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Sikkim: Barely India

Monday, December 8th, 2008

We’ve spent the past few days in the Himalayan state of Sikkim, which was cold and mostly overcast, but worthwhile all the same. A respite from the very Indian-ness of India was much appreciated, as Sikkim feels like a completely different country. In fact it has historically been separate from India, and still feels more like the former Himalayan kingdoms nearby than India itself. Three ethnic groups (including Nepalis) make up the population, there isn’t a rickshaw or sadhu in sight, and it is devoid of the general noise, chaos and dirtiness that define so much of India.

KangchendzongaWe spent our first two days in Pelling, visiting the two oldest Buddhist monasteries in Sikkim, which were pleasant if unspectacular. The views from Pelling are said to be majestic, though we barely saw any of them as it was overcast for 99 per cent of the time in the parts of four days that we spent there. Fortunately one morning a tiny portion of the sky – quite literally about one per cent – became clear for a very brief time, and that portion remarkably happened to include the highest mountain we’ve ever seen: Kangchendzonga, which at 8586m is the third highest mountain in the world after Everest and K2.

VillageMoving on from Pelling, we wanted to see a nearby lake and in doing so stumbled onto a fabulous, tiny village that was extremely rewarding in its innocence and remoteness. A 20-minute scramble uphill from the nearest road, the village has 23 houses, about 100 residents and one monastery. There are no roads or transport in the village and most of the houses are wooden, creating a picturesque scene even though Kangchendzonga is not visible from there. We spent two nights relaxing there, chatting with the 12-year-old boy at our homestay who can speak five languages, playing cricket with the other kids and enjoying the peace and quiet.

ChurchYesterday we returned to Darjeeling, which was as overcast as it had been during our first visit. But today was a fabulous morning, and we spent it looking at Kangchendzonga in the distance, walking through tea plantations and admiring some of the British architecture here. It’s really quite amazing how our perception of this town changed almost instantly when the sun came out.

Tonight we’re going by train to the city that was, almost five years ago, the first place we ever visited in India: Calcutta, which I should probably start calling Kolkata by now. From there we have only one more region to visit in India: the state of Orissa with its three famous Hindu temples that are said to rival any of the historic religious structures in the rest of the country.

Meanwhile, I’ve put up a bunch more photos here.

Posted in Asia, India, South Asia | Comments Off on Sikkim: Barely India

Hurry Burry Spoils the Curry

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

So said a roadside sign on the way up to Darjeeling in West Bengal. I think it means ‘Slow Down’, but it struck me as a particularly unusual and indirect way of advising drivers.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Having been sort of forced into returning to Jaipur and Agra when we didn’t really want to, I started to doubt whether I wanted to go back to Varanasi either, as at this point we really wanted to go somewhere new. In the end, though, we stuck to the plan and went to India’s holiest city for a second time, and were very glad for it.

It’s hard to describe Varanasi to someone who’s never been there, but I’ll try anyway. The city manages to simultaneously teem with both life and death, and no where else in India (or anywhere in the world that I’ve been to) is the very rawness of humanity on display as it is here, from people defecating right in front of you on the banks of the Ganga (next to cows doing the exact same thing), to hundreds of people bathing in the same river at the same time, to seeing dead bodies literally burning on the banks of the river right as you walk past, a sight that is possibly the most arresting and thought-provoking of my life to this point and one that never fails to astonish me. It’s a dirty and in many ways disgusting city, yes, but it is always fascinating and you can’t help be moved by it.

Having stayed in the alleyways of the old city last time, this time we stayed north from that area on the river itself, with a seven-roomed window that gave us magnificent views over one of the bathing ghats of the Ganga and allowed us the rare and precious opportunity of being able to observe India at peace without participating in it.

Somewhat revitalised, we headed northeast to Darjeeling, over 200m above sea level and the springboard for tomorrow’s expedition to Sikkim, a small state bordered by Nepal to the west, Bhutan to the east and Tibet (or, as the Chinese like to call it, ‘China’) to the north. Already in Darjeeling we are seeing different faces (of Tibetan and Chinese origin) and a different type of atmosphere than in the rest of India, and hopefully this will continue as we head further north and visit the Buddhist monasteries of Sikkim.

I’m having some problems uploading photos lately, but hopefully I’ll be able to put some up when we return from Sikkim.

Posted in Asia, India, South Asia | Comments Off on Hurry Burry Spoils the Curry