A Portuguese mansion The Portuguese in their discovery phase, looking for spices and trade, sailed into Goa in western India in 1510 and stayed put for more than 450 years till they relinquished the territory to India in 1961. The occupancy left its mark in 17th-century churches and palatial Portuguese homes straddling the rural and urban…
Category: responsible tourism
Sikkim….nature’s blockbuster
Gangtok Sikkim…. a combination of Limbu words: su, which means “new”, and khyim, which means “palace” in reference to the palace built by the state’s first ruler, Phuntsog Namgyal. To a Tibetan, Sikkim is ‘Drenjong‘ or “valley of rice” while the Bhutia call it ‘Beyul Demazong‘ or ‘the hidden valley of rice“. The Lepcha, the original inhabitants…
Sikkim Odyssey 2–Nathu La…..The Pass That Wasn’t There
A sure way to get the patriotic adrenalin overflowing in any Indian’s vein is to mention China and Pakistan vis-a-via sports, trade, cricket, the 1962 Indo China war etc. Nathu La, about 52 kms away from Gangtok the capital of Sikkim State, is the official border check post between China/Tibet and India and a reminder of…
