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...
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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...
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