After leaving Buddha Park, we headed to the district around Namchi.
The first stop required a steep drive up to Samdruptse Hill. Its altitude was just over 2000m. This features another huge statue. There’s a 41m (135ft) statue of Guru Padmasambhava. Also known as Guru Rinpoche (“Precious Guru”), he was an eighth-century Buddhist master. He’s credited with spreading Tantric Buddhism to Tibet, Bhutan, and the Himalayan regions. He’s the patron saint of Sikkim.
Samdruptse means “wish-fulfilling hill” and is considered a dormant volcano. The peak is supposed to offer stunning views of Namchi town and the Himalayas. It was too misty today to see anything beyond the “I ❤️ Namchi” sign.
The tour of giant religious icons continued. Our final stop of the day was Char Dham. This has replicas of the four sacred pilgrimage sites established in the eighth century. The originals are located in different corners of India:
- Badrinath (Uttarakhand) – Dedicated to Lord Vishnu.
- Dwarka (Gujarat) – Dedicated to Lord Krishna.
- Jagannath Puri (Odisha) – Dedicated to Lord Jagannath (Krishna).
- Rameshwaram (Tamil Nadu) – Dedicated to Lord Shiva.
This pilgrimage is considered highly auspicious for attaining moksha (liberation).
My taxi driver had already found a hotel for me in Namchi. We made sure it was fine (it was) and I checked in. It had a good view over the pedestrianised town square.
For dinner, I went to Cafe Bodhi. They made me a vegan pizza. It’s the sort of cafe that’s nice to work in. It had fast Wi-Fi and plenty of power sockets.
