A Weekend in Sikkim

We left Thursday afternoon for Pelling, a small town in Sikkim. The plan was to spend a few days faraway from the city before heading to Rumtek Monastery for the Buddhist holiday of Vesak, the commemoration of the birth, death and enlightenment of the historical Buddha.

I was told that it was a simple process to obtain a Sikkimese visa on the border, rather than spending an afternoon running around Darjeeling to do the same. Only on the road to Pelling did I remember that we would cross a different border due to our route. But what could possibly happen, I thought. Surely they couldn't stop the jeep, refuse us entry, and send us back to Bengal.

Which of course, they did. The border guard was slightly evil, and could not be convinced in the least to allow us through. He even laughed at us. Before we were done arguing, I noticed the driver unloading our bags and leaving them in the dirt. He went onto Pelling without us, and we were left to wait on the border for another jeep with empty seats heading back to Darjeeling.

The weather changed dramatically between the city and the Sikkimese border. Immediately it was hot and humid, and the bastard border patrol didn't even offer us tea. We waited perhaps an hour, watching several jeeps come barreling past, filled to the brim with Indians. Finally, we were able to catch a ride several hours back through the mountains into rainy Darjeeling, and started all over again the following day. Such is Indian bureacracy. The ridiculous bit is that the Sikkimese visa is free - however, foreigners are only allowed to stay a fortnight in the state, thus the headache registry.

On Friday morning we left again for Sikkim, this time on the road to Gangtok. It is a five hour jeep ride down through the mountains of Bengal, winding through the Teesta River Valley, and up again into the hills. It is quite beautiful. Sikkim is a lush, jungly sort of place. Orchids grow wild amid the lowhanging branches, although we missed the season by a few weeks. There were still a few gorgeous survivors, however, varieties I had never seen before.

One night in Gangtok before heading to Rumtek. Gangtok is a dreary place, although we had a fantastic south Indian dinner and a television in our room to catch the opening game of the World Cup and few hours of Fashion TV. This region is quite literally the rainiest in the world, and yet it is simutaneously plagued with dreadful and crippling water shortages. Although it was raining when we arrived, there was no water in the guesthouse. I was happy to leave the next morning for Rumtek.

Twenty-six kilometers and an hour by jeep winding through to Rumtek. Out of the city completely, covered in bamboo and rhodedendron. Nothing but a few homes along the hill leading up to the monastery, a guesthouse or two, and a few restaurants down below. Perfect.

Rumtek Monastery is the seat of the Karmapa in exile, and was built as an exact replica of Tsurphu, the Tibetan seat of the Karmapa. For political reasons, the current Karmapa is unable to visit Rumtek, and remains in Dharamsala. Rumtek is a magnificent structure, stretching out amid the hills in many large buildings. This is where HH Karmapa XVI was cremated and enshrined in a reliquary, as per tradition, in 1981. I was very touched to pay my respects there. The cremation ceremony was attended by VCTR and a handful of Shambhala sangha members, and I was proud to visit with such a strong lineage connection behind me. Everyone I met asked after my lineage, and was very happy to welcome a student of VCTR and Mipham Rinpoche.

Apparently, the big celebration for Vesak was down in Gangtok on the Sunday we anticipated quite a show at Rumtek, but I was all too glad to stay out of the city and to wander around the monastery. We sat in on protector chants, joined a Vajrakilaya tsok, and watched the end of the reading of the entire Kanjur, in celebration of Vesak. We even got a few leeches in the surrounding hills. Mine didn't stick, but my friend was bleeding for hours. Nasty creatures, they are.