Initially, being the tour planner, I thought of reaching Gangtok from Sandakphu directly assuming a distance of 32 kms only from Sandakphu to Maneybhanjan. However, after getting familiar with the road
condition, we all understood that hardly could we manage to reach Maneybhanjan, and the same happened. We
being seniors are really thankful and honored to have juniors like Pratap,
Biranchi & Avijit, who took every step with us helping us as well whenever
we are in need. I must say again that because of this great team effort we
managed to achieve our target.
We took our shelter in a hotel for that night. Sajoy da
specially came with us to achieve Sandakphu
and we all did it. He will be leaving for hometown, Kolkata very early next morning and will reach by night. Bhaskar da
will also be leaving us next day. We were a bit sad but want to enjoy utmost
until next morning. It was 5 am next morning, Sanjoy da & Bhaskar da woke
us up and we found them ready for the journey. We gave our best wishes to them
and they left for the journey L.
We thought of getting ready for our journey to Gangtok. But there is a big problem. Pratap’s Pulser and Ankan’s
Avenger are not in good shape to run with us. Their clutch plate got burned and
there was no mechanic to fix 2 wheels in Maneybhanjan.
So, Ankan & Pratap went towards Darjeeling
to fix their motorcycle and join us later while we four, Swarnadip, Biranchi,
Avijit & myself (Arup) started our journey towards Gangtok. Our first halt was in the pine forest on the way to Ghoom / Ghum.
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| Way to Ghoom |
Ghoom is a
small locality in
Darjeeling
district of West Bengal.
Ghoom
railway station is the highest railway station in
India (2258 meters).
Ghoom
is also famous for
Batasia Loop
(means windy place), which is a double loop of the railway track. We didn’t get
time to roam around
Ghoom as we have
to reach
Gangtok at earliest. I
managed to capture only one snap of the train’s engine that too from behind as
we were moving. Road were all going down and believe me it is so downwards that
being in 1
st gear our vehicle speed was reaching 40 kmph.
Anyway
we drove well and came across Lamahati /
Lamahatta. Lamahatta has been
developed as an eco-tourism place in late 2012. Lamahatta is located at an altitude of about 5,700 feet and at a
distance of 23kms from Darjeeling hill town. We stopped for taking snaps and
left soon.
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| @ Lamahatta |
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| @ Lamahatta |
We left again for next halt and had our lunch at Peshok into our well known hotel.
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| @ Peshok |
We finished our lunch and headed towards Gangtok. My plan was to leave Maneybhanjan early morning so that
could make the permission for Nathula
at Gangtok on the same day. But we
got late. Myself and Swarna’s motorcycle started giving trouble suddenly with
no clue. We had to stop at some of the garages enroute with no solution.
Finally we reached Gangtok at 3:15
pm and it started raining. Initially it was drizzling which later followed by hail
storm. Permission procedure never takes much time for us as govt. officials are
very much aware of us. But the problem that happened was sudden transformer
burst and power failure due to hail storm at Gangtok. There is nothing we could do and we have to look for
permission once again next day. In between we found Ankan and Pratap coming
fully drenched. We decided to stay to our well known hotel and did the same.
It was a beautiful rainy weather and we all were enjoying
it roaming around in
M.G Marg.
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| Gangtok @ Night |
We
had our dinner in
M.G Marg and
returned hotel. Next morning we woke up early. Everyone started packing
belongings while myself and Swarna went for the permit. It was informed to us
that we have to cross the
3rd
Mile Army Gate before 3 pm. But we were in doubt as one of our friend,
Kishaloy faced same issue last year. He told us that as per as he is aware of,
we have to go by 10 am. But with no other option left we got busy taking our
permit. It was delivered to us around 1 pm. We immediately went to hotel to
pack our own belongings. We bid everyone we are aware of in the hotel and left
for
3rd Mile check post.
Once we reached the check post, we came to know that we will be not allowed.
The person sitting there took our permission slip and does his needful. But he
didn’t mention
Nathula on his
approval. We also came to know about a road accident where a 5 month old
bride’s life came to an end after the vehicle she was in, skidded and fell down
200 ft down. We were in shock after hearing about this sad incidence. On the
other hand we were too angry as it was govt. official in Sikkim Home Department
who informed us wrong. We had also left our hotel. I called hotel owner and
enquired if we could stay there for another day, if accommodation available. As
usual he called us. We decided to enjoy the day at fullest. But before that we
should fix our permission related issue. So, most of us went to the same hotel
while Ankan, Swarna & myself went to home department. After some serious
discussion they called Indian Army at
3rd
Mile check post. We didn’t understand anything as conversation was fully on
their mother dialect. But the assurance we got was, we didn’t need any more
approval and will be allowed to cross check post without any further
verification. They also did apologize for the hassle created.
Wish all govt. officials learn how to behave with
customers or travelers that these folks are doing for decades. We thanked
everyone there and went back to hotel. We decided to fix myself and Swarna’s
bike before tomorrow’s journey. So, Swarna went to Yamaha showroom in Gangtok. But myself, being owner of Hero Honda (now Hero Motor Corp) had to look for local mechanic as there was no
showroom or service center of Hero Motor
Corp. in Sikkim. We fixed both
of our motorcycle’s and came back to hotel. We decided to enjoy the rest of the
time at M.G Marg. We enjoyed that evening and night a lot planning our next day
trip.
It was 16th May 2014, and we from Rolling Wheels Biker’s Club are going
to reach Nathula Pass once again. We
left at 8 am in the morning. Once we reached the 3rd Mile check post, Gangtok we saw nearly 100+ vehicles
were waiting for permit. But surprisingly we were allowed to enter after a
small verification without waiting for 5 minutesJ.
Road after 3rd Mile was really in bad shape as usual as most of the
places are landslide zone. But we started crossing one after another barrier like
soft muddy road, waterfall, landslide zone etc. and enjoyed every moment …
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| Way to Tsongmo / Chhangu Lake |
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| Way to Tsongmo / Chhangu Lake |
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| Way to Tsongmo / Chhangu Lake |
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| Way to Tsongmo / Chhangu Lake |
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| Way to Tsongmo / Chhangu Lake |
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| Way to Tsongmo / Chhangu Lake |
After driving for 20 minutes myself and Pratap started
facing difficulty with our buddy’s. We can’t take our motorcycle to 3rd
gear as the max speed is not crossing 30 kmph. We had no clue. So, decided to
continue until we could.
 |
| Way to Tsongmo / Chhangu Lake |
Soon, we reached a place where we saw at least 10 – 15
cars are waiting and one bulldozer was clearing the debris of a landslide. But
with our utter surprise we saw some chunk of stone in small size started
falling from the same place where the bulldozer is working. Vehicles are not
blowing horn as it could create more impact but they were in reverse mode.
Being in motorcycle we didn’t have the option for reverse gear. As soon as we
got a place to turn around we all took a U-Turn and drove 200 meters back. We
stand our motorcycle and saw a huge portion of a big boulder broken into pieces
and fell down all of a sudden.
Thank god, by that time, the bulldozer moved back and the
chunk just fall on the same place where the bulldozer was working. It was a
terrific moment as everyone was puzzled. In between one 4x4 SUV, Mahindra
Scorpio which was going back to Gangtok,
came infront of me and requested me not to proceed. I conveyed our route to him
and asked him for his suggestion. He took sometime and told me to wait and
check how nature behaves. If everything is fine we could proceed and he left for
Gangtok with his onboard passenger.
Same happened with many other vehicles.
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| Stuck in Landslide |
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| Stuck in Landslide |
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| Myself on the way to Chhangu Lake |
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| Way to Tsongmo / Chhangu Lake |
We kept our patience and prayed for a successful
completion of our grand tour. It took sometime. Finally the bulldozer gave
signal to move slowly one by one. We all were determined and started moving
slowly one by one. Soon after we came to a wide, well maintained asphalt road.
After taking few turns on 1st and 2nd gear we saw the
debris of the vehicle which met with fatal accident yesterday (mentioned
earlier). We could see that the Mahindra Max was totally wrecked except its
engine compartment. We could easily understand the consequences it has left on the
onboard passenger. After driving few kms further we finally reached infront of Tsongmo Lake / Chhangu Lake.
Tsongmo or Chhangu
Lake is a glacial lake in East
Sikkim at an altitude of 3780
meter (12,400 ft). We all took a halt to take snap.
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| RW Team @ Tsongmo / Chhangu Lake |
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| Ankan busy in Demonstrating Map |
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| RW Team @ Tsongmo / Chhangu Lake |
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| Tsongmo / Chhangu Lake |
Pratap opened the fuel pipe and found dust got stuck. Now
we understood that the last petrol pump from Bharat Petrolium from where we
poured oil, was not upto the mark. I could remember a local folk saying why you
all are pouring oil here? You should do it much early? I have faith on my buddy
and we started moving again. Now the road is absolute beauty. First of all its
too wide due to India China trade,
road condition is awesome and we have pile of snow on our left and right side …
Soon, we reached Sherathang.
 |
| Self Explanatory |
From this place one road goes to Nathula and the other towards Baba
Harbhajan Singh’s temple. As per
normal gesture and respect Indian Army soldiers requested us to visit Baba Harbhajan Singh’s temple and then to Nathula. We did the same and reached the very devoted temple of Baba Harbhajan Singh.
Major "
Baba"
Harbhajan Singh (August 3, 1941 – September 11, 1967) was an
Indian army soldier who died near the
Nathula Pass in eastern
Sikkim, India. He is revered by soldiers of the Indian army as the "
Hero of Nathula" and the army men have also built a
shrine in his honor. He has been accorded the status of saint by believers who refer to him as the
Baba (saintly father). Many of the faithful people, chiefly Indian army personnel posted in and around the
Nathula Pass and the
Sino-Indian border between the state of
Sikkim and
Chinese occupied Tibet have come to believe his spirit protects every soldier in the inhospitable high altitude terrain of the
Eastern Himalayas. As with most saints, the Baba is said to also grant favors presumably to those who revere and worship him.
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| Indian National Flag @ Harbhajan Singh Temple |
According to legend,
Harbhajan
Singh drowned in a glacier while trying to lead a column of mules carrying
supplies to a remote outpost. As the first casualty of the
23rd
Punjab Regiment in that war, a manhunt was launched to find him.
His remains were found after three days and he was cremated with full military
honors. The legend further claims that it was
Harbhajan Singh who himself helped the search party to find his
body. Still later, through a dream, he instructed one of his colleagues to
build and maintain a shrine in his memory.
It was an ecstatic moment for all of us. All tourists
were watching us arriving with special care. It was very cold but we were not
feeling it as was busy enjoying & capturing nature.
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| @ Harbhajan Singh Temple |
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| @ Harbhajan Singh Temple |
Once done, we went to have hot veg momo with raw chilly
(helps to get warm). Now we have to left for next destination that is Nathu La pass. We immediately left and
came to the same junction Sherathang.
I suddenly got a view of ‘Mera Bharat
Mahan’ written with white stone on a hill at distance.
 |
| Mera Bharat Mahan @ Sherathang |
Army men did welcome us and checked for the necessary
permission. As soon as done we were allowed to move ahead towards Indo – Sino border. After driving for
few minutes we finally got a view of the border between ‘India and China’. Road was too slippery with ice and cold ice
melted water. We parked our motorcycles and went ahead towards the border.
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| @ Nathu La |
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| Indo - China Border |
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| Indo - China Border |
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| Our Buddy's @ Nathu La Pass |
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| RW Nathu La Team @ Nathu La Pass |
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| Indo - China Trade Path |
We were now in the border itself where on our left we had
Indian Army’s camp and on the right
it was Chinese Army. It seemed
really funny to me (may not being practical). I could see same folks like us
are on the other side of the border. But there is a so called border or line
which is basically differentiating all of us. Probably this is because we are
part of civilized society J.
From this place we could easily see the very well
maintained China roads.
Seeing us on riding gear, one Chinese Army on the Indo – Sino border came and took some
snap of us (available in video). We took whatever pictures we could and started
coming down. Our next destination is the last habitat on this border i.e Kupup Village. I have to plan this way
as we are left with 2 days only. It was my 9th Visit to the lovely
state of Sikkim and I am aware of
the behavior of nature. After riding for last couple of days, I knew that my
team could easily do it.
Road condition is far better in this route and I am aware
of it from my last visit in Old Silk
Route, Sikkim back in 2012. So, we all started moving towards Kupup Village.
Please go
through our journey in next travelogue …
2 comments:
Just getting into adventure riding and your tips are a great help. please suggest best Indian motorcycle tours .thank you
Nice to read your trip on motorcycle to Sandakphu.
Darjeeling to Sandakphu Taxi
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