We successfully completed our trek through West Sikkim, passing through Kecheopalri lake, Yoksum, and Tashiding.
Kecheopalri was easily the smallest and arguably the most beautiful of the three stops; the lake is completely surrounded by verdant hills and prayer flags on its shores. Legend has it that it is in the shape of Goddess Tara’s footprint. A walkway with prayer wheels leads up to the edge of the water, and koi swarm the shallows. I managed to go alone at sunset, and it was incredibly peaceful.
Katie and I made the 15 km hike to Yoksum the next day. This larger village is certainly geared for trekking, and we saw a number of Indian tourist groups heading out with large backpacks. Up on a nearby hill, the disused monastery lost a good portion of its wall on the main prayer hall during the earthquake. The coronation throne on the other side of town marks the place where 3 lamas converged from across Sikkim to form the kingdom in 1641. The next morning we geared up for our 21 km hike with tibetan bread covered in yak cheese.
Tashiding is home to an incredibly monastery compound just 3 km up the hill. Its prayer hall also unfortunately sustained the most damage; the doors were shut and the yard out front was littered with an alarming amount of rock debris and plaster fragments of ancient holy paintings. A section further down the hill had a great garden of enormous chortens. One of them instantly absolves any onlooker of sin. I’ll see how well that actually worked.
Now, a whole day and 6 different jeep trips later, we’re in Siliguri making our final preparations for a short trip to Kathmandu/Nepal.
Kecheopalri was easily the smallest and arguably the most beautiful of the three stops; the lake is completely surrounded by verdant hills and prayer flags on its shores. Legend has it that it is in the shape of Goddess Tara’s footprint. A walkway with prayer wheels leads up to the edge of the water, and koi swarm the shallows. I managed to go alone at sunset, and it was incredibly peaceful.
Beetle on the way to Yoksum. ~1.5" long
Tashiding is home to an incredibly monastery compound just 3 km up the hill. Its prayer hall also unfortunately sustained the most damage; the doors were shut and the yard out front was littered with an alarming amount of rock debris and plaster fragments of ancient holy paintings. A section further down the hill had a great garden of enormous chortens. One of them instantly absolves any onlooker of sin. I’ll see how well that actually worked.
On the way to the monastery, a sign with the standard Tibetan Buddhist mantra, om mani padme hum in the middle. See if you can spot me.
Now, a whole day and 6 different jeep trips later, we’re in Siliguri making our final preparations for a short trip to Kathmandu/Nepal.
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