Gurudongmar Lake: A cold desert beauty

Due to landslides and water flow the road condition are very poor so much that for 120 kms distance from Gangtok to Lachen, it took us whole day ie we started at 10 am in morning and reached Lachen at 7 pm including some breaks. On the way to Lachen there are beautiful waterfalls, two of them are very famous namely Satkanya and Naga. The road was very dusty as many heavy vehicles pass frequently for work on a Dam on Tista River. Only network working there was BSNL so better inform your dear ones that for next few days you will be out of reach unless you find a BSNL mobile or landline. Lachen was very cold by the time we reached, chilling wind was blowing and we had to use all our winter wears before getting out of bed. The stay facility was very basic with a decent room and bathroom and blankets. Veggies had dal-rice and non veggie rice with some non-veg curry. Next day we woke up at 5 am in morning as the place is further 35 kms from here and it takes more than 4 hours to reach there as terrain is tough and roads are very narrow. We started at 6 am but before that we had a beautiful view of sunrise and golden arch on snow filled mountain peak from the place where we stayed. On the way we say frozen ice on many places on the road which showed that outside temperature at night was freezing. Half way to Gurudongmar we had breakfast in a small village where a family had a retail store in front and a small hotel in the backyard where they had all arrangement for a light meal. The bread is heated in a very interesting manner here. They use a perforated utensil to keep bread, below which boiling water kettle is kept. We had bread, jam, Maggie, and tea. After that we again started our journey, on the way when there were no signs of population we saw herds of yaks. We reached army check post which was at 15000 ft, clicked some snaps, saw the tough conditions under which Armymen have to live. We were asked to return before 12 pm. From here onwards the we were travelled at was flat ground or plateau. Roads were very rough and terrain was patchy with some high blockade which had to be crossed.
We reached Gurudongmar lake at 10 am. The view was mesmerizing and outside air was very chilling. Gurudongmar is situated at 17000 ft which is one of the highest in the world and is considered to be a very sacred place by Buddhists. Air pressure becomes very low and wind blow is deadly, due to lack of oxygen people are advised not to stay for too long. Rest of the people decided to stay near the temple of Guru and two of us decided to further explore the beauty around lake. There is a pathway all around the lake which we took to go further. Running will exhaust all oxygen very soon and one will not be able to walk further, so we moved slowly enjoying beauty all around. Lake is in the L shape and hence another end could be seen only after walking for few hundred meters from temple. We went upto the bend of lake and watched another end where snow laden mountain bad was meeting with lake on one side and on another side there were naked hilltops bordering China. We returned back from this point. We started our return journey but everyone was feeling exhausted so there was a complete lull throughout the journey. As soon as we reached hotel all got into bad and had a nap. As lunch got ready we woke up and packed our bags for Lachung. We left Lachen at 4 pm and reached Lachung valley at 8 pm.