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Home » Destinations » Asia » India

Tibetan Ranka Monastery in Sikkim, India

Modified: Jun 17, 2019 · Published: Feb 21, 2013 by Mark Wiens |

Prayer wheels
Prayer wheels

Gangtok is a city located in the Sikkim province of India, within the Himalayas.

In the far northeastern portion of the country, the province is in between Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan.

Ranka Monastery
Ranka Monastery

From the small city of Gangtok, it was about a 45 minute shared jeep drive, followed by a 15 minute uphill walk to get to the Ranka Buddhist Monastery.

On the peaceful side of mountain we finally arrived at the monastery and were greeted by Tibetan prayer wheels leading to the entrance.

Wall murals
Wall murals

The brightly colored paintings and murals on nearly all walls were amazing to see.

Busting a kung fu move!
Busting a kung fu move!

These young monks were practicing their kung fu moves as they playfully made their way to the mess hall for lunch.

Boys have energy, no matter what country you visit!

Soaking up some sunshine
Soaking up some sunshine

While walking around I spotted another young monk, resting over the ledge while enjoying the warm sunshine, despite the air outside being quite cold.

I think he was trying to skip out on an official event because it wasn't long before an older monk yelled at him to come.

Entrance to the main temple
Entrance to the main temple

When we arrived, the main temple doors were closed, but after asking a monk, he politely got the keys and opened the doors to let us in.

Door handle
Door handle

The details of the Ranka Monastery were incredible; here's a close up shot of the handle of the temple doors.

Painting details
Painting details

Unlike many of the Thai Buddhist temples (Theravada Buddhism) which are mostly brown and gold in color, Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist temples are extremely bright and colorful.

Beautiful colors
Beautiful colors

Again, the colors were remarkable.

One of the main temple pillars
One of the main temple pillars

Here's a photo of one of the major pillars just outside the door of the main temple.

Visiting the Ranka Monastery was a refreshing experience and made a great day trip from Gangtok.

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About Mark Wiens

Mark was raised in central Africa before migrating back to the U.S. for university. After graduating, he decided to continue traveling the world. On Migrationology, he shares the cultural side of travel from a slow-paced local perspective that often revolves around his love for eating all forms of food. Join him on Facebook and follow him on YouTube.

Dave at Ahu Ko Te Riku on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile.

Hi, I'm Dave

Editor in Chief

I've been writing about adventure travel on Go Backpacking since 2007. I've visited 68 countries.

Read more about Dave.

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