India Guide
Sikkim
The tiny and beautiful state of SIKKIM lies south of Tibet, sandwiched between Nepal to the west and Bhutan to the east. Measuring just 65km by 115km, its landscape ranges from sweltering deep valleys just 300m above sea level to lofty snow peaks such as Kanchenjunga, at 8586m the third-highest mountain in the world. A small but growing network of tortuous roads penetrate this rugged Himalayan wilderness, but they take a massive battering every monsoon, with large and frequent landslides disrupting communications.
For centuries Sikkim was an isolated, independent Buddhist kingdom, until war with China in the 1960s led the Indian government to realize its worth as a corridor between Tibet and Bangladesh. As a result of its annexation by India in 1975, Sikkim has experienced dramatic changes. Now a fully-fledged Indian state, it is predominantly Hindu, with a population made up of 75 percent Nepalese Gurungs, and less than twenty percent Lepchas, its former rulers.Nepali is now the lingua franca and the Nepalese are socially and politically the most dominant people in the state. Due to the reopening of the lucrative trade route at Nathu La on the border with Tibet, Sikkim exudes a growing optimism, and continues to hold a special status within the Indian union, exempt from income tax and attracting government subsidy.
Historically, culturally and spiritually, Sikkim's strongest links are with Tibet. The main draws for visitors are the state's off-the-beaten-track trekking and its many monasteries, over two hundred in all, mostly belonging to the ancient Nyingmapa sect. Pemayangtse in West Sikkim is the most historically significant, and houses an extraordinary wooden mandala depicting Guru Rinpoche's Heavenly Palace. Tashiding, a Nyingmapa monastery built in 1717, surrounded by prayer flags and chortens and looking across to snowcapped peaks, is considered Sikkim's holiest. The capital, Gangtok, is home to a bewildering array of trekking agents, and it's also the place to get hold of permits for Sikkim's restricted areas.
The best time to visit is between mid-March and June but especially March, April and May, when the rhododendrons and orchids bloom.