The Silk Route in Sikkim which is thought to be the middle of nowhere was once an offshoot to the ancient trade route which came from Lhasa, crossing Chumbi Valley and passed through Nathula Pass and finally took the port of Tamralipta (present Tamluk in West Bengal). From Tamluk, this trade route took to the sea and reached Sri Lanka, Bali, Java and other parts of the Far East.
Also known as the the world’s first information super highway the Old silk route in Sikkim is a part of various other silk routes of ancient world which was majorly used to transport Chinese silk to Europe through Central Asia from 2nd century BC. The Silk Route is so named because of the popularity of trading silk during that period. This valuable fabric originated in China, which initially had a monopoly on its silk production until the secrets of its creation spread. This portion of the Old Silk route through Bhutan, East Sikkim and West Bengal was quite less traveled because of the challenging terrains through mountain passes.
Itinerary :
We started our journey at 7.30 am on 28th December and for the next two hours I sat fixedly nervous. Deciding to go to Silk route was an immediate decision we took after reaching Sillery Gaon and as faith had it I just had the scan copy of my voters’s id card in my phone and no passport photographs of myself. Both these things are required to get a permit to enter the Silk route since the place is under military .I took my first breadth of relief after reaching Rangli around 9.30 am where there were proper shops to get printouts of scan copies and even to get your passport sized photo clicked.
Thus started an adventure of zig-zag alleys to the pristine Sillery gaon-Rishikhola-Zuluk(spelled as Dzuluk)-Lungthung valley- Nathang valley(spelled as Gnathang valley)-Tukla valley-Sillery Gaon trip covering the Silk Route,Thambi view point ,Old Baba mandir and Elephant lake.
The day ended with a pristine sunset view from the Jeep window. One of the best sunsets I have seen in a while. I saw the sun sinking slowly amidst the mountains and a star studded sky filling the entire space .
This is a journey you ought to take because no matter what the destination is , in the end, the journey is what matters :)
