📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
The Green Lion
💼 What the programme involves
The introduction/orientation week is designed to introduce you to the local Himalayan culture, to give you an understanding about the local traditions, and to take you on a variety of sightseeing tour around Sikkim such that you will get an in-depth knowledge and also experience the beauty that Sikkim has to offer. Not only that, each day is perfectly designed so that you will have a relaxed and an experiential journey appreciating impressive Buddhist Monasteries, learn cooking local food, and learn a bit of local language which will help you to interact with local people through your stay.
The activities that you will be introduced during this week is more described in the schedule below.
🏠 Accommodation on site
About the Accommodation :
In our center, there is a mini library, a dining room, a lounge area where you can hang out with fellow participants and a beautiful garden to relax.
Furthermore, there is a refrigerator which you are welcome to use to store food and beverages.
Food Arrangements :
The meals are a mix of Western and Indian food, consisting mainly of vegetarian dishes including rice and vegetables. You can expect to have a chicken dish about twice per week. You can also use the kitchen facilities to cook for yourself or eat out at any of the local restaurants.
📍 About the location
An area of unspoilt natural beauty, framed by snowcapped Himalayan peaks. The capital of Sikkim, Gangtok, reflects this tiny state's extraordinary ethnic diversity. In the crowded city which spills precariously down a ridge, Lepchas (the region's original inhabitants) live alongside Tibetans, Bhutias, Nepalis and Indians from the plains. Though now full of modern structures, Gangtok's 'Shangrila' aspects can still be experienced in pockets of the city and in its alpine environs.
Until 1975, Sikkim was a kingdom with the status of an Indian Protectorate. It was ruled by the Chogyals Buddhists of Tibetan origin, whose dynasty began in the 17th century. However, the British Raj's policies of importing cheap labour from neighbouring Nepal for Sikkim's rice, cardamom and tea plantations drastically changed Sikkim's demography, soon Nepali Hindus constituted 75 per cent of the state's population. In 1975, the population of Sikkim voted overwhelmingly to join the Indian Republic, ending the rule of Palden Thondup, the last Chogyal.
ℹ️ Additional information
Open all year, starting on Mondays, participation fee 175€ per week. Program runs Mon-Fri (free weekends). Mandatory to start the programme.