Ralang to Yuksum

Our jeep drops us at Gangtok bus station. We venture no more than 100 yards to find a hotel, with Rushi who we met on the jeep. They offer us a three bed room, which we take. The owners, a slightly erratic retired couple, later decide that we are no longer allowed to share a room with a young Indian man who we just met, so kicks Rushi out of the room. With best intentions at heart, they proved to be more if a hindrance than a help, we know a good soul when we see one.
We make plans to head to Ralang that day. The jeep (it's the only way to get around the gnarly roads) leaves at 1 so we sit in a bakery in the market square, with the Himalayas visible as we sip our black coffee.
The hazy afternoon sky makes it almost impossible to see anything as we climb the mountains, leaving the valley that the river Teesta runs through below us.
We arrive in Ralang, greeted by Rabong monastery, probably one of the most beautiful we have ever seen. Checked in to the only place to stay we leave our bags and explore our new surroundings, eating with a family down the road, playing cards and watching UFC with monks and the grandma.

The next morning we start the knee grinding decent down to the Rangit river in search for some hot springs. We pass monasteries, villages and farms, making our way down into the tree studded valleys. Sulphur permeated the air as we make our way to the springs along the Rangit. It was a spiritual and medicinal retreat for locals and tourists alike. We met some women from Bhutan (the happiest country in the world apparently) who were staying in one of the simplistic straw bedded tents that lined the river. Our hike back was a gruelling 3 hours, until we got to a main road and hitched the rest of the way.

The next morning, after a night of drinking some very cheap Sikkimese rum, we wake up as the sun is rising. The snow clad mountains were lit golden, the thick mist from the days prior finally clearing so we get a view of the vast Himalayan mountain range. We walk around the monastery and listen to the congruous chanting of the monks.

We pack up and leave the hills of Ralang toward Yuksum, making a stop at the recently opened Buddha park, inaugurated by the Dalai Lama himself in 2013. A tastefully designed spiritual sanctuary with the back drop of the worlds biggest mountain range in view. After a 3 hour trip squeezed into a 4x4 (we made a record of 15 to a car) and made it Yuksum.