Time out for young monks at Rumtek Monastery

Up early for a walk as the rubbish lorry outside my window awoke me.  The two men sorted all the rubbish into different bags as they collected it – cans, glasses, paper etc. Went along the wide main pedestrianised street which is about a kilometre long and had barely a shop open.  Down the center people were sitting on benches waiting for the sun to pop over the mountain behind.  The first shop I saw was Croc –I saw a monk wearing some later in the day! – and then lots of western named shops.  Had some tea at a hole in the wall and then watched a woman making momos, rolling the pastry, wiping oil over it and then rolling up her square into a log.  She cut it into lumps about 2 ½ “ wide and picked one up, squashed it in the middle and twisted it into shape ready for cooking later. As I stood there watching I heard a conch shell being blown and a funeral procession of men holding lit incense sticks passed with the bamboo bier holding the corpse covered in marigolds.  There were a few women supporting others with them.  At the end of the road there were two open trucks waiting with white scarves tied to the sides.  The bier went aboard with 12 men and the rest climbed into the other.  The women watched as they drove off down the hill to the burning ghat.
After breakfast I went out with a driver to visit 4 monasteries - such peaceful places - a waterfall, an orchid garden and the Tibetan Cultural Museum so am on my knees now. The roads were so twisty and my Sikkimese driver Ongden needed his very well developed arm muscles to fling the car this way and that around the bends, avoid the sheer drops to the valley floor, the hairpin bends, the 1:4 hills, the potholes, the landslides, other cars, you name it. The roads are so dusty we stopped at a waterfall and threw water over the car to clean the windows – it looked even worse afterwards as the drops dried quickly on the body and all contained dust! I haven’t seen another westerner yet here. The place is full of Indian tourists. But the westerners are probably all off trekking.
There are a lot of positive negatives about this place – NO LITTER ANYWHERE (amazing that even the visiting Indians don’t drop stuff), NO SMOKING (anywhere in a public place, even the open air), NO HORNS (unless absolutely necessary – flashing headlights are used 24 hours), NO LOOSE COWS, VERY FEW DOGS, and  NO PESTICIDES OR FERTILIZERS ARE USED IN SIKKIM (except cow and leaf compost from the forest).  Isn’t that simply amazing – they are so proud to be organic.
pics from the day