Photos of Gangtok Visit, Summer of 2009.

Here are a few samples…

Today, the last day of our 3 full days in Gangtok, we had kept aside for the city of Gangtok itself. We haven’t seen the Flower Exhibition, the Handicrafts and Handloom Museum and a few other places.

We had a leisurely breakfast in the Mintokling Guest [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> April 17 – Day 7 – Walking in Gangtok

Today, the last day of our 3 full days in Gangtok, we had kept aside for the city of Gangtok itself. We haven’t seen the Flower Exhibition, the Handicrafts and Handloom Museum and a few other places.

We had a leisurely breakfast in the Mintokling Guest House restaurant. The service was bad, the prices high and the food passable. We had stayed away from the guest house restaurant on purpose because these places are typically low quality high cost. I will post a separate review on Mintokling.

I carried my back pack with a bottle of water, some biscuits and other snacks, along with my camera bag. Everything went over the shoulders leaving my hands free.

Our first visit was to the flower show which was less than half a kilomter from Mintokling and one streer higher. We had crossed it on our way to Enchyen Monastery the other day and I was fairly certain that I could find it again. We used one of the many staircases connecting the various streets in Gangtok to reach the street above Bhanu Path. From there it was a short walk to the park abutting the flower show. Admission to the Flower Exhibition was Rs. 15/- for adults with Bablu going free. The Exhibition is housed in a 50 by 30 feet hall, with moss covered galleries on the sides and artificial pond in the center. The galleries on the sides have burried pots with a wild profusion of flowers, orchids predominating. I am no poet and will not try to describe their beauty in words. I will let my photograps speak.

We spent about an hour at the Flower Exhibition. On the way out is a Sales Counter selling seeds, bulbs and Orchid cuttings. Padmaja bought some for my father. The share a common love for growing things.

From the Flower Exhibition we walked down to the Handicrafts and Handloom museum, a part of the Institute of Handicrafts and Handlooms. The museum is about a kilometer away, at the Zero Point of Gangtok, next to the Governer’s Palace. This too is a must see. The walk from the Flower Exhibition is picturesque and safe. Gangtok seems to have pedestrian walk-ways along the major roads.

The Handicrafts Museum is a small hall containing some excellent exhibits of the artisan’s work, some older than a 100 years. We spent about 30 minutes in the museum proper before walking around the rest of the Institute, to see the students at work.

After that we went to the attached sales counter. Padmaja bought some trinkets for Mamli and to give away as gifts. The sales emporium has a decent mix of handicrafts and handloom articles, including wool carpets, Sikkimise Paintings and wood carvings.

From the Handicrafts Museum we walked down to M. G. Marg, a distance of about 4 km. The walk wasn’t as pleasant as the one from the Flower Exhibition because of the heavy traffic and resuling pollution. At M. G. Marg we decided to try ‘The Taste of Tibet’ for lunch. A big mistake. It is a low end eatery and everything other than the Chicken Momos was bad. The fried rice was under cooked, the chicken curry looked and tasted bad. We ended up ordering cold drinks to take away the bad taste. Cheap enough and I think we made a mistake by not ordering the local dishes like Ghatak (spelling?), a broth with noodles, vegetables and chiken (or other meat or just plain vegetabless. I also noticed people make a meal of a plate of Momos which are served with a spicy cabbage salad and a clear vegetable soup.

After lunch, we took a cab to the Gangtok Ropeway, a cable car that links 3 of the Gangtok hills. a round trip costs Rs. 60/- for adults and Rs. 35/- for children above 5 years of age. The view from the cable car is spectacular! I have taken many photographs and hope they will come out okay. The ropeway is also a ‘must see’.

After that we walked back to M. G. Marg and spent some time just loitering around till it started drizzling. I found a Kodak Express and gave them one of my film rolls for development and printing. They don’t do 1 hour jobs but promised my the prints by 7.00 pm (it was then about 3.30 pm). Bablu and Mamli wanted icecream and Padmaja as usual was most agreeable to any idea involving icecream. There are a few ‘Softy Icecream’ shops on M. G. Marg and we selected one at random. I had a cup of coffee, priced outrageously at Rs. 10/- for a small cup of vending machine coffee.

After that Padmaja picked up another loaf of bread and a 100 gm pack of Amul Butter. I have never seen packets of Amul butter stored on shelves rather than refrigerated

We went back to Mintokling Guest House by cab and collapsed into sofas and beds. I don’t remember walking so much since my college days at IIT Kharagpur, and definitely not in hilly terrain.

It started raining very heavily about 5 minutes after we arrived at the guest house. The rain kept up till about 6.30 pm. I left to walk down to M. G. Marg for rhe photographs and something for dinner just before 7 pm. The roads were clean after the rain but the stairs going down to Tibet Road from Bhanu Path was a mess and smelled of shit. M. G. Marg glistened after the rains and I immediatly regretted not insisting on Padmaja and the kids accompanying me. I tried calling Padmaja’s cell without success (both our cells are AP BSNL, Cell One, post paid, on national roaming). I gave up after a few tries and went to pick up the photographs thinking that I would go back to Mintokling and bring them back with me. This was our last evening in Gangtok!

I then went looking for that ‘Rolls & Momos’ shop I had seen the other day. They only have veg rolls but I went ahead and bought some for our dinner. The rolls were good but not great.

I went back to Mintokling but could not convince the tired kids to go back with me again. I gave up and had a shower bwfore dinner.

Tomorrow we leave the Himalayas and Beautiful Gangtok to retun to the sweltering plains of Bengal and Kolkata. Then on to my home state of Odissa and the temple city of Bhubaneswar. The city our parents have made their home.

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We left for Tsomgo Lake a little later than planned, at 9.30 am. We had booked a Mahindra Max on Monday and the Driver arrived at 8.30. He was a grouchy chap whose first words were ‘you are late’ in tones that reminded me of my old [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> April 16 – Day 6 – Tsomgo Lake:

We left for Tsomgo Lake a little later than planned, at 9.30 am. We had booked a Mahindra Max on Monday and the Driver arrived at 8.30. He was a grouchy chap whose first words were ‘you are late’ in tones that reminded me of my old Maths teacher.

Anyway, we had packed far a day in snow – extra socks for everybody, a change of pants for Mamli and Bablu, extra shirt for Bablu and a top for Mamli, scarfs for Padmaja, Mamli and Bablu, sweaters and jackets etc. We also had a good quantity of finger foods, juice and water.

I should have bought another pack of Duracell for the digital camera. I am using it a lot and the new 4 Gb CF card I purchased on eBay seems to be a power hog. Also I have to keep switching off the LCD viewer otherwise I would have even bigger power drain. Anyway suffice to say that I didn’t find Duracells anywhere. I ended up paying an atrocious Rs. 60/- for 2 alkaline AA cells. I haven’t used them yet but won’t be surprised if they peter out after a few shots. I have managed so far by shifting the 4 cells in the camera and taking them out to cool down. Just allowing the cells to cool down gave me another dozen shots with the LCD on for about 5 more minutes.

We didn’t stop on the way other than the mandatory stops at the police / military check points. At the first near Hanuman Tok I had to buy 4 tickets for Rs. 10/- each. The tickets claim that the monies collected is used for conservation in the area.

The road after the first check point climbs steeply. It is in very bad shape in a good many stretches particularly in the upper regions near the lake but is well maintained for most of it’s length. There is a large military presence and the huge army trucks have churned the road into a muddy quagmire in places. Traffic is disciplined and nobody tries any tricks. No doubt with the kilometer deep drop to the river bed, none of rhe local daredevils try anthing on this road.

The second check point is about 5 km from the lake and the road from there is pathetic. Lots of construction with earth moving machinery and very heavy car, jeep and military truck traffic. But our driver was up to the task.

As a result of all that traffic the so called clean Himalayan air was conspicuous by its absence. Diesel fumes predominated and made the air foul to the extreme. The natural beauty was also somewhat marred by all the shops, at least near the lake’s approach. Further afield nature reasserted herself and I cannot begin to describe the beauty of the landscape.

We were expecting to rent rubber moccasins at the shops near the lake and as soon as we parked and disembarked we were accosted by one of the shopkeepers. We took up his offer, Rs. 35/- per shoe initially but Rs. 20/- after bargaining. We already had warm clothes and just rented shoes from him. Leaving our own shoes and the food / water basket in his shop we walked up the short flight of stairs to the lake level, to be immediately surrounded by Yak drivers offering their services for a Yak ride to ‘Point Zero’, an outcropping of rock that jutted out into the lake.

This point zero is about a about a fourth of the lake’s length from the tappering end. The lake itself resembles a sperm cell wearing a round cap. There is a narrow walkway around one side and it is narrow! About 4 feet wide and snow covered. And the Yaks use the same trail, adding their dung and urine to the snow or rather slush. At places the snow is more than a foot deep and the Yaks have churned it into a freezing slush that can catch the unwary and tip some of the cold dung laced water into shoes. Bablu and Mamli’s shoes weren’t very high and they got their feet wet. Padmaja and I gave them our socks to make sure they had dry feet. By this time we were about half way to point zero and after a small snowball fight Mamli, Bablu and Padmaja refused to go on. I wanted photographs and walked on alone. Within 10 feet of where I left them was a small stream flowing into the lake and the Yaks had churned a wide swath around it into foot deep slush. I stepped into one in spite of being careful and got a shoe full of freezing water and snow. The stuff literally froze my foot and I had to put down my camera bag on a small rock sticking out of the snow while I hopped around on one foot trying to pull the other shoe off and empty it before putting it o again.

I finally made it to point zero and it was worth the effort. The place was full of snorting Yaks and their rude handlers, with more dung and urine but at least that was isolated to one area in the center of the land mass jutting into the lake.

I took my photographs and seeing me alone with my cameras a few young couples roped me in to take their photos posing in the snow..

I also noticed two army men keeping an eye on the idiots who were capering too close to the crumbling, snow covered shores. They had whistles and used them often. I suppose there were many idiots around.

I walked back to Padmaja, Mamli and Bablu and we started back to the shop where we had left our shoes. I had Bablu by the arm but he slipped a number of times and got his feet wet again. That is when I started shouting at the Yak drivers and pushing the placid, plodding beasts away while I tried to walk as fast as I could. Bablu was crying by this time from his freezing feet and I was desperate to get him back to the shop.

The shopkeeper immediately understood the problem and quickly put some water to boil. I asked him if he had any mustard oil and he immediately brought some in a plate. I rushed down to the jeep for the bag of spare clothes after pulling off Bablu’s shoes and wet socks, leaving Padmaja to massage his feet with warm water and then mustard oil. In the meantime Mamlu had taken care of her feet and was ready for the dry socks I brought back.

The shopkeeper offered us hot Maggi and we gratefully took up his offer. The Maggi was hot and good! Rs. 25/- per plate.

Padmaja bought some souvenirs from the shop and we left after finishing our Maggi.

By then the cloud cover was lowering and visibility was shrinking. Our driver was careful and drove sedately down the mountains. We stopped at a beautiful waterfall we had skipped on the way up. By then the clouds were drifting into the car and the temperature was dropping. We took a few photos and left. Soon visibility was down to 50 feet and on a mountain road that was a frightening experience.

We made it safely back to Gangtok and it started raining 15 minutes after we reached the Mintokling Guest House. And boy did it rain! It was like the cyclonic storms we get in the Deccan Plateu. Luckily it stopped raining long enough for me to go down to M. G. Marg for a packed dinner-to-go, channa batura and masala dosa. Yes I know. But we are sick of chow mien.

It is still raining. Hopefully it will stop by tomorrow. We plan to see some of Gangtok city tomorrow before returning to the sweltering plains on Saturday.

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Local Sightseeing.

The entire day today was spent in local sightseeing. Pema, the manager of Mintokling had booked a taxi for us yesterday and Kiran Chettri, our driver for the day, arrived with his Maruti WagonR well before the allotted time of 9.00 am. I got up early in [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> April 15, Day 5, 9.00 pm:

Local Sightseeing.

The entire day today was spent in local sightseeing. Pema, the manager of Mintokling had booked a taxi for us yesterday and Kiran Chettri, our driver for the day, arrived with his Maruti WagonR well before the allotted time of 9.00 am. I got up early in the hope of catching a glimpse of Kanchenjunga from the hotel windows but was disappointed by the cloud cover. Any the good thing was that I was able to get breakfast started with tea brewed in a glass of water with a small immersion heater, sugar cubes, milk powder and tea bags yea i know how to cook! Or at least make tea, coffee and omelets.

We managed to be ready to leave just before 9.00 am, no small feat with 2 small kids to be dragged out of a warm bed and fed breakfast after they brush their teeth and take their baths. We packed my bag with a water bottle, some snacks, binoculars, spare clothes for Bablu, silk scarfs for the kids and Padmaja, and two folding umbrellas. I of course had my camera bag as well as the camera tripod in it’s case.

We met Pema ‘upstairs’ and were introduced to Kiran, our driver for the day. We went over our agenda for the day and asked for a few modifications. Essentially added the Ban Jhakari Waterfall (10 km from Gangtok) and the Ling Dum Monastery (about e4 kms from the waterfalls, in the same diection. Also added Hanuman Tok and Tashi View Point to the itinerary. The price agreed upon was Rs. 1200/- for the deal as against the original Rs. 800/- for the original tour plan of the following:

1. Enchen Monastery 2. Tibetology Institute 3. Handi crafts and Handlooms Exhibition 4. Flower Show 5. Ganesh Tok 6. Stupa 7. Ropeway

We first visited the Enchen Monastery.l, a beautiful place festooned with prayer flags and located at the top of a hill opposite the TV tower. Photography is allowed outside the temple but not inside. We went in and sat for some time behind the monks chanting prayers.

On the way to Enchen we crossed the Flower Show and realized how close it was to Mintokling. Padmaja and I talked it over and decided to drop the ‘points’ inside the city of Gangtok and visit the waterfalls and Ling Dum. The price went up to Rs. 1400/- for the whole day.

Kiran then took us to Hanuman Tok and there we got the best treat of the day – a clearing of the clouds shrouding Kanchenjunga and our first glimpse of that mighty peak. I have taken photographs, both with the digital as well as my SLR with the telephoto. Can’t say how they will come out till I reach Bhubaneswar on Monday. Hanuman Tokk was beautiful with a great view of a part of the Gangtok valley.

After that we visited Ganesh Tok. Again a small, modern temple perched on a hill top, with a fantastic view of the valley. Kiran pointed out some land marks including the old royal palace nestling on top of the same hill as our guest house, Mingtokling.

After Ganesh Tok we visited the Tashi View Point, a hill commanding a good view of the surrounding hills and valleys. There is a souvenir shop on the road side which seems to be organized by the army, or so we were told. Anyway the prices on the regular souvenir trinkets was the best we have seen so far. We also had good veg Momos and Paneer Pakodas at the small fast food stall next to the souvenir shop. Padmaja bought a ton of stuff at the souvenir shop.

From Tashi we started for the Ban Jankri (spelling?) Waterfalls. We had to cross the valley and the roads to the falls are in poor repair. They are maintained by the local PWD while the roads around Ganesh Tok etc are maintained by the BRO, the Border Roads Organization, an Indian Army entity.

The waterfall is a beautiful area. Deep in the forests, the area is beautifully landscaped to show off the natural terrain and to highlight the local tribal population. Ban Jakri (spelling?) is how the tribal medicine man is called. There are walkways that allow you to approach the foot of the waterfall. I have taken many photographs and will use them to describe the area once I get back to Bhubaneswar as I have no way of transfering the images from the camera to my phone for uploading.

A word of caution:- Don’t eat at the veg restaurant on the first floor of the Energy Museum building. The food is BAD! And the service is so pathetic that I would rather not talk about it.

From the falls we went to the Ling Dum (spelling?) Monastery. This monastery is closer than Rumthek and is not as old, being only about a 100 years old. It is a beautiful place and colourful. Also they allow photography inside the shrine whose walls are covered with beautiful paintings of the life of the Budha. The large idol of the Budha dominates the shrine.

Outside there is a small garden and a eatery that makes nice veg Momos. They charge the same for a cup of coffee as a plate of Momos, Rs. 25/-

After the Monastery we returned to Gangtok and stopped at Lal Bazaar to buy me a jacket for the visit to Tsomgo Lake tomorrow. The bazaar has some good bargains.

After dropping off Padmaja and the kids at the hotel, I walked down to M. G. Marg to pick up something for dinner. I stopped at the Square restaurant for fried rice, chicken curry and chowmien. I had some of Danny’s beer, Hit, while I waited.

Tomorrow we are to visit Tsomogo Lake and must start early.

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We arrived in Gangtok at 2.30 pm. Had a little trouble finding the Mintokling Guest House but our driver was up to the challenge. He stopped other cab drivers and got his directions.

Mintokling Guest House turned out to be a very pretty house built on multiple levels with [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> April 14, Day 4, 2.30 pm:

We arrived in Gangtok at 2.30 pm. Had a little trouble finding the Mintokling Guest House but our driver was up to the challenge. He stopped other cab drivers and got his directions.

Mintokling Guest House turned out to be a very pretty house built on multiple levels with the entrance towards the top of the house and the ground floor lower down the hill side. The enclosing garden is terraced and full of flowers. There is a lawn at the nottom of the garden with a small gold fish pond, benches and more flowers.

The rooms are spacious, with wooden floors and ceiling. A wardrobe, two single sofas, a bedside cabinet, a wall mirror with shelves below, a small TV on a cabinet with storage complete the room’s furniture. Very comfortable.

We had asked for an extra bed and that turned out to be a mattress thrown on the floor with a bed sheet and two blankets.

The lady in charge, Pema L. Pulger, is very nice and efficient. We quickly checked in and were taken ‘downstairs’ to our third floor room.

We ordered lunch from room service while we all took showers. The food was tasty but in very small quantities. What we expected to feed the entire family was barely sufficient for the two kids.

After a late lunch I went ‘upstairs’ to the office to meet Pema and inquire about local tourist spots and arrangements to visit them. She had multiple options available to cover the entire day. She has a tie up with a local taxi service and offers good prices. These options include a number of ‘Points’. For example Ganesh Tok, Flower Show are two points. A day trip consists of 7 or more points and are priced accordingly. You can take a standard, pre-defined set of ‘Points’ or customize your own itinerary. The price will have to be negotiated of course. We told Pema ro book us a 7 Point trip the next day. We also asked her about Tsomgo Lake and were told that it would cost Rs. 2000/- for a Maruti WagonR with driver and that the trip would take a whole day. There could still be snow on the roads beyond Tsomgo Lake. That means the Baba Temple and Nathula Pass are inaccessible.

After that we walked down to M. G. Marg. Every city in India has a Mahatma Gandhi Marg!

M. G. Marg is easy walking distance from Mintokling. We took the alleyways or rather the stairs between houses to Tibet Road. From there it is a easy walk downhill to M. G. Marg. The marg is a cobbled street with flowers in pots and flower beds dond the middle. Large ornate lamps lit up the entire road. There are tour operators, cafes, fast food joints, grocery stores, banks, pharmacies, restaurants, souvenir shops and hotels on this road. There arw cast iron benches along the central verge. All in all a beautiful place.

Our first stop was the tourism office to ask about Tsomgo Lake trips. The gentleman there was very helpful and told us that permits are required and that rhe tour operators would handle all the details. It would cost about Rs. 1600/- to hire a car and driver. For the permits we need photocopies of some ‘ID Proof’ like A PAN Card, Passport or Driver’s License. Also required are two passport sized photographs of each person. There are a number of photography shops on M. G. Marg and it cost us Rs. 60/- for 4 photos of Mamli and Bablu, i.e., Rs. 30/- each. Photocopies of our PAN Cards cost Rs. 2/- each.

We had pastries and coffee at a Bakery cum Cafe before approaching two different tour operators. After negotiating with both we took their visiting cards to the gentleman at the tourism office for his opinion. He told us that the negotiated price of 1600/- to the lake was fair and the operator who had offered that price was dependable. We went back and booked the tour, giving an advance of Rs. 500/- and all the documents.

After that we backed back to Tibet Road and the Tangerine Restaurant for dinner. Tangerine is located on the ground floor of a Hotel which means it is 4 floors below road level. The food was delicious and inexpensive. A meal for 4 with Chicken Momos, Rice Noodles with oyster mushrooms, Chicken fried rice and a country chicken curry cooked the Sikkimese way cost me Rs. 360/-.

By the we were done it was 9.30 pm and the streets were deserted. We managed to find a taxi who charged us Rs. 50/- for the 1 kilometer uphill drive to Mintokling. We were very tired and fell asleep soon.

I am hoping to get a glimpse of Kanchenjunga tomorrow morning. Will try to wake up by 5 am for that chance.

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Thanks Shobhan.

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I blogged all day from the marriage venue and it was a good experience. I realized some of the limitations of blogging from a Sony Ericsson P1i to a WordPress blog. Do check out the entries tagged with “Sonu’s Marriage” to see how they have come out.

I have posted all the [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Sonu is married!

I blogged all day from the marriage venue and it was a good experience. I realized some of the limitations of blogging from a Sony Ericsson P1i to a WordPress blog. Do check out the entries tagged with “Sonu’s Marriage” to see how they have come out.

I have posted all the photos I took & some of Baba’s.

1. Mangana Photos (May 7, 2008) at Sutahat, Cuttack
2. Marriage Photos (May 8, 2008) at Mayfair Lagoon, Bhubaneswar

The next marriage this year is Swasti’s on July 4th at Rourkela. Right after that is Bapi’s on July 6th. Also at Rourkela.

I missed Sampat’s marriage earlier this year. I do have some of the photo’s Baba took though.

1. Photo’s of Sampat’s marriage

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