A visit to Pelling in West Sikkim (July 2)

Pelling has been recentely earned a spot on the tourist map due to an interest in the area for its easy access to Sikkim's monastic trek and the beautiful sights of Kanchendzonga, the world's third highest peak. In the high season it's packed with foreign and Bengali tourists, and in the low season, it's like a deserted Shangri-la, as we found out. Our friendly jeep seat mate informed us that only 5 or 6 years ago Pelling was just like any other small farming hill town. Now the land is full of hotels and guesthouses that now cater to it's main form of income, tourism. He showed us to Hotel Norling, a very nice isolated hotel away from the what would be hustle and bustle in the high season, with a staff that was very friendly.

After seeing early morning views of the Himalayan peaks before the afternoon fog rolled in, we went on a walk down to the local sights, mainly Pemayangtse Monastery and Rabdengtse, the ancient ruins of Sikkim's second capital from the 1600s to mid-1700s. When we entered Pemayangtse Monastery, a nasty dog with an eye out of it's socket started barking and growling aggressively with a moutful of drool, freaking Garrett out and sending him smack into a 30ft prayer flag pole, which he broke and knocked over. The whole experience was witnessed by a young lama, who just stared until Garrett gave him the "I'm ok and I'm sorry" gesture. After nerves were settled, we went into the gompa which was incredibly decorated inside, and also had some monks making butter sculptures. On the second floor was an intricate and ornately carved 7 tiered representation of Guru Padmasambhava's (the man who brough Buddhism to Tibet) spiritual residence. Upon leaving the monastery, Garrett had another experience. He noticed there was blood all over his foot while putting his shoes on, only to find a fat and full leech attached to his foot.

At the ruins, we took in the view of the surrounding hills, and met a nice Bengali family who were also staying in Pelling. It proved to be a fun (free of cost) day despite the animal attacks.