Yuksom (Sikkim, November 15-17, 2008)

We arrive in Yuksom in late afternoon and have lunch. While the Czechs go to Sikkim's oldest gompa (monastery), Dubdi Gompa, I use the Internet at the Community Information Center to write mom and buy a train ticket to Delhi so that I don't miss my flight in the case that I decide against extending my plane ticket.

We stay at Hotel Demadzong. It is actually colder here than in Khecheopalri Lake, but I have three blankets, so I am warm at night. I take a lukewarm shower and then crawl into bed the first night. I had planned to meet the Czechs at a restaurant for dinner and for a beer, but it turns out everything closes at 8pm. I am so tired and cold that I don't meet them later at the hotel bar/restaurant.

The next day, we wake up and have breakfast at the hotel restaurant, as the Czechs had arranged it the previous night. The food served is not nearly enough, and so we go across the street to the restaurant at which we ate the previous night and extend our breakfast. I order an apple pancake in addition to the banana-honey porridge I had at the hotel restaurant. The apple pancake is amazing! The Czechs eat a lunch-like breakfast--ordering chop suey and much else.

After breakfast we walk together to Norbugang Park, which contains a prayer house, chorten and the supposedly original Coronation Throne (Norbugang) where the trio of Tibetan holy men were crowned the first chogyal of Sikkim in 1641. In fact, according to the Lonely Planet, the word Yuksom means, "meeting place of the three lamas." We visit the prayer house first and find a giant prayer wheel inside. We not only spin it, we hold onto it and let it drag us across the floor (clockwise, of course) as if it is a playground game. Sacrilegious, yes. The throne is not that impressive, but we are excited to spot the governor of Sikkim and his entourage walking through the park. The Czech Buddhists decide to meditate at one end of the park, and Katka and I decide to go on a hike while we wait for them. We start heading down a hill, but stop because we don't want to have to hike up again. We return to the site of their meditation, and notice some locals sorting a wheat-like crop nearby. We try to ask what it is, and I think they say it is millet, used to make the local brew.

Later in the day, I make my way to Dubdi Gompa, Sikkim's oldest monastery, established in 1701. The climb is steep, and there is no resident monk to open the buildings, but I am determined to see the sight. There are some stupas along the path leading to the gompa. Characteristically, the gompa and the newer cubic prayer house at the top of the hill high above Yuksom are painted colorfully. There are few people around, except for three local guys who ask me to take their picture. I am especially proud of a close-up picture I take of a bright green grasshopper clinging to the monastery's vivid red and yellow wall.

That night, we gather at the hotel restaurant/bar and, at the request of the Czechs, the owner has prepared the local millet-based alcohol in a huge pot. He adds hot water to the millet and we sip through thin straws made of wood. He says he won't serve us dinner until we finish all the alcohol, to which he keeps adding hot water. We circle the straws around the room. Finally, we finish the alcohol to the manager's satisfaction and can have dinner. At some point, Beda finds a guitar and plays and sings. We have such fun. Finally, it is time to go to sleep, and I say good-bye to each of the friends who had been so kind to let me tag along on their hikes and share biscuits and meals. They have shown concern for me as a single female traveler, and offer their hospitality if I ever make it to Prague. I am sad to be separating from them, but know I have my own time constraints.

I wake up early the next morning, quietly dress and pack so as to not wake my roommate Katka, descend the stairs to the street, walk to the share jeep stand and wait. I am on my way to Darjeeling today, but the route is not direct. I will go from Yuksom to Pelling to pick up my pack and the bulk of my belongings at Hotel Kabur, then take a short share jeep ride to Geyzing, which is a transit hub, then take another share jeep to Jorethang, another transit hub, and finally arrive in Darjeeling, West Bengal.