or is that just because it is the least populus and most remote? sikkim, the indian state just to the north of where we've been staying in the Darjeeling Region, was it's own country up until 1975.
in darjeeling we thought we were at the cross roads of the world. this is even more true in sikkim, which borders nepal to the west, bhutan to the east and tibet (on some maps we've just seen it identified as china) to the north. and speaking of china, they do not recognize that sikkim is now part of india.
after 3 hours spent in darjeeling getting our permits to allow us to enter sikkim we were ready to begin the 1 1/2 hr shared jeep (like a bus but smaller to pass on these narrow windy mountainous roads) ride to the north. getting back to these permits-they are only required for foreigners. they do not cost money-just time.
it involves going to the magistrates office and filling out a form. the person at the window transcribes (by hand-at government offices i rarely see any computers) all of our personal information into a large ledger book and then stamps our form. we then walk our form across town to the foreigner's registration office, where another man transcribes all of our personal information into a large ledger book (again by hand!) and then stamps our form. we now walk the 30 minute walk across town back to the magistrates's office and in exchange for our form we are given our permit. oh india.
complaint and suggestion boxes in the magistrates office building. i wonder if anyone ever checks these boxes?
with our permits in hand we decided to refuel before beginning the journey north so we went to hotel lunar for lunch. this was one of several general listings in our guide book and by far one of the best meals we've had in a restaurant on this whole trip. the service was attentive while giving us space and time to enjoy our food and conversation. i love how many restaurants have personalized tableware
gobi parantha, aloo gobi, chana masala, rice and crazy indian pickles (which maggie likes and seth doesn't)
after we ate they gave us each little bowls of warm water with lemon wedges to wash our fingers. feels so nice!
we made our way back down to the shared jeep area. all of these narrow windy unpaved roads would be even more treacherous in a bus so most of the public transportation is in large jeeps. this would be safer for everyone except more often than not the outside is covered with men. you usually don't have to pay if you hang onto the back or ride on the top. a nice bonus since you'd probably be instantaneously killed in case of an accident. it is good to see the efficiency of travelling with so many people in (and on) one vehicle. the highest we experienced (on another ride) was 21 people.
life on the wild side. note the tea growing along the side of the road.
our time in sikkim was limited, so we decided to head to the less tourist-visited areas in the western part of the country. here are just some of the highlights-
orchids are so plentiful here that restaurants used long stalks full of them on each table as centerpieces.
we spent our first night in Namchi. everything we had read about Sikkim hyped it up as the cleaner smarter cousin of India. we were still shocked to see when we arrived that towns actually were cleaner. the town center had a lovely fountain and aquarium-it felt strangely european. plastic bags are banned in Sikkim ('though we did see some) and they have plans that all vegetables grown there will be done so organically by 2010.
one weird thing we discovered about Sikkim is that many restaurant names begin with the word 'hotel', so it makes it a bit misleading when looking for lodging.
the town of Namchi is putting itself on the map with the construction of large Buddhist and Hindu monuments.
first we visited Samdruptse, the world's largest statue of the Buddha, an impressive 138' of pure happiness. His Holiness (himself) the Dalai Lama laid the foundation stone on 22 oct 1997.
and what makes the Buddha so happy? the longhorns, that's right!
on the hill across town is Solophok, the sprawling Hindu complex still under construction. while he is 'only' 102 tall, there will be many more buildings than the Buddhist neighbor across the way. we were amazed that at a site under so much construction we were just able to wander around on our own. no one wore hardhats, i dont even remember seeing all of the workers wearing shoes. it was fascinating to see such detailed architecture in progress.
maggie with Lord Shiva the destroyer. let's hope all of this construction isn't for naught.
from Namchi we headed further northwest to Pelling, the land of hotels. and these were actually lodging hotels, who also had restaurants, and not just restaurants called hotels. we stayed at the Hotel Garuda, which had delicious local cuisine (stay tuned for more in a future posting). we had to know what to ask for and look on the last page of the menu as most travellers (disappointingly) don't have any interest in the local fare, said the hotel staff.
the main attraction of Pelling are breathtaking views of the Himalayas, however this time of year there is a lot of haze so we were only able to get a couple of small glimpses. those alone were very impressive and we would love to come back in the fall when the sky is clear. we imagine it would be like Montana Big Sky Country but with massive mountains instead of sky.
a few kilometers from town is Pemayangtse, the second oldest Buddhist monastery in Sikkim. there are 3 floors and as we climbed higher the detail of the paintings, sculptures and adornments increased as well.
Buddhist prayer flags in honor of victims of 9/11, coalition forces in iraq afghanistan and innocent civilians, late karma ishering and sonam zangmoo, sergio-de-lemo (UN Envoy) and Anna Lindh, madrid train blast, iran 2003 earthquake, and victims of genocide, mass murder ethnic cleansing around the world.
happy seth after spinning a ~12' tall prayer wheel. we have a video of this and when we can get a faster internet connection we'll put that up!
apparently seth's shoes are not made for walking because they have been falling apart at the seams. we'd been seeing shoe repairmen (never women-they are too busy carrying heavy things on their heads) in our travels and we finally had the time to have the work done. in the end it took about 25 minutes and it cost 60 Rupees (that's $1.20). it was beautiful to watch this man's hands at work.
the most environmental way to be - repair it, don't just throw it out and buy new.
when we read that there were hot springs in Sikkim we knew that no trip would be complete without a visit. fortunately our guidebook didn't give any more information than a passing mention. so when we eventually arrived we were the only non-locals. it was way more low-key that what we had been expecting. a line of sandbags pooled up the warm sulfury water from flowing into the adjacent Rangit River. i made sure to be well covered wearing a swim suit, under a t-shirt and long flowy pants. meanwhile local women already soaking away when we arrived were ready for the S. Padre Island Spring Break wet t-shirt contest.
seth in tato pani (tato=hot, pani=water) having cold river water poured onto him by a naked little boy.
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