14 Nov - North Sikkim Tour Day 1 - Evidence of an Earthquake

I was just lining up the torrent of superlatives for today's journey when Benum, our guide, turned back from his seat in the front of the jeep with a knowing smile: "Tomorrow is even better. You will see better views then."

Up to that point we had spent 3 hours driving through scenery north of Gangtok which I can only really describe as movie-set perfect. Jaw -dropping waterfalls, overhangs thousands of feet tall and below, the majestic Teesta river powerfully pushing south, a mix of turquoise purity and fierce white rapids.

Without a doubt the most spectacular journey by car in our lives to date. But I'll be good and not effuse too much in the knowledge that if I do then my bag of colourful language will be empty for what promises to be even more incredible tomorrow as we head up to the Yumthang valley, the Northernmost accessible point of north-east India.

Our route took us North from Sikkim's capital, Gangtok, through to a small village called Lachung, the final staging post before Yamchung. What we hadn't counted on were the stark reminders of the devastating earthquake that ripped through the region last September. 700 or so Nepalese and Indians, most of them workers constructing the massive hydroelectric dam at Chungthang, were killed as the quake topped out at 6.8 on the Richter scale. Sikkim is proud of its well maintained road network, so the countless hours today spent bouncing along the hastily bulldozed replacement tracks gave some idea of the scale. Either side of us, huge boulders, one of which still on top of the crushed lorry unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the time, and ugly scars where the land had dropped away. Several times we were held up as diggers piled rubble into trucks to be removed. When the quake struck, the village we are now at and further north were cut off for a month and a half.

As ever, the bridges, of which in landscape like this there are many, provided a source of concern and intrigue. At one point we spied the next precarious crossing of the Teesta in a deep forested valley. There was no doubt at all that it had long since ceased to be sound, and so it was a relief to find another paralleling it across. In fact there was a further more derelict one next to it, and yet another under construction. The engineering effort to span these huge valleys is immense, not to mention the infrastructure required to get the equipment and materials there in the first place.

But massive engineering challenges are not something that India is shy of. As we approached Chungthang, below is the simply vast project to turn the Teesta into the main power source for Sikkim. An entire temporary town, massive dam, and perhaps most impressive of all, a gaping tunnel into the eastern wall of the valley into which the entire river is now diverted to allow construction. It's a biblical achievement.

So, quite a day. The power is off, it's really cold, and we are exhausted from a entire day of intense visual treats. Who knows how we are going to feel after tomorrow?

Pictures:

Waterfalls, bridges and overhangs while the bulldozer continues to clear up the mess.