Sikkim

Trip Start Jul 28, 2007
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Trip End Nov 10, 2008


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Thursday, December 13, 2007

Getting was a nightmare!  I took the train from Delhi and it should have taken a long 30 hours, but believe it or not, the train had a 17 HOURS DELAY!!!  Some people where getting drunk and very loud by the time I arrived in Siliguri.  I got there at 11 pm and was sure I was gonna have to spend a 3rd night on the train.  Of course, nobody could tell me the whole day when we would actually arrive.  Luckily, I met 2 guys from Australia who were also looking for a place to sleep because the cheap places were closed and we had to share a room in a nire expensive hotel.

Sikkim is in the north of India and borders Tibet and Nepal so you need a permit to visit.  Then, in order to reach some places closer to the Chinese border you must travel in group and get an extra permit, so I was a bit restricted in where I could go.

At first I was very disappointed with Sikkim.  When I got to Gangtok the capital, I was a few days late for the chaam dances and couldn't see the mountains at all!  Plus the city is a total mess!  They are redoing the streets every where and since you're in a mountainous area you have to walk up or down all the time, not the ideal road when you have to carry a huge backpack !!!  But, I had a room with hot water and a TV!!!  So I washed my hair and spent a few evening watching whatever was playing on TV even cartoons!  Also, there is a nice bakery in Gangtok where they had Christmas decorations and nice food at reasonnable price.  So a relaxing time before heading to the temples and smaller villages in the mountains.

While in Sikkim I had to travel by shared jeep, the roads are not really suitable for buses.  They are quite steep and curve all the time.  I first did the monastery trek.  There are monasteries every where around here!  Well, really, I walked along the road for about 15km for 3 days and took a path for 3 hours on the second day.  The weather was so nice during the day that it was lovely to walk around.  Mornings and evenings were really cold though and I was really happy to have my sleeping bag with me!  I got up to see the sunrise every morning.  The first morning in Pelling I was able to see the mountains from 6h10 till 6h25 then they dissapeared for the rest of the day!  Luckily the weather cleared up and the view was better afterwards.  On the way there I met a couple from Montreal and we ended up staying at the same place one night and sharing a few meals together later.  The guy is a climber and does ice climbing in my home town, small world!  We slept in a small village in a family guesthouse.  Extremely basic, but the people were lovely.  Sikkim really feels like a totaly different country.  The population is mainly Nepali mixed with Tibetans and even Bhutanes.  So the food is mainly Tibetan.  Everywhere you can see prayer flags, but they are standing up rather than flying horizontaly like in Tibet.  Wherever you are, weather permitting, you can get a glimpse of Khangchendzonga, the third highest mountain in the world after Everest and K2! 

Then I went to the north where you can get the best view of the mountain and what a view it was!  I was so happy to be there and to have a clear view!  Again, I visited some monasteries.  The monks may not have reached Nirvana yet, but man, they know where to live. They always have the most wonderful views from their monastery!  It's so peaceful up there!  Sikkim is very clean and so relaxing (no beggars for 10 days)!  A lovely time!  Wish I could have gone further though (couldn't without a group and now it's not the touristic season), maybe next time........
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