April 20th Walk to Sanga Choling Monastery

Farmer's Daughter

Sanga Choling Monastery

After 2 days of driving we planned a walking day today. We are high on a hill so we took the first path down towards some farms. The path turned into stairs and down we went. At the first junction we split off into a farm where a few small fields had been carved into the hill, There were cows and goats and 3 small houses. We met 2 men and a baby and Joan taught the baby to wave. After a few minutes we left and headed back up the stairs. It took an hour to ascend 487 stairs and walk out. After the warmup we walked 1 km uphill to the tourist bureau. We learned the monastery I wanted to visit was only 2 km farther on so on we went. The first 500 meters were gentle but then came the mountain. We paced ourselves and on we went. Another hour walking uphill. The auto traffic on the road wasn't heavy but passing presented a problem. We were a lot closer to the SUV's than we wanted to be. The cars often had to stop when the road narrowed or 2 cars met on a hairpin curve. It seems Indian cars do not have a handbrake, The standard method of starting a stalled car on a hill was to put a large stone behind the rear wheel and drive away leaving the stone on the road. There were several large stones on the road. The monastery we visited was the oldest in Sikkim. It had been restored in 1966, but the paint job looked brand new, both interior and exterior. After the visit we returned to our hotel by foot.

Mount Kangchendzonga

Joan did at least 7 km today – all up hill.