Day around the Pelling area

Mark and I paid up at the tour company across the road from the hotel at 0900 and hopped into the 4WD.  We had booked a car for the both of us as there seemed to be no other tourists in town.  The town was very quiet indeed and our hotel and many others seemed empty.  Apparently it had been due to a combination of reasons, eg. the strike (protest for a separate state) in Darjeeling, a broken railway bridge and some skirmishes with China.

The driver didn’t know the 10 point itinerary so fortunately I took a copy from the office to remind him.  However, he was familiar with all of them.

First three sites were just pointed out to us from the moving vehicle.  They were Darap Village, Rimbi Waterfall, Rimbi Power Plant and Rock Garden. None were visually significant and the rock garden had been washed away already by floods apparently.

After driving about an hour through the hilly windy countryside, looking down at green gorgeous valleys and villages across the far side, we arrived at Khechuperi Lake.  This was a holy lake, decorated with many prayer flags.  The lake itself wasn’t stunning but it was more the sacred significance that makes it important.

There was a sheltered gangway over the water where visitors could feed biscuits to the fish.  It does create quite a stirring commotion when they come up to eat.  Mark also took a walk up to the viewpoint to catch a complete view of the lake.  He said it was quite steep.

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Next was the Kanchanzonga Waterfall.  As we approached, there was water coming from overhanging rocks on to our 4WD so the driver used it as a natural carwash.  The nearby area was also very lush.  The waterfall came into sight and it looked nice enough from the road.  We walked ups some steps (lined with hawkers) to an area where we saw the top of the falls plunging down.  A tiny older lady offered to take Mark and I stepping over the rocks to the other side to get a better view of the falls as it wasn’t squarely facing us.

Mark went but I didn’t want to risk getting wet shoes (or worse slipping).  It was quite a funny sight to see young Mark getting helped across by a little old lady.  Surprisingly when he offered to tip/pay her towards the end, she declined.  This doesn’t seem like India.

From there we we crossed the Rathong bridge to cross the beautiful cascades which we had seen during the drive further up the valley.

Continuing up the other side of the valley with arrived in the village of Yuksom.  Yuksom didn’t have any mountain views and the hotels there seemed orientated to face the sun whereas in Darjeeling and Pelling they were facing the mountains, which meant they were rather cold and damp.  I’d rather have the dry/warmth as I don’t stay in the room all day looking at the mountains.

Yuksom was the first capital of Sikkim, founded when the refugee monks from Tibet crowned their first leader in 1641.  We saw the coronation throne here and there was also the Norbugang Stupa.  We then went to the nearby Goachen Thang helipad for a view of the valley but it was obscured by trees.  In fact, the views along the way were far better but it wasn’t always possible to stop due to blind corners.

It was time for a lunch break and we had a light snack in Yuksom.  My vege momo (8 pieces) was only INR40 (USD0.60) and masala chai INR10 (USD0.15).

When I reminded the driver of the rest of the itinerary, he gave a funny look.  He realised he had missed two along the way and would need backtracking.  It was a substantial backtrack to the Phamrong Waterfall.  It was quite a hike up by stairs to a badly vandalised viewpoint to see the top of the falls.

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Then finally, it was another backtrack to near Yuksom’s coronation site for Karthok Lake.  This was another holy lake and the oldest lake in Sikkim.  Again it wasn’t that picturesque.  In fact, apart from the waterfalls, it the sights hadn’t been stunningly scenic.

But if one takes that kind of approach and starts crossing “less scenic” things out of the plan, one might as well stay back at the hotel and forget about the excursion … and taking it to the extreme, not come to Sikkim or India at all.  There’s more to it than seeing the specific sights.  Seeing what Sikkim is like, how people live and the general scenery was more worthwhile to me.  For example, we saw many old men and women on the roadside breaking rocks into stones for use as construction material.  It’s a sign of how poor people are in relative terms.   We also see very old people with baskets slung over their head, loaded with grass and leaves for the cattle or firewood.  Life is traditional and hard here.

We dropped Mark off in Yuksom around 1430 and the driver and I made the scenic windy journey back to Pelling arriving around 1545.

I had a rest before wandering to the helipad for a view of the mountains around sunset.  I had dinner inhouse again and had the company of some other travellers for nice chit-chats.

Rather unusually I had trouble sleeping.  Maybe it was the 2 cup of strong Indian teas I had with dinner.  After a while I started feeling unwell.  I was very sniffly, my thoat was ticklish and I was wheezy and coughing up bits.  I attributed it to the dust I had ingested on the roads in the two days and the mildew / fungal spores that’s in the damp rooms.  I took my inhalers and an antihistamine tablet and that helped a little.  It didn’t seem like I was catching Mark’s cold.