ADVENTURE TO NORTH SIKKIM CONTINUES – LAST DAY
LACHUNG – YUMTHANG VALLEY – GANGTOK
So far we have experienced LACHEN – GURUDONGMAR LAKE – LACHUNG. Yesterday, we reached Lachung.
About Lachung
Highly Recommended – Avoid Lachen and can stay here more if Guru Dogmar lake is not a priority.
Our plan for the day is Yumthang valley, Zero point and back to Gangtok. As usual, we get up early and go for a walk in the sleepy town of Lachung. It’s beautiful with breathtaking views. I wish we would have planned 2 days here and gone for treks and hikes as suggested by our host / agent. There are better homestays and hotels here in Lachung compared to what we are staying. But mostly North Sikkim hotels are booked through an agent and not much information is available on the internet about them. So, agents are the only seemingly feasible option.
Shingba Rhododendron Sanctuary
Our sight-seeing trip begins. We read up about Lachung that there are many hot springs here and express a desire to visit if there is time. The drive to Yumthang valley is beautiful as is everything else in Sikkim. We listen to some melodious Nepali songs and enjoy our trip with this particular song, “Jau se pahado ma” that totally resonates with our situation. The curvy roads, the beautiful snow-capped mountains, valley view, waterfalls and so much more makes us believe that we have some connection with Sikkim. Me and Hiren totally feel that we belong here.
Yumthang Valley is rightly called as the “Valley of flowers” because of the variety of flowers found here, not to be confused with the Uttarakhand valley of flowers. There are waterfalls and countless varieties of Rhododendron or Guras, few of them being poisonous and fatal, few being intoxicating as well (those species are the wine making flowers).
Once such sanctuary here in the Yumthang valley is the beautiful and scenic “Shingba Rhododendron Sanctuary”.
Shingba Rhododendron Sanctuary is a nature park in the Indian State of Sikkim. It has forty species of Rhododendron trees. It is located in the Yumthang Valley of Flowers, north of Lachung. Several Bird species are found in the park. The sanctuary is part of the Sacred Himalayan Landscape.
Google
This park is at the height of 12000 ft. The best time to visit this park is April – June when the flowers are in full bloom displaying a riot of colours. However, currently due to pre-monsoon showers, the flowers are only 75% of their usual this time. But whatsoever, it is a sight for our city eyes who are not used to seeing so much beauty in nature. We stop at the Yumthang Valley park, take a Yak ride, sit near the river and breathe in all the oxygenated air we can. It’s very cold and I am dressed such that I have only my eyes and nose open for anyone to see.
We spend around an hour here, decide against visiting zero point. We are not so keen to travel yet another hour to see snow if we are not even able to enjoy or play with it. Our yesterday’s experience with Gurudogmar discouraged us to travel to zero point. Then it turns out that there is a hot spring nearby so we go here instead. It turns out to be an enclosed little hut-like structure where the water from the hot spring is collected into a manmade pool where people can take a dip and get rid of their diseases. We spend some more time here taking pictures, eating Maggi and momos and get back to Lachung.
Post lunch we leave for Gangtok and reach around 7 pm. The after effects of the North Sikkim journey shows up in Gangtok when Haard throws up, finally putting an end to the turmoil within him and gearing up for the next leg of our journey. Apart from this little health issue, today has been one of the best days.
- Summary
- Distance from Lachung to Yumthang valley 30 kms
- Yumthang valley altitude – 12000 ft
- Distance from Lachung to Gangtok -105 kms
- Gangtok Altitude – 5413 ft