Linda and Mals Asian Adventure: Sikkim

Sikkim: Until 1975, Sikkim was a separate Kingdom to India, a referendum where Indian nationals with tenuous links to Sikkim were allowed to vote on a mandate of whether Sikkim should Join India, the result was that Sikkim is now a state of India. The native Sikkamese are still not overly happy about the way in which the referendum was executed and feel that they were cheated. That said Sikkim is an awesome state. It has little of the familiar Indian filth and pollution we have seen over the last 6 months. The scenery is breathtaking and apart from Gangtok ( the Capital of Sikkim ) it remains mostly unspoilt.

An influx of middleclass Bengalis from Kolkota has promoted a lot of messy scruffy developments around Gangtok. Luckily the state of Sikkim’s roads have stalled much development. The road network is a total mess and a 4 wheel drive is essential to reach most parts of Sikkim, this saving grace has virtually stopped any development much further than Gangtok. Lets hope it stays that way, whom would think we would be applauding crap roads !

We had 5 days in Sikkim; the journey from Darjeeling to Sikkim was especially beautiful. We stayed overnight in a place called Pelling where we had a really spectacular storm to greet us and no electricity either! The next morning we woke up to some of the most spectacular scenery on the planet. Views of the Indian Himalaya.
The previous evening we had walked up to a local Monastery before making a hasty downward trek ahead of the incoming storm. From Pelling we went to Yuksom via more great scenery and monasteries. Yuksom is a small village set in a deep valley with the obligatory Buddhist Monastery overlooking it from a nearby hilltop, which of course we climbed.

The next morning we went to see yet more Monasteries and took in some local waterfalls, staying overnight in a small village called Ravangla. Not a lot to see here but a good geographical location for the next days traveling. We took to the road early the next day and visited the spectacular ( any guesses ?) Monasteries at Rumtok before ending up in the messy overcrowded capital of Gangtok. Strangely enough we managed to pick out some superb accommodation in the way of a tiny but pretty guest house whose garden of flowers would put many botanical gardens to shame.

Our last day we traveled from Gangtok to Kalimpong ( back in West Bengal ). Kalimpong is the regions centre for flower producing and had many pretty nurseries publishing the fact. A separate blog of flower pictures will follow. We left India a couple of days later as our Visa had run out. So that was India al, 6 months worth, did we enjoy it ? YES we certainly did. There are many facets to India and even in 6 months we hardly saw anything but what we did we enjoyed. There were moments where this wasn’t the case, the episode of the washed up Olive Riddley turtles would rate as one of them. The better moments were far too many to mention and we would certainly consider exploring more of this amazingly different and complex country.