and watch all the hustle-bustle that happens down town. The showman entertained his audience very well, the knives act, uni-cycle tricks & the engagements with the audience. "This is my only profession & this is what pays for all my bills. I request you all to donate not less than $5, but anything more is always welcome & I would be grateful for". That surely fetches his more than $250 a show!
Victoria is a beautiful city, with the English touch & heritage still around. The miss in the September trip was the Royal BC Museum & Miniature World. To compensate that, we did visit

8. Elk & Beaver Lake: on our way back to the Victoria port to take our ferry back home. We stopped by to enjoy the sunset at this beach-like lake. A walk in the water, with the view of sun setting for the day & watching a few kayaking and photographing birds.
Our cruise back home was a quiet one; all of us not so much interested in getting out of the car in the ferry parking, reclined back through the cruise after an eventful & lengthier than expected day.