Glorious scenery in Sikkim


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October 10th 2009
Published: November 13th 2009
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Linny and a tiny lady from West BengalLinny and a tiny lady from West BengalLinny and a tiny lady from West Bengal

All the tindigineous West Bngali people, male and female, are very tiny.
We left Darjeeling and drove - on really rough roads - through many tea plantations to the Sikkim border. Heading north towards Legship on roads that were in much better condition we began our seven days in Sikkim. As usual our driver was lovely and he was also the best driver we've had the entire trip. This man handled the bends and traffic on the narrow roads brilliantly! The scenery was lush - totally stunning and so much better then we were expecting. Lots of very tall bamboo, terraced rice paddies, flowers (bougainvillea, wild ginger, trumpet flowers and many common wildflowers) - totally unexpected as it was late autumn here - summer and spring must be very colourful, plus dozens of tiny bamboo houses and always the river flowing very fast below us. There were no mountain views yet but we were traveling along narrow deep gorges, with many water falls flowing from above us onto the road. The river was all white water and for the next week we barely lost sight of it - and it was constantly frothing rapids. Part way through the morning we stopped at a checkpoint to have our permits cleared.
Our first stop was
Jerry and Linny with Khangchendzonga Mountain in the backgroundJerry and Linny with Khangchendzonga Mountain in the backgroundJerry and Linny with Khangchendzonga Mountain in the background

The third highest mountain in the world - 8586 metres
at the Tashiding Monastery - absolutely my very favourite one in Sikkim. We approached it up a winding road which was edged with mani walls (walls brightly painted with prayer symbols) and avenues of tall white prayer flags hung on bamboo poles. These avenues of white prayer flags we found were a characteristic of monasteries in Sikkim. Tashiding Monastery was founded in 1641 and is used everyday by the local Tibetan community for prayers. It comprised of five brightly painted religious buildings, one of which was totally taken up with an enormous copper prayer wheel. It was very heavy and even Jerry had trouble turning it. Again we later saw many more of these large wheels in other monasteries in Sikkim. The whole area was covered in wildflowers and at the end of the complex was a large area of chortens and walls lined with manni stones and carvings of Buddhas. The buildings are set high above a very deep valley, covered with layers of rice terraces. We spoke to a couple of elderly ladies doing the prayer circuit - they were very charming as they sat and tried to talk to us whilst spinning their large prayer wheels. There was an old man nearly blind from cataracts who was carefully topping up the sacred pot of water kept in the main temple. This water is used once a year by the monks to predict the future. A fascinating place!
That evening we were staying in the tiny village of Yuksom, deep in the valley. Though still sitting at 1780 m above sea level, and the beginning of a major trek to the base camp of Mt Khangchendzonga (the 3rd highest mountain in the world) which straddles the border between India and Nepal. It is a hard high altitude trek, using yaks and there are snowfields and glaciers to cross. It is becoming an increasingly popular trek - 10 to 12 days - but we have spoken to people who were forced back by severe weather conditions. The village was very tiny - only a short street of tiny cafes and guest houses (one large very out of place 5 star hotel though) and it was pouring with rain when we arrived after dark. We had passed two very large waterfalls since leaving the monastery and the roads were even narrower, with evidence of very recent landslides. Sikkim had got a lot of rain from an unseasonal rain trough which had hit Assam and caused severe flooding in central India. The rainy day we had in Darjeeling was the edge of it - we had anxiously been watching the heavy rain clouds on the horizon over Sikkim from our hotel window in Darjeeling. It rained all night but we woke to a sunny morning. We spent the morning climbing up through very mature forest on a lovely cobbled , though slippery with thick moss, footpath to Dubdi Gompa (monastery) - we spent some time talking to three children who were on their way from a village above us to Yuksom to visit the doctor at the hospital. Lovely kids, the eldest girl was only 13 years old. Mum and Dad were busy working in the fields. Back in Yuksom we visited a newer monastery in the village before setting off to find the original coronation throne of the first ruler of the once kingdom (Sikkim was an independent state until 1975 when the ruler was deposed by the Indian Government after a revolt by Sikkim's Nepalese population - shades of what is happening today re the Gorkhaland dispute) - we did find it - a chair made from white washed stone. It was near a sacred pond surrounded with a circle of white prayer flags from where water was taken during the coronation.
Yuksom was very pretty though it had no views of the snow capped Himalayan mountains as it was set too deeply in the valley. Regretfully we left after lunch - it would have been a great spot to spend another day! That afternoon we visited Khachoedpairi Lake, another holy lake surrounded by white prayer flags, with a bamboo jetty out into the water. From the end of this jetty pilgrims (including our drivers' young brother - he came with us as company for our driver) place offerings into the water. A very peaceful place! Late that afternoon we arrived in Pelling where we were to spend two nights. It was a totally unimpressive town - merely a 2 klm long string of hotels along the ridge top. It's claim to fame is that it is only 25 klms from the base of Khangchendzonga so there are breath taking views of the Himalayan peaks from there. We had a great hotel room - though a bad hotel restaurant with stone cold food - but woke to a misty morning with no views at all! That was why we had planned on staying two nights there - just in case the mountains didn't appear the first morning. After lunch our driver took us to nearby Pemayangtse Gompa, which was set high on a mountaintop behind Pelling. The most interesting sight at this monastery, beside the fabulous view, was a seven tier model of a heavenly abode, made from brass by one monk over five years. Very weird! Next stop were the ruins of Rabdentse, once the capitol of Sikkim (from 1670 to 1814). Back to Pelling that evening and next morning we did get a tantalizing view of the mountain tops, though unfortunately the full range stayed out of sight.
Driving again through spectacular scenery we passed more waterfalls and watched the ribbon of the river wind it's way through the valley far below. We had lunch in Namchi, a pretty typical town though with a very nice central town square (which was was the bus station - so much nicer now for the locals) before heading to Namchi's claim to fame - a 45 metre statue of Buddha painted in shimmering copper and bronze paint. It was 9 klms from Namchi - though visible clearly from the town square. It was only completed in 1994 and is slightly kitsch, but none the less impressive when you are standing beside it! We spent the evening in Ravangla, an interesting little city which we enjoyed wandering around that evening. We woke to great views of the mountains!
Next morning we drove the 13 klms to Rangla Monastery, which despite the short distance took a long time as the road was very rough and winding. Our driver had never taken tourists there before because it is a little remote. We wanted to visit as it was a working monastery and home to 500 monks. It was a fascinating place - thronged with monks in their maroon robes doing their daily chores. All the young monks were in the classroom, teenage monks were gardening and a group were making large masks for an upcoming ceremony by weaving cotton around long sticks. They wear these masks to frighten away negative energy. The main monastery building was very interesting though it was only new. The paintwork was very colourful as it hadn't faded with time. In the grounds they were also casting fibreglass into religious icons and another workshop was making the brass roof statues which adorn all the Buddhist monasteries.
That evening we arrived in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. No vehicles from outside of Sikkim are allowed into the central city area so we offloaded into a local taxi and met our driver next day. Not a lot to see in the city though it had a really lovely traffic free shopping mall which was very pretty (and busy) after dark. We walked to the Sikkim Co Operative area and wandered through the various workshops there. Next morning we woke early and realised that the mountains were on view so quickly grabbed a taxi and went to the Tashi viewpoint on the edge of the city for a wonderful cloud free view of the mountains! It had to happen eventually..... If only we had still been in Pelling.
Collecting our jeep we headed out of the city to Rumtek Gompa, a very large monastery complex. This monastery was very heavily guarded and we even had to show our passports to enter it. It was only built in the 1960's to replace a monastery (of the Buddhist Flying Black Hat Sect) in Tibet which was destroyed by the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution. Within is a giant throne on which they hope to eventually crown their spiritual leader who is currently in exile with the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala. The Indian government won't allow his return to Rumtek in case they upset the Chinese Government. Also within the complex is a jewel studded box holding the ashes of a previous highly respected leader, plus a box containing a priceless jeweled headgear used during the coronation. Nobody has seen it since 1993 when the previous leader died, only when the currently exiled leader is crowned will any body open the box to check whether it is still in the box! We spent the next few hours were spent driving through more scenic, though dustier, countryside until we reached the township of Kalimpong. Our permits for Sikkim were canceled as we left the state - tossed into a very large overflowing cardboard box full of thousands of other canceled permits. It keeps government officials employed I guess....
We loved Kalimpong - it had a border town feel. Very dusty and dirty but full of interesting little streets and shops. Lovely drive up the 13 klms from the highway to get there - a road full of twists and turns. Diwali celebrations had started when we arrived so all the buildings were strung with coloured lights and there was a carnival on in the stadium in the centre of the town. There were dozens of vendors selling strands of orange marigolds - these are used to decorate shops and houses for Diwali. We spent the morning wandering around the town and after lunch our driver took us to what we though was going to be an orphanage - it once was - but now is a very expensive boarding school. Also to a couple more viewpoints of the surrounding valleys and mountains and an orchid nursery (the town is renowned for it's orchids) There was a terrible traffic jam to leave the town though so I wandered the shops beside the car. Like other towns in the region it was covered in Ghorkaland slogans and flags. We arrived back in Darjeeling after dark (and another traffic jam on the edge of Darjeeling) and went back to the Tranquillity Hotel.
We had loved Sikkim - the scenery was spectacular (it would be a fabulous area to trek in), I loved all the bamboo and rush houses, the tiny West Bengali people (they are minute!) that we spotted and the monasteries were particularly beautiful.
We spent two more nights in Darjeeling enjoying the Diwali celebrations. The houses and shops were strung with marigolds and lights and after dark candles were lit along the footpaths and balconies. It was very pretty! One of the funnier aspects of the celebrations is that over the 3 days of the festival animals are also garlanded with marigolds. There were a lot of scabby street dogs running around with garlands around their necks - I'm sure they would have preferred a feed! From inside the houses we could hear children singing Diwali songs and we only went back to the hotel after nearly getting our ear drums damaged by exploding fireworks. We read later in the papers that many of the fireworks sold were dangerous due to their excessive noise levels on explosion. We sat on the hotel roof in relative safety and watched the skies explode around us. On the roof opposite were a group of young girls cheering every time one went off and between times letting off their own fountain fireworks and dancing amidst the sparkles. All the kids in town were dressed in their best clothes (tulle, sequins and fake fur for the little girls) with many traditional dresses also being worn. We woke next morning to a special Diwali breakfast prepared by our lovely landlady - the best rice 'pudding' I've ever tasted.
We dragged our luggage down the hill and bought 3 seats in a share jeep (one each and one for the luggage) for the hour drive halfway down the hill to the tea plantation town of Kurseong. Jane had loved this area so we decided to spend our last night there and visit her favourite tea plantation. Good idea but of course with Diwali everything was shut for the holiday! We did have a great walk through the plantations though so it was worth doing. Next morning we planned on catching another share taxi to the railway station as we had berths booked to Kolkata that evening. However nobody would take us - there were absolutely no taxis going down the hill because it was the day during the Diwali festival that all the young men were expected to spend with their families (and all the taxi drivers are young men!) and none wanted to drive us. For once in India money wasn't even talking. Jerry was off desperately trying to find a driver when the toy train steamed into town and they had 2 seats available. We grabbed them and jumped on - we did get to the bottom 5 hours later! A long trip made more enjoyable by all the little kids who came out to wave at the train as it passed. All the men we passed were wearing garlands of flowers given to them by their sisters as part of the celebrations. Arrived in NJP and boarded our train - our Indian adventure was nearly over..


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Copper prayer wheel and door frameCopper prayer wheel and door frame
Copper prayer wheel and door frame

These wheels were very large and heavy!


6th July 2010

A place worth seeing in life
Sikkim a small place in indeed very enjoyable. In seeing the faces of people and place in around Sikkim, it seems that religion is deeply rooted in that beautiful region.

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