Girish's Blog

Day 3: 19 April 2016 We're woken up at 4:45 AM by a cacophony of bird calls outside our room. I step out and am struck by the glorious view of the Kanchenjunga with the morning sunlight falling on it. There are times when the camera and words cannot capture the enormity of what you're seeing and this was one of those moments. We clicked dozens of photos of the mountain emerging over the clouds. Reports have come that the road to Lachung is still blocked and we may not be able to proceed. We go for a walk in the town on Mangan as we wait for the work to progress. As the district headquarters, Mangan has many government offices, schools and even a post office (PIN code 737116). The "Special Branch" also has an office with a great view of the mountains. Football (the global one and not the the American version where players use their hands and wear helmets!)  has a huge following in Sikkim and we cross what is probably one of the most scenic football gr

Day Two We're awake at 5:30 AM and it's bright daylight. Our first sight of Sikkim in the daylight shows a land bursting with greenery and flowers.     The valley is shrouded in fog. Occasionally the fog lifts to show glimpses of the mountainside. Everything we see is in  panoramic mode - sweeping hills, rolling clouds and the fog appearing suddenly shrouding the entire landscape in grey. Before we have breakfast, we go for a quick round of birding - there are Mountain Bulbuls, Oriental White Eyes and lots of Mynas. We have a breakfast of Alu Parathas with yogurt and pickle, some toast and marmalade and the teas for which North East India is famous. Our plan for the day is to leave after breakfast for the town of Lachung, in Northern Sikkim. Lachung is the gateway to the Yumthang Valley and Zero Point in Yumesamdong beyond. While it is just 129 km (80 miles) away, the uphill ascent and the bad roads mean that it would take us close to six hours to get there. O