From Pelling I decided to walk to a place called Khetchopari lake - a holy lake 26 km away from Pelling. I took a shortcut as recomended from a Canadian guy I met. Advanterurous! It was a steep and wet way down the hill, over an old bridge that looked like out of an american movie: all shaky and half rotten down and than the way went up, up, up. Five km before the lake I gave up and took a jeep after 6 hours of walking with my huge backpack. When I arrived there I had to figure out that my guest house was another half an hour way up again on the top of a hill at the lake!

But what a sight the next morning when the sun rose and put a redish light on the Kabur a 7000 meter rock: a 360 degree panorma. The guest house was run by an old lama called Pala. He told me that Lama Ole stayed as his guest house aswell as Lopen Tchechu mediatated there once for some month. Actually there was also a monastery on the top just at the side of the huts of the guest house but it fell apart. So at the moment they are reconstructing it and as the way up is very difficult, 7-8 yaks are carrying the concret up there twice a day. You feel like in Tibet. Especially as there is nearly no water, electricity is only sometime awailable and in the night you sleep more or less outside in the winter on 2000 meters altitude as the huts consist more of wholes! But I enjoyed it as it is a very special and wishfullfilling place. I went even up to a cave on top of the other hill that arounds the lake to meditate there.

The first night I arrived there a woman from the highbourhood died only 25 years old after giving birth to a baby. This would have been a very sad and personal thing in Europe but not there. All the people from the village, relatives and friends were invited to do a three days puja guided by some monks and even the guest of the hotel were invited. The children were not kept away and everyone was in the same room with the dad woman who was in a wooden box at the side of an altar. Food and drinks even alcohol were served in this room and though people were crying the mood was more like a family party. On monday they told me that she was carried in the jungle and burnt there. But I decided to leave and go back to Gangtok.