Now in the capital of the state, Gantok. Another city built up a steep hillside. The one thing you do need in Sikkim is good calf muscles. Sikkim is almost like a different country. Very clean if basic. Of course it was a different country until 1975 when India annexed it.

The monastery over the valley is the home of the Black hat Buddhist sect. Their spiritual leader is the other side of the country though as he resides in Dharamsala with the Dali Lama. A rival lives nearby and there have been raids by militant Buddhists, so the place is tightly armed. We arrived on the last day of a holy festival, so the monastery hall was full of monks chanting and blowing horns and praying. An incredible spectacle.