Our 7am jeep to Yuksom set off pretty much on time and initially we had plenty of space. It wasn’t long before there were 4 of us sharing the back seat. Being slightly squashed in meant you didn’t get thrown around so much as we careered round the multitude of tight bends. The worst aspect of the journey was that out of 10 passengers three were throwing up. That aside, the journey was actually quite enjoyable and it only took 5 hours to reach Yuksom.
We were disappointed to see that the haze didn’t thin as we moved away from the city and towards the mountains. That meant we couldn’t see the views but it was lovely going through the forests and villages. Yuksom is a reasonably sized village set at the end of the road hence, the starting point for treks. With no views to enjoy and the mountains totally hidden we decided to just potter around the area and use the time to formulate Plan C / D / E – whichever we’re up to! That was the afternoon nicely filled in and by the time we hit the sack that night we’d decided to move away from mountains.
We stayed in Dragon Hotel where we had an en-suite room for just Rs600 a night and 24 hour power. Once again the smaller more remote places proved to be able to offer more consistent electricity that the main towns and cities. The restaurant in our place was closed that evening so we walked all the way into the village – it took at least 3mins! We frequented a cracking little place, Gupta Restaurant, who rustled up tasty, cheap nosh.
The next morning the thick haze was still prevalent so yesterday’s planning had been a worthwhile exercise. In the meantime we still wanted to take in some Tibetan culture so to that end went for another potter. We started by taking the track out of the end of the village and up a stone path that led to Dubdi Monastery. Apparently this is the oldest Tibetan Monestary in Sikkim so is obviously held in high regard. Unfortunately we can’t extol its virtues as it was surrounded by scaffolding and hidden under a tarpaulin. Once again we found ourselves thoroughly underwhelmed with Sikkim’s offerings.
Still we were in a lovely wooded area so extended the walk by taking a track that we believed would loop back round to Yuksom. A dog that we recognised from the restaurant (so promptly christened Gupta) latched on to us and we hoped he would show us the way. This jeep track was in the process of being carved out of the hillside so the edge of the road was a bit of a mess. We could see an obvious path but it took us a while to locate its starting point amidst the rubble. This stone path skirted past a village and wound its way down to the river before bending back round towards Yuksom. As luck would have it the trail delivered us right back to our guesthouse.
It wasn’t an extensive walk but a lovely meander for a few hours listening to many different birds including cuckoo. In among the vegetation we spotted some beautiful orchids in flower but the highlight was a Sikkim Sidney. It was a species we’ve seen before and true to serpent form it didn’t hang around or pose for the camera. As it was dashing back over the track is slithered right up to my boot. It then paused long enough for me to think it was going to detour up my leg. It quickly decided to stick to terra firma and rapidly disappeared into the undergrowth.
In the afternoon we explored the other side of the village where there were more religious sites to act as a focus. We didn’t expect to be awed but in fact the coronation throne, though nothing special in itself, was in a lovely setting. There was also a large white stupa and the usual colourfully painted temple buildings. Plus there was a beautifully decorated, large prayer wheel and we couldn’t resist having a spin. The nearby religiously significant lake was shut for the evening and the modern monastery didn’t hold our attention for long.
We’ve wanted to visit Sikkim for so long but have ended up feeling like we travelled a long way to get there for limited reward. Obviously the main problem was the haze obliterating the mountains but we also found it culturally disappointing. At least we’ve now been and have successfully scratched that itch. In fact this entire trip has seen us satisfying many a long held curiosity and has helped to finally get India out of our systems. In the meantime we travel to Darjeeling in the morning from where we will begin to put the latest travel plans into action.
Initially our plan in the Sikkim area was to do a 10-day trek to enjoy more of the Himalayas. However, the persistent, dense smog and haze resulted in all trekking impetus dissipating despite us having been in touch with an agency. Luckily we never managed to transfer the necessary deposit so it was easy for us to think about altering our plans.
March to May is, according to all the guide books, peak trekking season but we should have known better. We were in this area exactly a year ago and spent a week inside a cloud. The agency we’d been in touch with wanted a whopping $70 per person per day and we weren’t prepared to gamble over a thousand dollars on the weather. Getting closer to the Kangchenchunga range would have been excellent but we were questioning the wisdom of 9 nights in a tent. Besides which there was a strong probability that it wouldn’t be as good as the Gokyo section of the Everest trek. We decided it would be better to end our Himalayan adventures on that absolute high.
Since we spent 25 uncomfortable hours on a bus to get to this far flung corner of India it seemed daft to simply turn round. Instead we decided to take in a bit of Tibetan culture Sikkim style. While we were in Kathmandu we’d already looked into Plan B; an organised tour to Tibet but, once again April saw China closing that particular border to foreigners. It looked like we’d have to make up Plan C as we went along.
We popped into the tourist information office and they provided us with an informative but not overly detailed leaflet. From the vague map Steve managed to suss out a walking tour for us. Gangtok clings to the mountain side at an elevation of between 1400 & 1700m so you can imagine it’s quite spread out and rather hilly. First of all we took a main road heading up and out of town towards Enchay Monastery where we intended to take in the flower show along the way. There’s a network of intertwined, snaking roads that conspired in us missing the blooms but we weren’t particularly bothered.
Several twists and turns and much asking for directions eventually led to us tracking down the monastery. Unfortunately it goes down as the least attractive and most uninspiring Tibetan gompa we’ve ever encountered. Undeterred we carried on up the hill to Ganesh Tok; a look-out point and small shrine to said elephant headed God. The conditions were still lousy so there weren’t any views to speak of but it had given us another focus to our walk.
Over the road was the Himalayan Zoological Park that we’d read was similar to the one in Darjeeling. The native animals do have huge, spread out enclosures that try to emulate their natural habitat but the entire place has a distinct air of incompleteness to it. Not all of the animals that they claim to have were in evidence and it didn’t look like the red panda breeding programme was operational. Still, they’re trying and hopefully the project will improve but they need more funding. At only Rs50 for foreigners and Rs10 for Indians to enter it’s going to take a long time to raise the necessary cash. As far as we were concerned it was a very pleasant walk over the ridge and through the forest and we particularly enjoyed observing the Himalayan civet cat.
The road emerged at the far end of the park’s grounds and led us down to Tashi View Point from where you can see Mount Kangchenjunga and 3 other prominent peaks. Allegedly! We couldn’t even see back to Gangtok and that was only a couple of kilometres away as the crow flies. The afternoon rain looked like it was having a day off so we decided to walk back to town even though it meant following the road. To be honest beyond Gangtok there’s not a great deal of traffic so it was quite pleasant. By the end of our pottering we reckon we’d walked about 15kms.
That called for a post-trek beer! In fact we got a bit giddy on finding normal strength Carlsberg for only a couple of dollars a large tin. Usually we steer clear of India’s over-priced, chemical-laden, super-strong beers but Sikkim offers export quality and its tax free. Maybe we shouldn’t spend too long in Sikkim or we’ll undo all the good work we did trekking in Nepal!
