Sikkim - travelogue after the Earthquake

We had planned a Sikkim tour almost three months before the Puja Holidays. North Sikkim was unanimous decision and we booked the tour with the travel operator in Gangtok. Initially it was going to be a group of five, but as the days to the tour came nearer we started loosing partners as something or other came up either on home front or work which forced them to cancel the bookings and only two of us finally made it sure that this tour happens.

Destiny had something else in mind and when we were defying canceling the tour, a terrible earthquake shook the entire state with the maximum damage in the picturesque North Sikkim. This had almost sealed the fate of the tour to be cancelled, but the long holidays were not coming back again. Moreover with news coming in that apart from the northern part damage was less in west and south we re-scheduled the tour to visit Pelling, Ravangla etc.

One of the major reasons of going despite the earthquake was that we knew the operator will incur heavy monetary losses along with us and also that the Nathula –Changu lake route had been opened.

The Kolkata to Siliguri bus ride was the worst journey ever with roads caved in due to persistent rains. There was a delay of six hours in reaching Siliguri. The driver who picked us up was kind enough to wait for such a long time. Till this moment we were already feeling that we made the wrong choice, but from here started our beautiful moments.

The road conditions were not good in Sikkim and we were informed that the Earthquake had nothing to do with the condition of the roads; apparently this is the situation round the year. It was evening when we reached Gangtok and bad news hit us the moment we check into our hotel. Fresh landslides on the Nathula route had forced the Govt to stop issuing permits for tourists. So as compensation we were offered for a full day sightseeing of Gangtok. The place is beautiful and we did the usual sightseeing of the Rumtek Monastery, Ropeway ride, Do-Drul Chorten, Banjhakri falls etc. We were lucky to be the only tourists that day to visit the entire Rumtek Monastry, the rest room of the last Karmapa, the place where he used to wear the sacred cap, something which others do not get to see as tourists have the access to only ground floor of the main temple. The monastery has suffered heavy cracks in this recent earthquake.

Pelling is a smaller place than Gangtok and is at a distance far more than the distance between Gangtok and Siliguri. We went to Pelling via Ravangla in south Sikkim which is a tiny Hamlet with a tea garden. But the view of Kanchenjunga from this place is just awesome. Our sightseeing in Pelling was also very nice and we covered the entire place in two days including the Rabdenste ruins, the falls, rock Garden and the sacred wish fulfilling lake – Khecheolpari Lake. The place has a strange soothing silence that calms your mind and brings you to a standstill. The catch is to be at the place sans any other tourists, which we achieved by leaving the hotel early in the morning. We got some of the best views of the Kanchenjunga from our hotel balcony itself.

While returning from Pelling to Siliguri we got a driver who was present in Lachen during the Earthquake. We got the first hand experience of how bad the situation was and how after a 12 hour ordeal on those landslide stricken roads they were air lifted from Chungthang. According to the driver, it will take at least another six months for normalcy to return to North Sikkim.

All in all, what started off as a compromise tour later gave us some very nice moments and a long required holiday from the routine life at Kolkata.