Day 110, Lachen [Friday 21st March 2008]
Previous day: Day 109, Gangtok [Thursday 20th March 2008]
Next day: Day 111, Chopta Valley, Sikkim [Saturday 22nd March 2008]
We fill up on porridge on the rooftop restaurant of Modern Central Lodge in Ganktok. While we're there we meet a friendly Greek/American girl, a textile designer, who tells us how much she loved Gujarat and Varanasi, both places we're hoping to visit.
We meet Sanchai, our guide, and Neema, our driver, and begin the 6-hour drive up to Lachen. On the way we pass young children trudging aloing the road, weighed down with chopped wood. Naked toddlers wash a play in a river. We stop to admire the Seven Sisters waterfall.
We go to the Labrang gompa, belonging to the 'Red Hat' sect of Buddhism. There are murals and statues of Guru Padmasambhava who, legend has it, was born from a lotus flower in the 8th century. Dragons are carved into the pillars for protection from evil spirits. The paintings are also so detailed and colourful it's hard to know where to begin. Sanchai is extremely knowledgable — he spent a month in a monastery to learn about Buddhism, although he himself is a Hindu — and tries his best to explain everything to us.
Not far away is the Phodong gompa, part of the 'Black Hat' sect. It's incredibly ornate and just walking into it ovewhelms your senses. There are scary murals of the ferocious protector god Mahakala. Tibetans believe he lives on your shoulders, so don't touch them there! There are dancing skeletons carved into the gate here to ward off evil spirits.
We continue on to our lodge in Lachen, a freezing cold jail cell of a room with an entirely incongruous, almost obscene tiger print throw on the bed. We gather around the kitchen fire for warmth, eat momos for dinner and quicly retire to bed.
Next day: Day 111, Chopta Valley, Sikkim [Saturday 22nd March 2008]
Previous day: Day 109, Gangtok [Thursday 20th March 2008]