Brendan Reports from Sikkim

We join Brendan this week on his continuing travels.  He is on the go all the time, so barely has time to talk to me.  This week he told me, “The only access here are Jeeps.  We are travelling up steep hills, driving into clouds and then down into valleys with stunning rivers running through, before driving up another steep mountain.  Sikkim is a world of beauty”.

After travelling a day by jeep Brendan and his party finally arrive at their destination Khecheopalri Wishing Lake, which is a place of worship for both Hindus and Buddhists.  At the lake there are no tourist traps, shops, Internet or televisions, just nature at its best.  After a 45 min hike they finally reached their home stay, which was a world up in the clouds.  There were breath taking views, a range of small wooden houses with vegetable gardens, a small school and, most importantly, really amazing people!

Brendan’s bedroom was no more than a garden shed, with 2 basic wooden beds and blankets, apart from that it was totally bare.  The toilet was outside and the shower was literally a bucket, for which you collect water from the large container, which was replenished by rainfall.  “It really is back to basics”, Brendan told me.

Brendan explained the drastic contrast between this work and the world he knows so well.  He told me, “Obviously it is a bit of a shock and a world far apart from the world we know.  After a short time and quite a bit of adjustment, you realise that we could learn so much from these people and the way they live.  There are not shops, advertising, or television, just a life of survival making do with what they have. In my eyes this is the real world”.

Brendan went on to explain that the people of Sikkim grow their own vegetables.                   They have cows and goats, which are kept for milk, plus a horse used to transport heavier items from the low land.  He said, “All our meals were fresh and very healthy”. 

Brendan told me that life for children in Sikkim is very different to the life our children know.  They carry large baskets of wood and other materials often in a large basket on their back held by a strap that would be positioned on their head.  When work is done, they play like other children.  Brendan said, “It was so nice to see children playing in the mud, no distractions of TV and the Internet, watching them run to school in the morning with huge smiles was so refreshing”.

Brendan finished by telling me, “This was such a unique experience, a world that could be looked upon as poor compared to our way of life - but after spending 4 days there watching the special bond in the community and the family bonds, plus the team work, maybe we are not so rich after all!