Lava Monastery

The things you should know about Lava

Lava is a small hamlet situated 30km east of the town Kalimpong through Algarah in the Kalimpong District, of the state of West Bengal. It is situated at an altitude of 7,200 feet and also you will be amazed to know that it is one of the few places in West Bengal which receives snow in winters
so in winters if you are in West Bengal and you want to see snowfall then Lava is the best option you have

Why you should visit Lava

It is situated on the silk route of ancient India-Tibet trade practice. the scenic beauty of the route is just like a dream, I went there in September it was really chilled day temperature was a minus, roads were not clear because of the mist and fog it feels like the snowfall is about to happen but the month was not right so I was not lucky enough to experience snow but its fine lava is beautiful in any way with or without snow.

Roads to Lava

The two most famous tourist spots of Lava is a Buddhist Monastery and the Changey waterfall. also, Notable sites include Rache-la, Kolakham, and Lava Kagyu Thek Chen Ling Monastery.

Lava Monastery

The verdant forests of the valley are a popular spot for a picnic, trekking, and Bird watching there are adventurous curve Roads surrounded by vegetation from the Tropical Deciduous to wet Alpine trees.

way to Lava

view from the Monastery

My first ever Long Bike ride

It was on 23 of September 2018, one of my friend who is just crazy about bikes and rides called me at 6 am in the morning and said get ready, there is a royal Enfield ride scheduled today, every single rider of the city is going to join so if you wanna experience or see a place which is 7,200 feet high which many people don't know about it then today is the day where you can actually start your travel diaries in real and honestly at that time I was just a travel lover (with no travel experience) but this bike thing or long rides on the bike was not the cup of my tea, I didn't even how to ride a bike so I was not sure whether I really want to do this or not. but the thought of mountain and heights always initiate a sort of excitement inside me  so the idea seems thrilling to me so I register myself as a pillion and we both headed towards the beginning point of the ride
It was 8 am in the morning when we reach one of the Royal Enfield showrooms in my city Siliguri, it was a quiet cold morning, winter comes early in our city, there already few riders who reached before us and some were about to come, we went inside the showroom to fill the form and complete some formalities, where Thejas the friend with whom I went there, introduced me with the ride manager of the showroom named Amit who was also gonna lead the ride he gave me some forms mentioned some of the basic rules and regulations which everyone had to follow during the ride and also it mentioned that if any casualties happen during the ride than no one will be responsible for that and trust me I was so frightened at that time I was like why the hell they want me to sign something like this, it isn't safe or what,😖 because it was my first ride I didn't know how things work and I have to sign something like this where they clearly mention that there is a possibility that I can die during the journey , I suddenly looked towards Thejas and he understood the reaction on my face and said its just a formality nothing will happen ,Amit heard us and ease me by saying don't worry we all are safe its just a formal paperwork which we need to follow, the Ride will be absolutely safe, trust me I was not convinced but I was excited for the journey so I did Jai  Mata Di and signed.



by 10 am the remaining people reached the beginning center and we all started our ride from Siliguri exactly at 10:30 am. the first rule was that we all need to maintain a straight line during the ride no one will create chaos in the traffic or trouble people on the road and also maintain a basic distance from each other to avoid accidents and to make sure that no one will get lost in the way so the organizers have provided there team one was in the front who was leading the ride and the other at the end so that no one will be left behind during the ride and also they provided a mechanic so that any small issue in anyone's bike does not cause any problem during the journey, there were 9 to 10 bikes including pillions everyone was so excited I got to know some amazing and full of life people. everyone who joined us was unique and have some kind of enthusiasm in them, I personally love knowing new people, observing them, some of them came with their partners, with their friends some of them were experienced riders who were sharing experiences of their previous rides, I was listening to them with Glitter on my eyes they were so different from each other but share a common thing which is an insane love for royal Enfield and traveling. after a quite long journey, we stopped to have breakfast at a roadside small restaurant on the mountains it was so cool the view from that restaurant was breathtaking you can say that it was like a dream having a cup of tea in the middle of the mountains watching the whole city from the top with an addition of beautiful weather. we waited there for half an hour and started our journey again. the more we go up the more weather was getting chilled at last we pillions need to takeout our jackets to put on, riders were  already in their rider jackets luckily I had the jacket, I didn't expect this much cold at the month of September the mountains were full of fog and mists it seems like we were there in the month of December or January, the weather was astonishing which actually adding a flavor to the beauty of the hills we were not taking many stoppages because of the time issue, we had to reach on time to our destination, we were riding for a long hour but still, Lava was far from us everyone was getting tired and we all were praying to reach as soon as possible someone said a very right thing that "A beautiful destination comes with a tiring and hard journey" so we all were trying to reach faster because we have to return on the same day so we had a time limit and suddenly the weather became worse and started raining many of us had not carry raincoats cos no one had expected this because back down in our city it was a bright sunny day , we didn't have a choice so we have to stop by in the middle to take a shelter and unfortunately I had a mild fever on that day so I was quite worried and trying my best to protect myself from cold and rain, Amit heard and said you should not have come if u were not well it was a clear instruction that not to come those who are not well or have fear of heights and I felt embarrassed . but a few minutes later he mockingly said that don't worry you will be okay, this rain has the ability to cure fever and everyone laughed.  luckily the rain stopped after 15 minutes and we started our journey again because of the rain the roads became impossible to pass it became slippery and at many points, there were off-roading which became a thick mud and became a difficult task to complete. the bike tires were getting stuck inside the mud we all need to help and push each other's bikes out of the sludge at some point of time it felt impossible to move ahead in the journey, our bike ride became a kind of trekking (where we were not in our proper trekking shoes) we were losing patience and strength and also clock was ticking faster but with all that crazy adventurous roads we didn't lose our hope and we finally reached our one of the destination which was the famous Buddha monastery.

way to changey falls

sunset-road to Lava

off-roads of Lava

view of the middle of a Lava forest

Lava forest view

Riders on their way to Lava

                                                                   The Buddha monastery

Lava Monastery

It was an old monastery but the beauty of it was still maintained, it was a place full of tourists but perfectly manages to have its peace and divine feeling in the surrounding.
Lava Monastery is also known as Ratnarishi Bihar Buddhist Gumpa. this monastery was established by Lodro Chokyi Senge, The third Kongtrul Rimpoche, situated beside the large Neora Reservoir lake the area has been expanded over the years because of the increasing number of devotee and monks, today the fourth Jamgon Kongtrul Rimpoche studies and trains there. when we went there our all tiredness and exhaustion were gone we can sense a kind of immense pleasure and peace, it was a beautiful experience for all of us and I was happy with my decision to join the ride I was amazed by seeing the artwork on the wall of the monastery it was so beautiful and ancient I  couldn't understand the meaning of the artwork but it looked ravishing. the Monastery has located about 1 km from the Lava town, in the middle of the town there is a long clocktower from that u can figure out that you are in the right place.

Lava Clocktower

A section of the Buddha Monastery

cold weather of Lava

Rider's squad

after the monastery, we headed towards another destination named changey falls, unfortunately, we were not able to find the waterfall we went towards it but exactly didn't know where it was and got stuck in the middle of nowhere surrounded by dense forest and complete off-roads which became worse after the rain we tried our best but though the sun was setting and we have to return on the same day so we had to cancel it but no regrets though the way towards the waterfall was full of ups and downs but the view of the valley compensate for the rough road. but in the future, I will definitely gonna go there because that 400ft waterfall is worth watching.

The things you should keep in mind before visiting Lava

always check the weather forecast before visiting, also the best time to visit Lava is from September to June depending on which weather you wanna experience. always carry a jacket and a raincoat because you never know what comes in your way.
if you are planning to go on a bike make sure you have a good experience of driving in the mountains because the roads are really dangerous and have exhausting off-roading
be aware of leeches during the rainy day, they spread literally everywhere after the rain.
always wear good trekking shoes and most importantly be updated with the directions, follow the maps, and navigating devices carefully because it's a tricky road where you can be lost especially if you are going for changey falls.
Do check a small video clip of Lava below:
                                                                 music credit-https://www.bensound.com/