Borong

Borong Nature camp

June 2024

Borong Nature Camp

After a long drive from Yuksom through some beautiful scenery, waterfalls and a pleasant cloudy weather, we arrived at Ravangla town. Since Borong would be isolated, we stocked up on drinks and snacks and after having a good local lunch started off towards Borong. The Borong Nature camp consists  of a few cottages on a steep slope overlooking a valley. Below you can hear the sound of Rangit river coming up faintly. The river separates West sikkim from South Sikkim. Across the valley, there were clouds but on a clear day you can see the snow capped mountains peeking through. 

Sanjok Gurung is the owner and host of our homestay and we were welcomed by him and his family after which we settled down into our cottages. Sanjok, he told us later is originally from the Silk Road area in South Eastern Sikkim, where he has a hotel. A few years back, he bought about seven acres of land in Borong where he grows crops and has made a few cottages. The tourist season was almost ending with the rains about to begin. Once the rain starts, he would close the camp and go back to his home. The camp has a few of his relatives helping out including his sister who works as an employee in a nearby school.  

Sanjok Gurung, our host

Over breakfast the next day, Sonjok told us his life story. He had been a monk and he spent over 12 years in Bilakuppe, near Mysore Karnataka studying to become a monk before he left and started his own business.  He said he learned a lot about doing business from the Tibetans in the monastery who are by nature very good traders. We asked him whether the Monasteries get enough children to study and become monks. He said that typically in the lepcha community, one of the kids is given to the monastery as a monk, and nowadays people just have one kid. So, the monasteries have been getting students mainly from Nepal instead, generally from poor families. Religious identity seems to be fluid nowadays and Sonjok interestingly told us that some of the original inhabitants, Lepchas have been converting to Christianity whereas some of the Rai's who are originally Hindu Brahmins are converting into Buddhism. 

On one of the evenings, Sonjok talked about the path of becoming a Lama in Buddhism. He has been to many countries as part of being a Lama. They have to go through extensive training and be ready to teach and preside over rituals. They can at any time decide to leave the monastery and lead a life of a householder which is what he did. However to become a monk, they have to take permission of the parents as this is a life of celibacy which cannot be reverted. Sonjok also said that once of the key philosophers who they had to study was Nagarjuna who was from region of Amravati. He is considered as the most important philosopher of Buddhism and is compulsory study material. I made a mental note of getting a book and learning more about Nagarjuna's philosophy.

We asked Sonjok about Organic Farming and whether there is demand for organic produce since Sikkim is known as an Organic State. He said that there is a huge  demand, but the population growth in Sikkim has slowed down and thereby number of people in the farms have been reducing. The government of Sikkim has even promised one government job per family in Sikkim because of which many people now prefer government jobs instead of the hard work of tilling their farms. Further, the government has progressive policies like 1 year paid leave and 3 months paternity leave.  Many farms are now converting back to forests. 

Nowadays most families opt for only one child. The government in fact gives economic incentives for families who have a second kid. Some families have been adopting children from tribal areas in the Dooar plains of West Bengal, but this is becoming lesser due to strict adoption rules and hassles of integrating them into the community.

Local Organic Market

Above our camp on the opposite Mountain, one can see the Eklaviya foundation school. On day 2, we decided to walk down to the river to experience the hot springs. Halfway down the path, we saw a Church. A man called out to us and joined us. He said his original name was Gurung but he has now converted to Christianity and his new name was David "bro". David had a stall near the hot springs where we could have some snacks and change into swimming clothes. Apparently a lot of people come from Bhutan and Nepal to the hot springs during the winters.

Gurung David Bro

The hot Springs was a great experience. The hot water poured out of an opening on the ground and had collected in a pond which was green in color due to the algae. We sank into the water and soaked in the heat. David collected the hot water at the entrance of the spring and gave it to us for drinking. It was therapeutic and smelt of Sulphur. After spending a few hours, we climbed up back to the camp which took us almost 2 hours since it was a steep slope.

The Sikkimese don't have much of a breakfast. People have their lunch at 10:30am. Then they have some tea or snacks in the office and have their dinner at 5:30pm. By 7:30pm they go to sleep and wake up by 0430 AM. Such healthy living! Sanjok joked that during the tourist season they had to keep awake till almost midnight as the Bengali tourists would come down for dinner only by 10 PM! 

We noticed that smoking in public places is strictly not allowed in Sikkim. Also goods cannot be displayed in front of the store, garbage is collected diligently and there is minimal honking and noise. There's a big difference in terms of the discipline and the look and feel between Sikkim and the plains like Siliguri. A lot of it is due to the local hill culture of community feeling, respect and cleanliness. Sanjok told us that the Government had even sent some officials to Bhutan to learn from them where the environment is even better. 

After a few days, it was time to go back. Sanjok arranged for a car and we packed up and drove away towards Siliguri. We left with a happy and yet heavy feeling, our hearts filled with wonderful experiences and warmth of the people. As we got off the hills into the West Bengal plains, I wistfully looked back at the forests and the greenery of Sikkim, probably the best preserved in India and the last Shangri-La. 

Hung Hri

Hung Hri Monastery Hike

June 2024

On Day 2 of our hike, we moved from Dubdi monastery to Hung Hri monastery. We descended into the valley to meet the river and stopped for some time at Elephant Falls. In between 2 streams of flowing water, the rock was shaped like an Elepant's head, hence the name. The water was pristine and fresh.

We then stopped by a farmer's place for some local wine. He was the older brother of the farmer we had met at the camp site and also related to Sanjeev. Our guides and the farmer and his wife then made some Tongba, a millet wine for us. Ragi is cooked and combined with a khesung, which is a local microbial culture and kept for a few days. Manish mixed water into the fermented millet and then squeezed it to get a cloudy liquid which he then poured into glasses for us to drink. It tasted like Sake - warm, slightly alcoholic and smooth with a mild, milky, mushroomy taste.

After a few glasses, feeling nice and fuzzy, we started our ascent to Hung Hri. For lunch we stopped at another relative of Sanjeev, where we took a small nap. In the room inside, I could see that their son was preparing for the civil services exam as there were lots of notes and learning tips stuck onto the wall.

Finally we reached our homestay in the evening just as the skies opened and it started raining . The homestay was attached to the monastery, a beautiful place overlooking the fields and the valley below. The homestay owner and his wife helped us settle down for the evening. They have three daughters, of whom 2 of them were at home that evening. The youngest one is in sixth standard and the middle one is in 11th standard. Both the daughters study at the Eklavya foundation school which is a residential school for the local communities and an hour away by bus. The daughters along with a group of students had come with their teachers over the weekend to camp at the monastery. They made their own food and generally had a good time before going back the next day. 

The next day, we climbed further up to the Hung Hri Top and found a solitary monk staying high up in the mountain. Food is sent from the monastery for him and he had a makeshift house with a basic kitchen to manage. The monk knew only Tibetan, so even the locals found it difficult to communicate with him.  

After having lunch back at the homestay, we started our descent down the valley. We spent some time at the hanging bridge near Phangrong before reaching our new home stay called the Tarebahim. The homestay was in our guide's village and the hosts were related to Sanjeev. We were apparently the first to stay in the homestay and were given a traditional welcome with a shawl. 

The whole family and our guides prepared the dinner for us. We were impressed with Sanjeev and Manish, they were masters in everything! One of the relatives set up a Karaoke and he tried to teach me to sing a Nepali song, Sadhai Sadhai by the band Mantra. We all took turns singing while the cooking was on. 

Day 4, we went back to the hanging bridge. There was a small waterfall and a crystal clear pool. We spent the day jumping into the refreshing water and swimming. After a few hours, we started our descent back to Yuksom. Along the way, we found a new home being built on the slope. The whole village men had joined in to build the house as is the custom. Someone was splitting the bamboo, while others were putting the the roof together. 

After reaching Yuksom, we said our byes to Sanjeev and Manish who had become our friends. It was a great trip with fond memories and insights into the lives of the locals. After a few days, we started our Journey to Ravangla and further on to the Borong valley, our next destination.

Dubri

The Trek up to Dubri

June 2024

Sanjeev and his friend Manish are our guides on the trek from Yuksom. On day one, we trekked up to the Dubri monastery and camped a little bit higher near the monastery. Due to the wet season, there were leeches everywhere and we had to periodically scan our shoes and clothes and remove the leeches.

The place where we pitched our tents was on a flat ground with a beautiful view. There's a farmer's house nearby who stays with his wife, and small kid with a patch of garden. The farm was given by the monastery to them for about 1000 rupees a month. In their village there was a landslide and so they had to come here and restart farming. Typically they farm potatoes and they also have cows, which gives about seven odd litres of milk every day. They also have a few goats and chickens. 

We had interesting dinner discussions with Sanjeev and Manish. Sanjeev is a Buddhist from the Limbu community and his friend Manish is chhetri. Both of them have been close neighbors and friends ever since they were kids. Both of them started talking about South Indian movies and we found out that a lot of people in Sikkim watches these movies in OTT which was quite a revelation to us. They were aware of all the movies, the heroes and the actors, many of who I was not aware of or just heard about them. The conversation veered around Mahesh Babu, Allu Arjun, Ram Charan and many more as we settled down for the night.

Next morning, we had another interesting conversation around cryptocurrencies. Sanjeev has  a Dada Ji, who apparently heard about crypto in 2008 by one of the travelers. He was told to buy Bitcoin at that time which would have been a few cents or dollars which he ignored and regretted later. Now he is an expert in crypto and he has been educating all the folks in Yuksom. They may not have a demat account for stocks but have an account in Wazirx, a local crypto exchange! 

Sanjeev was explaining to the farmer and his wife in Nepali what the entire blockchain technology was and how it cuts out a bank like SBS (State Bank of Sikkim) where there was a scam recently. 

It was a surreal conversation high up in the mountain passes, something I would never have imagined. The farmer nodded his head completely understanding the concept of decentralization and power going out of these centralized banker scamsters.

We finished breakfast and said our good byes to the farmer and his family. Giving some money to the mother for the baby, we moved out to the jungle trail for the second day of the trek. 

Yuksom

Yuksom, a quaint town at the edge of civilization

June 2024

Yuksom is a quaint small town with a square consisting of a few shops where most of the locals can be seen hanging around. It is the beginning of the Kanchenjunga National Park and there are many treks starting from there. We boarded up at the hotel Pemathang (Pema means Lotus and Thang - a place) which is owned by the nephew of Danny Dengzongpa, the famous Filmstar from Sikkim. The day to day running is managed by another partner, Writh Dasgupta. Writh works as a sound engineer at T-Series in Delhi and stays in Yuksom during the season. Our caretaker was a cook called Gurung who in an earlier career used to be part of many trekking groups. He made some wonderful healthy dishes for us. Locally grown foods in Sikkim are potato, cabbage, carrots and leafy vegetables like Rai Saag etc. while tomatoes and Rice came from the plains. We saw a lot of maize crops growing around which is combined with rice for food as part of their staple diet.

Danny Dengzongpa is from Yuksom and studied in the local school. In fact a lot of land, hotels and property in Yuksom is owned by his family though he is not from the Chogyal or the royal family. We were told that Danny doesn't come to Yuksom often and the last time he was here was with Jackie Shroff  to promote his beer, Dansburg and also when his brother had passed away recently.

Gurung Monastery

In the middle of the square is a Gupta restaurant. The owner did his catering studies in Bangalore from a private firm near Domlur. He manages the back end  while his wife and daughter are on the front end of the restaurant. The lady served up some beautiful vegetarian fare and it was the only place where we could get curd, a staple for one of my vegetarian friends.

Kathok Lake

The town was abuzz with news that a young man and woman who were guides had just lost their lives in a freak accident - they were struck by lightning in the nearby Singalila mountains. The whole town for forlorn with grief as many of the town folk knew them.

At the square we met by chance, Sanjeev Limbu who runs Smile Sikkim, a trekking agency. A young enthusiastic man, he recently started out on his own and I instantly took a liking to him. We told him that we wanted a low intensity trek and he planned out a village to village trek for three nights and four days.

Coronation Throne

Sanjeev also gave us a local itinerary for the day and we went around Yuksom starting from Gurung Monastery, Coronation Throne and ending at the Kathok lake and Monastery. The path to Gurung Monastery was through the Secondary High School and we could see children playing football early in the morning before school started. Football is extremely popular and all across our journey, we saw football fields even high up in the mountains. No wonder, India's two well known footballers - Bhaichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri are from Sikkim. 

Near Gurung monastery, we saw a beautiful house overlooking the valley and were told it belongs to a teacher. Teachers are one of the highest paid Government jobs in Sikkim, so looks like the state has got its priorities right. Every where we went, we saw children dressed smartly in their White and Black school clothes going to school. 

Meanwhile, Dasgupta gave us a reference of a homestay in Ravangla which is also in West Sikkim called Borong nature camp, which we decided would be our next destination after Yuksom. We dropped going to Gangtok and East Sikkim as we heard stories of packed crowds, washed out roads and heavy traffic. We decided not do this point based tourism and go to "Pointless" places instead where we could relax, explore nature and hang around with the locals.

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.