Ashutosh Kumar
Live Young, Live Free
It’s been year since my last year Arunachal trip and I was raring to go. North Sikkim was always in my mind, but did not materialized because of uncertainty of getting the ILP.This was one of my most unplanned road trip of mine with lot of uncertainty. Though I was planning for this trip for quite sometime may be for more than 3 years. I was only able to complete this trip in 2017.
Every time I thought of this trip, there was uncertainty about the permit to North Sikkim. In the meantime i was reading lot of travelogues available on the internet. Getting idea on the routes, conditions, getting the ILPs etc.
The main challenge in a road trip to North Sikkim is to get the permit for North Sikkim for self-driving a Car. Most of the travelogues were through travel agents or the one with self-drive car had contact in the Army or higher ups. Very few have got the permit themselves. I had contacted some of them through various forums about the details, but did not get a satisfactory response. I was so disappointed I had relented and was thinking of taking this trip through agents in Gangtok.
In April 2017 I finally made up my mind that be whatever, i will drive towards Sikkim and try for permit. If I do not get the permit I will travel through the travel agents. This was the time when I was reading one of the travelogues from PointZero (BCMT Handle), which I had gone through numerous times in the past. He is the person who has explored various parts of Sikkim more than once. He can be considered as the expert as far as Sikkim Tourism is considered, especially for North and East Sikkim. There are many travelogues from him on BCMT and TBHP. I wonder how this guy remembers each and every point of his journeys as he pens down each and every detail in this travelogue. I used to forget almost half of the details as soon as I reach my home. I connected with him and boy…. he was a blessing in disguise. He gave me enough idea and confidence about getting the permits by approaching the authorities in person. The other hindrance for this trip was with my youngest son (3 years), whom I did not want to take him to high altitudes. He is averse to cold conditions. To mitigate this, I decided to leave him along with my wife to my in laws at Shillong. This was done a week before start of this trip.
Finally the plan was made to begin the journey on 20th May 2017.As a backup plan, in case I do not get the permit I had planned to hire a taxi and proceed with the trip. I would like to thank PointZero for his immense help and guidance. Accompanying me on this trip was my elder son (6 yrs), my parents (in their late 50’s).
Every time I thought of this trip, there was uncertainty about the permit to North Sikkim. In the meantime i was reading lot of travelogues available on the internet. Getting idea on the routes, conditions, getting the ILPs etc.
The main challenge in a road trip to North Sikkim is to get the permit for North Sikkim for self-driving a Car. Most of the travelogues were through travel agents or the one with self-drive car had contact in the Army or higher ups. Very few have got the permit themselves. I had contacted some of them through various forums about the details, but did not get a satisfactory response. I was so disappointed I had relented and was thinking of taking this trip through agents in Gangtok.
In April 2017 I finally made up my mind that be whatever, i will drive towards Sikkim and try for permit. If I do not get the permit I will travel through the travel agents. This was the time when I was reading one of the travelogues from PointZero (BCMT Handle), which I had gone through numerous times in the past. He is the person who has explored various parts of Sikkim more than once. He can be considered as the expert as far as Sikkim Tourism is considered, especially for North and East Sikkim. There are many travelogues from him on BCMT and TBHP. I wonder how this guy remembers each and every point of his journeys as he pens down each and every detail in this travelogue. I used to forget almost half of the details as soon as I reach my home. I connected with him and boy…. he was a blessing in disguise. He gave me enough idea and confidence about getting the permits by approaching the authorities in person. The other hindrance for this trip was with my youngest son (3 years), whom I did not want to take him to high altitudes. He is averse to cold conditions. To mitigate this, I decided to leave him along with my wife to my in laws at Shillong. This was done a week before start of this trip.
Finally the plan was made to begin the journey on 20th May 2017.As a backup plan, in case I do not get the permit I had planned to hire a taxi and proceed with the trip. I would like to thank PointZero for his immense help and guidance. Accompanying me on this trip was my elder son (6 yrs), my parents (in their late 50’s).
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