10/31-11/2, 2014:  3-DAY NORTH SIKKIM TOUR

October 31st - Day 1
GANGTOK to LACHEN
New Holiday Inn 123 km
 
We decided on Lord Travel's 2-valley - 2 night, 3 day tour with upgraded hotels. We liked Sonam, the head of Lord Travels, and felt he would handle any issues that may arise. It is a heavier driving schedule than the 1-valley alternative, but we figured we'd get plenty of hiking opportunities in west Sikkim later when we travel independently.

Our group:
 
Sylvain, a movie projectionist at a cinema in a French Alps ski area (30+). He's an avid outdoors-man, loves skiing and hiking and has vertigo. 
Dylan, a fresh faced 21 year old from Belgium who is working on his MBA and who got the travel bug bad.  
Yumi, an out-of-the-box Japanese woman who lives in London and retired from being a tour guide there for Japanese tourists (65+) 
Doris, a dreamy vegetarian who was in search of Shangri-La. She is from Quebec and traveling for few months. 
Sonum, Lord Travel owner and our tour guide. He is a friendly and accommodating kinda guy. (32)
Kumar, our expert driver. 

Sonam arranged for us to be picked up at the hotel at 8:30 am since we were right on the main road and the driver didn't need to go out of his way. We were taken to jeep stand at the north end of town. By 9 am, the others who had met at Lord Travels' office, had gotten there. We were surprised that Sonam was there to be our guide. We had assumed he had duties in the office and would have another guide for us. He must have thought it would be fun to go along with our group. 

Quickly, we were loaded in the jeep, 2 in front and 3 each on middle and rear benches. Yumi immediately jumped in the least desirable backseat with Dave and Sonam. I had the front seat on the first day and the other three in center. 

Soon we were winding seriously up and down gnarly hairpins along the mountain ranges. All green, steep and gorgeous. I hoped we all had pretty strong stomachs. Prayer flags frequently lined the roadside and around many holy sights, be it mountainsides, burial sights or to scatter blessing over construction sites.

The road rapidly deteriorated and going was slow. In the end we figured we had less than 25% paved road and the rest hobbling along trying to avoid the biggest of the rocks and potholes.
 
Our first stop was at Kabi Lin Chok, a sacred place where two Tribes, the Lepchas and Bhutias swore blood brotherhood in the 13 th Century. We walked down the shaded trail to trees draped with prayer flags and a platform with three statues commemorating the event. 

In the lower vegetation zones, we drove through thick lush forests with umbrella sized foliage leaves and dark green shiny fingerplant-leaves a meter long draping down tree trunks. Numerous ribbons of waterfalls cascaded down the steep mountainsides as we ascended higher and deeper into the Himalaya. We stopped to take a closer look at 7 Sister Falls, so called because of the 7 platforms it lands on its way down.
 
We stopped for lunch along the way in Mangan. So far so good, not too spicy. 
 
We stopped at another waterfall, not too spectacular but good time to stretch our legs. 
 
In the dark, we arrived in the village of LACHEN. 

Our hotel was comfortable enough but a far cry to what we think of when we hear Holiday Inn. "The New Holiday Inn" is a three story building with spacious no frills ensuite rooms. We met for nice chai in the kitchen before dinner was served. The cook was from Bihar and only knew hot and spicy. (He promised, 'not spicy'.) I could not eat more than a bite or two...the not spicy means spicy and never enough vegetables for me. 

We got hot water for our hot-water-bottles and went to bed early. We''d be getting up pre-dawn for the 30km drive further up the valley to Thangu.