The Call of the Himalayas: Reflections on Nine Nights in Sikkim
- Michelle Bambawale
- May 15
- 8 min read
Updated: May 17
“Why did I want to visit Sikkim?” is the question I kept asking myself, every day of our nine-day vacation. I wondered about the wisdom of this trip as we were being thrown around the treacherous, winding mountain roads, often hanging on for dear life until our arms were almost wrenched out of their sockets. I pondered over “why did I want to come here?” on every bone-rattling journey on nonexistent roads, churned-up tracks, or while waiting in long traffic snarls. At every turn, a waterfall seemed to be claiming the road. Hairpin bends left us agonising over whether the next one was the end. The cheesy road signs warning us about the tricky roads offered absolutely no comfort.
“I am a beach person”—or that’s how I answer that cliched question every time I am asked, “Are you a mountain or a beach person?” At a physical level, I get violently motion sick. So, what was I doing in Sikkim?
Was it the mythical call of the Himalayas? Or the gentle, prayerful, thoughtful, mountain people, with their beliefs in spirits, prayer flags, and divine mysticism? Or the sheer natural beauty—the forests, waterfalls, streams and rivers, multitudes of birds, and abundance of butterflies?
Most importantly, the Himalayas always remind me of how insignificant we humans are as a species. Over the years, since we moved back to India in 2011, the Himalayas have called us over and over again - to Bhutan, to Ladakh, to Uttarakhand, to Himachal, and in May 2025, to Sikkim.
I am not a trekker, hiker, or a mountaineer, so I do not need to climb and conquer the Himalayas. I just want to look up at them in awe, feel how inconsequential I am and inhale the bracing mountain air.
The importance of Mount Khangchendzonga in Sikkim
My friend Shiori, whom I met at the Creative Writing Course, at the Himalayan Writing Retreat in Satkhol in Uttarakhand in July 2022, (while I was consumed with self doubt trying to write my book Becoming Goan) helped me to organise this trip. She put us in touch with a local travel
agent, Our Guest. We preferred to stay in homestays rather than hotels. We also avoid Airbnbs.
Shiori explained Sikkimese beliefs about Khangchendzonga to me:
“Mount Khangchendzonga (pronounced Khan-chen-zonga) is the third highest peak in the world. We literally worship the mountain because we believe it is our guardian deity. Among Everest (the highest), K2 (second highest), and Khangchendzonga, only Khangchendzonga’s name remains the same. Everest has a local name, so does K2. However, Khangchendzonga remains Khangchendzonga, albeit the spelling varies. Secondly, it is the only 8,000-er peak in the world that is untrodden. While Everest and K2 have had climbers reach the summit, Khangchendzonga doesn’t allow people to climb the sacred peak; in the few special times that British expeditions have happened, the climbers have stopped short and NEVER trodden or stepped on the mountain. Basically, the mountain is sacred and important to us.”
We braced the bad roads to venturt to Dzongu, Shiori said: “Dzongu is a very special place for the Lepcha tribe. Considered the original tribe of Sikkim, Dzongu has been earmarked by the government as a Lepcha settlement. While Dzongu may seem away from civilization, the reason that people still choose to reside there is because from Dzongu, Mount Khangchendzonga is always in your line of sight! Our guardian angel.” She also explained the belief that the first indigenous people were formed out of snow from Mount Khangchendzonga; and are believed to be the original inhabitants of this mountain kingdom.
Sikkim Special
Sikkim became a part of India on May 16, 1975; as the 22nd state and has some special privileges that were agreed upon at this time—residents don’t pay income tax, they have resident cards, and only Sikkimese people can buy and own land in Sikkim. Goans wish they had negotiated some of these benefits for themselves during liberation, especially about owning the land.
Fun fact - Sikkim and Goa are the only two states in India that allow casinos. Something that the people from both these states deeply regret.
In spite of the atrocious conditions and the long, gruelling hours on the roads, we admired the patience and politeness of the Sikkimese people—no overtaking, no honking. They spend hours helping each other; while one side of traffic advances, the other side waits in a regular queue as roadwork is on every arterial road.
The lush landscape had a profusion of familiar ferns and bananas as well as pine and alpine trees. On the sides of the roads, we saw gardeners silently slaving away on planting, pruning, and cutting the grass. The roads were lined with a profusion of flowers, the ones I recognised were bushes of beautiful blue hydrangea; a variety of colours of trumpet flowers, lilies, rhododendrons, frangipani, magnolia, and every hue of bougainvillea.
The valley resounded with bird calls—there was cooing, pecking, clicking, whistling, ringing, chiming. My amateur eyes and ears did not know how many birds were surrounding us. I resorted to tech. The Merlin app helped me to identify a few, but most remain elusive, soaring high above.
The Teesta was everywhere. We followed her muddy flow from Pelling in West Sikkim, to Dzongu in North Sikkim, to Pangthang in East Sikkim, and Turuk in South Sikkim. Along with the Teesta, the prayer flags were omnipresent—some pure white, others blue, still others multicolored. We saw a smattering of chortens. The birds, butterflies, and the bees were multicolored and ubiquitous.
Responsible Tourist Trauma
We were tourists in Sikkim. After living the everyday horrors of overtourism in Goa, when we travel we want to be sensitive - stay in homestays, eat local. Trying to stay away from tourist traps, we ended up looking for all the travel clichés—off the beaten track, hidden gems, secrets, etc. Sadly, as in Goa, I don’t think they exist. If you are a tourist, you stay in the tourist zone and you go to the places created for tourists. There is no other way.
Our detailed itinerary
We took a flight from Goa to Bagdogra via Hyderabad, leaving our home in Goa at 4:30 AM for a 7:30 AM flight from Dabolim. We finally staggered into our homestay at Pelling at 9:00 PM after a grueling, almost eight-hour drive that included traffic stopped for over an hour for ongoing roadwork.
Our homestay, Phamlagang Eco Retreat in Pelling, was good though basic; we enjoyed being welcomed by the family into their home and relished their home-cooked food. The sights we visited in Pelling included:
The Pemayangtse Monastery: It follows the Nyingma Order of Tibetan Buddhism and controls all other monasteries of that Order in Sikkim. Pemayangtse means "Perfect Sublime Lotus" and is said to represent one of the four plexuses of the human body.
Rabdentse Ruins: Until 1814 A.D., it was the second capital of Sikkim, established by the Chogyal II. Later on, after the Nepalese invasion in the 18th century, the palace and the monastery complex were destroyed and are now in ruins.
Khecheopalri Lake: The wishing lake, which is considered holy, and all the wishes you make there are granted.
The next day we headed for Dzongu in North Sikkim, which has recently opened up to tourism. The road over is steep and there were landslides at every turn. Dzongu is a special Lepcha reserve, home to the original inhabitants of Sikkim. The natural beauty is just astounding. There were dense jungles and pristine glacial streams. We spotted waterfalls cascading down steep cliffs and natural hot springs.
Our homestay, Munlom Nature Resort, was a verdant nature retreat. We relaxed for a day to recover from the ride over and were replenished with good home-cooked food and a large, comfortable room. We had a wraparound balcony with a panoramic view overlooking a green valley that resounded with birdsong.
To recover from the back-breaking and nerve-wracking drive, and because it was raining, we stayed close to home and hiked up to the neighboring monastery. The next day we went down to the banks of the Teesta River for a riverside picnic. It was sweet. Watching flowing water is also always meditative. We walked over a bridge just for the “experience”—another tourist cliché—while folks were lugging household essentials across: trays of eggs, pillows, a sack of potatoes, a gas cylinder. And there we were: tourists taking photos, videos, and selfies to record our experience. The bridge we were supposed to cross had been washed away and the authorities had given up on rebuilding it, so our picnic was on the same side of the river.
The next day we drove over to Himalayan Hues in Pangthang. We chose to stay two nights there instead of the busy, touristy downtown Gangtok. We did visit the high-traffic tourist spots—Nathula Pass, Tsomgo Lake—and spent two evenings in Gangtok down MG Marg. The Rabbit Hole bar was a very cool spot where we hung out with my friend Shiori for two evenings and sampled the delicious drinks. We started our evening at Gangtok's iconic bookstore Rachana books where I gave her a copy of my book Becoming Goan and she gifted me important books on Sikkim that she wanted me to read to get an insight into her beloved Kingdom - a collection of poems How to collect a Folk Tale by Tashi Chophe and Prajwal Parajuly's The Land where I flee, (I raced through it, fabulous writing and lots of learning).
In ongoing small world news, at Rachana Books we ran into a girl who was driving around India alone in her car. She had stayed in Goa for a few months and after going North was headed East. She recognised me from a book club meeting at Literati Bookshop, Goa where we discussed - Lessons in Chemistry. Another reminder in a world otherwise being torn apart by war and technology, books, bookshops, book clubs and book talks really do bring people together.
Himalayan Hues offered us a panoramic view of Khangchendzonga, modern rooms with two attached bathrooms, as well as personalised service. Our suite had a large window with Khangchendzonga right in front of us. We felt we were part of the family. Piyush was a very thoughtful host; he checked on everything we needed, from tea to taxi service and travel times. They welcomed us and cooked food that felt like eating at home, making sure we sampled Sikkimese special momos and thukpa. Just before our departure, we were blessed with a visit to their family chosum (altar room).
The two nights we spent at Himalayan Hues were overcast with the prediction of heavy rainfall, so even though we had the perfect view of Mount Khangchendzonga, she was covered in clouds. However, we were blessed as she revealed herself in all her glory at dawn on the second morning. A perfect goodbye to this special homestay.
The next day, after a good breakfast of eggs, cornflakes, and poha, we headed to Turuk Kothi. At Turuk, we had a little cottage to ourselves set on the grounds of this heritage homestay. Our host, Vikash Pradhan, was warm and welcoming and made sure we felt at home in his sprawling estate. All our meals were specially prepared and served to us in a fancy dining hall. We had five meals there, one better than the other. Breakfast was elaborate with fruit, juice, tea and coffee, plenty of eggs, and homemade jams. Lunch included homemade pickles and chutneys.
One morning when the weather was good, we hiked some 4 km up the road to Tarey Bhir for the view and the exercise.
After nine days in Sikkim, we drove to Bagdogra and caught our flight back home to the heat of Goa in May. We smile with reverence whenever we think of Sikkim and its wonderful people, when the Himalayas called us to this enchanting mountain kingdom.
Here is my Instagram reel to sum up my Sikkim story.
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