Namgyal Institute of Tibetology

We planned with the man at the front desk of our hotel to have a driver all day today who would take us to the Institute of Tibetology in Gangtok proper, drive us to the pedestrian mall for lunch, and then take us to a monastery about 15 minutes past the hotel before delivering us back to the hotel. I think a red flag was that this morning we had to pay the guy at the desk instead of the taxi driver, and it was a bit expensive. Come to find out that a middle-man had told the taxi driver that he was only driving us to the Institute and back, and the taxi driver wouldn’t budge when we realized this after our visit to the Institute. He finally relented and did take us to the monastery past our hotel, but it was the first really sour experience on our trip, so I think we are doing pretty well!

The photos are from the Institute (a repository for artifacts of Tibetan Buddhist culture and a library of history and teachings going way back), plus a Buddhist monastery near it in Gangtok and then the monastery near our hotel. Photography was restricted in some parts of places we visited today, unfortunately.Read more