EXPLORE NEPAL A NEW PERPECTIVE
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Sikkim And Darjeeling
7 days -
An Enchanted Realm
10 days -
The Rhododendron Trail
9 Days -
Sikkim Village Tour and Trek
11 days -
Kangchenjunga White Magic Trek
15 days - View More Trips
Cultures & Etiquette
The people of Sikkim can be ethnically categorized into Lepcha, Bhutia and Nepalese. The Lepchas are considered to be the original inhabitants of Sikkim who practiced nature worship and lived off the forest. With the coming of the Bhutias, this tribal community was overwhelmed culturally and religiously. Lepcha culture and ways of life can be seen in some villages even now.
The Bhutias, Buddhist by faith are said to have come from the eastern region of Tibet sometime in the 14th century. They found the land warm and fertile and named it "Dema-zong" or the "Valley of Rice".
Moreover, Sikkim was very prominently mentioned by Guru Padmasambhava (the great 7th century Buddhist saint who strengthened Buddhism in Tibet) in his scriptures, as a very sacred place. It was also in consonance with his scriptures the first "Chogyal" or the religious king was consecrated at Yuksom in 1641. Since then the Namgyal Dynasty ruled Sikkim uninterrupted till 1975.
The Nepal community is a generalized term for the many castes and sub-communities like Brahmins, Chhetris, Newars, Kamis, and Damais, who are Aryans in origin and the Rais, Limbus, Gurungs, Magars, and even Sherpas who are basically Mongoloid. This community came into Sikkim from 19th century though the Limbus are said to have come much earlier. They were more agriculturists unlike the Bhutias who were mainly dependent on animal husbandry back home or the Lepchas who were forest folks. The fertile valley was terraced to grow paddy and maize and later cardamom as a cash crop.
The ethnic Sikkim is best seen in the villages rather than the towns, which have become more cosmopolitan in demography and culture.Buddhism has had a deep impact since time immemorial in history when Guru Padmasambhava traveled to Tibet. This has manifested in 200 monasteries and holy shrines. The oldest amongst the monasteries is the one at Dubdi, about an hour's walk from Yuksom. But Pemayangtse monastery has been more prominent due to the privilege bestowed to the Chief Abbot to coronate the successive Chogyal. In recent time, the Rumtek monastery is widely known as the seat of the Kagyupa sect and also the head quarter of the worldwide Karma Kagyu centre. The Bhutias are Buddhist and so are most the Lepchas. The Nepalese are Chiefly Hindus but many people in the villages, regardless of their religion still have strong beliefs in the spirits which are said to inhabit the mountains and hills, rocks and caves, streams and rivers and even trees and forests which are to be appeased by the "Jhankri" or the "Bongthings".
Arun, We returned late Saturday afternoon and had a fabulous time, thanks to you. Our accommodations were good, the guide in Bhutan was wonderful and all went smoothly. I thank you ... All connections smooth, great locatation of the hotels, well organized. Local guides were good, but Tibet's guide's English somewhat difficult but she was otherwise good. Booking was easy, good val... The booking was simple and most efficient. Allowing us to go as a group as two people. Excellent Arrangements. Absolutely recommended. Working with Arun at Third Eye Travel was a pleasure. He took the time to thoughfully answer many questions both before and after the trip was booked. Great Value. Hi Arun, Steve and I just got back from our trip to Mt. Kailas and Guge Kingdom. We had a great time and want to thank you for all your help. best regards, Dear Arun, My trip to Lhasa and EBC was absolutely amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip. Thank you so much for such a wonderful professional arrangement. Both the guide and the driver were... Never has a trip been more complicated than the one we took to Bhutan this winter -- and Arun Dali and Third ... Dear Arun, Third Eye Travel organized a trip to Myanmar for my husband and me in December 2010. We loved the country and found the people to be very friendly and accommodating. It is a beau... 1. Duc, The guide on Indochian junk was excellent: warm personality, good English, enthusiatic, fun. We were throughly impressed with Indochina Junk Co.. Everything about the tour wa... Hi Arun We wanted to let you know the boat trip in ha long bay was wonderful although the weather was quite cool. Still has a great time and duc was excellent. The whole sail... Dear Arun, Kudos to Third Eye Travel for a trip well organized and coordinated! My friend Lynn who has traveled extensively says that is the way trips should go, but he and I also know that... Dear Arun, Happy Thanksgiving as well. Yes all went well and accommodations were centrally located and nice, although in a “do over” I’d perhaps pick a different hotel in... Dear Arun, Dear Arun, I wanted to give you my feedback on the trip which you arranged. I knew, considering the distance, the terrain of the countries (Tibet and Nepal) etc., that it would be a more di... Arun: The trip was superb. Everything was perfect. I was particularly impressed that the tour company had already rearranged our program so that we could tour Saigon, despite our plane bein... Dear Arun, Greetings from Lhasa ! Everything has gone super-smoothly. We keep bumping into people who were amazed; we were able to to this trip. Thank you so much for all your help... Dear Arun, As the fortunate winner of the Grand Prize at last Year's Berkeley Himalayan Fair, I can only say Thank you for an incredible experience. My travel companion and I chose to upgrade the trip and ... My travel companion and I were so pleased with the independent travel trip in Bhutan that you arranged for us. I'd like to reocmmend the trip to anyone who is interested in a safe, comfortable, b... My wife, Elizabeth Loeb, and I recently had the pleasure of using your services in Bhutan and I wanted to let you know how pleased we are. You Tschering Pem is an unsuually ... We are home from the BEST vacation trip ever to Vietnam and Cambodia. My husband was thoroughly impressed with your services. He had never been on an adventure with Third Eye travel before, but he... We recently returned from a trip to Nepal. Our travel arrangements were handled by Usha, Third Eye Travel. She was outstanding in arranging our flights, and several hotels and sightseeing exc... Thank you and best wishes. We really enjoyed our trip ! Enclosed is a picture of us taken on Tiger Hill. Greetings to all, especially Usha Lama & Arun Dali James & Betty Webster Usha, I just wanted to take an opportunity to say a big thank you for making my first trip to SE Asia + China a very memorable one. The trip you put together was perfect & made ou... One more flawless service to us by Third Eye Travel during Golden Triangle Trip in India last month. Bineet & family A special thanks to Arun Dali. He answered all of our questions promptly and is very patient as the trip was our honeymoon and we had many many questions. Even after we booked the trip we revised s... Andre Mueller was exceptional, way above excellent. He was flexible, personable & went out of his way to meet our needs, requests. I would recommend the Third Eye Team to anyone. They w... Dear Arun Our Trip to India turned out very well. Everything went according to plan and everyone had a good time. Here is the pictu...
I wanted to put you all into one email thanking all of you for your efforts in making our trip to India and Bhutan probably the best overseas travel experience my wife and I have ever had.
O...
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Booking the trip was so easy. I just told Arun what all I wanted to do and he put together the perfect itinerary. It could not have been easier or more enjoyable.
It's not possible for me to p...
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Dear Arun
We received your thank you note yesterday, and it reminded me that I wanted to let you know about how things went, especially in India, because we never filled out a form there - ...
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Dear Usha and Arun:
This is to express our deep appreciation and thanks for the excellent program you designed for us for our recent tour of South India. Everything went as planned, without the sl...
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The trip to Lhasa was perfect. Everything happened as planned, no problems whatsoever.
I really liked the Hotel, The Heritage (but...
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Wow, This was the most amazing, awesome, special trip, trully a trip of a life time. Hotels, brekfasts, guides, vehicles, & transfers were great.
The hotels were unbelievaly great. Except Man...
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It is with many thanks that I write to you and thank you for arranging our trip to Tibet and mainland China. To travel to Everest Base Camp was our long-standing dream, a...
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Arun --- Approximately three weeks ago our daughter, Bernadette Starszak, traveled to Peru with assist from Third Eye Travel. She traveled alone and, needless to say , her father and I were quite conc...
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Just wanted to let you know that Morgan and I had a wonderful trip. We enjoyed Nepal. Your guide, Kripa was a real pro and a font of information. The drivers were great and safely navigated an insane ...
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Arun, Sonam. Thanks so much for everything. We had a GREAT trip and your local associates were excellent, on time and communicative about any problems. Kripa was especially helpful to us with everythi...
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An awesome trip. The guides and support staff were amazing, flexible and experience. Absolutely fantastic. Thank you.
Hanna Kellen
Clovis, CA
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We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and feel the local guide and driver were excellent and made the adventure very comfortable. The hotels and food were acceptable. The international flights and transfers ...
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An awesome trip. The guides and support staff were amazing, flexible and experience. Absolutely fantastic. Thank you.
Hanna Kellen - Annapurna Sanctuary Trek, Nepal
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The highlight of the service was Mr. P. Badoni in Delhi. We never had to worry. He provided with door-to-door local agents and guides. We had the same driver Anand, the entire trip. Anand clearly care...
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