Journey to India

Our escape to the hills started in Gangtok the capital of Sikkim but aside from a few points of interest such as the Museum of Tibetology and Enchey Monastery, Gangtok is not that interesting. The government is quite keen to be seen as an ecological state, so there are strict rules such as "plastic-free state" which means shops are not allowed to give out plastic bags. However, the streets are still quite dirty as Bengali tourists in particular chuck anything and everything on the streeet, as they walk along with their large families. The Sikkimese are a kind and gentle people, of Nepali, Bhutia, and Lepcha tribes. They are quiet and reserved. The traffic and broken roads do make it hard to negotiate the hills... the whole town is built on a large hill, so everything is uphill or downhill. Hard on the legs if you not used to it. They call themselves the "Switzerland of the North".

 

We stayed two nights and then went 24 kms out of town, in a two hour jeep ride to Rumtek Monastery, the headquarters of the Karmapa, similar to the Dalai Lama, in that he is the head of one of the four branches of Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama is the political head of all of them, but he is only the religious leader of one of them. The Karmapa is 21 years old, and the 17th incarnation of Karmapa. However, he is not allowed here. He is in Dharmsala with the Dalai Lama, due to political problems.

 

In Rumtek we stayed a very clean and well kept hotel for $10 and $6.50 each for two rooms. Meals were about $1 each. We went to the monastery but aside from the ceremonies, we had a great time hanging out in the monks' café, speaking in broken English, Hindi and Nepali. The kids were invited to visit the monk's quarters and attend a smaller meditation in the dorms. The next day they played soccer with the monks for three hours... it was the monks' one day off and they're crazy about soccer. It was so beautiful, with millions of prayer flags flying heartily in the breeze about the soccer field. The Karmapa had allowed the field to be built 12 years ago, and since it's on a steep hill no chance of bulldozers. So the monks excavated the whole field by hand, into the hillside. It must have taken months if not years, but there it is, on top of small hill, surrounded  by temperate forests and fabulous Himalayan views in the distance.