Kingdoms

HIMALAYAN KINGDOMS - BHUTAN, SIKKIM, INDIA AND NEPAL

May 1998

Across the heights of the Himalayas are the kingdoms of Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, each country has an ancient history and wonderful mountains. This is a trip mostly spent in hotels along with a five day trek which I have described under Hiking.

After one of those flights from Hell, where your itinerary gets all mixed up due to fog and delays, and your luggage does not arrive for a week, I am happily sitting in a cafe in Kathmandu talking with my old friend Norma. Today Monday, May 11th is a great celebration, it is Buddha's Birthday. Some of the shops are open and we shopped for part of the day. In the evening our group went out to dinner at a place called "Thamel". Pete Walker said it had been written up in the Idaho Statesman newspaper, this makes us seem quite close to home, instead of being in Kathmandu, Nepal. It was a very good dinner.

(Memorial Chortan)

We are up early this morning and our duffels are ready for the one hour flight from Kathmandu to Biritanager where we are picked up at the airport for the drive to Bogdoraga. Here we have lunch and then continue on to Darjeeling, Sikkim. This city of 100,000 plus is steeped in a seesaw history, here is a good link to read about it: http://www.zubin.com/darjeeling/history.htm

(there are a number of private schools in Darjeerling especially for boys)

Darjeeling is one of the most beautiful Hill stations and is generally called the "Queen of the Hills" due to the evergreens and tea plants. It is situated at 7,000 ft ( 2134 m). On this drive we did see the famous Darjeeling toy train making its way up the hills, very slowly I might add. Sikkim is situated between Tibet and India's West Bengal state.

(Here is is starting to rain and the workers in the fields bring their sacks of tealeaves to the truck and then they stop work for the day. The tea is all picked by hand.)

(somewhere on this trip, these school girls found me and insisted on a picture )

In the afternoon we visited the Happy Valley Tea Gardens to see the cultivation and preparation of the famous Darjeeling tea. We are staying a few nights at a great old English Hotel called New Elgin Hotel with its faded Elegance from the time of the British Rule. It has been a long day so we have dinner and a walk up the Chowrastha and mingle with the local crowd and then to bed.

Today we are up very early ( 3.30 a.m.) we are off to Tiger Hill to see the sunrise come up and over Kangchenjunga the third highest Mountain in the World. We seem to be the only American type people there, it was crowded with Indian tourists. The sunrise was not a hit, there was too much fog around the mountains.

After breakfast we went to the Mountaineering Institute, I have been here before and it is one of my favorite places to visit along with the monument of Tenzing Norgay, who climbed Mt. Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary. Later on in the day we visited the Tibetan Refugee Center, these centers are about 20 - 25 years old now and they are great places to purchase Tibetan handicraft. We have had a full day along with visiting the Botanical Gardens, so we were all ready for dinner and bed.

It was not such an early start today, we are off in the bus to Gangtok-the Capital of Sikkim. Just before we arrived at Gangtok we visited the Rumtek Monastery, the seat of the Karmapa Rinpoche, head of the Karmapa

sub-sect of Kargyudpa order of Tibetan Buddhism. The new four-level gomba was designed as a replica of the kargyudpa's head monastery of Tolung in Tibet. The Rumtek's monks come from all over Sikkim, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. We were able to go in and listen to the Monks chant. We are now at the hotel and it is raining in Gangtok.

Today is a full day of sightseeing and we visited the Do-Drul Chorten, one of the most important stupas of Sikkim, built by Trulsi Rinpoche, head of the Nyingmapa order. We also see a marvelous Sikkim Handicraft center. Dinner was a lot of fun, we were served a typical Sikiim dinner, with baked potatoes, veggies and chicken and great rolls. We also had Chang to drink with dinner, but I found it too yeasty for me.

Yuksom is our destination today and on the way we visit the Keoging Monastery, the only Bon Monastery in Sikkim. The Sikkim countryside is wonderful and much different than Nepal, there is more foliage and trees and we are on the very steep sides of the mountains, even on a ridge where we could see down both sides of the ridge. We sat and ate our packed lunch at the Bon Monastery, they had four monks and the oldest was 25 years, they also had twelve little boys in the Monastery. Bon claims to be older than Buddha. Their leader is elected not reincarnated. It has been another great day.

We are now on our way to Kalimpong, we have left Sikkim behind. Our Bus got into a donnybrook with a small truck, there was lots of spectators and we created a big jam-up. After all the yelling and shouting was over, we and the other vehicle just drove off. We have arrived at a wonderful Hotel named the Himalayan Hotel.

This old house is owned by the McDonald family. It is now being operated by a third generation McDonald. Everyone is relaxed in this Hotel and they have great tea and cakes on the verandahs...old elegance. Later we went down to the local Bazaar and had a good look around.

After breakfast we drive to Jaldapara and visited a few Monasteries on the way ( I think I may be getting Monasteried out). We visit the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, this sanctuary is situated in the foothills of Bhutan. To-night we stay in Jungle Cottages, it is very humid here with lots of bugs.

(A short bed with the mosquito nets)

We were assigned to our sleeping quarter with mosquito netting over each bed and fans on the ceiling. The food was terrible and the night was hot, so not too many of our group slept very well.

We are up very early the next morning, we had to be on the bus at 4.15 a.m. and we have now stopped at Immigration where we sit outside. It will take a few hours for this processing. Right now I would love a cup of American Coffee, or a Latte would be fine also. We had to be out of India early due to a 24-hour strike today.

(the immigration office)

We finally arrive in Thimpu, Bhutan, had our dinner and were all in Bed by 9 p.m. During this long drive we were held up by a bad accident on the terribly narrow road, there were lots of switchbacks on this road and a big truck got too close to the edge and fell off the road above, he landed on the road below which was our road. The driver managed to jump out, but the 'handy boy' was killed. (handy boy is the young assistant to the driver)

We are all up early after a great nights sleep. The weather here is not real hot for a change, so we visited a memorial Chorten and it was fantastic, it is Tantric Buddhism a three story deity. Next we went to a painting school and then saw a procession of very young monks.

We were able to interact with these very young Monks, one of our ladies gave them all balloons. Then we tried to have them sing, what else but 'Three Blind Mice' in two part harmony. It was great fun. It is a celebration today and the King is coming to visit the city.

(Here we are all singing 'three blind mice' in two part harmony, no less)

I really like this city it is clean and polite. At the end of the day we went to a performance of traditional dances and it was good.

Today we are up early and off to the airport. We had a long wait as the planes cannot take off until the clouds lift. After several hours they brought the food off the airplane and we all ate in the waiting room. They are building a new airport ( with foreign aid) and this I did not understand, the only planes that take off and land here are the Bhutanese airways and it appears they only have two planes at the moment.

The Himalayas have long shielded Bhutan from the outside world. It is wedged between Chinese Tibet and India. The country is about the size of Switzerland and is a sparsely settled country of 800,000 people who have hardly been touched by the modern world. They still adhere to the traditional ways and the first roads did not appear until the 1960's and tourist were not allowed to visit until 1974. It is my understanding that no individual is allowed to travel - only groups accompanied by a government-trained Bhutanese guide, also the groups pay a daily fee while in Bhutan.

(Our Guide in the typical Dress for men of Bhutan)

In Bhutan it is not just Buddhism that has survived, but Tantric Tibetan Buddhism, with its temples of florid, erotic and sometimes terrifying statuary. There have been a succession of Kings, King Jigme Wangchuk instituted many reforms, founding schools, repairing monasteries. Then his son, Jigme Dorjee Wangchuk became King and set up institutions to preserve the language and the culture and created a National museum in Paro. He established the National Assemble - called Tshongdu - making Bhutan a constitutional monarch. Today there is Jigme Singye Wangchuk and this king established Bhutan's first factories and telephone facilities. He is the King today and speaks excellent English, he is trying to create a policy of blending tradition and modernity as well as enhance the quality of the life for his people. Over a hundred schools and numerous hospitals have been opened and from what I could see, most were done with financial aid from other countries. The people all wear the traditional dress, both men and women and the only thing different is the color. The houses are all built in a traditional Bhutanese style. You do not see any individuality.

(two of the cutest kids in Bhutan, they and their family live and work in a house that makes 'fishing flies' and one of their biggest accounts was a sport shop in Montana)

We are now back in Kathmandu and tomorrow I will get packed, and start the long flight home from Kathmandu to Boise, Idaho...This was a very good cultural experience and I came home with a great deal of information on Buddhism and Monasteries. The people in my group were very congenial and I had as I always do a very good time.

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