” Where Nature Smiles”
The name Sikkim is derived from “Su Khim” meaning a new house. The main inhabitants of the state are the Lepchas, Bhutias and Limboos. The crowning glory of Sikkim is Mt. Khangchendzonga, the third highest mountain in the world. Besides being a magnificient snow clad peak, it is also considered sacred by the Sikkimese: It is revered as the abode of their guardian deity, Dzo-nga. This sacred mountain can be viewed from almost every corner of Sikkim.
Making of “The Sikkim Road trip Plan”
Sikkim planning began many days before the actual trip for us. We wanted this trip to be different, not just like “do sight-seeing” and come back home to circle the place in our map as ‘visited’. We wanted this trip to be an experience: not just ‘visit’ but ‘live like locals’. We went through various sites and got information on the history, geography and culture of the state.
We realized that staying in hotels will not give us this experience. Sikkim tourism promotes ‘village tourism’: popularly known as ‘homestays’ i.e. live in the homes of commoners and experience their life. It fit the bill perfectly for us, this is precisely what we had in mind. So, a lot of work went into this research and an itinerary was finalized. A car and a driver were booked for our road journey. And homestays were booked in advance. Planning for the last two days were kept pending, it would be decided as and when we proceed on the trip.
The 12 Nights / 13 Days Sikkim Plan is as follows. And believe me, all our hard work bore fruits and we were proud of this itinerary at the end of our trip. Even the travel agents whom we spoke to were impressed by this. Experience at each of these places was a unique one and we can boast of experiencing Sikkim in a way very few would have experienced before.
The final Plan / Itinerary
Tips for prospective tourists –
Get all information from a local and then plan your trip. Don’t just follow the typical itinerary given by most travel agents.
Enjoy the place rather than just sight – seeing and travelling. Enjoy the local cuisine, rather than hotel buffets. Interact with locals as much as possible and extract all the information possible. Get an insight into the lifestyle of the local. Its more relaxing that way and the holiday will be refreshing. If a lot of travelling and empty sight-seeing is involved, the holiday will be exhausting and on reaching home you will feel the need of another holiday to de-stress. We gained a lot of insight about the laws, the lifestyle, the history and even the current political scenario about Sikkim, like How many of you are you even aware that there is section 371 F implemented in Sikkim, which prevents Indians from other states buying any property here. Did you know that even after Indian independence in 1947, Sikkim not was annexed within India, however remained under monarchy and had a “protectorate status” with the Republic of India. It was only after the riots in 1975, that Sikkim joined Indian Republic as its 22nd state.
Keep a few days vacant so you are free to include anything at the last minute. There are times we find out more about the place only once we reach there and we aren’t able to accommodate those into our plan. Don’t worry about accommodation. There are plenty of places to stay in Sikkim, you are bound to find a place to spend the night. Like for our trip, Padhamchen was booked a day earlier and Namchi was booked on the same day, both turned out to be too good. What I would have loved to do – just plan the itinerary and hit the road, not to book too many hotels, spend the night wherever I fell in love with the place – basically just take it day by day. Enjoy the nomadic life. Maybe next road trip would be such.
The other option: Make a rough map and then plan your days of travel. Research a lot on what you enjoy most: like we did for treks. If you want to relax, look for resorts / hotels / homestays that have good outdoor seating options. Most of the homestays we stayed at, didn’t have a garden or fancy outdoors. Split up jobs amongst the group members, makes planning much easier.