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Martam Village Resort
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Martam Village Resort is less than half an hour car ride from Rumtek. It's a small and charming resort with cottages on the hillside and a main house located down the hill. Mercifully, there are no TVs and no telephones in the cottages, which is absolutely great! The dining hall is located in the main house.
The resort is owned and operated by the family of Wanchuk's uncle, and the Martam area is where the family's roots are. I learned an interesting bit of family history about Wanchuk's paternal grandfather who grew up here, in the main house: his given name was Topden, and since he hailed from the Martam area he became known as Martam Topden; thus, his given name became the family name. He rose to prominence and eventually became Senior Executive Councillor of the Sikkim State Council (an equivalent of a prime minister) in the cabinet of the last chogyal (king) of Sikkim. He also was the leader of the Sikkim National Party.
Having settled in in our cottage, Wanchuk and I walked to the edge of the resort marked by a border of colorful prayer flags, and we just sat there watching a tranquil sunset over the surrounding rice fields.
After a nice dinner the four of us sat around a fire drinking beer. I was surprised to see the label read “HIT SUPER STRONG. For Sale in Sikkim Only.” Why in Sikkim only? Is it too strong for people in other lands? This is a mystery.
Sitting around the bonfire we talked about a subject close to my heart: whether there exist objective criteria for deciding what is art and what is junk. It is a difficult argument to have, especially with Americans, because of a certain “cultural relativism” prevalent in the U.S.,i.e., all cultures/subcultures are created equal. Even if that is/were true, how then is one supposed to assess—even within a particular culture/subculture—the relative value/merit of a work of art?
I woke up early in the morning and sat on the porch experimenting with the focus feature of my digital camera. I've recently made a switch from an analog SLR camera to a small digital one. These point-and-shoot things are convenient and compact but it's exceedingly hard to make them focus on the subject you want, rather than on what they think you want. And the fact that their zoom is incremental, rather than smooth, is also quite irritating. Wanchuk has a digital SLR camera, and this is probably the way to go. The only problem is that SLR's, whether analog or digital, are too bulky, and sometimes I just want to slip a camera in my pocket. It's a trade off, as usual: there is no free lunch… except we do get one here at the Martam Village Resort :)
After breakfast we went for a hike over surrounding rice paddies and villages. It was an easy and pleasant walk. Closer to the end of our route we climbed a precarious observation tower that gently swayed back and forth with the wind.
After a copious lunch we said goodbye to the chef Lakho and to our guide Charan and set out for Gangtok.
On the way back Christine stopped by Ollatin , the only designer clothes boutique in Gangtok. We just went in the store when a torrential rain came down seemingly from nowhere.
At home, Wanchuk's mother prepared a rich dinner for us; and his uncle and aunt, the owners of the Martam Village Resort, joined us for the evening. I got my first taste of say chan (tongba)—a traditional Sikkimese drink made of fermented millet. It is served in a girded wooden vessel into which you pour boiling water and suck the liquid with a bamboo straw. It has a very pleasant taste, a bit like warm Japanese sake but not so strong. A very tasty dish is saw cha—a stinging nettle soup.
Check out Wanchuk's blog entries for April 13 and April 14 2008.
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