after one and half year and two serious trips and so many short trips, my memories of north sikkim trip are still fresh. how could anybody forget his first trip, neither I do. so here i m writing again. this is my first post in this forum.
what i want to say here is that i was not keeping any log in written form, the only thing i ve written is the odo reading at the start of my journey and at the end of my journey. so here is the trip log............
day 1: 21st may, 2006 kolkata to kalimpong
started at 4:30 am frm home
reached farakka at 11 am, called rpm_boy, we were supposed to take breakfast together
meet rpm_boy with dfi_boy at malda with a pulsur 150 and went to gazol 23km frm malda on nh34 towords siliguri.
had breakfast tadka-roti courtsy by dfi_boy nd rpm_boy and left them at 12:50.
reached kalimpong at around 5 pm
petrol rs. 1400
lodging rs. 200
fooding rs. 30 (pork momo nd a peg of old monk rum rs.15)
total run 750+ km
no. of fall 1
day 2: 22/05/2006 kalimpong to gangtok
started at 6am towords delo
river teesta from delo
gangtok at 10:30 am
lost my whole day here running every where to aquire permit to north sikkim and nathula pass. after the day was over i knew gangtok like the palm of my hand and the most agonising was that i didnt get the permit. i had to wait for the next day.
petrol nil
lodging rs. 300
fooding rs. 45 ( veg momo rs. 15, a cup of tea rs. 5 nd thingley rs. 25)
total run 150+km but more than 25 kms within gangtok
no. of fall 1
day 3: 23/05/2006 gangtok to singhik
went to tashi view point at 7 am
went to ganesh tok
started pursuiting for permit at 10 am and finaly had my permit and i was ready to leave gangtok not before 4:30 pm
petrol rs. 750 (top up the tank and a pot of 5 ltrs)
on north sikkim highway near phensong 20 km away from gangtok faced a landslide. lost most wanted day light and precious 45 minutes there. finally i mannaged to get pass the blockedge with help of localites, who stuck there, with a crack in the left rear cowl. reached singhik arround 8 pm.
after crossing the hurdle
fooding at gangtok rs. 40 (2 plate of veg momo nd 2 cup of tea)
lodging and fooding at singhik rs. 150 ( dinner + breakfast)
total run 85+ km mostly in the dark
no. of fall 1
day 4: 24/05/2006 singhik to yumesumdong and back to chungthang
it was raining in the morning, had a late start which i didnt want. i finaly started for yumthung at 7:30 am.
chungthang at 9:45 am
lachung at 10:30 am
reached yumthang arround at 12 noon and i went further for Yumeysamdong 30 km away from yumthang.
Yumeysamdong (arround 18000 ft) at 12:50 pm, stayed there for just 30 min. whole place was covered by cloud and it was raining and more than that wind was blowing too hard. i was about about to freeze and not a single person was there.
acompanied by..............
while comming back to yumthung faced a road block by yaks. follwed a pack of wild dear on foot
back at yumthang at 3 pm
back at lachung at 4:30 pm
back at chungthang at 5:30 pm
petrol nil
lodging rs. 150
fooding rs. 75 ( tea at lachung rs. 5, veg chaw at chungthang rs. 30 and a pint of old monk rs. 40)
total run 160+km
no. of fall 1
day 5: 25/05/2006 chungthang to thangu
started at 8 am again it was raining in the morning but as soon as i started the rain stopped and it become a happy photo shooting day
thangu at 11:40 am
did a bit of treking
thangu monastry
petrol nil
lodging rs. 250
fooding rs. 85 (veg chaw at chungthang rs 30 and a cup of tea rs. 5, at thangu veg momo rs. 15 and several cups of tea and breakfast on next day jam-bread)
totul run 65+km
no. of fall nil
day 6: 26/05/2006 thangu to gurudongma lake to chopta valey to singhik
started at 8 am it was raining before in the morning
gurudongma lake at 10:40 am
a lake at 17,000 ft
chopta valey at 1 pm
thangu at 2 pm again it started raining after i left thangu
chungthang at 3:40 pm
singhik at 4:30 pm rain stopped now
petrol nil but fill the tank from the pot i was carring
lodging and fooding at singhik rs. 250 per day
fooding at thangu rs. 20 (momo + tea)
total run 160+ km
no. of fall 4
day 7: 27/05/2006 rest day
just rested at singhik
it rained all the day so i cancelled nathula pass
petrol nil
lodging and fooding rs. 250
total run 0 km
day 8: 28/05/2006 singhik to kolkata
got a late start at 7 am, raining last night
siliguri at 12 noon
gazol at 3:15 pm
baharampur at 7 pm
krishnanagar at 10 pm
kolkata at 1 am on 29 th of may, 2006
petrol rs. 1000
fooding at gazol rs. 28
on that day it started raining at 6 pm and stopped after 12 midnight when i was at barasat
total run 715+ km last 250 km in dark and rain
no. of fall 2
today i must confess that i was extremely lucky to survive in that trip. there was no planning at all; i was ill equipped in terms of winter garments, emergency toolkit. though it was in late may still i have to put newspapers on my chest. i didn't know what i will do if i hit a flat tire at Cholamu cold desert. and with so many fall from which i escaped with any major injury. my "good luck" ran out in that trip.
permit to north sikkim is a big issue here. it has to be prearranged, otherwise valuable time will be lost to untie the "red tape". here, in this forum, many members have visited ladakh, but i bet north sikkim is not less worthy. just imagine u have everything in ur thumb.
here is the picasa link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/chira2ehome/NorthSikkim
enjoy.
