The Valley of Flowers which wasnt


"There is no need to rent the snow boots. You rent some wind cheaters. It will be windy there and the jackets will be useful against the wind", said the senior guide. No harm came to him because I abhor violence !!!

The journey from Lachen to Lachung was a short and uneventful one. It took us around 2 hrs to get to Lachung from Lachen. The scenery, as usual, was breathtaking. Just before entering the Lachung town, there was a nice waterfall. We stopped here since the driver wanted to have tea at a tea shop here. We also had a cup of tea and took some snaps near the waterfall.

The place we stayed at Lachung was a nice one. It was better than the one we stayed at Lachen. The cold was also less here and the hotel people gave us hot water packs, which were very useful. Upon arrival, we were treated to plate of onion pakodas, which were extremely tasty. That night I had a minor shock. I had covered myself with a razai and about to sleep. I turned around and suddenly felt breathless. It took me some time to get back to normal !! I was wondering as to what happened to me. The razai was heavy but not so heavy that you become breathless. There didnt seem to be any doctor or hospital around and here I was feeling breathless. Anyway I slowly relaxed and was able to sleep. Only the next morning did I realize that what happened was not due to my lack of fitness but due to the altitude at which we were staying. We were staying at close to 13000 ft and I did notice the effort I had to put in when I took a morning stroll to get some photography done.

The next day morning, we started for Yumthang, the Valley of flowers. It is not too far from Lachung and takes around an hour or so to get there. Along the way we saw a lot of yaks. We passed through the rhododendron sanctuary. There are supposed to be around 63 or so varieties of these flowers which grow here. Unfortunately when we went it was still snowing and so the flowers were not in bloom. There were some trees which had flowers on them. This itself gave us an idea of how beautiful this sanctuary would be in the summer time.

As we entered the Yumthang area, we saw a board, 'Welcome to the Valley of Flowers'. We were excited to get there. As we got out of the vehicle, the scene in front of our eyes totally surprised us !! There were no flowers. Instead the whole valley was filled with snow !!! This is a big valley and the whole of the valley was covered with snow. From the main road, around 200 mts away ran the river. Past the river, around 100 mts off were the mountains again. To our left, around 20 to 30 mts away were the mountains. Both the sides of the road were fully covered with snow. The snow had carpeted the whole area till the river and it would be great walking all the way till the river in the snow. The area again resembled a black and white picture, with the black mountains being covered with glowing white snow.

I looked round for the senior guide, who had advised us against renting the snow boots. All the people who had come there had come prepared. They were taking off their slippers, putting on their snow boots and started walking and playing in the snow. Here we were, looking totally dumb and frustrated, with all the snow around us calling us to play and we unable to step into it. It took great control not to give the senior guide a few bangs on his head. Instead I went and bugged him and told him to get me some boots on rent. After almost half an hour or more, he managed to get a couple of them. We sent in Ranjani and Harini and they just loved it in the snow. After some time, we got two more pairs of boots and then Gayathri and I went in.

Nothing beats the experience of walking in snow. The land beneath us was not even and we were not sure if we stepping on firm ground or on a stone. I did fall a couple of times but it was enjoyable. I walked till around the place where the river was flowing. Harini had done done something close to a snow man and the kids didnt want to come out of the snow. We finally came out and went to a water spring which was nearby. They have built a room around the spring. The water was luke warm. What was interesting was the walk to the spring. You had walk across a bridge in order to cross the river. The bridge also had snow on it which made it slippery. The light had faded a bit and I was able to take a couple of good snaps of this area.

We came back to out hotel for lunch. In the evening we visited a monastery nearby. Before that I had taken Gayathri and kids for a small walk around. There were some kids playing cricket here. I joined them and played for some time !! It was a nice experience.

The next day after breakfast we started for Gangtok. We had lunch at the same place where I had earlier had salt tea !! Along the way, as we were getting near to Gangtok, we saw our first and the only glimpse of Kanchenjunga. It was a towering peak which seemed to tear apart the clouds. It was visible for less than 5 mins before being covered with the clouds again. It was raining in Gangtok when we arrived and the drizzle continued for some time.

Thus ended our North Sikkim trip. The next day we were off toNew Jalpaiguri from where we would go to Kolkata and get back to Bangalore