The Travel Connection

A grey morning greeted us on the third day. I was looking forward to this day as i wanted to see the kanchenjunga ranges. But the chances of that happening was minimal. Hey, the glass is always half full as the day turned out to be a blessing in disguise. By the third day, it was certain that our driver Prem's daily chant was rock star songs. Even though i had given him a bunch of Cds on the first day, he continued to play songs from rock star morning in and evening out. Initially i didn't think the songs were hummable but it grew on me. Believe it or not , i am so tempted to go pick a CD now so that i can follow in Prem's footsteps. Prem who had kept to himself the first two days turned stones when we started our journey towards North Sikkim. We were passing through isolated stretches of North Sikkim highway and he started on his fascinating story. It was difficult to understand his Hindi with a nepali/ pahadi accent. The first round , I assumed that I

Day two started with us looking forward to a mighty climb from 4700 ft to 12400 ft. The drive though just 40kms was going to take us a good 2.5 hours. The destination that day was Lake Tshangu or also called Lake Tsomgo. Enroute we came across many army settlements where photography is strictly prohibited. In between the settlements, our car was filled with the sound of the camera clicking away without a break. Though a picture cannot replace the experience of being there, the few below yearns me to go back there again.   Though i have been on the Himalayas as a kid, the shear size was unimaginable. The narrow roads, the deep valley and the high peak just added to the feeling of might .The green cover slowly started to metamorphize  into dry brown and then at a distance we could see white capped mountains. Interestingly as we started approaching the snow capped mountains, on the left of the road she was brown and on the right side all white. Now i cannot recall

They say it is all in the journey and not the destination. I totally agree with it. The planning for a holiday is as exciting as being on one. The journey to my destination though a very long one, was mix of sights, smells, dust, excitement and some surprises. Within the first 15 minutes after arrival at Bagdogra, we were pleasantly surprised by this wonderful mall " city center" at Siliguri where we stopped for lunch. We were informed that Siliguri 's proximity to Nepal and Bhutan border made it a shopping hotstop. Interestingly Siliguri has about 7-8 malls. Pardon my  ignorance, i had not even heard of Siliguri before i started planning this trip. To see this small town/city have this architecturally well designed mall with all the brand names impressed me! Though the closest airport to Gangtok is only 124 kms away, the drive from Bagdogra to Gangtok was about 4 hours long. River Teesta kept us company all the way meandering through the mountains. Though s