Pelling

Pelling, views of the Kanchenjunja 

June 2024

I and two of my school friends were keen to do a trip together and after looking at various options, we decided to go for a 2 week journey to Sikkim. Landing at Bagdogra airport, we took a 6 hour taxi ride and reached Pelling in West Sikkim which was our starting point to experience this enchanting region. 

Pelling is at the top of a hill and has a plethora of hotels on one end all jostling for space to get a view of the Kanchenjunga. We checked in at Mandavya homestay which was a little far downhill away from the crowds. The next day morning, we were able to get just a tiny glimpse of Kanchenjunga as it was cloudy due to the oncoming monsoons. The white peaks peering out of the clouds felt magical and uplifting.

The homestay that we stayed in was a lovely Chhetri family of the patriarch, his wife and kids. The eldest son was managing the homestay. The daughter is a physics teacher and had a Master's in physics. His youngest son is in Gangtok. Both our host and his wife are teachers. A very warm and welcoming family, we had many good conversations in the Kitchen cum dining space. The daughter is getting married this year and she met her to-be husband while she was studying in college. In Chettri marriages, all the guests give money to the family for expenses. For a boy's marriage they have to call the entire village and for a woman, they typically call close relatives and friends. Light heartedly, she promised to invite us for her wedding. 

What we learnt was that Sikkim has 11 languages, each with their own script and is taught as an optional all the way upto college level. The common language used everywhere is Nepalese. The original inhabitants of Sikkim are Lepchas and then there are the Bhutias, the Chhetri, Rais etc. Interestingly the Bhutias and Lepchas are buddhists and eat beef and pork, whereas the Chhetris and Rais are hindus and don't. Therefore inter-community marriages have interesting dynamics.

View of Pelling Town from our Guest House

Every body helped out in the Kitchen making food for the guests. One of their cousins was also taking care of us. On the last night, we were joined by another cousin who had a Government job and is now planning to give his UPSC exams. He spoke English very well and we were impressed with his quiet determination and answers to our questions, polite and well grounded for a 21 year old. 

Our Hosts

On the first day, we walked up to the town from our homestay. We went to the Sky Walk and spent some time at the Sanghak Choeling Monastery. This monastery is one of the earliest in Sikkim and was established in 1647. There we met some young student monks who were clearing out the grass and outgrowth as part of their morning duties. Their classroom and dormitories were on one side of the property. On peeking into their classroom, I saw an interesting mix of Maths, Physics and Tibetan Scriptures on their benches. 

Sanghak Choeling Monastery

Surprisingly, we found no medical shop in Pelling. For the hill people, medicine is an after thought. A day later, while my friends went for paragliding, I spent some time at Pemayangtse Monastery. After that I tried to find my way to the Rabdentse Ruins, but the path was not well marked, so gave that up. Rabdentse was the second capital of the former Kingdom of Sikkim from 1670 to 1814.

The next day, we were given a warm send off by our hosts with traditional Khata scarfs and after saying our good byes, we started our journey to Yuksom, the first Capital of Sikkim.