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.

Banff National Park in Summer

First time we visited Banff was with my sister & family during their trip to Canada. It was April & that's when the place opens for tourists. April is considered the ending of winter in Banff, with snow falls still happening here & then. Many here usually visit Banff in summer, so our summer trip was due, only until our parents' visit. Timing was perfect & no better trip could have given them the beautiful impression of this beautiful country. So, we set on to Banff in August.The entire drive of 900kms is beautiful. Can't take our eyes off those rocky mountains & wide spread greenery. All those rocks are fully filled with snow & even the trees; so in winter we really couldn't make out why its called Canadian Rockies. The tip of the mountains are completely rocks while trees cover them all over for the rest 3/4th of their heights. All the time we were comparing the contrasting sights of winter & summer. Both are entirely different & yet as breathtaking.We were amazed with the greenish blue waters in the all lakes that we crossed. It's said that the sulphur content of the rocks mix with the melting snow & hence that color.

Like last time, Lake Louise was our first stop. We were just in time to not miss canoeing. Steering the canoe to right direction was a big challenge. With 3 people in a canoe we did want to go 3 different directions & sync up! When we stopped rowing the canoe, the waves would hit the canoe & turn it to its course of direction; it was a lot of fun!


Next day morning our first visit was to Sulphur Mountain. The sight from the Gondola ride & mountain, was again, so different from how it looked in winter. We could hike up to the tower on the next mountain & enjoy the view.

We then headed to Icefield Parkway in Jasper National Park. There are 12 viewpoints between Lake Louise & Icefield centre, but only a couple of hours in hand! We took stops at Bow Lake & Crowfoot glacier points, rest we just drove by.

From Icefield centre, they take us in an Ice Explorer bus on to the Athabasca Glacier. The bus stops on the glacier & tourist are given 30 minutes to walk around . In winter, the entire area - the surrounding mountains & boundaries were all filled with snow & the site was very cool. Now, the glacier was the only ice & the surrounding mountains were all black. It's said they are the rocks & minerals the Glacier pushes in its 20m move forward in its lower part every year. The upper part moves much faster, 127m per year. This is the only Glacier in World which has the bus accessibility on it. The rest of the glaciers are to be reached by helicopter or hiking.

Before heading back home, we decided to visit Johnston canyon the next morning. The Canyon gets completely filled with snow & the waterfall freezes during the winter. Tourist hike the waterfall in winter. When it all melts, the water flow erodes the rocks & that's how the canyon is formed. They have constructed a walking rail for the entire stretch of few kms in the canyon. The walk in the canyon was very pleasurable & the force of the waterfall very awing.We visited Banff twice in the year & have wonderful, lifetime experience & memories of its two different facets.

The grand Grand Canyon

Sree had driven to the Canyon thrice already, once everytime in his US trip. He always said to me that he would like to take me there atleast once; but the chances of our trip coinciding was rare. Thanks to the circumstances and our decision of taking a break, we are doing some great trips together.

After spending a day (more of night) at Vegas, we headed to Grand Canyon. The first sight of the Canyon gives goosebumps. An amazing natural wonder of deep ravine carved by the Colorado river; the views are breathtaking. The river has cut through the channels layer by layer on the rocks, leaving patterns so overwhelming. A trek on the rim gives wonderful vistas.



We took the famous hike trail, Bright Angel trail in the South rim for around 2-3 miles one way.
Even though we spent only a day at the Canyon, it was awesome to sit and watch it; specially during the evening watching the sunlight shift from layer to layer before it set.

They say the great experience would be to hike down, camp in the canyon at the river level and then hike back up. Visiting the Canyon from all the directions would be another awesome experience. After this short visit to the Canyon and the short trek, we now await for an opportunity to experience the camping.

Las Vegas - The Sin City, The Entertainment Capital of World

Sree has been here twice; wanted us to be there again, this time experiencing it together, both to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. The idea was to reach Vegas in the late evening, to enjoy and get struck of all the welcoming glitters, glams and scintillations. Of course everyone has heard of this. The experience...it leaves you gaping.

It was an 8+ hours of driving from SFO to Vegas, but the sight of the gleams made all our tiredness vanish. We just wanted to freshen up and hit the road. And that's what we did. Dropped our luggages in the hotel room, a quick shower and off to begone in the shines of the Las Vegas Strip. Strip is the 4 mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, where all the attractions, Hotels, Casinos and the entire glam is visible & accessible. When you start to walk up the Strip, one wouldn't realize it's a 6.5 km hike. And here begins your experience of less is more and more is less.

You will realize why it's called 'The Entertainment Capital of the World'. It's unbelievable that such structures and water bodies are built on a desert! The only place where you can walk around enjoying any of your drinks. Casinos that drag your souls, street shows captivating you and the beauty of architectural themes of the hotels engulfing.



Many of the hotel ceilings have the sky look & feel - Caesar's Palace, The Venetian, The Paris - it's a strangely pleasant feeling. The Venetian has a river body inside the hotel. We can take a Gondola ride and the sailor sings a song, makes it very romantic. The Paris has a 55 storeys high Eiffel Tower, on which we can go up and watch the entire city from that height. The famous, Bellagio offers the spectacular dancing water fountain show in their lake. You can witness water dance to some popular tunes. Luxor has a pyramid that throws a beam of light into the sky. This light is visible from all corners of the city. In fact, they say that this light is visible from the Moon! Stratosphere is the tallest tower, 1149 feet high. You get to go on some thrill rides at the top of the tower. Insanity, the ride @ Stratosphere tower, throws you out away from the tower edge and gives a good spin, for the people who need more adrenaline rush. Phew!


While night is the life at Vegas, there are a bunch of things to do during the day too. Most of the shows happen at nights, so during the day you could visit the hotels and casinos. Each Hotel has its theme and offers a lot of variety to enjoy. Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden at The Mirage hosts a pack of wildlife. They have Dolphin habitat, Alpacas, White Lions and White Tigers. It's amazing to see how they created a habitat, truly a mirage in the desert. The Mirage also has some exquisite water bodies - falls, fountains, gardens, etc. Circus Circus is good for family with kids. They have circus shows and many thrill rides inside the hotel.


These have been only a few of the amazing attractions mentioned in here. If you are on a short trip, do not miss these. There is sinfully a lot more Vegas offers. There is no limit to the number of days you could be spending in this Sin City, the number of hours spent in Casinos gambling. It's a once in a lifetime experience in Las Vegas, leaves you enthralled and wanting more.

Lake Louise - The frozen lake

First destination we hit as we reached Banff was Lake Louise. April, and the lake is still completely frozen. We did sight a few frozen lakes enroute to Banff, however Lake Louise is the renowned one. Least had we known that we could walk on the frozen lake. The sight of the lake being fully frozen was itself mesmeric.

Eventhough we could see so many people moving on the lake, to take the first few steps on it was edgy. At most places the ice was thick and in some it looked like fresh snow settled down.

It's an astounding experience to have been there. When we checked the website for Lake Louise, apparently, there is a totally different facet of it in Summer.

Banff

Its close to 850kms from Vancouver. Well, we could drive. It would take may be more than 10 hours, with a few refreshment stops. With kids it might be tough to have them tied down for that long at a stretch. Breaking it down to a one-stop journey seemed a good option. In that case we could start a day early, drive half the way, rest and continue from there the next morning.

That's how we decided we would stay in Salmon Arm and then continue to Banff the next day. The drive was aesthetically scenic and beautiful. It's called the Avalanche Country 'cos you see avalanches everywhere and driving through those snow filled rocky mountains was amazing.



Almost all the lakes that we passed were frozen. It was very sightly to see each one of them. In few the ice had started to melt, on few we could see layers of ice floating and creeks had thick side layers of ice & streams flowing in between.



They say that we should visit Banff once in winter and once in summer. The winter visit was a great go, I'm eagerly waiting for the summer visit.

December in Munnar

2008 was surely an year of lot of fun filled travel arounds for us. We were looking for a relaxing holiday for quite some time, apart from the short, adventurous, weekend & drive get-aways we had. With club memberships its one thing that we need to plan and book it well before. And that is a bit difficult for us, we being bit of dynamic doers. I somehow followed up day after day and finally got us a 3 day booking to the almost-always-booked destination, Munnar. Of the 3 days, we only had confirmation for 2 days and we took a chance of getting it extended for another day. Booked the train tickets and we set off in mid December.

The train booking was to Maduria. We got off at Madurai, took an auto to the famous Murugan Idli kadai. The place is a 10-15 seater restaurant, which is a small one for its fame, but Breakfast was grand. Though it says Idli kadai, they do serve Dosas, Pongal, Vada, etc. We then took a bus from Madurai to Theni and then Theni to Munnar. We reached the resort only at about 2. We were very hungry and headed straight to the resort restaurant even before we stopped to enjoy the tranquil, scenic views.

Coincidentally both of our holiday destinations with Club Mahindra, since our membership with them, has been to Kerala. We truly have experienced why it is called as God's own country.

Munnar is surely known for its serenity and heartsease & the location of the resort gave us the complete dose of it. The place has an aura of romance and so also known to be honeymooners' paradise. It was 8 degrees temperature in mid December. It gets misty during mornings and evenings, sometimes throughout the day. And sometimes it was cloudy and showered too.
There are quite a few holiday activities to engage ourselves in - Trekking, Overnight camping, Tea plantation and spice garden tour, boating, indoor games (for kids too), etc. We opted for Overnight camping this time. It being the first time experience of night camping, we were quite excited. Together, there were 3 couples, one of them were newlywed. And we thought, what an adventure of night camping for a honeymooner! The place where they camp is near a 40-45 year old bungalow in the forest. They take us on a night trek, then camp fire, dinner and off to the tent. It was pretty cold and misty. Nothing after 50 mts distance from was visible, it gets that misty. Inside the tent is warm and cozy. You could hear the noise of winds hitting the tent all night. Sleep was not as disturbing as we thought it would be.The next morning, we were dropped off at the resort for beakfast. We took a cab and went around the place visiting Periyakanal Falls, Lockhart View Point, Mattupatti Dam, a botanical garden and Echo Point. Miles and miles of tea plantations and it was a beautiful experience of drive on those winding roads.The resort staff were very helpful and could extend our stay for another day. It sure was a short holiday but a much needed and relaxing one for all the peace and solacement we earned.