Who has heard of Sikkim? I certainly hadn’t until a couple of months ago! This is an Indian state which seems well off the normal backpacker or tourist route, but we loved it and I’d definitely be keen to go back and explore again.
It was a region of surprises and it challenged my thinking of ‘what is India?’
It was sometimes difficult to get around, but some of that was definitely caused by our visit being slap bang in the middle of India’s 2019 elections and the Sikkim Polling Day!
Sikkim hasn’t always been a part of India - it was originally a Kingdom in its own right, bordered between Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet and ruled by a Buddhist priest-king “Chogyal”. It became a princely state of British India in 1890 and after India became a republic in 1947 it continued as an Indian protectorate. Unfortunately for the Chogyal, he was deposed in 1975 and the population voted to join the union of Indian states, making it India’s 22nd, least populous and smallest state.
It became the "Brother" to the "Seven Sister" states in India’s far North Eastern corner, wedged between Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, China and Bangladesh. From what I see, they are more what we would refer to as the “poor cousins” in that they are so far away from the power and influence of India and appear to struggle to have their voices heard.
It is home to Kanchenjunga - India's highest mountain & the world’s third highest (8,586m / 28,169 feet) and is the world’s second highest producer of cardamom (after Guatemala!)
We really only went to Sikkim because we had a couple of weeks to spare before going to Bhutan for a tour, so hadn’t got much of a preconceived idea of what to expect. Given its location at the top end of India, Chris and I both thought it was going to be a bit “backward” compared with other places we had visited.
Imagine our surprise to rock up to our first stop in Gangtok, eat a tasty dinner in a Chinese restaurant, join the evening promenades of tourists and locals up and down the pedestrianised MG Marg precinct lined with bars, shops selling designer clothes and watch a couple busking!
Getting to Sikkim
Getting to Sikkim did involve a bit more effort than our normal travel, but part of that was down to a bit of a wild-goose chase in Siliguri.
Special Permit
Because of its ’sensitive’ location as a buffer along India’s border, overseas visitors need a special permit to visit Sikkim - an Inner Line Permit. In fact, there are some areas we still aren't allowed even with a permit and the Indian Army controls lots of the border areas.
Google searches told us that we needed to get the permit before we got to the state border and this needed to be done in Kolkata or Siliguri. Despite spending several hours trying to locate the Sikkim office, asking a couple of travel agents who seemed only to book tours, not help with the ILP we gave up and headed to Darjeeling, in West Bengal.
Despite there being nothing online about Darjeeling having an office we were pointed in the right direction by our hotel and found the Foreigners Registration Office where we filled in our application form and duly had it stamped, before walking 20 minutes down to the District Magistrates Offices where we had our passports stamped and a permit form issued - all for free, no passport copies or photos needed.
This meant an easy pass through the border, but frankly a couple of other travellers in our jeep didn’t have a permit and had to get one at the border, but it seemed pretty painless to do. As with the rest of India, the locals all know the score and look out for tourists pointing you in the right direction, holding buses and jeeps for the tourists to get stamped in and out of the state, so it really was less of a deal than I’d expected.
Jeep
Most of the rest of our travels have been by train, with a couple of buses, but travelling around Sikkim was somewhat different.
From Darjeeling there was a plethora of shared jeeps headed all over the region - in West Bengal and into Sikkim; these seem to be the long-distance alternative to buses and trains. A change of jeeps, then a bit of a wait to get the jeep (slightly over-) filled before we headed off on a 6 hour journey…which included a 40 minutes lunch stop, a couple of shorter stops and the border stop. We’d booked the front seats which I was pleased about - not luxury by any means, but more comfortable than the other 2 rows. I’d wanted these seats as I sometimes get travel sick, but I never feel ill on any of our Sikkim travels. Most of the roads seemed in relatively good order - at least the main ones. They are actually maintained by the Border Roads Organisation, an offshoot of the Indian Army.
Is This Really India?
A bit like Darjeeling, Sikkim seems unlike the typical India most people conjure up in their minds and was a surprise to us even after the last few months travelling from the South to the North of India.
It felt more Tibetan or Nepali, as if we had travelled far from the India of the heat and the plains. Maybe the description should be “Himalayan” - after all what is a border and a country anyway? I always think it’s a bit of a made up construct and history tells me it can be quite fluid.
Most residents of Sikkim are of Nepali descent. Native Sikkimese are known as Bhutia who migrated from Tibet in the 14th Century. I originally thought they were wearing native Tibetan dress, but now I understand they are a distinct group, or tribe in their own right.
Buddhism seems the prevalent influence in the region - with a plethora of monasteries and temples and while I don’t understand the nuances of different forms of Buddhism, it is the Tibetan Buddhism that is strong here and quite different from other places we’ve been.
The food was more momos (steamed dumplings) and Thukpas (spicy Tibetan noodle soup) than the regular Indian fare we’d been used to.
How DO People Understand Each Other?!
There are 11 ‘official’ languages of Sikkim, including Nepali, Bhutia, Sherpa, Hindi, English and a range of other tribal languages. How on earth do people communicate?! Many people speak multiple languages in a way that continues to awe me….I am embarrassed that I speak only English; many people with little or no education speak multiple languages with ease. Having said that, we actually found this the place we’ve travelled with the fewest English speakers.
I also discovered that “Sherpas” are not just porters who carry packs up the mountain and help people climb Everest; Sherpa is actually an ethnic group with its own language (although this doesn't seem to be an official language).
Clean and Green
Sikkim is leading India and the rest of the world in many ways...take note...!
Smoking is forbidden ANYWHERE in Sikkim. Lovely!
Tourism and agriculture are the top industries and all of the food produced in Sikkim is organic. I’d love to see that happening in more places around the world… New Zealand for example? Contentious I know!
In 2008 it became the first state in India to achieve 100% sanitation - meaning it is completely free of public defecation, something that most of the rest of the country is still a very long way away from.
The streets were so much cleaner than other cities we have seen - there were lots of rubbish bins, which we have seen few of in other places; they have banned plastic water bottles and are now trying to ban other plastics. We even ran into a school demonstration in Pelling challenging their town to stop using plastic and start being aware of climate change.
Sikkim is notable for its biodiversity, including alpine and subtropical climates and 35% of the state is covered by Kanchenjunga's national park - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
What totally surprised us was the similarity in fauna with New Zealand. Ferns, daisies, pittosporum, rhododendrons, mosses….I was not expecting that high in the Himalayan foothills!
And we saw our first ever flying squirrel… I didn’t even know these things existed and it went a loooooong way! Check out Chris’ video Have You Ever Seen a Flying Squirrel for how far if flew and to see its ‘wings'!
Travelling Around
Getting around as an independent traveller was much harder than I’d expected. From Darjeeling there had been plenty of jeeps and our Gangtok hotel staff had said it would be easy for us to get one to Ravangla, but when we turned up at the jeep stop at about 9am we were told there were no more jeeps leaving until 7am tomorrow! From what I could see we weren’t the only ones who had been caught out like this, there were a number of other tourists in the same boat. I’m still not sure if the lack of jeeps was down to the fact a number had been commandeered for ‘election duty’ or if we were just unlucky? Eventually we decided to get a taxi for the 3 hour journey (it cost 3000 rupees / GBP33/ $NZ65) which is a vast sum of money in India, albeit cheaper than it would cost me to get from Christchurch Airport to my home!
The same challenge came trying to move on from Ravangla to Pelling, which we had stupidly planned for the day of the elections in Sikkim! Of course, this seemed to mean no buses, no jeeps and no taxis and the outlook for the following day was pretty vague too! Eventually we did manage to persuade a taxi to take us on the 5 hour journey in between his official election duties and getting back in time to vote himself - all for 2,500 rupees!
You might ask the valid question - why we kept having to move on the days we did?! We’d already booked accommodation ahead and had to get to the border of Bhutan in time for our tour!
Many Indian tourists seem to hire a car and a driver to travel around the area, but that’s not ideal when you’re on a backpacking budget. Blowing the budget on taxis was largely OK as we didn’t spend a lot during the rest of our time and there are no ‘backpacker’ restaurants to buy expensive Western food!
Highlights
The travel was our greatest challenge, but just added a bit of fizz and fun to the feel of adventuring off the beaten track a bit!
Have a look at Chris’ video Secret Sikkim for a look at what we got up to, but my personal highlights are below...
Getting out of the busy, hot, intensity of the rest of India was literally a breath of fresh air. We got to walk a bit in nature and see grand vistas.
I loved waking up in the morning wondering what the weather was actually going to bring that day. We had the most amazing thunder and lightening storms, warm sunny days, clouds and sometimes…..we were treated to the most amazing views of the mountains. In fact, something that kept blowing me away was spotting the mountain tops so high up in the air - I’d be looking at the highest mountains I could see, then lift my eyes through what I thought was clouds, only to spot mountain peaks even higher in the sky! Majestical indeed!
I enjoyed stepping into Tibet without actually travelling there (although that’s still to come). I felt we were following in the Dalai Lama’s footsteps as he had been her several times. It was really interesting to learn more about Buddhism through the Tibetology Museum, lots of 17th Century monasteries and a surprising amount of brand new temples and statues.
A very special day was being shown around the new Chenrezig statue in Pelling by a Bhutia lady called Tschering. I learned that Chenrezig is known as the God of Compassion who looks after all sentient beings and is depicted as having 4, or maybe 1000 arms with 1000 eyes! The Dalai Lama is perceived to be his incarnation.
It’s an area that is definitely worth making the effort to visit and exploring more.
We only touched the surface - I’d particularly like to go back and visit Yuksom with all its trekking and the Varsey Rhododendron Sanctuary.