~~Trip to Mystique Land-Day 5 (part-1)~~

Early in the morning ,

KG: What is that weird sound howling, chattering, jumping , purring etc. I m not able to sleep

Sri(in dreamland): I think cats ,they are the kind who purr and make these kinds of noises

KG:Do cats walk and sleep on the roof ,if so, there is not a single cat but family of cats.

Sri: ok ok I will check it( and I slept again)

That morning we were subjected to mental torture by those creatures which were making sounds like thotothotohtohtohtootoht ,kreeeeerkerkerekrkekrekrekke,yaooayoaoyoayoaoyaooyoa,dhahtdahdttatahtdahtahttdaa,prrrrrrrrrrrrccrrrrrrdrrrrrrrr etc. Once I reached the threshold limit I went out and looked up the roof,the noises were louder and still I couldn't make anything out of it,since it was coming from the other side.I threw my slippers up and it hit the roof DHOMMM within a second some 30 odd thing(I thought bats)flew away from the place. It took sometime to realize those were pigeons which were causing us trouble. We then complained to our hotel aunty ,she immediately transferred us to a deluxe room at another side of the hotel where pigeons cant even seek into.

We had planned to goto Natu La the famous Indo China border, vehicle was supposed to pick us from the hotel.We had our morning breakfast consisting of pan cakes,honey toast and scrambles. Visiting Natu La is not a simple affair, we need to get special permits which we had applied in advance.Vehicle picked us on dot but went on to the taxi station and stopped there.This time we didn't take a exclusive vehicle but a shared with a Bengali family and a north Indian family . We safely booked the front seats in advance and other 8 people stuffed themselves in the back two rows of the SUV. Once the vehicle was jam packed we started our journey to Natu La. After two hours of rough drive we stopped for a tea break at Changu, the other two families went for shopping in the road side shop while KG was torturing the driver asking him to get them back in the vehicle as soon as possible.

Once we got them packed into our vehicle we started our journey once again to our ultimate destination Natu La. Lets go back and look at the history,the route we were travelling was no ordinary route,the route is in existence for more than 3000 years.Its called by the famous name "Silk route".This route was used by traders, merchants, pilgrims, missionaries, soldiers, nomads and dwellers from Ancient China and Ancient India. I was wondering how people used this as a trade route in those days when there we no proper made of transport, a rough route filled with difficult terrain and unfriendly weather conditions.Having said that only because of the risk and sacrifice taken by those people we are able discover hidden beauties in that place as well as across the world.

This route was closed after India China war of 1960's and only in the year 2006 it was reopened for trade. But I heard that not much trade happens across this border because which trader with right minds would buy china products after they are taxed across the border and try to sell those, when their products are littered throughout the country and are available at a cheaper rate. Apart from that the road is horribly bad and most of the product(eg China bowl) would be shattered into pieces when its brought via that route.Its good to see Government and BRO are widening the road but the progress is damm slow given time taken for the raw materials to reach there,availability of labour and importantly the climatic conditions.Sample of the route below

After two traffic jams where lost more than a hour or we reached Natu La. We had to climb some 500 feet to get to the border area.Since the day was Christmas eve the place was crowded with tourists, as a result of that Indian Army had a difficult time controlling the crowd. We had to maintain a 5 feet distance away from the border but being Indian who would listen to the rules, there were people getting close to the border and army had no other option apart from man handling those people and push them back. We tried to get a close snap with the Chinese army people I got one correctly but poor KG was literally pushed by the army person before I could click one. Given below is a view on the China side.

From there we visited Indian army office ,they had a telephone booth from where we could call our nears and dears.Hey I forgot to mention in the last three days of the trip we were entirely cut off from the world,no mobile signals anywhere, except in Gangtok.I tried to call to call home to tell about this issue before the North Sikkim tour and my mum didnt pick up,she has a habit getting tired attending phone calls for the year and in December she wont talk to anybody.Since mobile issue was not properly communicated my dad got worried when he tried reaching my mobile unsuccessfully during those days.Only after hearing my voice after three days my dad got his life back, it shows how a small information when not properly communicated could lead to unnecessary worries.

Coming back to the army office, we got our certificate of visit signed by the Garrison officer and we took photograph with the person on duty.It was one of the proud moments.I took that certificate and showed to everybody in my office as if I have climbed Mount Everest.Then we walked back to our vehicle. From there we visited a Baba Harbhajan Shrine.There was a small shop from there I got few souvenirs like small purses and a heart shaped mirror which I gave to Swathi.There was ice skating arena over there and the two families who accompanied us were enjoying the skate there.But it didn't amuse us as we had enough fun with the snow during our North Sikkim trip.

On the return journey we experienced our first snowfall. How will you feel when the first snow fall experience turning adventurous(could have been disastrous) and unforgettable experience.

Click here to read KG's version

Click here to read day 5 part-2

(to be cont)