Since last few days I am again feeling my immense attraction towards Himalayas. It’s tough to resist my feelings. I have to find something that allows me to connect with Himalayas. Hence I have started recollecting the memories of my last year visits to Himalayas and decided to pen down my experiences which is the best possible way to express my feelings. Here we go.
Last year we visited the gorgeous Sikkim. Our target was to reach Gurudongmar Lake which is one of the highest lakes in the world, located at an altitude of 17,100 ft (5,210 m).

We started from Kolkata on 14th October’2010. We reached at Bagdogra around 2 pm. We were picked up and headed for Gangtok. It was a long tiring journey. The temperature difference was extremely sharp. At Bagdogra you may even feel the temperature is higher than Kolkata. But soon you will cross the Sevoke you will feel the sharp decline in temperature.

Hence it is strongly recommended that please keep the car window closed until you are accustomed with the temperature. Otherwise you goanna be a sufferer of bad headache. I must say that the last year, road conditions were pretty bad on few areas and those patches made our journey more tiring and lengthier. At the same time the thin serpentine road on the lap of the lower Himalaya was truly scary. If you are Acrophobia-tic please do not look down.

But everything will be solaced by the road side greenery and with the constant companion of the river Tista. It seemed to me that Tista was assigned to cut the mountain wall and to bring life to the plain. The look of Tista with its silvery sandy banks and with glittering waters with setting sunrays was awesome. At the foothill of Himalaya Tista was looking like a silky whitish-brown ribbon and as if it was there to prettify our beautiful mother earth. The beauty of nature was overwhelming and indescribable. I soaked me in the freshness of the basic elements of nature – Air, Water, Earth.

Slowly darkness prevailed all across, and we continued our journey towards Gangtok. We reached Gangtok around 7 pm checked in hotel Silverline located at Tibet road. After entering into the room I settled myself within a blanket and ordered for hot chicken soup. Sankho took shower to freshen himself and that was a mistake, soon after he was having very bad headache. Next day morning he woke up with temperature, body ache and with acute cough problem.

If you are reading this blog right now, please note that do not take bath immediately once you reached Gangtok. First get yourself accustomed with the temperature differences, and then act accordingly. It’s not necessary that you will also face the same problem, but as a precautionary measure you should always keep these points on your mind.

15th October’2010 we planned to hang around Gangtok. We visited Rumtek monastery, Banjhakri falls, Tashi view point, Hanuman Tak, Ganesh Tak and moved little here & there before we came back to our hotel.

16th October’ 2010 we woke up at around 8 am in the morning. I parted the window curtains and wept seeing the outside. It was raining heavily. We waited for the right time to move out. After a while we realised we need to start else we will be late. Before we leave the hotel, I got to see the glimpses of a beautiful tiny Green-backed Tit. I was fortunate enough to capture it in my camera.

We headed for north Sikkim. Our destiny was Lachen. It was a damn bad gloomy and rainy day. Continuous rain made the day cold enough. On the way we crossed few famous places like seven Sister’s Water Falls, Mangan, Singhik and Chungthan along with few not so popular places but still very beautiful in their own way. We had our lunch in a roadside restaurant. In north Sikkim, every restaurant runs by local people and they will serve food which is cooked for their own family members. Hence taste and freshness is guaranteed. I cannot remember the name of the place where we had our lunch but I can remember that I had seen a beautiful Common Green magpie there, but I was unable to take a photo of it. We left that unknown beautiful place. Lastly we crossed a place where we needed to submit our identity proof. Remember, to visit north Sikkim; you need to carry your passport size photographs and your identity proof. After we crossed the check post soon after darkness prevailed and we could see nothing beyond the range of the car’s headlights. Only we could understand that we were entering greater Himalayan range and in more dense forest. We reached lachen at around 8 pm. It was pretty cold there. The temperature was almost around 7 to 8 degree Celsius. Lachen is a place situated at 9800 ft above the sea level. Rains continued with biting colds. We had our dinner soon and slept early, as it was told to us that we need to reach Gurudongmar early preferably even before 10 am. Because more the temperatures go up in the Gurudongmar Lake area stony wind starts blowing. Next day we were supposed to start at 4 am morning.

It was 17th October’2010 at 3 am. I got up. It was extremely cold and dark outside. Sankho got up little late and that was the early sign of problems, which I realized soon later. I got ready. I was dressed up in layers. You can say base layer, middle layer and the top layer.

Well base layer included the clothes that were in direct contact of your skins, it was apart from the UGs, spaghetti tops and tight leggings. Middle layer consisted of tight T-shirt and tight jeans along with a tight woolen sweater. Top layer consisted of a Jacket. Apart from all these I covered my feet with two layers of woolen socks and trekking shoe and had had a good woolen hat cap. Believe my words, all those layers really kept me warmed all along the road. If you are noting down my tips then don’t forget to carry a good quality eye glasses.

On the contrary, Sankho was not so prepared. He took it lightly, and stated our journey towards Gurudongmar, only with a heavy jacket apart from his regular jeans and T-shirt. I made a mistake not to carry his stuff separately. Soon after we had started, we reached a place of 10,000 ft altitude. Sankho started telling it was extremely cold and he made a blunder by not taking additional warm clothes. Outside it was drizzling, and we continued our journey towards higher terrain in the dark.

Probably I won’t be able to express all of my feelings in words, because I don’t have any perfect words in my dictionary to explain the whole experiences. It was scary, attractive, dangerous and addictive. What else!!! Once you started you cannot stop. There cannot be any look back. I can still remember that the day before, from Singhik I saw a peak where I found snow started covering the peak, and during the journey I found suddenly, that stony masculine peak was just standing infront of me with its head up. I realised that the thin lines of snow were actually the snow layers covering the peak. I loved the way it was. It seemed to me that I was moving around my best boyfriend ‘Himalaya’ and he was looking at me with full of its curiosity. We crossed few terrible land slide areas. We experienced some traumatic scene.

Sankho started telling about his breathing trouble and he was restless. At around 8 am we reached Thangu Village. Thangu is a small mountain village with countable families. For us Thangu was a stopover place. I had light breakfast there with a cup of tea and breads. Sankho took drinks there, to resist the cold along with his breakfast. That was the second mistake by Sankho. You should not take alcohol while you are climbing up. When you are resting you can drink to keep yourself warm. Anyway mistakes are for learning and should not be forgotten.

At Thangu I saw lot of White capped water redstart. I took photos of them. The most incredible experience was the unforgettable hospitality shown by the village people. Hearts of those people were fresh, pure and strong like Himalaya. They were honest, friendly and helpful. I never had seen such lovely people. I wish I could stay there few more time, I could hang around in the valley, and I could lie down on the green meadow. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, hold it for few seconds grabbed the essence and moved forward.

We started towards north. While leaving Thangu, a local man said that ‘uppar baraf girr raha hain’ that means snow started falling at higher altitude. We were continuously climbing up and realised soon after that we cannot see any more trees. It was all stony mountains covered with sticky green grass or moss. Soon after we realised we had entered a region where snow fall had already started. Where ever I looked at it was all white. We reached almost at height 15,000 ft. Sankho was in a bad situation. He had acute breathing trouble. I asked him whether to return, but he allowed me to continue. Sankho stopped talking. It was scary. All of a sudden I felt that we left the last localities far behind. We had almost finished three fourth of our journey. We were within the region of greater Himalaya. It was also a Himalayan plateau area. More we climbed up we entered deep inside the Himalayan plateau area. There was no road; it was a strange flat area. No sign of human being, no sign of any creatures. I was suffering from visual illusion. I was continuously within a dilemma that we have lost track. Sometime it seemed to me that we were suppose to follow the right side track, sometime it seemed to me we were supposed to follow the left side track. But in reality there was no sign of track. All were snow covered flat mountain base. On our two sides Himalaya was standing like great wall.

Rains continued, but it was heavier than before, because it was falling with tiny snowflakes. Everything was white all across. Right to left; top to bottom – snow and clouds with us all the time. We continued our journey. Sankho was in a pretty bad condition. I was scared as I need to depend on the Sherpa only at the same time I was worried for Sankho as well. But Sankho was desperate to reach the destiny. I could understand his feelings. The whole year we usually waited for these days, to come up at Himalaya, and after that we cannot return with empty heart. So journey continued…

After a while suddenly we realised that the flat plateau area was no longer there, rather again we started climbing up and continued the same almost for 1 hour and finally reached a place, where our Sherpa looked at me and said ‘you move up’. He looked at Sankho and said ‘I will take care of him’. I looked at Sankho he was lying on the snow bed and uttered ‘Go ahead’.

I started all alone. From the back Sherpa said ‘do not waste your time, snow storm will start soon’. I stopped for a while, and then moved forward. I could see one other group was climbing up. But I could only see them as few moving points, not as human structure even. They were far ahead from me. I climbed up for 10 minutes, and then turned back, and from heart I felt I should not leave Sankho all alone. I was standing there for few moments with dilemma, whether to move forward for all desired Gurudongmar Lake or move backward. I descended to the base. I came closer to Sankho, and told him we will be back here again.

Last year we couldn’t make it till Gurudongmar.

Gaumukh, which is the origin of the Ganga, is a glacier. It is situated at a distance of 19 KMS from Gangotri. It is very windy there and as it is situated at a height of approx. 3900-4000 mtrs from sea level, oxygen in the air is deficient. (Oxygen cylinder is available in Gangotri market but personally I do not think, it is needed). One has to walk/trek all through, one can also hire a horse ride up to Bhojwasa (14 Kms from Gangotri). However, the last 5 km is a beautiful trekking route and needs must be covered on foot. The road is okay but strewn with boulders and there are challenges on the way. One needs to cross 4-5 water streams on the way. There are very narrow log-bridges over these streams, barely five inches in width and one has to be very careful when crossing these. There are two landslide-prone zones on the way where stones/boulders come down all the time. Only 150 people are allowed to visit Gaumukh per day. There is forest gate at approx. 1.5KM from Gangotri, it opens at 6.00AM, where one needs to show the travel permission and pay Rs.150/- per person. No plastic bags, bottles etc. are allowed to be taken beyond this point. (One can carry these items after making a security deposit, deposited in this gate office).

You can carry your mobile phones but there will be no connectivity beyond 4-5 kms of trek. The Gaumukh trek is a must for those who love trekking and adventure. If one has the time then, move to Bhojwasa on day one, on day two visit Gaumukh, enjoy the nature and come back to Bhojwasa for the night. Return to Gangotri on day three. While it is more enjoyable to travel in a group and safer, you can also travel alone and enjoy your moments of solitude. Permission for travel/trek to Gaumukh can be obtained from the local forest office at Gangotri (8 – 9 AM in the morning & 6 – 7 PM in the evening).

Some tips for the trek –

1. Carry some Chocolates (or other calorie-rich food items) along with other food, water and juices.
2. It will be helpful if one walks 4-5 kms everyday for 3-4 weeks prior to this trip.
3. Do not return to the base (Gangotri) on the same day. Stay at Bhojwasa (the only place one can stay in the whole route). Otherwise it will be very hectic.
4. Take your usual medicines with you, apart from those that may be required in high altitudes.
5. Trek with proper shoes.
6. Carry Photo Identity Cards and photocopies of the same as that will be required for permission from the forest department.

Disclaimer: Content of this article is provided by a reader of this blog; hence blog owner is not responsible for the authenticity of the information.

We left Vijaypur with more expectations for Munsiyari. From Vijaypur to Munsiyari its a 6-7 hrs journey and Munsiyari is at higher altitude than Vijaypur and situated at greater Himalayan range. Within minutes we started feeling the chilly bits of cold. On our way we saw the magical Birthi falls. Most amazing and beautiful experience was that Vivek showed us Birthi fall from much lower region or from lower altitude and it was then looks like a white thread and as we move up and crossed one mountain after another every time Birthi fall came across with a different looks and beauty. When we reached Birthi fall we were speechless after seen that giant fall. At least I had never seen any fall like that before. Today I feel myself lucky, that I had seen that nature’s beauty.

The day was cloudy and gloomy, and we continued moving up. In the greater Himalayan range you will see a different topography with different environment. It was more stony and with fewer jungles. As we moved up we came to see the very popular Khalia Top. I wish I could trek till to reach the Khalia peak. On our way towards Munsiyari we got glimpses of majestic Panchachuli behind the clouds. That was obviously increasing the desire to see the Panchachuli. We visited Uttaranchal, only to see Panchachuli, now it’s just in front of us and we cannot see it because of clouds. That was a damn frustrating feeling. With continuous spiral movement ultimately we reached Munsiyari around 2:30 pm. The beauty of Munsiyari was beyond my expectations. It was beautiful. We stayed at wayfarer resort Munsiyari and the best view of Munsiyari can only be seen from Wayfarer Resort. It was perpendicularly in front of me and probably at a distance of 16-18 miles but at afternoon the complete Himalayan range was hidden behind clouds, and we couldn’t see anything neither we could imagine anything. I was real disappointed. I waited one year to see Himalaya and then I couldn’t see anything. I had nothing to do but to say almighty, or to the majestic Himalaya, that I love you, and please let me see you at least once. Don’t let me leave with empty heart. I was silent, as I had nothing to do but to depend on my fate. I was sadder, knowing that we need to cut our tour plan, because of Sankho’s office work and he had got a call back. That means we were not going to stay Munsiyari on next day, but to leave Munsiyari on the next day morning. I was absolutely muted. Till now I can feel the pain which I was hiding on that time.

Anyway we had our lunch and walked for famous, blessed Nanda Devi temple. Since long I had this desire to visit Nanda Devi temple at Munsiyari and we reached there. It is placed at world’s one end. After praying to the goddess we looked towards the horizon and started looking for Himalaya. Nothing was visible. I sat down on the green meadow hopelessly. It was almost dark and we couldn’t see anything. To spend time we took snaps, and we were about to leave and then suddenly I saw a portion of a snowy peak. It just came out behind the clouds but then again disappeared. This thing continued for long. We came back at our resort and by the time Panchachuli 2nd peak were almost visible to us. I was praying to see more. It seemed to me Himalaya was playing hide and seek game with me. We got glimpses of golden Panchachuli, Raj Rambha, Nagling and Nanda Devi. This continued till the dark prevails all around.

That night it was raining and local people said it will clear up the clouds. Next day I woke up around 3 am and saw through the window and it was unbelievable. Even within the early morning darkness the complete range of Himalaya was visible. I sat on the bed and wait till morning lights came out. Around 5 am all snowcapped Panchachuli peaks were visible and the whole look was extremely beautiful. After that we experienced the sun rise view just behind the Panchachuli peak.

For me that one day morning at Munsiyari is truly uncomparable. Sitting on a chair with a cup of hot coffee and bathing in soft golden sunlight with many colorful birds chirping around and facing Himalaya in front cannot have any comparison. Look forward to visit the place again.

For our tour we contacted Wayfarer Adventures and informed them about our tour plan. Mr. Vivek from Wayfarer Adventures made arrangements for our pick up & drop facilities from Kathgodam and to Kathgodam respectively and also arranged for transportation for all days touring.

Our tour plan was from 24th Sep’09 to 2nd Oct’09. However due to unavoidable circumstances we decided to start on 25th Sep’09 and asked Mr. Vivek whether he could provide us the pickup facilities from Delhi Airport.

He did that and we reached Kathgodam on the night of 25th Sep’09. We stayed at ‘Relax Inn’ which was a nice place to spend the night. We had a good dinner and good night’s sleep over there.

Next day morning we had a light breakfast and soon after we left for Vijaypur (210 kms, 6 hrs). We were given a fantastic Toyota Innova, which was driven by Mr. Bablu (Later Bablu Bhai became our close friend).

On the way, we crossed our favourite place Bhimtal, our favourite “Van Vilas” resort and the calm and quiet Bhimtal Lake. Sankho really loves this place. His eyes were sparkling after seeing again the beautiful landscape, which we had experienced last time and it seemed to me that he was trying to soak the whole thing again in those 10 minutes of time. His face was all lit up seeing the Bhimtal lake yet another time.

To reach Vijaypur our route took us through Bhowali, Almorah, Binsar and Bageshwar. As we were proceeding we started having simple chitchat with Mr. Bablu and soon after he became Bablu Bhai. We felt flattered when we came to know that Mr. Vivek would also accompany us in our tour and that the Toyota, which was given to us for touring, is actually owned by him along with the Wayfarer Resort. We were supposed to pick him up from the Garam Pani Market area. Almost after one hour we reached Garam Pani and met Vivek.

WOW! He was such a handsome guy. He looked extremely smart in a blue denim, white tee and a stylish Ray Ban. After the cheerful and pleasant introduction we had tea and started our journey further. On the way we crossed Almorah. We had visited Almorah last time and so Sankho and I were pretty much aware of the roads. We enjoyed the fact that we had not forgotten even a single thing that we had experienced on the last visit. We continued our journey till Binsar and had a small break there for having lunch.

Binsar – A famous place for its BIRDS and its forest. Overwhelming green beauty of Mother Earth is incomparable here. I personally believe that each one of us should contribute some time to save and protect our green world.

Quoting from Wikipedia – “Binsar is a beautiful, quiet and wild Himalayan destination with rich natural surroundings among dense forest. Binsar is perched on top of the Jhandi Dhar hills. This place is situated 33 km north of the Almora town in the Uttarakhand state of India.

From Binsar one can see the 300 km panoramic view of the Himalayan peaks like Kedarnath Peak, Shivling, Trisul and majestic Nanda Devi from a place called ‘Zero Point’.”

At Binsar apart from the natural beauty, I was most enthralled by the stunning silence of the place. When we were crossing the place we hardly came across any other sounds besides the birds’ tweet, rustling of dry and fallen leaves and whistling of air passing through the Oaks and pines. Most amazingly, I was able to distinguish all the sounds at a time. Here we spotted the Whistling Thrush and the Himalayan Woodpecker. I would prefer to visit this place again and again just because of its wild jungle beauty.

After Binsar next was Bageshwar. Bageshwar is situated at the confluence of Sarayu and Gomti. The holy township of Bageshwar is also famous for many old temples. Bageshwar has an average elevation of 1,004 meters (3,294 feet). Nobody can ever argue with me regarding the beauty of this place. Bageshwar is situated between many peaks and has nice plain areas nestled amidst these peaks. This green valley reminded me about all those fairy tales which talked about the beauty of heaven. We spent a few hours at Bageshwar before heading for Vijaypur.

Vijaypur is not very well known among tourists and that was the best part of our tour. Every time, before our trip I search and collect information from the Internet on all places to be visited. Rarely did I come across any detailed information regarding Vijaypur. Even Wikipedia does not provide any information on the place. It was a stopover place for us. We needed to spend a night somewhere before we reached Munsyari. From Kathgodam to Munsyari is a long journey and it was strongly advised to take a break at some point.

Wayfarer made all arrangements for our break and stay-back at night. We reached Vijaypur around 3 pm and realized how lucky we were to get connected with the Wayfarer Guys.

Let me tell you that Vijaypur is an extremely beautiful place. Its virgin, untouched beauty is truly seductive for nature lovers. I can bet that you will fall in love with this place. Vijaypur is greener than the green, nicer then the nicest.

Visiting Vijaypur was all the more better because of the Wayfarer resort. Wayfarer has nice eco friendly huts at Vijaypur. The Huts are ‘hot’, sexy and very comfortable. The whole Wayfarer resort area is situated between green pine forests all alive with flowers, birds and smells of raw earth. Adding to it, Vijaypur also provides fantastic panoramic views of the Himalayas. Unfortunately 26th September’2009 was a cloudy day and we were unable to get a decent view of the Himalayas from the place. We spent a very leisurely time at Vijaypur. Night was sexy with a glowing moon and cold breeze.

Next day morning we woke up around 7 am and looked outside through the window and were left speechless with the beauty of the endless forest. This lush and peaceful corner in on earth is worth visiting. I enjoyed the morning session by exploring the forest, taking photographs of the sun’s rays penetrating through pines. I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the Himalayas from Vijaypur before we left for Munsyari.

But now let me disclose a truth. I never knew that there is a concept known as “Bird Watching” or “Birding” and many people spend much of time on bird watching. Many are engaged in doing research on birds and they are known as “Bird Watchers”. I never knew that many travel or tourist operators make arrangement for “Bird Watching.” These operators engage professional bird watcher to guide, help their tourists.

Now you guys must be thinking that why I have started writing on “Bird Watching”. Because this time when we (me and my hubby) visited Himalaya we met two persons “Vivek” and his driver “Bablu Bhai” who are very much learned and knowledgeable on “Bird Watching”. These are the two persons who introduced us on the concept of Birding or Bird Watching and I ended up writing a blog posts on the concept. Now let’s know what is called Bird Watching. As per the Wikipedia definition “Bird watching or birding is the observation and study of birds with the naked eye or through a visual enhancement device like binoculars. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are more readily detected and identified by ear than by eye. Most birdwatchers pursue this activity mainly for recreational or social reasons, unlike ornithologists, who engage in the study of birds using more formal scientific methods.”

Now let me share my experiences. This time when we were crossing Binsar, Sankho asked Vivek that why Binsar is so famous? I replied back as “It is famous for birds. Here you can see rare Himalayan, north Indian birds.” Vivek and Bablu bhai agreed and told us they can help us knowing Himalayan birds in case we are interested.

Very next day on the way to Munsyari, we halted at many places simply to see rare Himalayan birds. First I saw Himalayan Woodpecker. But unfortunately it was so restless I was unable to capture any photos of it.

Next I saw the beautiful Scarlet Minivet. I saw the male Scarlet Minivet. These male species are having stunning red colored feathers with black patches. These minivets are usually found in southern Asia and their common resident is forest specially in hilly areas. I was fortunate enough to capture the following two.

White-capped Water-redstart was the next who was waiting for us with its beauty. Oh! God! How graceful you are! You gave me an opportunity to see this beautiful life. White-capped Water-redstart mainly found at mountain streams and rivers. Then we saw an unknown bird which looks like White-capped Water-redstart.

On the way we saw many others, being an unprofessional & novice bird watcher I was unable to capture many of them. However successfully took the snaps of Himalayan Griffon, Red Billed Blue Magpie, Whistling Thrush and Wagtail.