Pelling - Sikkim

Pelling
Phone Code: 03593
Elevation 1870m

Pelling is a nice town located 2km from Pemayangtse Gompa. When the weather is clear, there are good views of Kanchenjunga. There are good budget places to stay and places to leave luggage while trekking.

Sweaters, hats, and scarves are available at the Cottage Industries Training Center.

If you walk around in the forest here, you have to be careful of leeches.

The is no where to change money here.

At the Superintendent of Police (250872), Sikkim permits may be extended.

Internet available District Administrative Centre, at Tikjuk, 4 km down on the road to Geyzining. Hours Mon-Sat 2pm-4pm.

Pemayangtse Gompa
This three-storey monastery, founded in 1705, is one of the oldest and most important gompas in Sikkim. It is the main gompa of the Nyingma-pa (“Red Hat”) order. The monastery has paintings and sculptures on the interior walls and a good collection of thangkas. It is 120km from Gangtok.

Pemayangtse means “Perfect Sublime Lotus.” There is a statue of Guru Rimpoche and Lhatsum Chempo, who founded this monastery and was one of the lamas who came to Yuksom from Tibet in the 17th century. It has a great location at 2085m, with mountains on two sides. Upstairs is an excellent wooden model depicting heavenly paradise.

In February during the Tibetan New Year there are chaam dances, performed by the monks on the 28th and 29th days of the twelfth lunar month. It is a 45-minute walk from Pelling to here. You can take the bus between Gezing (7km) and Pelling to the turnoff for Pemayangtse, and then it is a 15-minute walk.

Other Places to See
Sangacholing Gompa is a 45-minute walk west of Pelling (3km). It has nice paintings on its inside walls. It is the second oldest gompa in Sikkim, founded in 1697.

Sangay Waterfalls is 10km from Pelling, on the road to Dentam.

Ruins of Rabdentse Palace is excavation by the Archaelogical Survey of India of the former capital of Sikkim. Admission free. Open during daylight hours. There are some good views from here.