Sikkim, India
Gangtok is the capital of the
Himalayan state of Sikkim in
northern India, in the foothills
of the Kanchenjunga Range on the
Ranipool River; at an elevation of 1,700m.
Gangtok was an important trading
post for rice, maize, cardamom,
and fruit, and has industries in
brewing, weaving, and watchmaking
until the Tibetan border
was closed in 1962.
Today relies more on the
growing tourism industry.
There are a number of Buddhist
centres in and around Gangtok
such as Do-Drul chorten (a Tibetan stupa),
with a large gilded tower and
surrounded by prayer wheels, Enchey,
a small Buddhist monastery, the
Namgyalk Institute of Tibetology,
built in traditional Tibetan style,
established in 1958 has one of the
world's largest collections of books
and rare Buddhist manuscripts, statues,
and silk thankas (painted scrolls)
on the subject of Mahayana Buddhism.
24 km south-west, is the major
Buddhist monastery of Rumtek,
dedicated to the Karmapa Branch
of the reformist Kargyudpa School.
Gangtok was the seat of the chogyal
(maharaja) of Sikkim until 1976, when
it became part of the Indian state.
Major attractions apart from the temples
and monasteries are the chogyal
palace and its lavish decorations
and fine carvings and the Orchid
Sanctuary in White Hall, the
former governor's residence, with
over 200 species of orchids and an
orchid festival is
held here every spring.
Population about 30.000.
Our Bhutan Tour Guides driven
us to Silliguri in India after
finishing our visit of Bhutan.
They made sure to get a reliable
taxi jeep to take us to Gangtok,
the capital city of Sikkim,
built on top and the sides
of a mountain.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and
experiences in Gangtok and Sikkim.
After our stay we used the
same driver to take us
back to India and to
Biratnagar Airport in Nepal
to fly to Kathmandu, the
capital of Nepal.
You can click on these photos for an enlargement.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Gangtok |
Gangtok |
Gangtok |
Gangtok |
Site Index
Back to Top
Photos Index
Thanks for coming, I hope you
have enjoyed it, will recommend
it to your friends, and will come
back later to see my site developing
and expanding.
I'm trying to make my pages
enjoyable and trouble free for everyone,
please let me know of any mistakes
or trouble with links, so I can
fix any problem as soon as possible.
These pages are best viewed with
monitor resolution set at
800x600 and kept simple on purpose so
everyone can enjoy them across all media and
platforms.
Thank you.
Webmaster
|
