I have always wanted to get lost in the mountains. I have wanted to roam around the corners of the mountains, the tiny path of the hills. I would listen to the birds singing, drink from the fountain water, walk around the path and reach an unknown village to take some rest, would listen to their stories… This time, I could do this all!
In Sikkim. Part of my soul, Sikkim. There were quite a few unknown places on my travel list during this Sikkim journey. Okhrey was the most stunning among all. Today I will tell the story of the Okhrey visit through my tongue. Now let’s start the dreamy Okhrey journey…
The place is situated at 7500 ft top and as a result, it is very cold. And yes, this is a very popular tourist destination.
March 2021, we have started for Okhrey, the road is getting steeper slowly, the chilly cold wind from the mountain is blowing and rubbing through my body. Just like a match stick gets rubbed with gunpowder, so the wind is rubbing my body, awakening my nature loving spirit. The chaos and pollution of the city are long gone. We have reached our Homestey by 12 PM. There is nothing significant about Homestey, it’s very simple. The owner is satisfied with giving just a bed and plastic chair in the room, leaving all other necessities away. Anyways, we are getting past lunchtime, we should eat soon.
We started to move thinking that we would roam around after having lunch. After some distance, while we were getting down the stairs to reach our lunch place, we saw a little puppy sleeping with ease. It got awake as soon it heard our footsteps. It got awake and looked at us, my wife got frightened a bit. Unfortunately, she is scared of such an innocent animal, but this puppy’s calm body language, wishful eyes are telling us to take it with us. It is really happy with our arrival. I went ahead and pet her on the head with much affection. After finishing lunch, we went out and found the puppy was waiting for us. I named her Sweety right there!
Now we have started to visit the Okhrey Monastery. Sweety also came along. Her fearful, excited, and restless eyes couldn’t scare my wife anymore! We took some breaks in our journey and clicked some beautiful scenery. In the meantime, Sweety went ahead of us, a bit far away! When she turned back, she couldn’t find us and had to travel all the way back to us. We are walking, Sweety is walking ahead of us. This time she is not getting much far, she is looking back to ensure that we are coping up! If we are walking, she is also walking, and if we are taking some rest, she is also taking rest and thinking, “When will you start again”.
The Monastery road is short and peaceful. It is situated on plain land, through some zigzag roads in the jungle. We spent some time there. We sat and talked, Sweety was sitting in my lap, sleeping away while she could. I pet her in her soft, cushy head. Time went well, we started to return, Sweety along with us. We gave her some biscuits to appreciate for her warm companion and making our afternoon memorable. We couldn’t find her after that, maybe, she allotted that afternoon for us only.
The next morning, we started our journey to visit Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary.
Although the place was very familiar to me, there was no huge crowd due to pandemics. You need to walk 4.5 KM to reach Guras Kunja. If you want, you can spend the night there, you could also return back. We started at 10. Yes, we booked our car till the Entry Point. Now starts the Barsey trek. I must say this trek is very comfortable. Anyone can do it, you will enjoy it for sure!
Deep forest road! Crooked, narrow roads in between. There are bamboo bushes on both sides of the road, also there are a variety of trees, you could see the lurking sky between the leaves. While trekking, we listened to a lot of birds singing, and thought that this sound is universal, despite the place, time, or entity, it’s unique and singular. In the hearing, living, and feeling! This hilly, jungle environment at 10,000 Ft height, was filling my mind with wealth, completeness, and beauty while leaving behind the anxiety, void, and ugliness of the lockdown. The unique voice sounded like a strange sadness filled with magical vocals. I listened to all these messages that came from the greenery, grass, and trees, and listened through my mind, not ears! I heard and moved ahead. Meanwhile, it rained a few drops.
We reached Guras Kunja after almost 3 hours. I must say, there were quite a few tourists. We sat a bit far away for this. If you look as far as your eyes can see, you will see Rhododendron flowers and trees, proudly evergreen. It didn’t grow plenty this year, when it grows to its full potential, this place becomes outstanding! I sat there in a silent place, to enjoy the view of my favorite, nature! The wealth that I have received from these trees, mountains, birds, and butterflies, could heaven give this to me? I may not know what heaven would offer me, but it couldn’t possibly give me this soft weakness, sad emotions, affections, a bit imperfect but constantly changing, my adorable nature! These scenic mountains and the crop fields in them are carefully nurtured by the far away, caring river. Nature has kept the treasures of tears in her lap that relate to the poverty-filled dying hearts. We, unfortunately, do not care about this at all! I was thinking about all such unnecessary topics, I won’t deny, I was feeling good! Maybe I felt good because they were unnecessary topics. The unnecessary happiness is pure happiness!
Anyways, as we will not spend our night here, so we need to return. We returned the same way that we came. You will get Rhododendron, Kiwi, and Strawberry wine here. You could also buy some if you want to support the local tourism.
As soon as we returned, we finished our dinner and went to the bed. The mountain that we can see far away on the opposite side, is not Sikkim, it's our West Bengal as told by the Homestey. The deeming lights that came through were talking among themselves in sign language… We need to go to another destination the next morning. We silently sank into sleep…