A bustling, friendly hill station in the lap of the Himalayas, Gangtok derives its name from Tibetan word for 'hillside’. Being the capital of one of the most developed north-eastern state of India, Gangtok is a big tourist attraction spot. The city is connected by three ways of transport.
Gangtok is among the best hill stations that I went to with my gang. We boarded the bus for The Gateway to North East - Siliguri, West Bengal. It’s an overnight journey from Patna, Bihar (a northern state in India). We were a group of 7 college friends, it was a trip to remember. The journey started on a beautiful evening of September at around 1900 hrs, we jumped up to our bunks and started off in the bus, had a dinner stop at around 2300 hrs and rode non-stop till we reached Siliguri at 0500 hrs in the morning.
From there we rented a cab that would take us all the way up to the hills, Gangtok. The distance between the two cities is around 114 km and it took us another 3 hours to reach Gangtok. Once we got there, it was TOTALLY worth the travel and the wait. The town was a mix of demographics and beautiful scenes.
Every view was picturesque and worth capturing. Friends make the trip all the more better. We reached past breakfast time and checked in straight to a hotel. The view from the hotel was breathtaking too.
Gangtok could easily be one of the cleanest cities you've ever come across. Highly organized, beautifully maintained and a really nice place to unwind. There are quite a few places for vegetarians to eat, since it is mostly dominated by Buddhist culture. So we rested for a while and went out on the quest for food. We came across the small momo joint in the nearby market and the food there! My oh my! I can never forget how those dumplings tasted. They were the best I ever ate. The city resembles the Bhutanese capital, Thimphu. Devoid of large stores and book shops, even the market was a quaint place, named M.G. market with shops on both sides and small food joints all around.
We spend the day exploring the city, mostly on our feet. We strolled through the market and climbed numerous flights of stairs. It was a peaceful day among all the hustle-bustle of the quaint city and what I personally admired was the strict compliance of the traffic rules as the streets were quite narrow and people were very street smart. We headed back to our rooms as the evening came upon and within an hour freshen up and left out for dinner. We stuck with street food as there as so much of it, we had Ramen that night and again, he best we ever had.
I am always looking forward to visit there again and as a nature lover, its where I found peace and comfort.