It was almost a decade ago when I had my first tryst with the Himalayas. It was my first college trip with friends and this was when my love affair with the mountains and the Himalayas in particular started. I have already mentioned this in one of my previous posts (Happiness – Glimpses from the past) briefly so now let me share a few glimpses from that first memorable trip of mine to the Eastern Himalayas. However, before I begin let me request you to excuse me for the terrible quality of photos that are about to follow. Those were times when all I had was a Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone in the name of a camera.
It was the first time I was seeing and traveling through snaking mountain roads. For me and almost all of us, it was thrilling, to say the least. Every time the vehicle negotiated a hairpin, the excitement level of everybody inside went sky-high.
The first memories of the trip was that of the blueish Teesta river which accompanied us as we left the plains of New Jalpaiguri and started ascending the hills of North Bengal.
We literally used to travel from early morning until the sun started to go down and a good part of that time was spent on the roads.
One of the most common sights during our entire stay were those of fluttering colorful prayer-flags and chortens of different sizes and colors. Sikkim, thanks to Sikkim Tourism department, has done a fantastic job in making sure Sikkim is a super tourist-friendly destination.
This was also my first time seeing Buddhist monasteries. Same for most of us and all were amazed to see these bright colored places which we had hardly heard about till then.
One of the most exciting places in the trip where we all enjoyed the most was by the Tsomgo lake. The lake with its semi-frozen edges was a wonderful place to be on a bright day and the chill in the wind did not seem much of a problem for us.
Does this memory of mine bring back old memories of your one of the first trip? Have you been to Sikkim? Tell me, I would love to know about your experiences.
Well… the pctures are nice but its about the pictures you create by narrating things. I think I have seen Changu lake, in 2005 all I remember was we were taken to a college excursion and it was my birthday(no one knew about it) and I got my biggest surprise… we went to Nathula Pass… and lots of kids were walking normally when many of us girls were finding it difficult to walk on… and there was the Indo-China border and my friend then she got friendly with the Indian Jawans and she crossed the rope and posed photo with the Chinese soldiers and a Indian Army guy told never do such a stupid thing again… I love the army men and it was a honour and priviledge to spend time with one… the rest is quite blurry but the name Gangtok rings a bell(: I remember seeing some small monks… then shopping at late nights quite fun because there were these stalls with funky stuff like Binoculos and elevated roads and nice walking there!! … then yummy tea and I remember one beautiful lady whose young daughter was taking orders for momos… and one guy who was shouting and when we asked why he was shouting he said “Kyoiki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi” … yes we did roam Kolkataa and had fun at the science Museum… from there only this bus trip to that place that has Nathula Pass… and well we went to one wildlife place, again fun, people wearing colourful dresses for photo and seeing one of those majestic wild cats and walking on slopes… I wish I had taken photos for proper memories… also I felt cool knowing my Mizorami girls who were cigarett smokers and told me to keep quite on reporting their cigarette smoking affair… atleast they accepted me and were nice to me, ofcouse writing this from the eyes of a younger creature…now means I will remember and treasure more things… I think the special connect is it was near Himalayas and the chance of seeing the Great Wall of China/…. I wish I could remember were exactly we went…Slimla…no…Kolkata, Gangtok rings a bell… I wish I had that inspiration to travel then only then I will be somewhere now): … got travelling only a year back and am already quite old to pursue this… can’t see why if I was the same person did not trek and travel earlier, perhapes it’s just a fear of travelling as a women in a well not so women safe world… but hell travel is a liberating experience… and a nice thing is stories of travel captures imagination of the human race and well can’t not travel thinking about the dangers, we have to make things better by exploring… anyway… you did trigger a small part of my 2005 journey somewhere in Nathu La Pass… also travel does bond people I remember we all did bond, no speacial friends alone, everyone were special!!
Beautiful pictures… they rejuvenated my memories… 🙂
Thanks Maniparna.
It was the same for me as well when I came across these photos after so long 🙂