Pedong bazaar walk and morning tea

Pedong's bazaar is one street long, but it carries a lot of history. Shops sell cloth, hardware, groceries and school supplies to villages around, as they once supplied muleteers and traders on the road to Tibet. Many families in town descend from people who came for the trade or for the mission schools.

Mornings are the best time: school children in uniform, farmers bringing produce, jeeps loading for Kalimpong and Rhenock, and tea stalls frying sel roti and puri. Sit down with a glass of milk tea and watch the town wake. Ask shopkeepers about the old days; some older residents remember stories of the caravans from their parents.

There are no big sights on the street itself, so keep this to an hour and combine it with the monastery, Cross Hill and Damsang. Pedong has a degree college and several schools, which keep it lively in term time. If you want souvenirs, look for local pickles, churpi and woven bags rather than mass-produced items.