We arrived in Pelling from Darjeeling after a five and a half hour journey in two shared jeeps: Darjeeling – Jorathan and Jorathan – Pelling. We had travelled to this small town to begin the so-called “Monastery Route”, a path that passes through several villages including Melli, Khecheopalri and its lake and Juksom.
NOTE: If Sikkim is on your travel itinerary to India, do not forget to process the necessary permit to enter the state. In the link you can read how we did it in Darjeeling.
We were really looking forward to exploring this remote area of India, but our added incentive was that we took it as a kind of training before the main event, the Annapurna trek. Considering that we would be in Nepal in just a few days, the excitement was ready.
But since we were in Pelling we wanted to take advantage and visit the couple of monasteries that are located in the surrounding area and that are the oldest in Sikkim.
The Sanga Choeling, located on top of a hill, was our first stop and from up there the views and the silence, which was only interrupted by some bells that rang in response to the touch of the wind, gave us a few minutes of peace.
Dozens of flags of different sizes and colors made the moment even more magical.
Just in the opposite direction from the village is the Pemayangtse monastery, founded by Lama Lhatsun Chempo in 1705, which we reached a short while later to visit along with a few other tourists who were there.
That same day we wanted to go to the tourist office to resolve some doubts we had about the route, but unfortunately, since it was Sunday, we didn’t find anyone.
The one person we did see was Pauline, a young French girl with whom we started trekking on our own the next day and who took us through valleys, mountains and tiny villages. But we will tell you about that soon in the articles we have already prepared.
