Proud to be a Sikkimese: Sikkim Travel, Culture & Local Heritage

Sedongchen Dak Bunglow  1893 Sedongchen Dak Bunglow  2009

  This is an interesting anecdote extracted from an article published in Himalayan Times in 2004 related to Lady Mountbatten on her visit to Sikkim . The year then was 1947 and a summer month.   It was her only visit to Sikkim, and her daughter accompanied her. Before visiting Sikkim, she stayed at Kalimpong for two days. On the third day of her arrival at the Hills of Darjeeling Districts, she decided to visit Gangtok, the then capital of the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim.   Chogyal Tashi Namgyal , the king of Sikkim, had invited Lady Mountbatten to Gangtok.    On that joyous day, Chogyal Tashi Namgyal had particularly arrived at Rangpo to receive the special dignitary. Chogyal was to receive Lady Mountbatten at Rangpo Dak-bungalow.  The 1935 Ford V8 Tourer model, which had the number DJPC 405, arrived at Rangpo, the border between India and Sikkim, at around 10.30 am, and the guests were taken directly to Rangpo Dak-bungalow. Hartka Baha...

Today, Lingtam , a half-hour vehicle road from Rongli Bazaar , is a small, silent wayside village mostly forgotten by history. Today, it is remembered by the tourists for its small Lingtam Police Check Post , where the visitors and their vehicles need to submit their “ Permit Pass " to visit another side of the road to Changu . Towards the end of the 1880s, this place had continuous visitors in the army personnel related to  British Expedition Forces that marched towards Gnathang , the Sikkim-Tibet Border . The development of Sikkim had always evaded this small place for most of the decades. Despite the presence of exotic locales around this effortless landscape, one deserted house just along the way caught my fancied eye when I visited this place for the first time. Between modern days, concrete buildings lie small wooden houses that are empty from the inside with broken planks....