"If I die, bury me at Gurudongmar"

Tripoto
24th Mar 2021
Day 1

It was the ending of 2020. Covid restriction were getting relaxed slowly. And we had decided to visit another place from our bucketlist. Yes, it has been in our wishlist for long & it was the time for its execution.

It was a fine Wednesday of March, 2021. A group of 10 people started the journey. After an overnight journey from Sealdah (SDAH) we reached New Jalpaiguri (NJP) station at around 9:00 am.

Yes! The most wanted trip had finally started. We had previously booked car (two Tata Sumo cars to accommodate 10 people with their luggages) and headed towards the capital of Sikkim, Gangtok. Inhaling the beauty of the sacred green water of Teesta, enjoying 'n' numbers of hairpin bends, tasting the flavor of hot coffee and fresh chicken momo and capturing a lot of moments, at around 5 o'clock in the evening we finally reached 'Hotel Ninamma', our destination for the first day of our trip.

After a very hectic and a overnight train journey, 'rest' was all that we needed the most. Actually we were charging us up for the coming eventful days.

Sacred Teesta river

Photo of Gangtok by Udita Acharya

Entering our destination

Photo of Gangtok by Udita Acharya
Day 2

Next day we started early in the morning. After doing all the permit related formalities, we left for Lachen, another town in North Sikkim.

We had faced a problem regarding permit and wasted almost 3 hours in Mangan. And so it was too late for us to reach our destination.  But we didn't know whether we were fortunate or not. We just traveled a long way and tired for the day. All the tiredness and sorrow of being late vanished just within a moment  when we saw the beauty, untouched and unexpected beyond any expectation and explanation. Basically it was the day before holi and we saw the hills and valley were getting drenched in the rain of soft white moonlight. The full moon night, serene cool breeze, soft tranquility erased all of our hesitations. Hills on one side and the emareld green Lachen-chu on the other hand. Lachen-chu was like a picture, as if some frozen fairy tale with a mellow mellody. It was just a scene beyond everything. I think we were among those very few fortunate souls who could witness the beauty of Lachen-chu in a moon-lit night. When we proceeded  towards our destination, nature started to surprise us again. We just crossed a hairpin bend and all of a sudden another new experience; moon lit snow capped mountains. None of us had this experience  before.

We reached our homestay there at around 9:30 pm. It was 2°c. We were literally freezing. Their warm welcome healed us.

Afternoon in Mangan

Photo of Lachen by Udita Acharya

Full moon night

Photo of Lachen by Udita Acharya

The host

Photo of Lachen by Udita Acharya

The 'dinner'

Photo of Lachen by Udita Acharya
Day 3

Next day was a bit hectic for all us. Our destination was 'Gurudongmar', the heaven on earth. Alarm was set at 3:40 in the morning. We had wrapped ourselves with sweater, thermals, shawls, mufflers. It was too cold for us who live in a hot and humid city. Anyway, we started for the lake, which is at an elevation of 17,800 ft. We had taken inhaler, camphor, chewing gums. First we crossed Lachen-chu and headed towards our main destination. It was near the Indo-China border, as a result security was a bit tight. The more we proceeded towards the lake, greenery started to dissappear, lands started to become more and more rough and dry; still the beauty was unforgettable. Our first stay was in a small village, may be that was the last populated area before our destination. It was almost 7:30 in the morning and we were terribly hungry. The soupy hot Maggie was just awesome.

Finally after almost 6 and a half hour of ups and down, we reached there, the heaven, the sacred frozen lake. The blue lake surrounded by snow capped beauties; words were shorter to describe it. It was around -4°c, the bone chilling wind was almost made us frozen.

It's almost 45 minutes we spent there. On the way back, nature surprised us in another way. For the first time all of us visualized snow falls on the hills; even our drivers also told us we were fortunate enough that we saw the snowfalls. It was like a dream came true.

After returning back, we headed towards our next destination, Lachung.

Early morning

Photo of Gurudongmar Lake by Udita Acharya

Lachen-chu in the morning

Photo of Gurudongmar Lake by Udita Acharya

Sunrise on the hills

Photo of Gurudongmar Lake by Udita Acharya

Happy faces with maggie

Photo of Gurudongmar Lake by Udita Acharya

View

Photo of Gurudongmar Lake by Udita Acharya

The untouched beauty

Photo of Gurudongmar Lake by Udita Acharya

The heaven on earth: Gurudongmar Lake

Photo of Gurudongmar Lake by Udita Acharya

After a fresh batch of snowfalls

Photo of Gurudongmar Lake by Udita Acharya
Day 4

Next morning we woke up in a mountain surrounded homestay in Lachung. Our destination was Yumthang Valley and zero point.

A large zigzag hilly road we crossed, lost our phone signals and headed towards the mountains. The beauty we had seen, was beyond explanation and words were becoming short to describe each and every details now.

The signs of snowfalls of last night beside the roads, on the leaves of trees made us just mad. After reaching at zero point we almost started freezing, yet the beauty could not be forgotten.

The trip was really a hectic one, but it was impossible to even imagine  the emmense power, the endless beauty and the vastness; we could only witness it and surrender ourselves under the almighty.

Woke up like this

Photo of Lachung by Udita Acharya

Snow covered

Photo of Lachung by Udita Acharya

On the way to zero point

Photo of Lachung by Udita Acharya

Zero point

Photo of Lachung by Udita Acharya

Yumthang Valley

Photo of Lachung by Udita Acharya
Photo of Lachung by Udita Acharya

Zigzag trail

Photo of Lachung by Udita Acharya
Day 5

At the end, we had to return. We came back with a heavy heart, though it was a full of fresh oxygen for the rest of the year.