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| Temi Tea Estates, Sikkim |
I do
not recommend train journey for travel if you are carrying your cycle. My
misery was way more severe because of RAC ticket which did not confirm till the
end of journey. After a terrible journey by train from Secundrabad, we wasted
three days at Phunsoling/Jaigaon, which
is 50km from the train-station New Alipurdaur. Rajesh was coming from
Delhi after two days. Meanwhile I inquired about permits.
Do you
think getting visa/permit to Bhutan is easy?
Do not underestimate Bhutan for its regulations like Nepal. Although it
takes only half a day to get permit from their immigration office but they are
very particular about their rules. Hotel booking at Paro & Thimpu is a
prerequisite for the permit. I booked the hotels but a big loss hit me when my
phone services got barred suddenly. I received a message saying that I have
consumed 20MB of data while roaming internationally and outstanding amount is
nineteen thousand rupees. I manage to avoid this loss after coming back from
tour later. My argument was, how can a phone company charge international
roaming, if person has not travelled internationally for that period. I saved
about 25 thousand rupees but lack phone & internet services during the tour
caused further losses also.
On
the other side we were trying hard to get permission for our cycle tour. But we
were denied for cycling on their highways for safety concerns. Option of
transporting our cycles to Paro & Thimpu was there and we could have started
from there. But we became apprehensive about further permits and road safety
rules. So we turned our direction toward Sikkim. And moved to Jalpaigudi with
our cycle in a local bus.
Japiguri
was a nice calm place where one can enjoy authentic Bengali cuisines. It is
always better to fill your glucose pool before you ride for a long bicycle
tour. And we were happy being at core typical Bangla town with variety of mouthwatering
specialty sweets. Not a complete one but I discovered a good circuit, starting from
Jalpaigudi and ending at Siligudi, covering majority of east and south Sikkim. I
always spend lot of time in route planning before starting, where I study roads
for their slopes, conditions and halts. This time, lack of time and barred
phone service was going to put me into lot of uncertainty.
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| Road along river Teesta |
First
day was supposed to be easier one. Route was through the jungle without
elevations but little challenges we had because of sun and traffic. Our morale turned
down immediately after the start, when I got my cycle tyre puncher. And it
repeatedly happened for 2 more times. I was so disappointed as I was not able
to trace the reason. After third time I dragged my cycle to a puncher shop. Young
but skilled mechanic found that plastic strip running over the metallic rim
below the tube is repeatedly cutting the soft tube. I appreciated him and paid
double for his good job.
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| Gorubathan |
On
the way, I asked Akhil (in office) to book Air ticket back to Hyderabad for me.
Due to some mis-communication he thought I’m having permit issues, so I wanted
to come back on coming Saturday. So he booked ticket costing 13 thousand for
coming Saturday, Whereas I was asking him to book ticket after two weeks. I was feeling satisfied like
a stupid after receiving the tickets for the wrong dates which I never checked.
We
reached Tourist Lodge at Gorubathan before dark and rain. Our stay was a
beautiful hide out located in the narrow valley with thick vegetation. Lodge
was clean and cheap but not much variety for food.
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| Local wine served in Bamboo Jar |
Now
onward it was a steep route till Lava. We decided for early start for which we
skipped the breakfast but managed to get aromatic organic tea for just RS 5.
Taste of that tea, I cannot forget forever. Highway was getting wider for
Mansarovar route connecting China via Nathula pass. We reached Lava on
time but rain drenched us at high pass. Body
started shaking during downhill, road was bad and our clothes got filled with
mud. By evening we manage to find a cozy homestay (Sweekriti) on the road,
where we were offered with local homemade wine called “Thumba” made up of
Ragi/Kodha. It was served in bamboo jars with a narrow bamboo straw. Instant
brewing was taking place in the jar every time we were adding hot water in it. Wait
for (natural pause) 10-15mins and then you can sip the jar.
Next
destination was Rongli, from where we were supposed to get permission for
Nathula Pass. It was a long downhill till the state border where we had a bath
in the river. Had authentic local cuisine in hotel Magnolia at Rehnak market.
After arriving at Rongli, we inquired for permission at police station, where
they denied saying they do not provide permission for two wheelers.
Disappointed again, we turned our wheels toward Gangtok for some hope for
permit. We stayed at Rorathang, which is not a good spot.
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| Near Singtam |
On
the same day I received message from Akhil – “Where have you reached”. I
replied –“Rorathang”. He said- “Oh this place is only 100km from the airport”.
I smell something is wrong and checked
the ticket which was booked for the next day. And here was the another
big loss I encountered. I asked Akhil to request Airlines to provide
reimbursement on ticket cancellation. But he was pulling me to come back on
next day which was possible. But I was not at all willing to compromise with my
passion. Especially when you have taken so much of pain and spent that much of
time & money. Luckily we got compensation of eight thousand rupees. It was
non-reimbursable ticket but airlines granted because it was a business class
category, Oh that was the reason ticket was so expensive.
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| Gangtok |
From
Rorathang we had two routes for Gangtok. First one via Pakyong and second one
via Rangpo. Airport at Pakyong was under construction and there was heavy truck
movement, so we decided to go for second option, which was also full of traffic
after Rangpo. Amount of traffic increased as we approached Gangtok. It was a
weekend and all the tariff for hotels
were up by 100%. Sometimes it’s OK to spend for the value as good hotels
do not escalate much during weekend as they are already expensive. We visited
mall and checked with hotel travel desk for Nathula permit. It was very
difficult and very expensive in such a short notice. Permit was free, permit
office opens at 5AM during season. But you have to reach one day in advance. We
decided that we will talk to taxi driver or travel agent in the morning.
Rajesh
had difficult night, he drained off due to loose motion. This probably happened
because of cold when he went out to the mall after having hot water bath
without a pullover. So we decided to ride downhill next day. Our next
destination was Temi and route was via Samdong. We reached Singtam
bridge from where the road was uphill. Rajesh was not in a situation to pedal on
uphill trail so we booked a cab till Temi Guest House.
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| Temi Guest House |
Stay
for at least two days was required for Rajesh to recover. And the location was
worth to spend that much time in Temi. It was an old heritage property (about
150 year old) of Mr. Lalit Pradhan who had old mother, wife, five children and
two servants. I spent good time during long talks with his old mother who told
me about the local culture and history of that part of Sikkim. We stayed at
guest house surrounded by natural garden and jungle behind. They always use to
invite us for food in their big kitchen. Two days were relaxing when we had a
lot of organic Orthodox tea. Temi has about 450 acre of tea garden located
almost at one stretch which gives Temi a different eye pleasing topographic
character. At some viewpoints Tea farms stretches from one horizon to other. In
Rs.100 one can take a tour of Temi Tea Factory where you can see actual
processing. So if you are visiting Sikkim, Temi is must to visit zone for its mesmerizing
experience especially during rains.
Recently
Sikkim was declared as Organic state. Which was a good stand for government but
was a big trouble for restaurants and tourists. Only options at some of the restaurant
was potatoes. Most of the restaurants were run by ladies who were very strong
headed and were not willing to cook or serve. We were surviving on maggi and
biscuits we had. Overall we found this zone very commercial with average level
of hospitality.
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| Namchi |
From
Temi onwards, road was smooth & uphill for about 16km. We stayed next night
at Namchi. This place is known for miniature Char Dham complex which did not
attract us. We found mall area more interesting which was wide open and
happening . Our plan was to reach Darjeeling via Jorethang. I remembered a
beautiful narrow route from Mountaineering days when I attended BMC at HMI, Darjeeling.
For glacier training they take all students to Sikkim (to Rathong Glacier) from
this route. That experience was with the bus and was 10 years back.
After
lunch at Jorethang we crossed cable bridge to enter West Bengal /Gorkhaland.
Everybody on the way was suggesting not to go on that route because of its surface
condition & steepness. After 5Km meter we realized that fact, when we
failed to paddle on the rocky road. We started dragging bicycle on foot. It was
the impossible route we had chosen. This was worse than Jarori pass road during
our first tour in 2010. We should have checked the slope at least on the google
map. Road was waving on the ridge only, which was causing irregular and
unbearable steepness. After too much of struggle we decided to call it a day
and started looking for accommodation.
It is always difficult to find homestay if you
are close to such a big city. Residents doubt that “why they are not searching
hotel inside the city”. Somehow we found one place where owner was expanding
his house and the building was under construction. Room was totally upset with
construction material lying everywhere but we managed to sleep only after two
bottle of beer.
Next
day we again try on cycle but after 15km we give up as the road continued its
character. We boarded a pickup truck till Darjeeling and realized the remaining
difficult steep route where Bolero was moving on first gear only.
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| Marget's Deck |
Darjeeling
was a bad experience. It was dirty & overcrowded. It disappointed so much
that we decided to move down early next morning. It was a long downhill road
with the railroad. We experienced locomotive crossing us so many times. One
should be careful crossing rails which are embedded on the road surface, they
can be slippery for two wheelers. We had good experience at Margret’s Deck Tea
Lounge on the way (about 20km from Darjeeling). Beautiful vista of valley from
deck was a mesmerizing experience while having their authentic orthodox tea.
Rs.500 for a Pot, expensive but worth an experience.
Cycle
ride was finished at Siliguri. Now the first big task was to bring Bicycle cartons from
Jalpiguri. We took a local passenger train to Jalpaiguri. It became a cause of
worry when we came to know that those cartons got damage because of rainy flood.
It happened, when hotel owner forgot to keep those carton inside while raining.
I was not sure if we can pack cycles with those cartons as they were wet and
weak.
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| Near Siliguri |
We had no option but to carry them to Siliguri and to find out some to
fix it for Air transportation next day. There was one more difficulty, how to
carry cartons to Siliguri. Local bus service stops after 8PM. And state buses
which works all night do not have carrier on the roof, so they do not allow
such big cartons inside. Luckily we found one tempo/van and travelled sitting
on the lorry behind with our cartons in the open at night. Somehow we reached
hotel after eating lot of dust. On final
day we managed to get two big polycovers from the market to encase weak cartons
and succeeded board our flight on time.
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