Enjoy the crescent-shaped beach and its fine white sand. Go have some food or something to drink in one of the beach restaurants.

2. Visit Anjuna Beach

Take a walk at the little market and go to the bar on the cliffs. Enjoy the view from to the beach and the ocean.

3. Visit Old Goa and the Churches

Enjoy the beauty of these old buildings.

4. Visit Panjim and its landmark the church “Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception”

At the Church walk along 18th June Road (and the streets close by) for a shopping tour. Whatever you need, you find it here.

5. Take a rikscha to go somewhere

Maybe from Panjim to Old Goa or to the next beach from where you are staying.

6. Visit a Temple

And watch all the beautiful colors and flowers and all the Rangoli on the floor.

7. Visit a Spice Plantation

And learn more about how to make spices.

8. Buy a scarf!

You can find any color and any fabric you like. Buy one or even more scarves. All women love them. They also make a good birthday or Christmas present.

9. Get some clothes tailored

Best thing is to bring a pair of pants or anything else that fits you perfectly. Bring your favorite item with you, find a fabric you like and have your clothes replicated.

10. Buy some fresh fruits!

It’s all better than everything we have in Europe. Consider some of fruits we usually have to import (Papaya, Mango, Bananas etc.). It’s a whole different fruit here in India.

Der Beitrag 10 Things To Do in Goa erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Geographical Location: East of Bangladesh and Brahmaputra’s Influence

After quite some time in India, including a longer period living there, I have to say: nothing is like the Northeast. Clocks are ticking differently here, even cities are different.

Geographically, India’s Northeast has been separated from the rest of the country ever since the state of Bangladesh was founded. During British colonial rule all seven states were called Assam but is no longer the case nowadays. The east is very close to Myanmar and, in the North, to Bhutan and China.

The area is strongly shaped by the Brahmaputra River which runs through the entire area. Three quarters of the population live in close proximity to the river. Most people stay in the more developed cities in the south and east. Many residents have tribal ancestors. The second largest area, are the mountain in the North (Meghalaya, Nagaland) that have been largely influenced by Christian missionaries.

Arriving from Guwahati and Assam

Center and most important city of the Northeast is Guwahati, Assam’s capital. When you travel northeast, you will arrive in Guwahati. Guwahati has 800,000 residents and is, for Indian standards rather small. Even the entire northeast is rather sparsely populated (45 million people in total, in contrast to 19 million in Mumbai or Delhi). Guwahati can be reached from all major Indian airports; there are tons of domestic flights available. You will not be able to find a nonstop flight from Germany, a stopover in Delhi is definitely needed. Guwahati is the gateway to all other states and cities in the northeast.

Guwahati, after all, is a more relaxed Indian city but a city like any other in India. You don’t have big problems with cab driver and rikscha drivers (very much the opposite from all other cities in India). You can find anything here: more traditional bazaars, little vegetable sellers as well as fancy shops, malls, big chain restaurants and stores, huge cinemas, restaurants and coffee houses. There are also many hotels with different standards and price ranges. You can use GS Road, which crosses the entire city and the Brahmaputra River as reference points to find your way. All in all, Guwahati makes a good beginning for India.

There are no big sights in Guwahati. Some temples and monasteries (Umanada Tempel , Kamakhaya Tempel, Navagraha Tempel). Holy temples of different religions can be found here in a big colorful mix: Madhava Temple where Buddha went to the Nirvana, Pao Monastery very important to Muslims, Hajo Pilgrimage which has five temples that are important for all five religions.

Moreover, Guwahati has three Bazaars: Paltan Bazaar, Pan Bazaar and Fancy Bazaar.
Three national parks can be found in the surrounding area: Mana National park (175 km from Guwahati), Probitora National park (40 km) and Kaziranga National park (217 km).

I would not plan too much time for Guwahati. 1 – 2 days is enough, you can recover from the trip, visit a few temples and if you are interested some Bazaars and Malls.
Things start getting interesting when to decide where to go next.

National Parks in Kaziranga and Mana

Distances are large, driving takes a long time because the streets are mostly bad. Yet, the national parks in Kaziranga and Mana are worth a visit. From Guwahati you should plan an entire day to drive there. After Guwahati, you need to drive up a mountain range, all vehicles can only move slowly, even though it does not sound that much, 200 km in India is in general a long distance, even more here in the Northeast. The further you travel from Guwahati, the worse the streets get.

Everything gets more rural, there are no more typical Indian metropolis but more “villages”. The term village might create some misunderstandings; even a village in India can have 200,000 residents. Don’t base that on the number of people living there. For Indians, a city with 5 million people is a small town. A village is rather defined by its bad infrastructure, bad streets, few hotels and that it’s difficult to reach. You need to lower your standards a bit here; many “Western” things are missing. One example is warm or hot water. It’s not available everywhere but, sometimes you find it where you least expect it. But you definitely need to accept certain lower standards when it comes to hygiene.

Close to the big attractions there are, rather surprisingly, upper-class hotels with higher standards. Target group of these places are wealthy Indians, who, in the end, don’t expect a lower standard than people from the West (Europeans and Americans).

We decided to visit Kaziranga, right at the Brahmaputra River, close to Bhutan. Visiting Bhutan in a second step would have been nice but is rather difficult, to get the Bhutan visa is very difficult.

Here you can read more about Kaziranga National Park.

The State of Assam

Kaziranga is at the edge, but still in Assam. During colonial times, Assam was the name for the entire region but nowadays it includes a much smaller area.

Two ethnic groups mainly meet in Assam: immigrated Begalis and tribals. There were certain separations of tribals (e.g. Nagaland and Meghalaya). The states as they are today have existed since 1972.

In Europe, Assam is mostly known for its tea. This is one of the tourist attractions here: tea plantations. They are everywhere Assam has the largely connected tea plantations in the world.

Except Kaziranga and Mana, there are two smaller national parks: Probitora and Orang. Another interesting thing is the huge and powerful Brahmaputra river, in Majuli you find the largest river island in the world.

Traveling here is still easily possible. The streets were partly not that good, but progress is on the way. A lot of construction work can be found anywhere, in particular around the main attractions, tourism is common. There are drivers and jeeps for the national park, and tourism is well-organised here. I think, you can easily travel here you just need to decide what you want to see.

Meghalaya: Cherapunjee and Shillong

The same counts for Meghalaya, the state south of Assam and its capital Shillong. Shillong as well as Cherapunjee (Sohra) are main attractions for (domestic) tourism. The tribals’ root bridges are interesting. Information on that Cherapunjee can be found here.

Shillong is called “Scottland of the East”. There are mountains covered in fog but also lakes and old Victorian buildings. It used to be a British hill station. Shillong Peak is on more than 1500 meters and offers a great view of the Ward Lake. Plus, there are several waterfalls in the area (one example the fourth largest in the world, Nohkalikai Water Fall).

Bengal, Sikkim and Darjeeling

Some more states, that are often counted as Northeast States are Sikkim, Bengal and the very popular Darjeeling. All these places are further west, not east of Bangladesh and are not part of the Seven Sisters. That is which is choose to do an extra group called Sikkim and Darjeeling.

Here can be found information on…

Sikkim
Kanchenjunga
Khecheopari
Darjeeling

Off Assam and Meghalaya

Anything outside Assam and Meghalaya definitely makes the Northeast a place for adventurers. The not-so-good-streets become worse. It becomes difficult to move forward, there is rarely any tourism at all. But you can find more and more tribal areas that are protected which means you cannot travel at all or only with extra permit.

Arnuchal Pradesh: Has one of the most beautiful landscapes of the Seven Sisters, reaching from the foot of the Himalaya Mountains to the Brahmaputra River, also called Assam-Himalaya. A mountain state that difficult to access, with very mixed religious groups. Also strongly influence by its tribals even though China claims parts of its area.

Nagaland: largely stettled by tribals (16 different tribal groups), that are in vast majority Christians. Official language is English, but every tribal has its own language, not all of them are compatible among each other. There are four national parks here, but almost no foreign visitors. Some areas are restricted and cannot be visited by foreigners.

Manipur and Mizoram: The most eastern of the Seven Sisters and its southern neighbor form the border to Myanmar. There are mountains ranges with 3000 meter mountains (Patkai mountains) but also lowlands and valleys. No tourist development at all.

Tripura: close the Bagladesh Valley, a more communist state largely remote and secluded, mostly interesting for its landscape, can be reached by plane (airport in the capital Agartal) from Calcutta.

All these states have one thing in common: tourism is still in the very beginning. Problems of how to reach and how to move forward derive from that. Moreover, occasionally there are tribal areas that are protected, restricted or even fully closed. You should ask about these regulations right before your tour, changes come every now and then. One thing for sure: it’s not for India beginners, only for adventurers. But you can see pristine, secluded nature, quite often mountain regions of the Himalayans.

Religion in these states varies strongly: some have been strongly missionized (as bad as this is!), there are three mostly Christian states: Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram. Influences here are Baptist.

If you think about going to any of these states, bring enough time and do some thinking about what kind of standard you can handle. I talk about factors of development of a county: availability of power, running water, transportation, streets, hygiene etc.

What is different in the East Compared to Other States?

The short answer is: much, basically everything. People are much more relaxed, life is more quite and calm. We were left alone, nobody followed us, nobody yelled after us, you don’t get cheated at in every corner, there were no “feelable” resentments against Whites.
There were in total fewer tourists, you are not trapped in these enormous masses of people. People seem friendly and, as a foreign guest welcome you without prejudice.

I was rarely photographed without asking (only once), nobody followed me and a very rare and outstanding thing: no men were talking to me, asking for my contact number, nobody touched me, annoyed or molested me. I, a white woman, was left alone. I have not had that anywhere in India, not even Goa.

I cannot guarantee anything for single women travelers but, I have felt save. Everything I have experienced was 100% positive; I have not though this was possible in India. You always need to be careful but I have always felt safe.

Not only women travelers have an easier life her: we could agree faster with Rikscha drivers, shopping was easier, the prices they charges were ok (of course always a bit higher for Whites, but not three times the regular amount). The bazaar had fixed prices, for me these prices were fine.

And: It’s much cleaner than in most parts of India. That came as a total surprise, I was not expecting it at all. Much less trash on the streets.

On a political level there are always some turmoils and separation movements. I find so many warnings about this online. I have seen very little of that. I think, at that point, as a visitor from Europe you have very little problems. , it’s more a domestic issue.

The Northeast was a positive surprise to me, I was not expecting this at all.

Der Beitrag India’s Northeast: the Seven Sisters erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

How do these Root Bridges Come to Life?

Root Bridges grow from the roots of the rubber fig tree (ficus elsatica). Jainta and Khasi Art (both southern Meghalaya tribals) make these roots grow into a natural bridge to cross the river. Due to their organic material, these bridges get more solid and stable over the years. These bridges are able to maintain themselves for centuries if circumstances are right. Altogether a very fascinating process that shows how to live in unity with nature in a way only indigenous peoples are able to.

Ritymen Root Bridge in Tyrna bei Cherapunjee

There are several root bridges in and around Cherapunjee and in the Jainta Mountains. We visited the Ritymen Root Bridge.

You can reach Ritymen Root Bridge from the little village Tyrna from Cherapunjee (12 km, 30 min). We stayed in a hotel in Cherapunjee and like that reaching Tyrna was easy. You can also go there from the more popular Shillong (ca. 2 ½ hours). But you need a driver, you are far from all the big cities and should not rely on public transportation.

At first comes the Ritymen Root Bridge. If you continue descending, you reach a double root bridge called Umshiang Double Decker Bridge. Double means there are two natural bridges with on top of each other.

Descending the Ritymen Root Bridge

A sign at the entrance says “3 km to Double Bridge”. That is a bit of an understatement, it means 3 km of stairs. The descend is exhausting, we only walked to the first bridge, the single Ritymen Bridge.

Descending these stairs is still doable. We were there with a larger group of people, most of them athletes and fit. We had to walk down hundreds of stairs and that made all our thigh muscles shiver. But that was still ok.

There is a local tour guide who walks the group downstairs. At the entrance they rent bamboo sticks. Makes sense, of course there is no handrails at the stairs.

There are several smaller buildings every now and then that also sell beverages. Locals charge a small fee to see the bridge, 10 Rupees per person, 10 more for every camera. Close to nothing, even if they make you pay for every camera and phone you carry. Altogether it would still be less than 1 Euro (30 Rs about 45 cents).

Bridge and River With a Natural Pool

After a long, you finally reach the bridge with crystal clear water below where you can either swim or enjoy the sun while sitting on a rock. Swimming is only for men, I would discourage women from swimming here.

If you feel strong and energetic enough, you can continue your route to the double bridge. I cannot tell you anything about this. We were in a group of 9, nobody wanted to walk any further. The links at the bottom provide some more information about that.

Ascending From the Bridge

What stopped us from moving was the ascend that was waiting for us. We already had a 2000 steps descend, it’s supposedly another 1500 step to the double bridge.

I consider myself fit above average, I work out regularly and think I can do quite an amount of walking. There were marathon runners, football players and other athletes in our group. Yet, the way back was hard for all of us. It’s a steady 2000 steps ascend. It takes a long time and is exhausting. On the way back, we met several untrained but wealthy Indian families that had huge problems to walk back. Some of them were visibly suffering, looking quite unfortunate and only continued walking because there was no choice.

Our tour guide praised our fitness, said we were better in walking upstairs than the Indian tourists. How seriously you have to take this is another matter. Yet, you should know what you are getting into.

View from the Stairs and the Region’s Climate

In particular during descend,the view of the valley and the mountain is great: pristine nature that is indeed green and clean everywhere, for India very unusual.
The region is rather wet, Cherapunjee is called the “Wettest Place on Earth” (sometimes refered to as “Scottland of the East”).

It’s wetter and cooler than in the rest of India. Many Indians call it cold, but that’s a relative thing. To me, it still felt like summer, in particular around midday it was really warm. All those many steps don’t make it any better. It’s warm and the sun is burning. Definitely bring sunscreen and something to cover your head. We did not have any rain during our three days in Cherapunjee. Even the grass was partly brown and visibly dry.

How To Reach and Some Final Remarks

The root bridges are a spectacular play of nature, something totally different and new. The surrounding nature is nice, pristine, green and clean. All of this shows a very different face of India than the one in the big cities. Definitely worth a trip!

You reach Meghalaya from Assam. The best option is to fly from Delhi to Guwahati and take a driver from there (ca. 160 km, 5 hours). There are also public busses. From Guwahati, spend the night either in Shillong or Cherapunjee and make a day trip to the root bridges. We left it up to the drive how to reach the bridge that was the easiest way.

As usually in the Northeast, you are off the main tourist routes. Some Indians from other states spend their holidays here. We have not seen any other Europeans. Everything is relaxed, people are friendly and open. They let you be and don’t annoy you.

You can buy beverages everywhere, even Coke and other sweet sugar sodas. Yet, I would take a bottle of water just to be sure. But that is all you need, you don’t need to carry a bagpack full of water bottles with you.

Der Beitrag Root Bridges in Cherapunjee (Sohra) in Meghalaya’s South erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Most-Visited Beaches in Calangute and Baga to Siquerim Beach

Calangute is the most southern of all the North beaches. Calangute and Baga offer a big variety of water sport, mostly jet skiing but also kites. In the meantime, more and more casinos come to Goa, also in this area. Here, you find younger guests from India, European bag packers and a more price-conscious audience.

Infrastructure around these two beaches has become bigger: there are hotels, guest houses and restaurants. You also find chain restaurants like Pizza Hut and Dominos, a shopping mall and a wax museum. Even the big hotel chains have come here, in this case Novotel and Hyatt. Because these beaches can easily be reached from the airport, they are always busy. These are the most-frequented beaches in Goa. This shows in construction work, there is barely any empty space left.

The area is a bit crowded; you almost don’t see the step to Siquerim Beach. Siquerium Beach very prominently features the Taj Hotel. Right next to it, you find the Aguada Fort.

Anjuna: Hotspot for Hippies, Bag Packers and Flea Markets Visitors

Further north, you find Anjuna, the hippie Mecca and bag packers hot spot. If you come by bus, this is where you arrive. There are cheap, very simple guest houses and you have very little problem getting in touch with other travelers. The little village up the cliffs is pretty. They sell all kinds of things for tourists, but the view is amazing. Sitting in one of the bars or restaurants, enjoying the view to the ocean is one of the best things do to.

The Anjuna Flea Market every Wednesday is very popular. Also, the party scene likes to meet in Anjuna. If you like Yoga, you find many offers here.

Vagator and Chapora: Nice Landscape at the Chapora Fort

Further north, there are the two smaller beaches Vagator and Chapora. Both surround the Chapora Fort and create, in combination with its red stone cliffs and unique scenery. If you are looking for an entire apartment, you can find it here. Many permanent guests stay here, this is also how a party scene has come up.

Morjim, Mandrem and Arambol: Secluded Beaches or Bag Packers

The three most northern beaches Morjim, Mandrem and Arambol are separated from the rest of the land by the Chapora River.

Morjim Beach has a preserve area for breeding water turtles. Anyways, Morjim has some problems with dirt coming from the river and that is why its sand is a bit darker.
The beaches of Mandrem and Arambol are still not very crowded. Fun fact: in Mandrem, there beach and all the guest houses are separated from each other by a river. You walk on small bamboo bridges to get to the beach. Very far north, in Arambol, you again find beach shacks and cheaper ways to stay but no hotels, comparable to the beaches far in the South. Also, there are many Yoga offers here.

see also: The Beaches of South Goa

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The “Northern” Beaches Colva and Benaulim

The most northern beaches in South Goa are Colva and Benaulim. Both can be reached quickly from the airport and are always very much frequented. They mostly have smaller guest houses, not really hotels but simpler. Colva and Benaulim have very little differences: both are long-stretched, wide beaches and attract mainly national guests. If you are looking for cheaper and simpler places to stay, ask around in Colva. Things are not that noble and sophisticated here. Colva and Benaulim are mainly interesting because they can be reached so easily from the airport.

A bit north of Colva, there are Park Hyatt and Royal Orchid, two upscale hotel resorts at smaller beaches (Arossim and Utorda Beach).

Resort Hotels in South Goa: Varca, Cavelossim and Mobor Beach

At the southern end of Benaulim, all the hotel resorts start. They stretch from Varca Beach to Cavelossim Beach and Mobor Beach. The most beautiful spot here is for sure Mobor Beach with its beautiful Holiday Inn. Don’t get confused by the name Holiday Inn: it’s a five-star-hotel very chic, very high-class, not like in Europe middle-class.
Don’t expect a huge party, the hotel guests usually stay in their hotel zone and don’t go out.

In Cansaulim, Cavelossim and Mobor Beach you find all the big, high-standard hotels like:

• • Taj Exotica Resort in Benaulim Beach
  • Club Mahindra in Varca Beach
  • Zuri White Sands Resort in Varca
  • Redisson Blu in Cavelossim
  • Holiday Inn Resort in Mobor Beach
  • The Leela Goa in Mobor Beach

There are barely any differences between these hotels. They all are higher standard hotels, with an big hotel area including pools, big buffets, restaurants, bars, spa and everything else. This is usually what travel agencies offer you when you ask for Goa. It’s not much cheaper than anything in Germany but you do not have any problems when it comes to hygiene and cleanliness. When you want to be in a good hotel and spend your day at the beach or pool, this is the right place for you.

The “Southern” South Goa: Agonda, Palolem and Patnem

Even further south, you find Agonda, Palolem and Patnem Beach. These three beaches have a very different character. Five-Star-Hotels or hotesl in general cannot be found that much here. Smaller homestays and guest houses are characteristic for these southern beaches that are mostly visited by bag packers, also many from Europe.

All three beaches are beautiful bays, Palolem and Agonda bigger, Patnem rather small.
In particular in Palolem and Agonda, several beach shacks are constructed right after the monsoon. This is how, in the end, the entire coast line is fully covered with buildings that last for one season. You can book shacks from where you can look directly at the ocean. Some of these shacks only have one floor, others even two. The standard is low but good. The costs are not high: 20 Euro per night will get you far. Next to these beach shacks, there are, in particular in Palolem smaller hotels with 6 – 10 rooms that are located “in the third row” at the beach front. These are solid building with brick walls and all. You should pick you place according to what you prefer, all of them are good. All-Inclusive food or even food is not common in these hotels. Quite often, a beach restaurant and several beach shacks belong together. Most people have their meals at one of the beach restaurants.

You need to choose between the beach restaurants with ocean view tables and restaurants right at the beach and the ones a few meters inbound, off the beach. You can basically get all kinds of food. At the beach it’s a bit more expensive but compared to German prices, still reasonable.

A special feature of Palolem is the boat tours that are offered everywhere. You take a tour on the water, along the coast get to see dolphins and the world from the water. Quite nice, not more that but usually even quite cheap. Fun Fact: there are no machines; the boats are pulled in and out of the water simply by manpower.

More Information about Palolem Beach can be found here.

At the very South of Goa in Rajbagh, you again find a very fancy Five-Star-Place with Golf and Spa: the Lalit Gold and Spa Goa.

Der Beitrag Beaches in Goa’s South erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Basilika St. Francis and Sé Cathedral

In its peak time between the 16th and 18th century, Old Goa was a big city with more residents than London. How powerful and influential this city was in this phase can be seen at the big churches that were built in those days. Even its Portuguese influence is still there. Due to a wave of malaria and cholera, the city had to be abandoned in the 18th century.

You find the Basilika St. Francis here, a very famous missionary from the east, whose deadly remains are buried here. The basilica dates back to 1594 and is more than 400 years old.

The second important building is Sé Cathedral, built between 1562 and 1619. Almost 80 meters in height, this is Asia’s biggest church. These two main buildings are really impressive and make something unusual: a Christian church that big in the middle of Asia.

Some more building are:

• the Church of Francis of Assisi
• a museum about Christian Art
• the Church of St. Cajetan
• the ruins of the old St. Augustine monastery
• the Church of Our Lady of the Mount” (at bit isolated, 2 km from everything else)

…and some more chapels, churches and ruins.

Some of the buildings are very well-preserved, other in decline. Anyways, the atmosphere and past meaning of the city becomes very clear.

Old Goa – How Do I Get There?

When you are in Panjim, you can easily reach Old Goa. There are busses but also rikschas are ready to take tourists there. Simply ask someone or wait until someone asks you. All of this should be rather cheap and cost you only a few Euros.

From all the beaches, you can find a driver who takes you around for the whole day. This is probably a bit more expensive but still doable. You book a driver and a car for the entire day, tell him where you want to go and find an agreement about a whole-day price. That depends on where you are, where you want to go and how long. You can for example do a day trip to the Panjim city center and Old Goa.

Old Goa – A Place to Recommend?

Yes, I do recommend it but (there is always a but you see churches. Speaking for myself: Churches are everywhere in Europe, some of them extremely gorgeous. When it comes to churches, I am quickly and easily bored, in general not interested that much and not enthusiastic. I wanted to see Old Goa anyways and do not regret it. You should know what you get: grand, beautiful churches in the middle of India. Neither the greatest nor the prettiest churches I have ever seen. Inside and outside are nice but not spectacular or outstanding. If you come from the US and do not know old buildings, this is the right place for you. But buildings like the dome in Cologne and the dome in Speyer are more sparkling than anything in Goa.

Der Beitrag The Churches of Old Goa – Ancient Former Capital and “Rome of the East” erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Beach Shacks and Restaurants at the Bay

Palolem is mainly a collection of beach shacks and restaurants chained along the coastline and offering an ocean view. Wide parts of the beach are largely not built-up. You only find some boats here. Right after the beach line, right under palm trees, the line of shacks and restaurants starts. Even here, you are still walking on fine, white sand.

The first row of hats has an open sea view. Even the second and maybe the third row still offer a veritable view. Some of these wooden shacks have one floor, others even two.
The beach shacks are constructed for one season and get entirely removed during monsoon season. Considering this, their standard is very high. Most importantly, they have water closets and running water. They walls are only thin wooden panels, though. These beach shacks cannot be compared to hotels, they are rather simple hats.

Prices are reasonable even though they tend to vary strongly. For 20 Euro, you definitely find something here, much less in off-season.

A Maze of Hotels Further Inland

A few meters off the coastline you find the first real hotels that means solid buildings with walls and quite often an AC. Most of them are smaller, quite often only 3 – 6 rooms. Some of these hotels are 50 meters from the beach, others a bit farther. You can get good prices here too, 30 to 40 Euros per night.

Palolem has a kind of center and main access to the beach. This is usually where the cabs take you. You have to look for your hotel or shack yourself. That is why you see guests walking along the beach with their luggage all the time. The paths between these hotels are narrow; you can easily walk or use a scooter but not a car. In the beginning, this maze is a bit confusing.

In the center, there are some stores with all necessities but nothing more. Of course, they also sell all kinds of tourist stuff (silver jewelry, scarves, spices, T-shirts, clothes, bags). The quality in the stores is a bit higher than anything the beach hawkers offer.

Restaurants at the Coast

All the beach restaurants can in fact be recommended. All of them offer ocean view; you can sit in the shade and face the water. Quite often, they also have sun beds at the beach and also serve food there.

They offer a vast variety of food you can basically get anything here. There are no big, all-inclusive hotels. That is why all the guests go to these restaurants even for breakfast. You can go to a different place every day, the quality is good everywhere. Sometimes it’s even difficult to remember where you were the day before, these restaurants are all very much alike.

For Indian standard, these restaurants are not cheap but compared to German restaurants, prices are still reasonable.

In addition, there are several restaurants off the beach with all kinds of stuff. You can eat for less money here.

Boat Tours

In Palolem, boat tours are popular. There are small wooden boats at the beach with which you can take a trip on the ocean. These tours take place usually mostly for sunrise and sunset but any other time is possible. The sellers find you at the beach, offer their boat tour and how much you pay is part of a bargaining process. The boat takes you off the coast to the ocean. You see the coast from the water probably a dolphin and maybe they take you to a little island in front of Palolem (Canacona). Some more routes go to the river channel close by or a field trip to the “Butterfly Beach”, a beach almost inaccessible from the main land. All of these tours are nice little trips, don’t expect anything spectacular but rather enjoy the view and relax.

Fun Fact: The boats are pulled in and out of the water with pure manpower, there are no machines anywhere. Male beach visitors are often asked to help get the boat in or out.

Alternatives

If, in high season you feel Palolem is a bit too busy for you, you can go to the neighbor beach Patnem. Patnem also is a very beautiful beach with a similar crescent shape, similar restaurants and beach shacks but less busy and quieter. Further south of Patnem, there is a 5-star hotel resort for guests with high demands.

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Sikkim: A Federal State With No Airport But Extra Visa

At the moment, Sikkim is rather remote. There is no Sikkim airport it can only be reached from Bagdhora in Bengal. A Sikkim airport is currently under construction (Pakgong Airport) is supposed to open soon.Foreigners need and extra visa, called “Extra Permit” in addition to the standard Indian visa to enter the state.

Sikkim is situated at the foot of the third-highest mountain in the world, the Kanchejunga (8586 m). One half of Kanchenjunga belongs to Sikkim (in the Northwest) the other half to Nepal. You find many different valleys there, some of them in larger heights even snow-covered. But all of them are largely undeveloped, mostly even totally untouched, pristine nature, large parts of the area are forested. Flora and Fauna from the Himalayan outskirts can be found everywhere. Subtropical plants from the lower areas of Sikkim and alpine plants from the higher regions exist in close distance. There are also some alpine animals like bears and leopards.

For Indian standards, Sikkim is very sparsely populated: only 600,000 people live here (for comparison: Delhi ca. 19 million, Mumbai ca. 18 million).

West-Sikkim: Pelling and Kanchenjunga

Pelling is on 1900 meters and is, from a tourist point of view, the second most important town in Sikkim. Tourism here booms, there are many hotels in Pelling: Pelling is mainly a long stretch of hotels. All of them have a great view to the Kanchejunga: if weather permits, you can see the sunrise at the mountain. You don’t need to go anywhere, just make sure you have a hotel with a great view.

More information about Pelling can be found in this article.

A very beautiful monastery is the Khecheopari Monastery and its lake which is sacred for both Hindus and Buddhist. Khecheopari is another 30 km from Pelling but you need 1 ½ hours.

This monastery and its lake were my Sikkim highlight. The building was so colorful, so shining; the monks were welcoming us so warmly and friendly.

More information about the monastery can be found in this article.

Yuksom: Starting Point For Hiking Tours But Also End Point for Road Connections

From Khechopari, it’s 30 km till Yuksom, a little village and the end of theroad in West-Sikkim. On the way to Yuksom, you drive by a waterfall called Kanchenjunga Waterfall (30 km 1 ½ hours). Yuksom is a little village, a base camp for extended hiking tours in Sikkim. Another interesting spot is the Dubdi Monastery, Sikkim’s oldest monastery, 600 meters from Sikkim but without a road connection.

The big Himalaya hiking and climbing tours usually start in Yuksom. Two popular routes are the one to Zongri (4000 meters) and the one to Gochela Pass (5000 meters). But you need another permit to do hiking in the North, the Sikkim Extra Permit is not enough. You should anyways not do the tours on your own but rather take a local guide from a travel agency with you.

A day trip could be the Tashdiding Trek, a hiking tour from Yuksom via Honri Gompa, Tashiding Village (2150 meters).

Pilgrim Routes Along the Buddhist Monasteries

Right next to Pelling (opposite direction to Yuksom) you can find the Sanga Choling Monastery (10 km, 30 min) and the Pemayangtse Monastery (10 km, 30 min) and right next to it the Rabdentse Ruins.

All theses monasteries make a popular pilgrim route (Sanga Choling, Pemayangste, Khecheopari and the only one that cannot be reached by car Tashiding).

Driving to Pelling Without Bridges and Tunnels

To see all of these places you need at least 2 days. Reaching Pelling already takes a while. To see everything you need 2 days (or 1.5 days with a late afternoon return trip) plus some extra time for hiking from Yuksom.

Driving is in general rather slow, as mentioned above you need 30 Minutes to do 10 km. Yet, it is stunningly beautiful. There are no bridges or tunnels, the streets are mainly serpentines at the mountain. This makes driving more difficult but Sikkim’s pristine nature more beautiful.

Gangtok – Capital in the East of the State

Gangtok is the biggest and most important city of Sikkim and can now even be reached by helicopter from Bagdhora. From Pelling it’s 130 km to Gangtok (5 ½ hours) from Darjeeling to Gangtok it’s 100 km (3 ½ hours). Gangtok has strict rules when it comes to trash (“no littering”) and smoking (Non-smoking city). An interesting spot is the Hanuman Tok (11 km, 35 min) a Hindu Monastery and Rumtek (18 km, 55 min), a Buddhist Monastery.
Gangtok is of interest for everyone who wants to go further north: you can find all kinds of travel agencies here who focus on hiking tours. Here, you can also organize all extra permits for hiking tours, travel agencies sometimes even do that for you.

In Gangtok in the eastern part of Sikkim, streets reach much further north than in Pelling. There is a street to Lachung and the Yumtang Valley (120 km, 4 ½ hours). Yumtang is the valley of flowers with 24 different kinds of rhodododendron and many more plants. In Yumtang Vallley, you have already reached North-Sikkim, you cannot travel any further north.

Sikkim – Pelling , Gangtok and Yuksom: Where Should I Go?

You can use the two towns Pelling and Gangtok as a reference point. Both of them are starting points to see several things. Pelling is a bit nicer, Sikkim Tourism suggests Pelling. Here, you can get closer to the high mountain, even as an amateur and with no real climbing to the top. For an average tourist like me, this is already a big adventure: not even Pelling and Gangtok are that easily reachable.

Hiking and climbing tours to bigger heights can be started from Yuksom. You reach Yuksom via Pelling. Agencies and Extra Permits can best be organized in Gangtok.

Border-Crossing to Sikkim: Melli and Rangpo – Information About the Extra Permit

There are two border crossing points to Sikkim: Melli and Rangpo. You can get the Extra Permit at both these stations. When we did it that was easy: you need to fill out a form, you need a xerox (=copy) of your passport , 1 – 2 passport pics and the passport gets checked and stamped. All of that worked quite well and can be compared to the immigration process to another country. But you definitely need to consider it and don’t forget it. We Europeans tend to forget about borders and visas quickly. They also asked us how long we are planning to stay. The thing I read everywhere is that everything up to 14 days is not a problem, I don’t know what happens if you want to stay longer (for example for bigger hiking tours).

Traveling With Your Own Driver

There are busses and jeeps as Sikkim’s public transportation. You always find a way to move forward at the next stop. Anyways, this is a bit exhausting, takes a lot of time and you have to squeeze in a packed jeep.

It’s easier to take a driver and your own car. That is a bit more expensive but doable. We paid 25,000 Rupees for a trip from Bagdhora (to Darjeeling, Pelling, Kalimpong, 5 days) which is about 330 Euro. Drivers wait at Bagdhora Airport for tourists, there is a counter at the airport called “Sikkim Tourism” who organized all of that for us within a few minutes after landing. These things usually work quite well: we had to pay half of the money in the beginning and the second half when we were back at the airport. I would do that again. Driving on these bad roads is exhausting as it is; the driver was the right thing to do for us.

Der Beitrag Sikkim – the northern Buddhist Indian State at the Foot of the Himalaya erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Khecheopari Lake: a Sacred Place

The lake is scared for Hindus and Muslims. From the entrance, it’s another 200 meters to the lake. There are small paths on one side of the lake with several small buildings, temple and many unmissable, colorful prayer flags everywhere.

At the end of the hiking path, there is a prayer point close to the water of the lake. All in all, you walk about 500 meters along the lake. The place has its very own, very spiritual atmosphere. You can fell the sacredness of the lake.

Khecheopari Monastery: colorful magnificence of Buddhism

The monastery is on a hill, a bit off the lake. It’s a bit of a walk up the hill. This seems to be too much for many visitors, almost no one went up to the main building. The main building is an extremely colorful, shining and sparkling building where the monks still live.
After hesitating for a while, we came closer to the building. Because the monks just had a meeting, we did not want to enter or look inside. But the monks were signaling us several times to come and even offered us cookies. That is how we got the pics from the inside. We would not have done any of that without them telling us to enter.

The inside of the building is an extremely colorful collection of art and crafts. No matter where you look, there is always a new painting, a new colorful piece of cloth or a painted wall. Absolutely breathtaking and unique! Totally different from everything I have seen so far.

The main buildings’ outside is magnificent. There are artful sculptures everywhere, all of them in many colors and very well-kept. I could have spent hours just looking at things. A unique architecture.

Monks in Khecheopari

All the monks were very curious and friendly. They were standing around me in a group of 6, watched my pics on the camera and took pics of themselves. That is how the monk pics were made, we did not do it, they did it themselves. We also got an orange and a very warm welcome, even though there is not even a language we both share. How great having this experience!

The monastery was one of the Sikkim highlights. I would definitely recommend coming here.

see Sikkim Tour ###Link###
see Pelling ###Link###

Der Beitrag Khecheopari Lake and Monastery close to Pelling and Yuksom in Sikkim, India erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Kanchenjunga in the Himalayans

Kanchenjunga has 8586 meters and is located partly in Nepal and India. The little state of Sikkim is far in India’s north right between Nepal and Bhutan at the Eastern Himalayans. Sikkim is one of the smallest and most-unknown states of India and was, for many years, and independent kingdom.

The Himalayan Mountains stretch far from the West in Pakistan to northwest India (Kashmere, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh) to a piece of land between Nepal and Bhutan which is Sikkim. Sikkim’s Kanchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world, only Mount Everest and K2 are higher.

When you want to see an eight-thousender but have no real experience in mountaineering, this is the right place for you.

View from Pelling in Sikkim

The view from Pelling is great: in the mornings, the sun slowly rises and the mountain appears in many different red colors. You definitely should not miss this spectacular nature phenomenon.

Sikkim is now more than a secret for mountaineers. Sikkim has many ways to see and experience the Kanchenjunga. When you enjoy hiking, you can go to Gangtok. Here, you find many tour companies for hiking and mountaineering. Gangtok is the state’s capital. You need to plan enough time for the region: all the paved roads end in Yuksom. If you want to do some hiking from Gangtok or Pelling, you should plan several weeks for that. We could not simply do some hiking in the heights, I think you should always consider the altitude and be careful.

The see the mountain anyways, you can travel to Pelling. Traveling there is a bit exhausting, but Pelling itself has many hotels and a tourist infrastructure. After all, Pelling is basically a long road full of hotels. Choose a hotel with a good view (in fact, all of them have a great view) and you can see the sunrise in the morning from the rooftop terrace. In the end a very comfortable and easy way to see the sunrise at an eight thousander.

Traveling to Pelling: Crossing an Inner-Indian Border

Pelling is a bit difficult to reach. The best thing is to combine it with Darjeeling, in the more southern state Bengal. From Darjeeling it’s 90 km to Pelling but you need at least 4 hours for that.

In Bengal, the streets are still reasonably good but as soon as you cross the Sikkim border, the streets get much worse. For Sikkim, foreigners need an extra permit, the standard India visa is not enough. The borderline appears to be the one of a new country: policemen are everywhere with loaded machine guns, they check your passport and you need to fill out some forms. It helps to have a copy (Xerox) of your passport. The lady at the border was friendly and helpful, the paper work went quite smooth but it’s anyways something that has to be done. When leaving Sikkim, you need to go back to the counter return some of the forms and get a stamp in your passport.

This extra permit is enough to travel to all the developed areas, most importantly the towns of Pelling and Gangtok. All areas further north, most of them nature conserve areas, are restricted and require another extra permit. You can ask the tour companies to do the paper work for you.

All of these regulations are subject to change. Ask Sikkim Tourism for updated information:

http://www.sikkimtourism.gov.in

Driving from Melli to Jorethang and Pelling

We did cross the Sikkim border at the Melli border control. After Melli, you drive along a valley for some time right next to the Rangeet River which also marks the border between Sikkim and Bengal. This part of the trip is still nice and relaxing even though the street is rather narrow. The next thing you reach is Jorethang, a very nice little town that makes a nice stop.

After Jorethang, the exhausting part of the trip starts: from now on the road constantly climbs up the mountain. For the last 60 km, you need three hours. There are no bridges or tunnel you just drive on a mountain street, sometimes on serpentines. We had a driver, driving ourselves would have been totally impossible, it was already exhausting the way it was. A big adventure! I have never driven that close to an abyss. The valley and mountain area are very beautiful: only a few streets and apart from that largely undeveloped area.

In Pelling: Khecheopalri Monastery and Kanchenjunga Water Falls

The following day, we went to see a Buddhist Monastery and a waterfall. The Khecheopalri Monastery and the waterfalls are close to Yuksom. Yuksom is, in East Sikkim, the last village that can be reached on roads. You can only do hiking to move further north.

Further information on the Monastery can be found in this article.

There are also the Rabdentse Ruins, leftsovers from the fallen Sikkim Kingdom and right next to it, the Pemayangtse Monastery. For Pelling, I would recommend to stay an entire day. Because reaching there is rather exhausting, you need an entire day for sightseeing in two nights in Pelling.

Hotels in Pelling

It’s not difficult to find a hotel in Pelling. Second only to Gangtok, Pelling has the most tourist infrastructure in Sikkim. There are also more fancy hotels. We did stay in the Seven Summit. Many of the other hotels were fully booked, the Five-Star-Hotel was all that was left for us. The rooms were clean, the hotel was really good. But even this place did not have a heating system. We had a heating pillow, a heating element for the mattress and warm water in the shower. But the rooms were still cold, really cold and the only warm place was under the blanket. Definitely consider that and bring warm winter clothes.

How To Reach Pelling

Sikkim currently does not have an airport, the closest airport in Bagdhora in Bengal. That is why most tourists travel from Darjeeling to Sikkim. There are busses from Darjeeling but also Shared Jeeps (Jeeps that come to meeting points and transport everybody who wants to). There are also train connections from Bengal. In the end all the standard ways to travel in India are available.

I would anyways recommend only two of them: per plane to Bagdhora and a driver from there. It takes a while to travel, distances are not long but slow. Driving yourself in the mountains is impossible; a driver is the easiest and least-stressful way to travel. We would not have made it without a driver.

Sikkim – A Big Adventure

Sikkim was a big adventure for us, an outstanding trip to more undeveloped areas at the outskirts of an Eightthousender. At the beginning I was not sure if all of that is worth it: all the time it takes, the border formalities and that exhausting drive. But I would not want to miss any of it. Sikkim is absolutely beautiful, great valleys and mountains, nature, plants and Buddhist monasteries and shine in sparkling beauty. We have by far not seen everything, but I would always comeback. It was a unique experience!

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