S I K K I M

Northern Sikkim
 
 

 Kabi Longstok, Phodang, Labrang, Tumlong

 Yumthang

 

Kabi Longstok, Phodang, Labrang, Tumlong

Phodang, 40km north of Gangtok, can be visited with the normal visa for Sikkim. This is the home of the Kagyupa Monastery which is connected with the Bhutia Busty in Darjeeling. Not far from it is Tumlong, the old former Sikkimese capital and further uphill is the Nyingmapa Monastery Labrang...
...We stop in Kabi Longstok where the brotherhood between Lepchas and Bhotias was established. Boulders have been put here to mark the site. Prayer flags and dry flowers indicate that offerings are still made in memory of this historical event...
...The monastery of Labrang is unusually small and houses only two or three monks and therefore is usually closed. The Nyingmapas of the neighbourhood only gather here during certain festivals. However the one-roomed school next door has a teacher with three young novices...

Novices of the Labrang Monastery in northern Sikkim Top

Yumthang

In October we at last get the chance to go to the north. In May when we wanted to visit Yumthang during the rhododendron flowering, a landslide had blocked the only road just one day before our tour started. Although the entire region of the Northern District is a military based restricted area as it extends close to the border of Tibet / China, foreign tourist groups can visit certain zones with a special permit nowadays...
...The vegetation on the way to Lachung is similar to that in the whole of Sikkim but the mountains nevertheless seem steeper, the valleys narrower and there are fewer settlements and therefore fewer terraced fields. The river that comes from the glaciers runs deep in the valley. There are a number of tiny farms owned by the Lepchas. Around their small wooden houses they have gardens and wall marking the boundary to their neighbours. Frequently small huts are to be seen by the roadside in the villages that are occupied mostly by the Nepalese roadworkers who find plenty of work here...
...We get into our taxi to the Yumthang valley. Passports and cameras must be left at the checkpoint as photography is forbidden in the Yumthang National Park. The landscape changes all of a sudden. The higher the road climbs, the more colourful the alpine vegetation becomes during this season...
...After this last fairytale forest we reach Yumthang valley. Turquoise water streams between bleached rocks. Yumthang consists only of one big stone house that accommodates tourists during a few months of the year and the yak herders live in the several small huts that are scattered around. A few yaks graze in the wide river valley. They are very timid and run away immediately when somebody approaches. The vegetation is sparse and consists only of miniature plants. The ground must be covered with primroses during spring...

Prayer wheels on the monastery in Lachung Top

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© 2005 DeGe-Verlag / Alexander Klein - Letzte Änderung: 21.09.2005