Blogs from Gangtok, Sikkim, India, Asia - page 2

‘Tibetans in exile’ The festival has been organized to acknowledge, honour and sincerely thank the government and people of India and especially the State of Sikkim and its people for providing a refuge in which the Tibetan community has thrived. More great videos every week based on adventure, nature & culture of the most isolated places of India http://www.youtube.com/user/PujaCommunications... read more

We hire a taxi in Lava to take us all the way to Gangtok. The driver is friendly & we have a good trip. Arriving after dark, & in the rain we are greeted at our Guest House by a man with an umbrella, shown our emaculate room and brought a pot of tea. A brilliant welcome! We are staying at the Hidden Forest Retreat, where the room is spotless, the service impeccable, the food excellent and the grounds are amazing! Besides being a guest house, the hidden forest is also an orchid nursery. On day one in Gangtok we wander through town,make arraingements for our trip to Tsomgo Lake, close to the Tibetan border, check e-mails, exchange money, do some shopping & just look around. We get lost, & then find our way. On the ... read more

Geo: 27.3292, 88.6169The Tibetan culture is strong in Sikkim, the people here live a more slower life to that of the bustling cities of India. The locals cast the traditional Saree's away for a more western and labeled look. Nestled among the steep and green hills of Sikkim lies the "Capital" Gangtok.After taking a bumpy and squished in five hour shared jeep ride we finally arrived into Gangtok, though it was dark. It was a tad warmer than Darjeeling but it is at a lower altitude.We nestled into the New Modern Central Lodge at a cheap price but the room we got was along a main road so there was a lot of noise, especially the car horns.After an early rise from the noise Irma and myself finally got our act together for some breakfast. We ... read more

I'm now writing from Sikkim, India! I came here yesterday, leaving the house at 7:30 and taking a cab to the airport. I packed my bags that morning, I'm getting good at doing it quickly, keeping all "vital" items in my day pack, i.e., those items that cannot be replaced if lost/stolen - these included wallet, all electronics and my Red Sox baseball cap. The domestic section of the airport is really just one large concrete room, with various counters set up and some chairs for waiting. When you first enter, your bags are x-rayed, you go through a metal detector and are given the world's gentlest pat-down (by gender specific officers). The checking in process is actually incredibly well-organized. Your ticket tells you what time to arrive at the airport, and at that time ... read more

IRGENDWIE HABEN WIR immer wieder glueck, sei es dass wir aus unangenehmen situationen abhauen koennen oder wir kommen wieder mal zufaellig an orten vorbei, wo wir seltene feiern oder zeremonien beobachten koennen! SO WIE HIER IN SIKKIM, genauer gesagt in ravangla! beim vorherigen aufenthalt haben wir erfahren, dass es zu einem grossen moment fuer die hiesige monastry & fuer ganz sikkim kommen wird! die karma thekcheling monastry wurde ja soeben fertiggestellt und in der umgebung wird gerade an der groessten buddhastatue (60m hoch!) dem sakyamuniprojekt (http://www.sakyamuniproject.com/main.htm) eifrig gebaut! nun haben die sikkimesen die thai gebeten, ob diese nicht bereit waeren, relikte von buddha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relic#Buddhist_relics) zu spenden, welche unter der buddhastatue in einem schrein aufbewahrt werden sollen! fuer ein buddhistisches kloster ein unermessliche... read more