I have seen my share of tourists who come to my state of Sikkim in the Indian Himalayas, but barely three years after The Lonely Planet ranked it as a "must visit destination", we now have the [New York Times listing my beautiful state among 52 destinations to visit in the year 2017!](http://ift.tt/2j5MUzd) And the best part? It is among the two destinations in my country India, the other being the city of Agra, which has the Taj Mahal, while all we have is nature, but breath-taking in its beauty and in pristine condition! How cool is that! ___
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**"Chortens", or stupas, of past master's at the Lingdum Monastery, Sikkim**
___ I do not consider myself to be a good salesman and have failed to promote my state as a destination here on steemit, but with international publications recognizing the beauty of my home, I feel motivated to do something about it! Besides drowning my fellow steemians periodically with a lot of "touristy" information from now on, I also wish to make an offer to any member of the community who intends to travel to Sikkim this year, and hope some of you take up on the offer! # My Offer If you plan heading this way, 1. I offer to accept STEEM, or STEEMDOLLARS, and use it for any bookings you may make WITHIN my state during your time in India. 2. I also offer my time to anyone who might have queries regarding their travel, over email and 3. I offer to host one dinner (and drinks) at my home in Gangtok (the capital), for any steemians who actually land up, all at my expense! You may contact me on steemit.chat or discord, where I have the same username, @norbu I now leave you with a few pictures below (and the one above), which I took yesterday on my visit to a Monastery about an hours drive from my home. The weather quickly changed and it started raining, but I still got some shots which should give a glimpse of the beauty of these hills even on a grumpy day! ___
**All photos have been touched-up using GIMP, scaled in size and taken with my mobile camera, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge**
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**Prayer flags en-route to the monastery**
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**A terraced paddy field after harvest in a village along the way**
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**The Monastery, and seat of Zurmang Gharwang Rimpoche, at Lingdum, East Sikkim**
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**A view of the angry skies outside the Monastery**
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**A partial view of my town from the hill across**
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**You can right-click and open image in a new tab for a larger format. All photos are free to use without attribution or copyrights. (Though you may give me credit, if you wish!)**
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If you like my work, please up-vote and read more at @norbu. You may also click the down-arrow next to my name (before my reputation score below) to follow me. Or you may just re-steem to share the love! 😊
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