འཆམ་འཆམ་ལ་འགྲོ་གི་ཡིན། (We're Going on a Stroll)

Now that the big puja is over, and its blog coverage is as well, everything can return to its usual rhythms. While this does mean studying and praying, it also means some free time, and so I think it's time that I took you guys on a bit of a stroll. 

(I'm a giant. I seem to like living in earthquake prone places where I am taller than everyone –– Japan, El Salvador, Sikkim)

Just down the hill from the monastery (so close that, as you can see in the picture below, you could still wave to the monks up above) are a couple of places that are good for tea or a snack. One of them is just a little shopfront with benches outside of it, so it's not for the downpour-y days we've been having lately, but when it's not raining it's a good spot for tea and wai wai (basically Nepalese ramen, which can be found in instant packages at almost all of the restaurants around here).

(sitting on the benches, awaiting our tea)

Maybe ten feet away from that shop (maybe less) is the entrance to a small hotel, and restaurant. The place makes delicious Tibetan bread and Tibetan tea, but the real draw is the television. The group of monks I spend my hangout time with aren't big television watchers, so we tend to end up other places, but for many of the monks (especially the younger ones) this can prove to be quite the pull. Usually there will be either National Geographic, Discovery Channel, or Bollywood movies on it.

(enraptured monks watching a supernatural kung-fu movie)

If you continue down the hill and actually leave the front gates of the monastery, there are a lot more options.

(the front gate, as seen from a table at another option)

One of these is the place where we almost always end up, another small hotel and restaurant (though larger than the one up the hill). They have tables inside and out, and delicious momo, roti, curries, and wai wai (they also have a number of meat dishes, but as a vegetarian who hangs out mostly with monks, I'm not sure what those are). Like all establishments around Rumtek (with the exception of the coffee shop run by the monks), this hotel has no written menu, so I keep discovering that they have options I never knew about. 

(monks sitting at the table outside, with a stray dog that followed us from the monastery. I will do a whole post on the animals around here soon)

(monk and Colin, looking silly. as is his wont)

(Inside the restaurant, eating wai wai. The monks will often eat roti with their wai wai, which may seem like too much starch, but is actually delicious)

Venturing further away, there is road in both directions (one direction to Gangtok, the other to a myriad of other small towns clinging to the hills), winding along the hillside through beautiful sub-tropical forest.

(monks, prayer flagsm and power lines, all common sights around here)

(a small hindu shrine by the side of the road)

(a view, of which there are many)

Because this post is turning into a 'where to go and have a snack around Rumtek' post, I'm just going to keep going that way. However, I'll have plenty more stroll-y posts, so I promise more beautiful nature to come. 

On the road towards Gangtok there are a lot of side roads, and down one of them (a rather unassuming looking dirt one, which gets super sketchy when it rains) is one of the prettiest, and most expensive (though this is relative, and still not even Gangtok prices), places to get a snack around here. 

(The road takes you by a nunnery, which apparently used to be affiliated with the monastery but is no longer. I'll try and find out why that is, and report back.)

(up those steps is a shortcut, but in the rainy season the grass around here gets rather leech-y, so it might be the better part of valor to take the road all the way)

The spot is a hotel in the botanical garden, and seems like it would make a pretty fantastic place to spend a few days away from the world.

The food here is actually not any better than the food at the places we normally go, though it is decidedly more aimed at cosmopolitan visitors coming up from the south (french fries, various dishes from the plains regions, fewer Nepalese offerings). The real draw is definitely the ambiance.

(loungin' at a table)

If you were to continue past that dirt road turnoff, much further down the road on the way to Gangtok is a roadside viewpoint with a small, open air restaurant. If you walk it is maybe an hour away (the hill is Himalayan-foothills steep, and so the road makes a lot of switchbacks), so often the better bet is to pay 20 rupees to catch a taxi down.

(If you walk, however, the views are spectacular. Off in the distance, past the terraced rice fields, is another Kagyu monastery)

This place has some of the best momo I've had around, which is saying something because I have tried a lot of momo.

(sitting at the small restaurant)

(the view of Gangtok)

Because of all the switchbacks the road is never actually that steep, which makes walking back not much more difficult than walking there, so when we went the other day we chose to taxi there and stroll our way home. 

(strollin')

(Jamyang brought a radio, and figured out a creative way to carry it)

The power just went out (not an uncommon occurrence), so I think it's time to wrap this post up before my battery runs out. Luckily, that's about all I was planning to include anyway. As always, comments are much appreciated, no matter how long and no matter who from. Just nice to know if people are enjoying these posts.