Sikkim

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Geo: 27.156, 88.2204

"Small But Beautiful" - that is the state tourist office's motto for Sikkim. Sikkim is a small state located in the northeast corner of the country, bordered by Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. It's true, it is small but beautiful and it felt as if we left India. Considering we needed a permit and got an entry/exit stamps in our passports, we may as well have left India. We left Kolkata on an overnight train and arrived in a town called Siliguri in the morning. We then took a 5-hour bus ride up to the mountain town of Gangtok. The drive up there was stunning. It was like driving through the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon except the habitat was tropical (banana trees, bamboo and orchids), there were monkeys sitting on the side of the road waving to you (and hoping for food), and there were amazing signs reminding you to be safe on the drive. A few of our favorites were: "Get home in peace, not pieces;" "After whisky, roads get risky;" and "Speed thrills, but kills." We had a safe journey, but did see one jeep that had flipped over (with lots of "rubbernecking"drivers.

Sikkim is a remote state set within a beautiful Himalayan mountain range. Buddhism was introduced here in the 15th century and both ancient and new monasteries can be found along with the fluttering prayer flags that we identify with Buddhism and Tibet. There are many differences between the state of Sikkim and the other states of India that we have visited. There is a big focus on conservation and preservation of their natural habitat, hence the requirement for tourists to obtain permits to visit. The town was incredibly clean - so was the air. We did see some trash and spitting (after all, we were still in India), but interestingly, there were stated "spitting free and noise free" zones. These areas were clean and quite peaceful. The main road closed to traffic after 5pm and you could wander the street without fear of being run over; at that point, some sort of flute music (Tibetan maybe) was piped onto the street. The town shuts down at 9:00pm (the normal dinner time in the rest of India) and we got locked out of our hotel the first night when we arrived back at 9:10 and had to shake the door until someone came to let us in. Due to the fact that we were so close to Tibet and Nepal, the locals had an Indian/Asian look to them and we found them to be quite beautiful people - especially the women. Sikkim also has its own beer and several kinds of hard alcohol. Jamie enjoyed a glass of "Old Monk Whiskey" - what else do old monks do with their time? They also had a very strong beer called "Hit" - at 8% alcohol - which is only found in that region as they can not export it elsewhere. Justin pronounced it the best beer he has had in India (Kingfisher, which has a off-tasting chemical preservative, doesn't really cut it).

Our time in Gangtok was a bit of forced relaxation as Justin had an eye infection (which was treated after a visit to an ophthalmologist - $3.70 including three kinds of eyedrops), Jamie had an uninvited bacterial disco party in her stomach, and Stacie got a cold. We had found a great guesthouse in the quiet zone with amazing views of Mt. Khangchendzonga (don't even know how to pronounce that one) and the surrounding peaks, which proved to be a great place to recuperate. We spent a lot of time watching movies and the BBC on cable TV. Because of our illnesses, we didn't do quite as much as planned. We were hoping to put our hiking boots to use, but that didn't happen. We did take a trip to Rumtek, a neighboring town with a colorful monastery built in the 60's which also houses the Dharma Chakra Center which is the official seat of the Gyalwa Karmapa sect of Buddhism. Interestingly, India refuses to let the leader of this sect, who fled from Tibet to India, take his seat as head of this sect - India doesn't want to offend China. As was expected, we saw a lot of Buddhist monks, who live on the premises. It felt a bit weird to mill about in this place that is their home, but it is a tourist destination.

We also took some long walks around town. The town is at 5000 feet and is built into the side of the mountain, so there is not a flat street in the entire city (finally some good exercise). You are either walking up hill or down, but you always have a great view of the surrounding area. The town almost has an alpine feel to it and some of the buildings are decorated with the colorful paintings we presume to be Sikkimese/Tibetan/Nepali designs. It was quite warm during the day - low 60's during the day and the hats that Jamie hurriedly knit (to replace the infamous "Lover" hat) were not put to too much use.

On our last morning, Justin went to a viewpoint to see the sun rise over Mt. Khangchendzonga, the world's third highest mountain. .

The most noticeable difference for us, and one of the most enjoyable parts about being in Sikkim was that as tourists, we were not hassled by a tout - once. We have to say that the most exhausting part about being in India is the constant bombardment by people trying to make their living off of you (Justin was sitting drinking Chai at 8:30 in the morning in Kolkata and was offered the sale of marijuana!). Sikkim was devoid of that hassle. People said "hi" and genuinely wanted to greet us to their town. It made for the most relaxing time we have had in a long time.

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Comments

[mukundthakuri]

pleasure to read its so nice to read that u had a wonderful time in gangtok. hope u come again and write even more wonderful things.