seven days in Sikkim

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Having bid a sad farewell to Jess and Bert, we caught the overnight train to Siliguri in West Bengal. This was the end of the railway line, and from then on it was to be jeeps or buses. Our next stop was to be Kalimpong, so we booked our seats beneath a sign announcing ' Buses to the Hilly Regions'.
Kalimpong is a smaller, quieter version of Darjeeling on the Sikkim border. It was used as a hill station by the Raj administration when it was too hot in the plains, and we too were very thankful for the drop in temperature.
It's a pleasant town, were the Tibetan, Indian and Burmese races meet and mix. Alongside this is the accompanying mixture of faiths: Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists co-habiting seemingly well. It does make you wonder about Partition.
On 23rd April we crossed the border into Sikkim and headed for the capital, Gangtok, a three and a half hour jeep ride. The hills gave way to mountains, though still wooded, and with the sun on the pines there was a rich, aromatic fragrance in the air.
Gangtok is hilly, with steep roads, and spread out over a mountainside. When clear there are supposedly wonderful views across Sikkim, with Kanchendzonga, the world's third highest mountain, on the western border. Sadly, there was little visibility whilst we were there and the distant views were shrouded in mist.
It's a very lively town, and the cultural mix of Tibetans, Nepalis and Indians is apparent in the faces and the dress. Whilst Nepali is the official language, many different tongues can be heard.
On our first evening there, we signed up for a three day tour of the North, and the following morning headed off in a jeep with a German guy, Uwe, and a 'guide' - who had never been to that region before, and whose command of English was fairly limited. For 15-20kms the road was OK but soon deteriorated, becoming a narrow dirt track. Although this is the main-and only-road north, the weather constantly erodes the surface, and with landslides common on some stretches, a jeep is the only means of transport. A 130 km ride on this road took five and a half hours!
It is a popular spot for Bengali tourists, and there were many other jeeps heading north with us. Whilst this appeared ominous, we were assured that 'Indians don't like to walk, so won't stray far from the road'. Fortunately, this proved to be true.
Our 'hotel' was more like a homestay with our hosts a Sikkimese family of Tibetan origin. Our food was very basic, and quirky, due in part to their attempt to cater for Westerners. One meal included rice, potatoes and pasta. Enough starch to keep a professional cyclist topped up! Lacheng, the village where we stayed, is approx. 3,500m. so altitude began to be a feature, noticed as soon as we exerted ourselves.
We took the jeep on up to Yumthang, the most northerly village in Sikkim before border sensitivities kick in. We were very close to the Chinese (Tibetan) border, and foreigners are not allowed there.
The drive from Lacheng was steep, climbing into pine then rhododendron forest , before reaching Yumthang. The tree line in Sikkim is very high at 4000+, which produces a unique landscape. Looking up at very high mountains that are still tree covered is quite disorienting, giving a confused sense of altitude. They shouldn't be there! Sadly, the 'rhodies' were only just starting to bloom. When they are in full flower, covering the whole valley, it must be a wondrous sight.
We then headed on for a further 25kms up the road. A snow drift blocked any further advance by jeep, so we started walking up the valley. The vista from every point was spectacular. Whilst the valley floor on which we were walking was mostly clear of snow, all around were snow capped peaks and frozen waterfalls, and there were high mountains on all sides. We were very lucky, too, with the weather, for as we had climbed from Lacheng so the cloud cover dispersed to reveal a clear blue sky with the massive peaks clearly defined in the distance.
The floor was beginning to be covered by alpine meadow plants and tiny purple primulas, and as we walked along a strong, sage like aroma was produced whenever we walked on a ground-hugging herb. It was also at this point, approx. 4.500m, that the going got tough as soon as we had to climb anything steep. We were walking mostly along the deserted road which snaked its way up the west side of the valley, but when we took a short cut across country we were reminded of how high up we were. It is a salutary experience, being surrounded by such power and majesty, and a helpful reminder of ones insignificance in the scheme of things.
We returned to the 'hotel' for another quirky meal and slept the sleep of the dead. After a four hour walk at that altitude we were totally knackered!
We returned to Gangtok, and spent a morning travelling out to Rumtek Monastery, the Karmapa's 'seat'. He's the young head of the Kagyu sect, and is the third most important figure in contemporary Tibetan Buddhism, after the Dalai and Panchen Lamas. He was smuggeled into India in 2000, but has been detained in Dharmsala and hasn't yet been officially allowed to take up his seat in Rumtek, for fear of upsetting the Chinese Government.
Our journey out to Rumtek was delightful, squeezed into one of the jeeps that act as local buses cum delivery cum postal vans. As well as picking up passengers, the driver stopped at farms and houses on the way to drop off mail and churns to be collected when full at the end of the day. It was a friendly trip, with people greeting each other as they got on, and those standing in their gardens or shop fronts waving and pressing their hands together in 'Namaste' as we drove past.
The monastery was surprisingly small considering the importance of the Karmapa, but it also has a huge teaching centre, and the Golden Stupa houses a huge golden reliquary, probably containing some remains of the previous Karmapa.
There is such a different atmosphere in the gompas here, possibly because of the large numbers of tourists, mainly Indian, visiting. There were notices everywhere about what not to do ( including photography) and lots of areas are padlocked or encased in glass, so lacked the intimicy of the gompas we saw last time in Ladakh.
We had planned to go West to Pelling for a few days, but transport proved impossible because of election fever. National polling day in West Bengal was on 31st April, and nearly everybody was travelling out to their home villages or towns to cast their vote so all buses and jeeps were fully booked. In the event, we had to stay put for three days, and Voting Day was like a Bank Holiday with all shops and restaurants etc. closed. Because of the time scale involved in our forward planning, we felt we couldn't afford any more time in Sikkim, so sadly had to give Pelling a miss.
Our decision to go back to Pakistan for the last month of our trip meant that we had to cross the border there by the 26th May, when our Indian visas expired. We'd heard that it was easier to get Pakistani visas in Kathmandu rather than Delhi, and as this process would take more than a week, there was no contest.
After life returned to normal, with the election over, we were able to continue our journey onward to Nepal.

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