Continuing with Sikkim

   Hi again. I’m in Guwahati, the capital of Assam. It’s Diwali, but so far there aren’t any fireworks or firecrackers. It’s not going to be anything like Jaipur last year. Anyway, I’m just killing some time here before getting some dinner. Here are some more pictures from Sikkim.

   I’ve got some of working people. Here’s cutting wheat and it lying in rows ready for bundling.

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This is how most farmers plow. Many, however, have to do it without animals.

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When the guys get home, these women with have the fire and some tea and dinner going.

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   Sikkim was actually a little empire in the 17th-18th centuries, though Tibet and China would have disputed this at the time. There is a place where three leading lamas got together and forged the agreement leqding to the unifying of their areas of influence. It’s in a lovely jungle setting now. You walk around and stuff like this is buried in the trees. It reminds one a little of Anghor Wat.

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    The last two pics I’ve uploaded are of the Rumthang monastery where it is hoped locally that the Karmapa, the head of the Kargyu sect of Tibetan buddhism who I got a blessing from last year in Dharamsala, will come one day. It’s a long political story why he is not here. It is quite large, anyway. I think the only larger one is in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. That one is the second largest in the world, after the Potala in Lhasa, Tibet.

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And here are some older novices and young monks playing cricket out behind the place.

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   I just laid around today after getting here from Kolkata yesterday. I thought this semi-big city might be fun on Diwali. So far, I think it’s going to be pokey. There is a nice museum here and some nice views of the Brahmaputra River, but generally this isn’t much of a place. Tomorrow I think I’ll get out of here. There is a place famous for it’s golded silk. I may go there. And I’ll definitely go to one of the nature parks which has something like 1700 one-horned rhinos. I’m always up for seeing some wild animal in it’s natural setting. There are other picturesque areas around. I’d like to go to Tawang and some tribal areas, but I haven’t decided whether to go through the hassle, expense and two week wait to get the necessary permits. If I don’t do that, I’ll probably head out of here to somewhere in a couple of weeks.

   In the meantime, be well, all of you.

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