GATEWAY 2 SIKKIM

Standing near the New Jalpaiguri Station with luggage after traveling for more than 12 hours & negotiating with the drivers of shared taxi can be tiring but once the journey begins towards the hills, all the tiring feelings disappear on the way.

Some photos taken on the road (between Siliguri & Gangtok) :

These are young mountains (i.e. they are still growing) & that's why landslides are common

While on our way, my friend & I met a middle-aged Bengali man who was traveling there with some kind of hotel business purpose. 4 hours of journey from Siliguri to Gangtok flies just like that if one comes across any like minded people to communicate. For us being Bong (Bengali) we started talking & sharing our plans with this unknown man in our mother tongue.

The music that our driver was playing was annoying as all the songs were sad but we kept on talking bla bla bla. Bollywood masala music would have lifted our spirits but at the same time I was expecting to hear local Sikkimese songs after entering the state of Sikkim.

Rangpo check post (Gateway 2 Sikkim)

Rangpo is a small town bordering Sikkim & West Bengal along the Teesta river. When we stopped nearby for the evening snacks, I first encountered with the local Sikkimese beer "HIT BEER", that was awesome & cheap that brought a big smile on our face as we were traveling on a fixed budget. But ultimately this unplanned trip taught us that nothing is fixed & budget is out of question if you really want to enjoy your journey.

My first encounter with the HIT BEER

After getting hit by the HIT BEER ;p, I started feeling relaxed & was trying to figure out some adventurous stories from the young mountains along with the flowing Teesta river. Then this Bengali man started telling us about the mystery of this place where he sometimes drives around with his friends at midnight. He tried to tell us one of his scary experience there of coming across a ghost on the road in a human form of a girl at 2 O' clock in the night & she flew off suddenly like a bird over the mountains. 

River Teesta

Somehow this story didn't impress us as we Bengalis (most of them) after getting hit by beers, especially HIT BEER, become story teller. May be I was expecting something more scary...

The sun was setting down fast behind the mountains & I could very well guess the Capital of Sikkim upon arriving there in the evening. The town was lit up with twinkling lights as if the stars have come down on elevated surface of the earth.

Stay tuned for more interesting stories on our way to North Sikkim & some spectacular panorama of the HIMALAYAS...