Sikkim Tour - September 2005

Sikkim is a small state (about the size of Yellowstone National Park) wedged between Nepal and Bhutan just below Tibet. Originally an independent Bhuddist kingdom, it was absorbed by India in 1974.

Just getting there is an adventure in travel and paperwork. We set off from Kathmandu after a 7am breakfast at the Northfield Cafe (started by a guy from Minnesota) and caught a flight on Bhudda Air to Bradrapur. The plane, an 18-seat propeller-driven model, is full and quite cramped. Cotton is passed out to help cut the engine noise, but the flight is otherwise a smooth one. From the airport, a half-hour cab ride (stuffed four across between the luggage) brought us to the India border. Nepal immigration and money changing was followed by an hour at India immigration. Passport details and visa numbers are carefully copied by hand into large bound ledgers; stacks of ledgers from past years are everywhere in the small office. After signing the ledgers we piled into a much larger Land Cruiser and headed to Siliguri. Another hour and a half in Siliguri is required to get the special permits you need to enter Sikkim. It was over 90 degrees and dripping humid. At last we were off North across the West Bengal plains.

The Himalaya do not have foothills; the plains meet the mountains at right angles and the long climb into Sikkim begins abruptly. Below the snows of the highest peaks the mountains are cloaked in thick jungle - vivid green, waterfalls and streams everywhere and very lush. Monkeys in large numbers clutter the roadside and mix with cows, dogs and other livestock.

Two hours from Siliguri we reach the Sikkim border and pause for a final round of permit checking and signing the hand-written ledgers. The air cools steadily as we climb, but the humidity remains. Roads are a challenge here because of the steep terrain and the damage inflicted by the Monsoons each summer. Just one and a half lanes are available and every inch of pavement and shoulder is used to squeeze past the large trucks carrying everything to and from the area. It's best not to look...

After four hours in the vehicle we are just 15 kilometers from our destination when luck runs out. A large truck has been knocked sideways, completely blocking the road with its front wheels spinning uselessly in the air above the long drop to the valley floor. It is dark and we are facing the possibility of a night in the car when the owner of the company arranging our trip appears in the window! He had heard of the accident and procured another jeep which is waiting for us on the other side of the truck. We carry the luggage, ducking under the truck, and assemble everything in the other jeep. Another 45 minutes' travel brings is to the hotel in Pelling and we finally sit down to dinner at 9:45pm. The long travel day is over.

Our hotel, the Phamrong, is comfortable but dysfunctional. The first task when taking a room is to find at least one functioning lightbulb. Each bathroom (I got moved three times) has some new and interesting problem which must be solved or accommodated. I got pretty good at "showering" with a bucket of water and a scoop to pour it over me. Power and water failures are not uncommon. Meals require placing an order some hours in advance and then waiting up to an hour at the table before, say, a pot of tea arrives. Breakfast aside, the food was pretty good, although spicy. One evening we had a special Sikkimese meal with nettle soup, boiled ferns and Chang. Chang is the traditional brew of fermented millet to which you add hot water to extract the flavor and spirits. A bit moldy, but you get used to it...

The next several days follow a lazy pattern. We climb in the Land Cruiser after breakfast and spend an hour or two over rough roads to reach a monestary or temple about 15 miles away. They don't actually close the roads to repair monsoon damage, but you have to plow through active construction sites to get anywhere. It's breathtaking to look out the side window and see nothing but air and birds between you and the valley floor.

You can follow the tour days below for pictures and stories of the sites we visited.

Our return to Kathmandu was a mirror of the outward journey; long bumpy ride down the mountains, paperwork at the borders, stewing in the heat of the day while waiting for a delayed flight and finally twisting through the evening traffic back to our hotel.

I have selected 48 of the 150 pictures I took during the tour. The images on the web site are "snapshot" format, about 1/4th the size of the originals. If you have a particular favorite, I can send an original by email.

Let me know what you think, and enjoy the tour. Click on the "Sikkim Tour" link in the upper-left corner of this page or any of the days' destination links below to get started.