Club Mahindra’s Royal Demazong – A property with a heavenly view

A couple of weeks back, I was invited by Club Mahindra to go on a trip to Sikkim along with a selected group of travel bloggers, writers and photographers. And it was during this trip that I got to stay at Club Mahindra’s ‘The Royal Demazong’.


This Royal Demazong mountain resort is situated about 12 kms away from Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. One has to drive through extremely steep and curvy roads to reach this property and it is on the way to Tsomgo (Changu) Lake from Gangtok.


The Royal Demazong is very tastefully designed and has a Buddhist Monastery like look. This monastery look is more prominent from the outside than the inside. But, in overall, it gives the property a rich Sikkimese look.

 
It is quite a large property that overlooks the Himalayas. And since it is situated on top of a hill and with a thick green cover, it offers great avenues for bird watching and nature hikes. I personally went on a couple of hikes to the nearby hills and found the vistas to be spectacular.


The rooms in this resort as such are pretty decent and offer most of the modern amenities. But the icing on the cake, is the heavenly view of the Himalayan mountains, the snow fed rivers and the green valleys right from the room’s balcony.

 
The food too is pretty decent, though I would have personally preferred more local dishes in the menu. But, the one thing that I was really happy with was the rich hospitality shown by the hotel staff. They always seemed to have a smile on their faces and were very accommodating.

This 3 star mountain resort is one place I would recommend you check out if you are planning a holiday in Sikkim.

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Enterprising Travellers!

I had recently gone on a trip to the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim in India. This short, but sweet trip was an invite by Club Mahindra. It was during this trip that I got to meet eight other fellow bloggers, most of them travel bloggers, some travel writers, most of them photographers, some birders, some social media experts and one pastry chef. I knew a couple of them before and most others through their online presence. But, this was the trip, where I put a face to a name along with some great experiences and happy memories.


I found their company to be great fun, enterprising and very interesting. I hardly realized how time flew when I was around them. These enterprising travellers are Lakshmi Sharath, Arun Bhat, Arun Nair, Vamsee Modugula, Nisha Jha, Kishi Arora, Shuchi Kapoor and Sneha Divakar. I seriously recommend that you check each one of them out.

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Om Mani Padme Hum – A Buddhist Chant that will touch your very soul!

Cover of Tibetan Incantations

I have heard Buddhist chants many a time before, but I first heard this chant very closely during my recent trip to Sikkim. And boy was I truly touched! This chant was playing at Club Mahindra’s Royal Demazong property near Gangtok and every second of it really appealed to me. Upon asking the hotel employees I found out that this particular Buddhist chant was sung by the music band ‘Tibetan Incantations’ and it was part of their album ‘Chants of Tibet: The Meditative Sound of Buddhist Chants’. There are three tracks in this album and the original and the alternate versions of ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’ are my personal favourites.


Wikipedia says that Om Mani Padme Hum is a mantra associated with the four-armed Shadakshari form of Avalokiteshvara. This mantra is especially revered by the devotees of Dalai Lama. I used to see a lot of inscriptions on prayer wheels and prayer flags during my visits to Buddhist monasteries, but never did know that these inscriptions were actually ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’ mantras.

Do give this song a listen here at Last.fm.

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