My First Independent Trip

My first independent trip was to SIKKIM in Nov 2021.

Just after a month of so much thinking and endless discussions , I planned my first solo trip to SIKKIM.

Now after checking calendar and feasibility, I informed the same with travel company who takes up the trips for all kind of travellers and then booked my seat there.

So , now you might be in a thought of how can this be a solo trip. It was a semi-solo trip with everyone who were absolutely strangers before trip (Of course they are very good friends of mine now) . So a trip with strangers which can be considered as semi-solo trip.

26/11/2021 HYDERABAD-BAGDOGRA

My flight from Hyderabad to Bagdogra was scheduled at 05:45 AM from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad. My parents came to send me off till Airport.

Waiting for my flight Indigo 6E-6893 Hyderabad – Kolkata – Bagdogra , Its 04:55 AM and I was waiting for boarding. My usual playlist of downloaded songs on Amazon is on, these songs will add more memories to trip.

Its 5:00 AM and boarding got started and reached Kolkata by 7:30 AM . Initially I had plan of moving around city as I had 4hrs layover, then checked if there is any sightseeing nearby that can be covered , but then Taxi drivers advised that Kolkata traffic might consume a lot time and might miss flight.. Anyways I was not up to take any risk so I dropped my plan of Kolkata sightseeing.

Finally reached Bagdogra , and settled in room by 1600hrs. Met few other co-travellers and planned to visit nearby Hongkong market. Hongkong market is a big market where most of products were made in china also there was a huge winter collection sold there at very minimal cost. We reached market by catching the sharing TONG-TONG on main road nearby hotel.

Next day morning we all met Madhura and started our Journey to SIKKIM.

27-11-2021 ENROUTE SIKKIM

We started our journey from Bagdogra to Gangtok by 11:00 AM and reached by evening 6:00 PM, we stopped by nearby view points . Teesta river lined up our whole journey , The water is little dark green, with a tinge of blue!…It was beautiful to have river alongside our way with some beautiful waterfalls .

Our stay was at Rajuji’s homestay its SALVE RESIDENCY , In-between the relaxing nature sounds made by green forest with birds singing and the wind rustling the leaves on the trees and peaceful stream of RANIKHOLA river . There is a trail behind our stay which would take us till the stream.

Salve Residency, Rajuji’s Beautiful homestay

After we reached and settled at place, Madhura (our trip lead) announced the complete trip plan, had dinner and then we called it night.

28-11-2021 NATHU-LA PASS

Woke up at 5:40 AM , Our first morning at Gangtok. Its a cold winter morning between the hills, burbling river with chirping of lovely birds ,refreshing smell in air and gently cool breeze touches my skin…Its soo relaxing and feels like a dreamland. Walking in the garden barefoot to feel the freshness and coolness under my feet ,they got wet with the heavy dew on the grass. It was already too cold and soon we left in our rooms to start our day.

We started our journey to Nathula by 7:45 AM , by the time we reached the temperature went down by 0°c degrees . On our way to Nathula we were fortunate to watch the clear Mt.Kanchenjunga peak.

After Nathula we visited Baba Harbhajan Singh Temple which was close by Nathula .

It was a real challenge at Nathula as it was making our chest feel heavy due to less oxygen on high altitude of 4,310 meters above sea level.

At Nathula , we had got chance to interact with soldiers who were there at INDIA-CHINA border . I asked a very fun kind question if the India and China soldiers share chai pani (Tea Snacks) sometimes , but the soldier responded equally in a fun sense that they do share tea snacks. The place around India-China border was very slippery , I even was scared that if I would slip and fell in China land, but I was more careful too.

The soldiers at Nathula were part of Maratha Regiment and there was a Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue at entrance, Everyone of us took picture with it shouting “Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ki jai, Jai Maharashtra”

Soon we reached our next spot i.e: Baba harbhajan singh mandir, temperature went down by -7°c . The soldiers of Indian Army raised a Samadhi in the name of brave soldier Sepoy Harbhajan Singh and till date people in the area believe that Baba’s sprit protects the soldier posted here and built temple in the name of Baba Harbhajan Singh. The Indian Army treated Baba as a soldier who never died and he was retired with full honours in December 2016.

Our next place was lake Tsongmo. The temperature is soo Freezing. There was a ropeway to reach above lake to get its top view, but as it was very cold temperature almost all of us were shivering with cold. We spent almost 15 – 20 minutes on the top, observed the serene Tsongmo from top also trees with its leaves frozen and then all of us had hot coffee there. We also made a group reel there along with some individual ones. I tried the Sikkimese traditional attire there and took some pictures and also made reels.

The day ended with some dance, girls party , Garba and of course our endless long conservations while walking in garden with some of my co-travellers.

29-11-2021 GANGTOK

Day started at 06:30 AM, I planned to explore some local chai tapri around our stay and started my morning walk alone in search of it but ended up stopping between the midway as stray dogs started howling and I was already scared out of my wits .

Our first plan for the day was to spend sometime on the bank of river Ranikhola.

With help of Rajuji we have started our short hike to reach till river , that feeling of freezing cold water touching my warm feet was thrill at the start . I felt too close to the mother nature with all bigger green trees alongside river on a bright sunny day with a cool breeze surpassing. It was my best morning.

And then we started for local sightseeing in Gangtok. Our first destination was Namgyal Institute of Tibetology , We have explored the Tibetan culture and etiquette and also attended Buddhist prayers . We have observed that people from varied regions, age came here and became monks.

While we were inside temple , we saw there were all kinds of snacks as a offering to god also they had different kinds of drums which were used while chanting prayers.

After museum visit, we have visited hanuman tok ( hanuman temple) , we observed the great Mt.Kanchenjunga view from its top.

Its evening and all we girls were excited for MG.Marg . We headed straight to Baker’s cafe in MG Marg to have some hot chocolate and coconut pastry. It was a very good bakery with delicious bakery items.