To
Sikkim
Cultural Tours - The Shangrila
The
Shangrila
Day 01 :
Arrive Siliguri / Bagdogra / New Jalpaiguri – Darjeeling (85 km, 3 hours)
Meeting & assistance on arrival and transfer to Darjeeling. Overnight at
the hotel in Darjeeling.
Day 02 : Darjeeling
Full day sightseeing of Darjeeling. It includes ;
Early morning sunrise view from Tiger Hill. The view from this point is
unforgettable, for colours changing from grey to pink and to luminous
gold. Mt. Everest (8,848m), the world’s highest peak is visible from Tiger
Hill but being 170 km away does not stand out as strikingly as the nearer
Kanchenjunga.
After breakfast, visit Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, the house of
Late Tenzing Norgay, the sherpa who first climbed Mt. Everest with Edmund
Hillary in 1953. Then visit Natural History Museum, Lloyd Botanical Garden
established in 1878 and the Zoo, specializing in high altitude species.
Afternoon visit to Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre which produces and
sells a wide range of Tibetan artifacts and curios. Here you can see
Tibetan craftsman making traditional items like carpets, woolen boots,
wood carvings and leather boots. The centre was established in 1954 to
rehabilitate those refugees who had fled Tibet with Dalai Lama in the wake
of the Chinese invasion.
Overnight at the hotel in Darjeeling.
Day 03 :
Darjeeling – Gangtok (98 km, 4.1/2 hours)
After breakfast drive to Gangtok. Afternoon free for shopping and leisure.
Overnight at the hotel in Gangtok.
Day 04 :
Gangtok
Full day sightseeing including visit to ;
Enchey Monastery; it is a beautiful monastery, in an equally beautiful
setting, approached along an avenue of hundreds of multi-coloured prayer
flags.
Government Institute of Cottage Industries; here you can watch young
students being taught the traditional art of thangkha paintings along with
weaving, wood carving and carpet making.
Also visit the Institute of Tibetology, housed in a beautiful building,
built in traditional Tibetan style, with mural decorated columns and a
wonderful smell of beeswax polish from the creaky wooden floor.
Then drive through picturesque, terraced rice fields to the headquarter of
Dharma Chakra Centres (Rumtek Monastery), the present seat of His
Holiness, the Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Kagyupa sect. Said to be the
replica of the monastery at Tsurphu, Tibet with its traditional
architecture, exquisite paintings, intricate wood work, housing treasures
of manuscripts and icons. Rumtek is a splendid example of Tibetan monastic
art.
Overnight at the hotel in Gangtok.
Day 05 :
Gangtok – Kalimpong (77 km, 3 hours)
Morning drive to Kalimpong. Afternoon visit to Tharpa Choling Monastery,
belonging to the Gelugpa sect of Dalai Lama. Then drive to Deolo Hill, the
highest point in Kalimpong at 5,500 ft, which offers good view of the
surrounding region. It also has two water reservoirs, the source of
Kalimpong drinking water.
Then visit Zong-Dog Palri Fo-brang Monastery followed by visit to Gauripur
House, the favorite retreat of Rabindra Nath Tagore who wrote many of his
works here.
Overnight at the hotel in Kalimpong.
Day 06 :
Kalimpong – Siliguri / Bagdogra airport / New Jalpaiguri (80 km, 3 hours)
Morning transfer to Siliguri / Bagdogra airport / New Jalpaiguri for
onward journey.
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