Misty Morning Views from Gangtok

During my recent Sikkim trip, the first morning greeted me with bright sunshine. The skies were beautifully blue with minimal clouds around. But, when I was leaving Gangtok, the whole morning scene had changed to a thick misty atmosphere.

 
But, I was not in the complaining mood at all. In fact, I was more than elated to see the mist cover and the low lying milky white cloud cover play hide and seek with the pine forests below.

 
And it was even better that I could plonk my backside on the balcony of Club Mahindra’s Royal Demazong resort to gaze at this slow moving scenery in front of me.

 
It is such nerve numbing scenery that drives people to hill stations all over the world and especially in India and to Sikkim. A sight that can remain etched in memory for a lifetime!

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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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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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