Gangtok/Pelling,Sikkim,India

Isn’t it weird that there are so many travel and tour sites in India with many interesting packages but only few of them cater to budget travellers. Students like us are mostly left to fend for ourselves. In the end we either have to choose from the costly packages or to settle for some cheaper place.

One great way to save money is to plan your trip yourself instead of letting the tour operators do it for you. I do it and trust me it’s great. So here I am to contribute my bit to budget travelling and give you details of my 3 day trip to Gangtok (Sikkim).

Gangtok can be called as one of the emerging capitals of India and can also be dubbed as quite costly. The reason being its hilly terrain and lack of resources. Farming is quite limited and much of the food-grains are imported from the nearby state of West Bengal or from Nepal.

The nearest airport is Bagdogra in West Bengal and the nearest railway stations are in Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri also in West Bengal. From taxi stand you can get shared jeeps for Rs 200 each.
There you will find many drivers asking you to meet their agents and plan your whole trip. I would suggest you to stay away from them. It is better if you just ask them to drop you to Gangtok. Planning your trip step by step is better as you never know if you would like to extend your stay or make any changes to your itinerary. Planning too early will strip you of any freedom of making any changes to your trip.
The main public transport inside Gangtok are only taxis which can be shared or hired and they usually don’t charge much.

It was 7:30 A.M., and our driver Lampa arrived with car and informed us that road condition was good up to nathula. We started from Gangtok town at 7:45 AM. After 25 min journey, we reached check point for checking our pass for Nathula.

Weather was good, so we enjoyed our journey along hilly terrain. On the way we spotted many small falls.  But worth to spend some time at Rukmini falls. We spent some time there. Driver advised us to visit Nathula pass first and then visit changu while on returned journey.

Earlier I thought that this is the place famous for Baba I mean Bhole baba ( LORD shiva ). But this place is named after “Baba” Harbhajan Singh. He joined as a sepoy in Indian army in 1946. While on duty in east sikim week region, he was killed in 1968. Later he appeared in a colleagues’ dream and requested them to build shrine in his name. Sepoy Harbhajan Singh is revered by soldiers of the Indian army as the “Hero of Nathula” and later on the Indian army had also built a shrine in his honor. As per local legend, spirit of “Baba” Harbhajan Singh is still guarding Indian armies at such high altitude region,it’s located 10 km up from new shrine . This place was not included in our regular package. But I must tell you should not miss this place. We started for old Mandir at 1230 pm. On the way, we saw beautiful golf course, Elephants Lake and beautiful valley covered with orchid flowers. Along this journey we have found that the whole path is full of 4-5 types of orchid flowers, and beauty of Elephant Lake was beyond explanation. After 30 min ride we reached old Baba mandir . We offered our puja there and visited bankar and items used by Baba Harbhajan.

We drove another 20 km to reach Changu lake, but we didn’t stop there as our first destination was Nathula . Leaving behind Changu lake to drove up towards Nathula . We were spell bound to see the beauty of hill and serenity of nature. Many small lakes welcoming us at the Holly hill top .on the way

                Lastly Some Nepal Dishes that was worth eating and its a must taste for all of you