explore india : Lachen and Lachung heaven of north east.

Lachen and Lachung Heaven Of North East

Today i am going to take you to the place where travellers are less , but one whoe visits this place it just get stuck into there memories forever. This place is just best in itself for its lush green mountains , ice scalps , waterfalls and many more just as we imagine how the heaven would be. the place which i am going to talk about is LACHEN & LACHUNG.

The place which i m going to talk firstly is "Lachen". Lachen is situated close to Gangtok. But firstly i would like to tell u all how you could reach Gangtok . As i was travelling from Mumbai , we took a flight from Mumbai to Bagdogra intl airport. As we were three people flight cost us around 50,000/- with return fare. After reaching Bagdogra intl airport around 11am, we hired a taxi , which took us to our first halt for lunch . The taxi driver suggested us there is a good dhaba nearby to have lunch (Citi Dhaba). We Asked the Dhaba about there Spl dish , they suggested us chicken biryani. We had chicken Biryani as he suggested and guess what its was really good. We took 2 Biryani as it was enough for 3 of us. After filling our tummies , we carried on with our journy towards gantok which was our first halt. The distance between Bagdogra to Gangtok was 130 km . I will share the fare for this whole trip at the bottom of this blog. When we reached Gangtok it was late in the evening around 6pm as it was dark. We had our stay booked in Hotel Maya inn. This hotel is a pure veg hotel.

As we stayed for one night our morning breakfast was included in our stay tariff. We had dinner in same hotel , but we didnt liked the food , as it was not tasty enough.

The second day, firstly we had breakfast with lemon tea which was good enough to fill our stomach. After breakfast we left our hotel around 9:30 am by a small local taxi to reach the taxi stand . As we reached the taxi stand we hired a Tata Sumo Gold to reach Lachen. As the journey is in the hilly region better prefer suv's. So we started our journey to lachen from gangtok taxi stand around 10am. As we started our journey our first stop was a checkpoint were our taxi was checked , just for formality as we were going to enter another region "lachen". After leaving the checkpoint we took a halt at seven sister waterfall. The point is beautifull , waterfall falling from great height and with great force as we visited this place in june. The nature was at its best. After spending some time at this place we continued our journy. The roads here were not in great shape, say a strech of 10km. After clearing these odd roads it was around 1pm , so asked our taxi driver to halt for a lunch break. He took us to a small eatery were he all had some momos with really hot red chilly sause made at home. It was really good and enough to fill our tummy. Then we continued our journey towards lachen. In between to took another halt at a beautiful waterfall namely naga falls, which falls from a great height between the mountains, And last but not the least singile view point which offers you a great view of lush green mountains. A must see points while travelling from gangtok to lachen. After reaching near to Lachen there was a military check post where they dont allow any plastic bottles further this point, so our driver suggested us to through away the plastic bottles before reaching this point. At this point the military offers us there bottles at rs 250 per bottle, which is refundable as we return back to then. It is really great initiative taken by lachen gov. to keep lachen plastic free. After this check post we finally reached Lachen. We had booked out stay in Hotel Lachen Heritage, we reached here around 6:30pm. The temperature here was around 15 degree celcius. The room was good and big enough for 3 persons. Around 8pm we Had dinner which was veg again and we went to sleep as it was dark outside and nothing to roam outside.

The third day arises, as our driver told us we have to wake up early in the morning to see the most awaited place for me , which is namely "Gurudongmar Lake", which is nearly at a height of 18,000 ft. and at a distance of 68km. We woke up around 2am , yes heared it rite 2am. We just had tea and some bread butter and left our hotel around 3:30am. one special note , if you want to take picture from mobile or cameras do keep it charge whenever there is electricity , as this is remote place there is always a powercut for many hours. So at 3:30 am we started our journey towards gurudongmar lake . The roads throughout are worst. Around 4:30 am it was a great day light and it was raining too. After travelling for some hours we reached last civilian point which was know as THANGU CITY which is situated at a height of 12500 feet. we took a break and had some maggie and tea. Then we continued our journey after travelling for some hrs again we reached a military check point were we can have some tea and snacks. And also attain natures call. One spl note i would like to tell , this base is at 15,000 FT. If any person feels uncomfartable here please dont go any further . here u can rest and come back , as beyond this point there is no doctors or people to help it will be on your own risk. so spl old people or with any type of heart diesease please dont go beyond this point. As me and my mom dad were comfartable at this point we decided to move ahead .beyond this point the road was good well constructed a streach of 14km. finally we reached at the most awaited place gurudongmar lake at a height of 18,000 FT. After what we saw in front of our eyes , it was just awesome and amazing. the only word which can describe this is HEAVEN. Walk slow and enjoy the view 360 degree. When we reached here the climate was clear and cold around 5 degree celcius. we reached here around 8:30am. I will attach my pictures which was taken at this place below. We left this place within half hr as here the oxygen level is really very low. We returned back to military base camp point and had some tea and pakoda. Then we returned to our hotel . after some time we felt the high alttitude sickness. we reached our hotel back around 12:30pm. we rested for one hour then had our lunch. After having our lunch we though we will leave our hotel around 4pm. But our driver told us we should leave our hotel immediatly because on route to lachung our next destination there is land slide last night so work of clearing road is under process. So after lunch we started our journey to lachung on same day.

As we reached the point were landslide has took place , the work was under process. it took more then 2hrs to clear the road. till then there was lots of cars waiting in line . After the road was cleared we stared our journey to lachung again. We reached our Lachung hotel around 6pm. They alloted us the room on 4th floor , which offered us a great view of whole lachung i must say. Room was specious enough for 3. we took our dinner around 7:30pm . The climate here is also very cold . as This hotel is between the mountains. Then we went to sleep. end of day three.

Fourth day , on bright sunny day we woke up around 4:30am in morning. As we have to leave this hotel on that day " check out time was 12pm" we left this hotel with our bags around 6:30am. but they are kind enough to serve u breakfast. they have given us parcel of breakfast which had bread butter and poha. which was good and tasty. As we wanted to explore lachung , we couldnt have make it back to hotel before 12pm so we left with our bags. After leaving our hotel we headed towards our first point which was Yumthang Valley . It is around 25kms from lachung , which will take around 2hrs approx. It is a paradise on earth . The speaciality of this place is hot springs of water and spl know for the flowers knows as " RHODODENDRON". It is also known as valley of flowers . It has 24 species of RHODODENDRON flowers. After Yumthang valley the same road leads us to our next destination that is ZERO POINT. It is situated at a height of 15,000 ft. IT is always covered in snow.One can enjoy the snow and sit near a stream of water . the view was just amazing . we were also lucky to enjoy the snowfall too. To reach zero point from yumthang valley it took us 2hrs to cover 23kms. We enjoyed some time here and we started our journey back to gangtok it was around 125kms from yumthang valley. In between we had lunch.We reached our hotel Maya Inn around 6pm. Our driver Mr. Dorji was a great guy. He was really helpfull and kind. He showed every place he could. After reaching our hotel we got fresh and had dinner around 8pm , and went to sleep.

Fifth day we had our breakfast, and started our journey back to bagdogra airport which was again a 130km streach. it took us around 4hr to reach the airport. In between we stopped at the same dhaba and had biryani. and hence the journey was ended.

tips: 1: Carry enough warm cloths.

2: As this is offbeat journey , resourses are less. carry enough snacks and water with you

3: At high alttitude,old people or heart disease people please avoid it.

4: At high altitude carry camphor it helps breath easy. also have some chocolates with u to keep in your mouth.

5: Always have a local driver as knows the routes well in every conditions.

Expenses for taxi and hotel as we took package from the local travels , it was around 15,000/- rs. Taxi from Bagdogra airport to bagdogra airport and hotels with breakfast included.

we just contacted from mumbai . and they have arranged for us .