Recently had a fantastic tour of sikkim, a small state of India. Though it is very fantastic place to visit it is also very difficult place to reach also. There is no direct connection to reach Sikkim. Nearest airport is Bagdogra from which it takes at least 5 hours to reach Gangtok by roads twisting and turning through mountains. The nearest railway station is jalpaigudi which we didn't use. Both of this places are situated in West Bengal. Obviously being situated in the maountains has its disadvantages too, the most common is difficulty in reaching, for which there is beautiful word in samskrit दुर्गम् .So Sikkim is very दुर्गम् place.
We four families visited sikkim earlier this month. It took two flights from Gujarat to reach Bagdogra, with almost 5 hours wait at the Delhi airport. When you have to wait for such long duaration then you get to understand the tagline "ASLI MAJA SABKE SATH AATA HAI." We were worried about how to pass the time what to do for lunch, but being Gujarati, Thepla came to our rescue, and we didn't have to go out of the airport.
Children get bored in the flight, they don't like fastening the seat belt. Also looking from the plane my 5 and half years old son told me "plane is moving very slowly." It was really good experience looking down from the plane. Earth moving away from you, houses, all the building, shrinking finally appearing like small dots on the face of earth. All the lakes reflecting the sunlight like a mirror. જાણે ધરતી એ આભલા વાળી ઓઢણી ન ઓઢી હોય?
Rain had just stopped before we arrived. Two sumos were waiting for us at the airport, but the driver told us that the other sumo didn't have the permission to enter the Sikkim so we were to change with other sumo in the midway around siligudi, where it was waiting for us. When we reached at siligudi we found that the other sumo was geting repaired (we were told of horn problem)but it took almost half an hour so we suspect it was something else also. Sunset occurs 1 hour before Gujarat there so we set out to reach Gangtok when it was already dark around 6:30 p. m. soon we were travelling the roads in the mountain twisting and turning and climibing. Effect of that was seen immidiately my friend's 3.5 year old daughter vomited.
We had rest in the way where our driver told that this is the only veg restaurant in the way. Looking so many people the waiter was really happy but when we ordered only one maggi he was visibly upset and asked 20 Rs. more than the wriiten price in the menu card saying that you used our toilet facility and water etc. If we had not checked the menu we might have paid extra.
Driver was driving very fast and repeatedly I feared that we may fall down the cliff. then I felt asleep rather than watching and getting frightened and woke up only on reaching the venue of our first night stay, Hotel Alpine Crest, Tibet road,around 11 p. m., which I had not hoped much the way our driver was driving.
We four families visited sikkim earlier this month. It took two flights from Gujarat to reach Bagdogra, with almost 5 hours wait at the Delhi airport. When you have to wait for such long duaration then you get to understand the tagline "ASLI MAJA SABKE SATH AATA HAI." We were worried about how to pass the time what to do for lunch, but being Gujarati, Thepla came to our rescue, and we didn't have to go out of the airport.
Children get bored in the flight, they don't like fastening the seat belt. Also looking from the plane my 5 and half years old son told me "plane is moving very slowly." It was really good experience looking down from the plane. Earth moving away from you, houses, all the building, shrinking finally appearing like small dots on the face of earth. All the lakes reflecting the sunlight like a mirror. જાણે ધરતી એ આભલા વાળી ઓઢણી ન ઓઢી હોય?
Rain had just stopped before we arrived. Two sumos were waiting for us at the airport, but the driver told us that the other sumo didn't have the permission to enter the Sikkim so we were to change with other sumo in the midway around siligudi, where it was waiting for us. When we reached at siligudi we found that the other sumo was geting repaired (we were told of horn problem)but it took almost half an hour so we suspect it was something else also. Sunset occurs 1 hour before Gujarat there so we set out to reach Gangtok when it was already dark around 6:30 p. m. soon we were travelling the roads in the mountain twisting and turning and climibing. Effect of that was seen immidiately my friend's 3.5 year old daughter vomited.
We had rest in the way where our driver told that this is the only veg restaurant in the way. Looking so many people the waiter was really happy but when we ordered only one maggi he was visibly upset and asked 20 Rs. more than the wriiten price in the menu card saying that you used our toilet facility and water etc. If we had not checked the menu we might have paid extra.
Driver was driving very fast and repeatedly I feared that we may fall down the cliff. then I felt asleep rather than watching and getting frightened and woke up only on reaching the venue of our first night stay, Hotel Alpine Crest, Tibet road,around 11 p. m., which I had not hoped much the way our driver was driving.
