The Yumthang valley in North Sikkim is known as the Valley of Flowers, but we landed there in the wrong season — October. April is the best time to go to Yumthang. That’s when the flowers are in full bloom.

Yumthang is about an hour’s drive from Lachung, where we had put up, and it’s a pleasure trip anytime. The road is beautifully lined with trees and shrubs of rhododendrons and other varieties.

A view of Yumthang valley (top); cars on the way to the valley from Lachung. Pictures by the author

We often stopped on the way to take pictures and enjoy the scenic beauty all around us. The Yumthang valley will just take your breath away. It is surrounded by very high mountains, which remain snow-covered round the year. In winter, you will find snow in the valley too. A hilly stream flows along the line where the slopes meet. My wife was so happy that she got off the car to take a walk down the valley.

After spending the better part of the day in the lap of nature, we returned to our Lachung resort to tuck ourselves in for the night.

Next morning, we were off to Gangtok, where a surprise awaited us. The hotel where we had reservations couldn’t take us in as a guest had taken ill and the rooms could not be vacated. But they arranged another hotel for us, which was not bad at all. That evening, the women of our group shopped in the Gangtok market, picking up coffee cups and souvenirs.

My car gave us a hard time on this trip. It broke down a couple of times. Since it has a diesel engine, it is air-dependent and thus got over-heated in the rarefied air of the high altitude. Besides, diesel tends to condense in low temperature, which also added to the problem. Havildar Tripathi took me to the Gangtok army workshop where they cleaned and fixed the diesel filter.

On the day of our return, we stopped by Bachchu’s house in Siliguri for lunch and then started off for Raiganj, where we spent the night.