Sikkim 2014

It was a November trip in search of snow covered peaks.. Destination was Sikkim.. and from the lovely gardens of the Hotel Elgin in Pelling we found this.. and then this from Hanuman Tok temple near Gangtok.. the temple.. bhaiyaji ishmyle... next we went to Himalayan Zoological Park.. It has a nice collection of mountain wildlife.. like a Leopard... and 3-4 Red Pandas... a Wolf basking in the sun.. some mountain fox.. a leopard cat.. Phensong Monastery.. The monastery was pretty inside.. sadly the camera could not capture the beauty of the paintings on the walls and ceilings.. the sculpture on the gate.. next we went to the local flower show and saw some alien looking flowers.. and some normal ones.. in gangtok we stayed in the Mahindra resort. Next day we went to Nathu La.. the passes were arranged by our travel agent.. hotels also arrange these in a day. at Nathula we spent a lot of time climbing up the steps till the top of the gates and trying to peek into the Chinese building on the side. after a few hours of trying to breath at that high altitude, we started back. few corners from Nathula we saw a small lake near the horizon. it looked beautiful.. as we were admiring it, the driver said he could take us there. it was a few kilometres away.. also near it was the real Baba Mandir, the temple dedicated to a soldier killed on duty and revered as a saint.. as we crossed the new Baba Mandir, the landscape turned brown with the clouds filling the valleys.. from a corner we saw a beautiful view of the snow capped peaks of Kanchanjunga.. then we reached the actual Baba Mandir.. there were lot of people here paying their homage to Baba Harbajan Singh.. more clouds and mountains.. the lake we were searching is called elephant lake.. it is seemingly shaped like an elephant.. the flags on the road.. another view.. after a tiring day we retired in our hotel.. the swans in our hotel room.. next day we went to visit the biggest monastery near Gangtok.. the prayer wheels of Rumtek monastery.. the monastery entry.. inside Rumtek.. old lady in the monastery.. beautiful flowers.. a cute kid going shopping.. after this the camera was packed and we headed for Siliguri from where we took a flight back home...