Sikkim was one of the last of the states to join India in 1975 with the abolishment of Monarchy. It is one of the most different states you will visit in India. The people living there are polite, happy and content with their lives which gives a very positive vibe all throughout. I visited sikkim for a short duration back in 2016 and it was time for a in-depth visit in November 2021. It was going to be me and Rimjhim and we decided to rent a bike for our trip. November is considered one of the best times to visit but it starts to get really cold as well.
We booked our rental bike - Royal Enfield Classic 350 months in advance from Bikers Hub in Gangtok. Tsewang (+919647237847) is a very friendly and nice guy who will help you with the bikes in best condition and also with shaping up your itinerary.
Our itinerary was planned as follows:
Day 1 - Bangalore to Kolkata to Pakyong to Gangtok
Day 2 - Gangtok to Lachen
Day 3 - Lachen to Gurudongmar to Lachen
Day 4 - Lachen to Lachung
Day 5 - Lachung to Zero point to Lachung
Day 6 - Lachung to Gangtok
Day 7 - Gangtok - Nathula Pass - Gangtok
Day 8 - Gangtok - Pelling - Bagdogra
Day 9 - Bagdogra - Bangalore
Sikkim is divided into 3 major tourist spots:
North Sikkim - Comprising of Thangu valley (Lachen, Gurudongmar) and Yumthang valley (Lachung, Zero point) which have 2 separate access roads going north.
East Sikkim - Also called the Gangtok District has the famous capital of Gangtok, Pekyong airport and the Silk route which leads to the Chhanggu Lake and Nathula Pass
West Sikkim - Also called the Geyzing district is most famous of Trekking and mountaineering as it is towards the Kanchenjunga. Pelling and Yuksom are famous beautiful towns here. Yuksom Dzongri, Goecha la and Kanchenjunga base camp are some of the famous treks here
Since we had limited time, we decided to spend most of our days in North sikkim and a day or two in the east and west districts
Day 1 - Bangalore to Gangtok
There is very limited flights that run to Pakyong airport in Sikkim. The preferred way for most is to fly to Bagdogra or Train to Siliguri and then take a shared cab to Gangtok. However, we managed to find a flight to Pakyong with a few hour layover at Kolkata so we went for it!
Since we had more than 5 hours to kill in Kolkata, we got out of the airport and decided to explore city of joy - Kolkata. As soon as you walk out of the airport, the first sign of heritage you see is the antique yellow Ambassador car!
We thought we will head over first to the Architectural Marvel - The Howrah Bridge for a magnificent sunrise.
Unfortunately, the scenes surrounding Howrah bridge were not so great. You will see hundreds of people on the roads, spitting and peeing everywhere with a weird smell in the air. We decided to see the High Court area which was completely opposite. The streets were clean and the crowds much better. We stopped over for some yummy breakfast at Kona Dukaan
With mixed opinions on Kolkata, we rushed back to the Airport to catch our morning Flight to Pakyong. It was a small Spicejet ATR flight which is preffered in the mountains
The journey from Pakyong to Gangtok is very tricky. Mostly you can take a private cab which would cost you Rs 1500-2000 which can be shared with multiple people. But you have to be aware that cabs are few and better to just take one that you get. Another point to note is network is scarce and people seldom accept UPI payments. Even the ATMs hardly work or have cash. So better to withdraw cash from the airport for the entire Sikkim trip. Our cab driver was kind enough to stop at a dhaba for our lunch which was a delicious spread.
With the first glimpse of people, we noticed that people here won't cheat you for money. They look and talk genuine but also get offended with lots of bargaining. They seem happy in general and go the extra mile for hospitality. The journey to Gangtok was 2-3 hours on the cab thanks to Traffic and we reached our hostel - The Travel Cafe only by 6pm that evening. Since we were taking the bike tomorrow, we thought a hostel would make sense
Best part of the Hostel are the fellow travellers that you meet. We met a lady who was telling us stories of Nagaland and another guy who recommended us the famous HIT beer. After sometime of freshening up, we went to MG road to check the vibe of Gangtok and try some local cuisine. It was flooded with tourists, but surprisingly kept very beautiful and clean. Post dinner, we came back to our cafe for some refreshing beer and waffles!
Day 2 - Gangtok to Lachen
It was time for us to pick up our ride for the next 8 days. We met Tsewang in Bikers hub and he was kind enough to arrange our Permits for North and East Sikkim ahead of our journey. He also explained us the entire route, the checkpoints, fuel stops and things we should be concerned about like the black ice etc. we got our saddle and tank bags loaded, wore our gears and we were ready to roll!
We had 2 options to head to Dikchu and we took the Butterfly waterfalls route.
We made our way from Gangtok, Dikchu, Mangan, Tung (FUEL stop here), chungthang. Chungthang is the Y point where the 2 valleys going towards Lachen and Lachung meet. We took a quick Maggi break and proceeded towards the Lachen plateau. We reached Lachen by the sunset and discovered it to be a clean, beautiful and sparsely populated town.
Day 3 - Lachen - Gurudongmar - Lachen
It was time to head to one of the highest and most sacred lakes in the world. It was an eerie morning with clouds all around. There was just one road which goes to Gurudongmar and returns back
It was so cold in the morning, we had to stop often to get some heat from the engine on our hands as it was almost frozen!
We came across world's highest dosa point and treated ourselves with our favorite breakfast
As we gained altitude, we hit the snowline and it was the first time for me to ride through snow!
The roads were decent with not much of Black ice encounters. We reached the turning point for Gurudongmar, after which it was an offroad uphill to see the Lake
The slush made it really challenging for both of us to carry on. So Rimjhim got down and started pushing. But at 17,800 ft, every bit of action takes a toll on your body. So I struggled with the bike up ahead and Rimjhim had to walk up the hill. She was completely exhausted but she managed well despite the lack of Oxygen. At the end of the climb, we witnessed one of the most serene lakes on this planet!
After clicking few pics, we had to rush back because we both knew what the high altitude will do to the body. We boarded our bikes and started descending as fast as we could through snow cut roads. No amount of gear seemed to tackle this cold!
We reached our hotel just in time for sunset. We would recommend this hotel 100% because of location. Hotel Sunview Residency https://goo.gl/maps/UE7iSpU9536KLpW58
Day 4 - Lachen to Lachung
After Gurudongmar, we knew the toughest part of our Bike trip was behind us. Both of us were much more confident and started our journey back towards Chungthang and then towards Lachung.
We reached Lachung quite early in the afternoon and checked ourselves in to a hotel called Thankarla Retreat (https://goo.gl/maps/gqLiQwdtL61LTz549)
We had the whole evening to rest and explore Lachung. This was much needed after the high altitude hiatus yesterday. Lachung is another clean and beautiful hill station. It is slightly bigger than Lachen and has many places to walk and explore around. We headed up the roads towards Katao to a place called Lachung Viewpoint and were lazing around doing some photography
Day 5 - Lachen - Yumthang valley - Zero point - Lachen
Our target for today was Zero point in Yumthang valley. Since there was a single road leading to Zero point and back, we decided to dump the saddle bags and travel light. The onward journey to Zero point is so much better than the destination.
We had ample time so we played in snow at the Zero point, made some reels doing some slides and turned back. On the way back, we stopped at a helipad for some beautiful views, Sunset at Yumthang valley and even visited a Hot spring on the way
We reached back to Lachung by the nightfall. Confident of the cold, we explored the town by foot enjoying local delicacies like the Tea and Momos served hot in artistic cutlery.
Day 6 - Lachung - Gangtok
Pretty familiar with the routes now, we headed south towards Gangtok after eventful 4 nights in North Sikkim. Upon reaching Gangtok, we stayed in a hostel called Zemu Guest house. The owners were super cool and friendly and even had good Wifi to work and camp fire at night for traveler catchup conversations.
Day 7 - Gangtok - Changu Lake - Nathula Pass - Gangtok
Our initial plan was to head to Nathula pass and come back via ghat roads of Zuluk. But heard Zuluk roads were not in greatest of condition and decided to finish Nathula and head towards East sikkim instead. The roads to Nathula were absolutely fresh tarmac with open cliff views around
After an hour of riding, we reached Changgu Lake which has one of world's highest ropeway which takes you on top of the cliff with some grandiose views.
On passing Changgu lake, we reached Nathula Pass after an hour or so. This is the original silk route of primitive times which connects India with China. However, due to the war between India and China, this pass was completely closed and no exchanges between the border. We did get to touch the Indo-Chinese border and look at chinese troops on the other side
On our way back, we spotted many unnamed high altitude lakes surrounded by the mountains. A popular spot on the way back is Harbhajan singh temple which is situated on the road leading to Zuluk. However, we turned back to Gangtok from here.
It was completely foggy by the time we reached back to Gangtok. We wanted to try the Gangtok ropeway so quickly managed to do that as it closes by 6.
After reaching back to our hotel, we returned our trusted Royal Enfield Classic 350 to the shop. We were lucky that the bike didnt give us any problems at all except a headlight getting fused. on our way back from the Bike shop we hired a cab back to Zemu guest house. Upon our conversation, he agreed to take us around Pelling in West Sikkimnext day. Since we had 2 more days in our trip, we jumped at this plan.
Day 8 - Gangtok - Pelling - Bagdogra
Although we still had 2 days left, we received an unfortunate news today. Pixy (one of our dogs) was severely ill at home which meant we had to run back home. By the time we received this news, we were already near Pelling on our Taxi. So we had to take the hard call. We rescheduled our tickets to one day earlier and told him to drop us to Bagdogra.
The taxi driver showed immense empathy and knew the stress we were in. So on the way, he took us to couple of amazing view points in Pelling district
Once we were back, Pixy recovered very fast since we were there. She has some gastric trouble because of which she had loose motions and had to be hospitalized.
Overall we were happy with the places we got to see and experience through this trip even though it was cut short abruptly. The people in Sikkim are extremely happy, welcoming and honest. Nature is at its finest here and people keep it clean and tidy. Truly Sikkim can be called the model state for the rest of India in terms of civic behavior. Hopefully next time we can explore West Sikkim and foothills of the mighty Kanchenjunga through the Yuksom Dzongri and GoechaLa Trek!
Nicely written , beautiful picture and an amazing journey lived through your blog :)