~~Trip to Mystique Land-Day 3~~

This was the day we planned for our important destination in our itinery,the day we are going to climb great heights. The newly bought leather jacket,thermals,gloves,shoes etc would be tested for their quality that day.The room boy woke us at wee hours around 4:30am but given the freezing temperature we were not ready get out of our bedsheets.Since we had to leave 5 and still we had 30 more minutes we continued to sleep.Again at 5 room boy knocked the door with tea,since something hot was served we got up. I tried to brush my teeth but when my brush touched the teeth it was like a electric shock that I decided not to go further.KG was wise enough not to try brushing.We drank tea which was like Amirtham at that time,wore all our winter clothing one by one.Ended up having three layers of clothing. When we reached our jeep Sonam gave us a shock saying that the diesel in the tank got frozen and it took sometime for him to heat the engine and bring the vehicle back to normal.


It was just 60km journey but the thing is,the road was bad for the first 30kms and for the next 30kms there was no road such that we cant complain about road conditions.Since it was dark we don't know the way we were going but the excitement was very high and sticked our faces on the window. Once day become little clear we spotted the snowy mountains around ,it was looking majestic and marvellous.When the day's first sunlight fell on them, it was looking even more beautiful.We asked our driver to stop our jeep then and there,got out in that freezing weather took pictures of those mighty mountains.


We stopped at a restaurant at 14000 feet a placed named Thangu.It was so cold that when I went inside I thought of hugging the furnace which was keeping the room warm.We were served with boiling hot noodles which we gulped it down like a hen eating its food.From there we started our journey to a place which is not connected by roads,the hotel guy told that the temperature at the Gurudongmar lake at night was somewhere around -10C.We reached an army check post,glad to know the army officer was a tamil guy.Check his comments in KG's blog, which we will never forget for the rest of our lives. We continued our rough drive ,where ever we look there was a view point.There were yaks grazing around which was the only sign of life in that place. After crossing two more check points we finally reached the destination.







Even google map dont give a proper route to gurudongmar lake so had to search from someother source,red line shows our route to the lake

This was the first time I m seeing a lake which was completely frozen(except for small portion of lake which never gets frozen at any point of time), it was a clear sky and the sun was shining like a moon with its rays having no effect on us or the surroundings. The frozen lake with the back drop of snow covered mountains made me wonder whether its actually in India. It was a beauty and treat to our eyes because everything around was perfect and natural, except for few colorful flags there was no sign of man made things.I really felt that the ten hour journey we made to reach this point at a height of 17100 feet is really worth it. There was a temple near the lake which was built by the army personnel.I visited the temple and pushed the gong of the bell, the sound from it filled the entire place which made realise how calm and serene the place is. Even after taking countless number of snaps we were not satisfied and thought we can take more.


From there we started our journey back to Lachen, on the way we stopped at a home to have tea.That's the good thing about Sikkim you needn't have to look out for restaurants ,people there are good hosts and make you feel comfortable.There we met a army personal from Kerala who was glad to see us coming from the South. We gave lift to two other army people who were telling us how cold the place would become in the winter. Being stoned because of the rough journey and getting up, early I slept on the way back even though we were driving on the same road which broke my back in the morning.


After having the same delicious rotis made by the sweet family in Lachen, we were in a mood to have a short nap but our driver Sonam asked us to vacate the place as soon as possible and start the journey to Lachung. We did later come to know that he is from Lachung and wanted to see his family. Way to Lachung was not so special this time we got used to all the scenic beauties around us. I read somewhere in a blog,to hear Tibetan songs while touring Sikkim. I asked Sonam to play the same.I was expecting to hear some traditional music but it turned out to be more of Western. Even though we didn't understand the language it was interesting to listen to those.


Once we reached Lachung ,we were taken to a nice hotel from which the view of the town was excellent. And our room was made up of wood such that it can withstand cold climates. We took a walk and explored the town ,we walked over the bridge built by the BRO, had a terrible coffee at a home cum shop(KG took me there because the girl making coffee was looking good), then went to a Hanuman mandir where we found the place was surprisingly warm. Finally we had our dinner,cook was a Bengali and he had cooked roti and paneer butter masala. Anything given hot at these conditions felt tasty to our taste buds. After having a wonderful dinner we went sleep.


Next day an interesting situation was awaiting for us , I realised that day, why Western countries use tissue papers!

Click here to KG's version

Click here to read Day 4