Dechen Yulo Kyod Retreat

Sikkim

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This special but very simple ridge-top place is home to Tibetan-Lepcha brothers, a monk and an incense-maker. They're descended from Gangyap's semi-mythical yogi, Chaktha Rimpoche, who 'flew' here in the 1870s and had to be weighed down with 240kg of iron chains to stop him floating away again. (Or so the story goes.)

Access is only on foot, half an hour steeply up from Gangyap Medical Centre, or twice as far but around the same time on forest trails from Silnon Gompa. Calling ahead is essential. Dawn views of Mt Narsing are framed between flowers and fern trees. Behind is a meditation centre where advanced monks take three-year retreats, but guests aren't allowed in for fear of disturbing the students' seclusion.

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