Tsomgo

Gangtok - Tsomgo - Namchi - Darjeeling

• Nathula is closed on Monday and documents are to be submitted (including passport size photographs) one day in advance so plan accordingly.

• Better come with warm clothes else you will have to take reused ones on rent. The trip goes to a height of 14k feet. At this altitude even oxygen is thin.

• Go for the bunker of Baba Harbhajan Singh beyond Kupup. There is shrine much before the bunker where most people go but thats not real.

A trip to Nathu La is expected when you visit Gangtok. We didn't take it. In fact we crossed Nathu La from a mile and didn't take it. We were told its overhyped - being one of the three motorable roads to China from India does not mean you will see something out of the world. Instead we went for the farthest village called Kupup beyond which lies the shrine of soldier Harbhajan Singh.

Tsomgo Lake

The trip was rickety but bearable. We collected warm clothes from Tsamgo and went straight for Harbhajan Singh shrine. There is a Harbhajan Singh temple just after Nathu La but the original shrine is almost 8 miles away deeper into the mountains.

On way to Tsomgo Lake

My first experience was a shortage of oxygen that was making it difficult to breathe. Taking a flight of steps to reach the bunker of the martyr was some effort. It made me hungry as well. At a height of 14000 ft, the army maintains a canteen with basic food for visitors. We gobbled it.

Bunker of Baba Harbhajan Singh

On returning we visited Tsamgo in detail. The famous lake is not very big but the road that curves around it combined with the high hills make the whole view magnificent. The grill erected recently is a spoiler. There are yaks to take pictures with.

Me & Tsomgo

By the time we started back, it was dusk and raining. There were stretches which were scary but we managed to reach back safely by 6. We decided to walk the mile to MG Road and found the walk very refreshing. MG Road itself was pretty unique and surprisingly crowded.