Gurudongmar to Yumthang and Khatau

Previous Page (Superczar at Gurudongmar :-))

Of Ducks and Cannibalism

Though I was in a mood to Trek up to Tso-Lhamu, another lake just 7kms away (18000 feet above MSL!) from Gurudongmar, my companions didn’t feel (or were even) upto it. Both (especially ) Bala were displaying the classic symptoms of AMS (disorientation, headache and vomiting) and it made sense to descend to lower altitudes. Kinda unfortunate as neither were they able to enjoy the Gurudongmar trip as much as they and I would have wanted them to, nor was I able to reach Tso-Lhamu.

Coming back to the flying ducks, Bala later propounded a brilliant hypothesis:

Premise I- Brahmini ducks are extremely rare

Premise II- They live at altitudes where no vegetation survies

Hypothesis: Brahmini Ducks display cannibalistic tendencies!!!!

Nevertheless, I left Gurudongmar with a somewhat heavy heart, promising myself to return soon and reach Tso-lhamu anyhow the next time around.

The return journey to Thangu took much less time as we were going downhill. The return to lower altitudes (12900???) did Bala and Rammer a lot of good, rather, to their collective appetite. Our cherubic young lady had prepared a brilliant meal of piping hot Momos served with awesome hot water (???) to wash it down….We devoured our food like mad…..

Adieu Gurudongmar The MmmmMomos

Meal done and goodbyes said (On a side note, Bala seemed to be somewhat depressed to part ways with the CYL ;-) ), we left Thangu to go down-down-down the hills….

Lachen came in an hour…Chungthang in another …..Any other time, I would have been more than happy to be in a picturesque place like Chungthang, but not today….Chungthang at an elevation of 7000 feet despite the brilliant views of the greater Himalayas seemed almost as hot & dusty as Chennai L

Room With a view Kid at Chungthang

I took out some time to make a couple of phone calls (needless to say that PCOs and mobile phone signals were (surprisingly??) absent in Thangu and gurudongmar.

30 mins later and a half meal of Chai Sutts and Samosas devoured, we set forth uphill again for Lachung which was supposed to serve as our base camp for the next two days. The tentative itinerary was to reach Lachung, relax and then to visit the famed Yumthang valley (famed for its orchids and rhododendrons)

More winding hill roads, cheeky BRO signs, brilliant vistas and one hour later, we reached Lachung (8900 feet above sea level) before dusk. Some foreign journalist had termed Lachung as probably the prettiest village in the whole of Himalayas, and he probably wasn’t too far away from the truth.

Lachung Town Lachung Monastery

We checked into another friendly little lodge, replete with its fair share of rosy cheeked CYLs and Ks (Cherubic Young ladies and kids.) The men folk were still surprising conspicuous (by their absence) in the running of businesses. In case I hadn’t mentioned this before, Thangu had no electricity but Lachung had so we all fell over each other in plugging in our devices (quite a huge number actually) into the power sockets. This and the daily ablutions done, we emerged as fresh as water hyacinths (apologies for the hideous metaphors here and thereafter!) as eager as a pack of hungry hyenas (apologies) to devour the food associated with the immensely good aroma(s) wafting from the kitchen beneath our room.

Lachung Kid Sunrise Sunrise

Food plus a few shots of the leftover Bacardi plus the weariness from the trip was intoxicating. Unfortunately (or fortunately) our hosts had other plans. Dinner was followed by a song and dance routine in the family kitchen during which I met the most happy and content young fellow I have ever known, “The boy without a name.” More on him (and the song and dance routine) later. 11:00 PM and Time to crash!

Rhododendrons, Yumthang and the boy without a name

Morning dawns and I am the first one up in the room (surprising? Not any longer!) Waking up Bala and Rammer is no easy task (Herculean??….apologies L)

The flush in the loo made weird gurgling noises all night long and isn’t any better in the morning, noise-wise or functionally. Thank goodness I am the first one in ;-)

Fresh and ready to go after gobbling a breakfast of toasted bread and boiled eggs, we hopped on the Sumo, with I on the front seat this time (primarily to get away with Bala’s constant cribbing about keeping the window closed ;-) )

The road from Lachung to Yumthang valley went uphill again, this time in a spiral fashion, somewhat like the road to Rohtang from Manali (Any HCL SMTs reading this would surely remember the cliffhugger buses ;-), anyway, that’s a different story altogether.) 30 minutes and we were above the snow-line again.

Small digression here for Pema’s musical tastes. All in all, we had two tapes on the Sumo. One with old Kishore numbers, actually not just any Kishore number but of the “Kishore ke dard bhare nagme” variety. In total contrast, the other tape was a motley collection of pop-pish fare like Blue (one love, Pema’s favorite song by far) and 50 cents (In Da club :-O)

Another 30 minutes, and we hit Yumthang…..

Yumthang Valley Yumthang Valley

(will paste the story Later, am just posting the pics for now…..)

Road To Yumthang Yumthnag Valley (not again L )

Khatau and Beyond (?)

The story will be pasted later (If ever)

(By the way Khatau doesn’t feature anywhere in Sikkim Tourism Brochures, websites etc., Thanks to the valuable info we got from the locals, we cld get to this place)