Lachen - an Unexplored Paradise in North Sikkim

One of the bases for exploring North Sikkim is Lachen, the sister village of the other base Lachung. Situated at an altitude of 8838 feet, about 121 kms and 06 hrs drive from State capital of Sikkim, Gangtok, Lachen is the base for beautiful and famous Gurudongmar Lake and Chopta Valley.

The name Lachen means "big pass". This is a small hamlet with about 200 houses and Is opened to the tourists only few years back. Lying on a verdant plane segregated by cavernous ravines, Lachen in North Sikkim is famous for its multi hued mountains along with snowy peak and black cliffs. The natural and scenic beauty of Lachen will definitely rejuvenate you and bring you closer to itself.

The town of Lachen., mainly acts as the base for excursion to the Lake of Gurudongmar and Tso Lhamu. Lachen in itself has limited attractions to offer which includes a small monastery giving you a beautiful bird eye view of Lachen town. Another attraction in Lachen is The Handicraft centre in the main market. At the centre, you can view local girls weaving carpets from Yak Wool. Lachen is also a starting point for many a trekking route including treks to Kanchenjunga National Park, Green Lake, Gurudongmar Lake and Chopta Valley.

Lachen have its own system of administration, much like the Panchayati Raj. The system is called Dzumsa head of the Dzumsa are known as Pipon & Gyenbos. The original inhabitants of Lachen are called Lachenpa. Most of the families resides during winter months only, while in summer, they are off to green pastures of Tibet to graze their cattle, however with the advent of tourism, some families have started to stay back during Summer also.

The best time to visit Lachen is from November to June.

The following are the excursions which can be taken from Lachen :

Gurudongmar Lake

Located at a height of 17800 feet, this beautiful lake remains milky in color throughout the year, owing the floating ice on the surface. The lake is considered sacred by both Hindus and Buddhist alike.

Legend is that the Lake used to remain frozen for most of the year, hence the locals have no source of drinking water. Once Guru Padmasambhava Passed by while returning from Tibet, when the local people approached him with the request of finding a source of drinking water for them. On hearing their plea, the Guru obliged and blessed a portion of the lake by touching it. This portion of the lake now never freezes, even in extreme winters and is a constant source of drinking water for the locals. The water of the lake is considered sacred and the tourists coming here do take the samples of this blessed water as a momento with them.

Gurudongmar lake is not open for the Foreingers, however Indian tourists can visit it with Inner Line Permits.

Chopta Valley

With the sunrise and desire to explore some of the beautiful secrets of Mother Nature, you need to set out early in the morning to visit Chopta Valley. Driving with Lachen as base, you will climb almost 4500 feet within a distance of 30 kms to reach Thangu. A 20 minutes drive from Thangu, takes one into the virgin valley of Chopta, famous for its breathtaking unexplored scenic beauty. As you drive towards Chopta, the green vegetation of low altitude gives way to the coniferous trees of the mountains, which further diminishes in sight, with the landscape slowly converting into Plateau like nature, with small bushes. Beyond Thangu, the vegetation is scarce with Chopta valley as the last bastion of vegetation before entering the Tibetan plateau kind of landscape. Thangu in itself resembles a carpet of alpine flower in the moth of May and June, while rest of the period (October to March) it is mostly covered with white snow. A further two kilometers drive or trek takes you to the Chopta Valley, which is the last point till which the foreign tourists are allowed to visit.

Located at an altitude of 13200 ft, with the temperature remaining sub 10 degrees throughout the year ( at night and in winters, it goes below zero), Chopta Valley is only one of the very few places in Sikkim, where you can actually walk on  frozen river, but that happens only in winter months. In springs the valley is riot of colors with green mixing beautifully with the bright blue sky and flowers of numerous hues and shades spread along to provide you with a mesmerizing experience. As far as your eyes can see, Chopta valley is a landscape of green pasture criss crossed with small rivulets, many of them are snow covered.

An adventurous trek through Chopta valley will lead you to Muguthang valley. At an altitude of 15500ft, Muguthang valley, largely un-inhabitated is another unseen destination in the greater Himalayas.

Although Lachen is still not as famous as its sister city of Lachung, its prestine beauty, its virgin unexplored landscapes gives you enough reasons to visit this area. Visit to Sikkim cannot be said complete without visit to North Sikkim, especially to Lachen and Lachung - the unexplored Paradises of North Sikkim.

North Sikkim - An unexplored natural delight

India is full of beautiful landscapes, but very few matches the beauty and serenity of North Sikkim, where you can still hear the silence, can experience the nature undisturbed by the so called development by humans and where experiencing nature takes precedence over any other worries you have. Visit to North Sikkim will definitely leave you rejuvenated but also make you realize what you have lost due to modern day development.

Being the Northern most district of State of Sikkim, India, Large part of it is still undisturbed by the human interference, an unexplored natural delight and the local govt. for sustainable tourism, sensibly have restricted the entry of the tourists by making it mandatory to obtain Special Permits before visiting the area beyond Mangan. At 3950 ft altitude, Mangan is the district headquarters of North Sikkim and lies approx 65 kms from Gangtok. Another 30 kms from Mangan will take you to the beautiful Chungthang, which is located at an altitude of 5600ft. From Here you will have two roads, one on left leading you to Lachen, which serves as a good excursion point for Gurudongmar Lake and Chopta Valley while the other on right leads you to Lachung, base for tours to the valley of flowers Yumthang and other surrounding interesting places.

The Journey to North Sikkim is full of exotic natural landscapes, constantly changing horizon of misty valleys, deep blue sky, flowers in full bloom including Rhododendron, streams running down with clear water and chirping of some of the most exotic birds, making your experience ethereal.

Lachen, Lachung, Yumthang, Chopta Valleym Gurudongmar Lake, Chungthang, Thangu are few of the places you will regret not have visited while in Sikkim.

Mangan, the district headquarter is the only town open to tourist without permit. Mangan is the doorstep to Tibetan Plateau and offers beautiful landscapes. Tourists beyond Mangan can only travel in packaged tours.

Singhik is the first village ahead of Mangan. A small village about 15kms from Mangan at an altitude of over 5000 ft, it offers some of the breathtaking view of Kanchenjunga. An half an hour walk from Singhuk, uphill takes you to a place where you can see an ancient monastery. Another walk uphill takes you to Singhik View Point, one of the best places to see Kanchanjunga and Siniolchu.

About 2 kms downhill, through a winding road, you reach Teesta River, above the confluence of Rongyung Chu and Tista River. Leisure tourist are not allowed beyond this point however local can visit interiors like Leek, Timbong and Kussong.

Chungthang at an altitude of 5300 ft, about 31 kms from Mangan, 100 kms from State Capital of Gangtok, 26 kms from Lachen and 22 kms from Lachung, is the place where Lachen and Lachung river meet to form River Teesta. It is also the place where you need to choose between 12000 ft plus destination around Lachhung or to Lachen famous for its beautiful lakes like Gurudongmar and Tso Lamu.

The small town of Chungthang is full of legends. One legend claims it to be the place from where the word Demaong (the hidden valley of rice) first originated in Sikkim. According to it, the revered guru Padmasambhawa while on his way to Tibet, took some rice here, Some of the rice is said to have fallen into the ground, which have given it the properties to grow fine quality of rice. The land even today grows rice where as the surrounding area does not. There is a stone which is said to bear the footprint of the Guru and is a sacred spot even today.

Chungthang or Singhik does not offer good hotels to stay at, however basic accommodations are available with few of the restaurants. They can be covered as day excursion from Lachen or Lachung.

The best time visit these places is from March to June and September – November, when the weather is most pleasant.

North Sikkim is easily connected with road to Gangtok, however a prior permit (which is called Inner Line Permits, Restricted Area permits/Protected Area Permits,) is required to visit the area.  The inner line permits can be obtained from the following authorities by paying a fee of USD 30 Per person.

1.      All Indian Missions abroad

2.      Ministry of Home Affairs

3.      All Foreigners Registration Officers

4.      Immigration Officers at Airports at Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai and New Delhi

5.      Deputy Commissioner, Darjeeling

6.      Deputy Secretary/Under Secretary, Home Department, Govt. of West Bengal, Calcutta

7.      Government of Sikkim

8.      Chief Secretary, Gangtok

9.      Home Secretary, Gangtok

10.  Secretary, Tourism, Gangtok

11.  I.G.P. of Police, Gangtok

12.  Resident Commissioner, Sikkim House, New Delhi

13.  Deputy Secretary, Tourism, Siliguri

14.  Resident Commissioner, STCS, Calcutta

15.  Tourism Officer, Rangpo

If you plan in advance and want to avoid last minute hassles, it is advisable to take an endorsement on the visa itself for permission to visit Sikkim from Indian Missions when applying for Visa to visit India. Once in India, it is most convenient to approach Government of Sikkim authorities at Delhi, Calcutta and Siliguri. Travel agents too help in arranging the Inner line permits (provided services are booked through them). They require the scanned copy of your passport and VISA along with Passport size photograph to do so.

The permits are normally issued on the same day or maximum by next day, but the issuance of permit is done only during the Government working days. The initial permit is issued for a period of 15 days and can be further extended twice by 15 days each

Kindly note that the nationals of Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Nigeria and Myanmar can be issued Inner Line Permits only after approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi. All Bhutan nationals are exempt from the requirement of obtaining Inner line permits to travel to any part of Sikkim. Permits to foreign diplomats and members of United Nations and International Organisations holding diplomatic/official passports are issued only at Delhi by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Only the following destinations in Sikkim are open for foreign travelers traveling individually:

EAST -   Gangtok, Rumtek, Pakyong, Barapathing, Rongli, Renak, Aritar, Rorathang

WEST -   Geyzing . Pemayangtse . Khechepheri, Tashiding . Yuksom . Soreng

NORTH -   Phodong . Mangan . Singhik

SOUTH -   Namchi . Ravangla

The following destinations in Sikkim are further open to the foreigners traveling in a group of 04 or more. Permission is granted only for tour circuits specified with definite entry and exit points, the mode of transport to be specified at the time of requesting for permit. These tours can be organized only through local tour operators and the also provide a local Liaison Officer who accompanies with the group.

East District

Gangtok –Penlong – Tinure –Rumtek/Martam

North District

Gangtok – Chungthang- Lachen – Thangu

Mangan – Lingzia – Shabrung – Tholung Monastery – Kisong (except Yabok)

Mangan – Lingzia –Sakyong-Royot –Patam (except Gochala) – Dzongri – Yoksum

Yumthang-Phuni-Phunichoka-Tarum Chachu – Chunbgthang

Dikchu – Phodong –Labrang-Nampptam –Mangan – Maling –Singhik –Samartek – Chungthang

Lachung – Yumthang – Yume – Samdong

South District

Sirwani – Temi – Damthang – Tendong – Namchi

Damthang – Tendong –Damthong – Rabangla-Maenam-Yangaang – Singchuthang - Sirwani

Rabangla – Maenam – Borong/Polout – Tashiding

Kewzing – Rayong – Tinkitam –Legship

West District

Yuksom – Dzongri (except Gochala)

Yuksom – Dzongri – Thangsing – Lampokhri

Utterey – Chewa – Bhanjang – Dhond – Garakhet – Oktak – Dzongri

Hilley – Versay – Singalila – Chewabhanjang

Hilley via Sombarey0 Versay – Soreng

Hilley – Versay – Dentam

Pelling –Sangcholing – Khecheperi – Yuksom – Dubdi – Sinon – Tashiding

The following can also be visited:

Tsomgo Lake in East Sikkim (Day visit only)

Mangan, Singhik, Toong, Chungthang, Lachung and Yumthang (for 05 days only)

Foreigners can stay only to those places mentioned In the Inner line permits from the above. Any variation or violation of above instructions and conditions specified on permits are treated as offence under the Foreigners Act and are punishable under law.

So Pack your bags and be off to North Sikkim, a natures delight, amazing experience of what nature can offer.