Discovered Rabong draws to an end

GANGTOK, April 13: Nearly 10,000 people including tourists, local and officials from the state government thronged at Cho-Dzo Lake area to witness the concluding day of a grand traditional tourist festival in Ravangla today.

It is located on the alpine area of 7,035-ft altitude about 70 km from Gangtok as southern suburb of Sikkim observed a festival called “Discovered Rabong” for the third consecutive year.

Not only Ravangla but even Sikkim is a huge tourist attraction.“Sikkim is totally different from other parts of India as it is so peaceful with nice and humble people” said Mr. Max Metrycki a tourist from Poland. “In comparison to New Delhi and Kolkata which I visited recently,I found selfish and cunning people there but here it's very secure with no tension,” he added.. “I liked local liquor called “Roxy” and dried meat but others are so spicy that it might disturb my stomach,” expressed Mr. Luk Macao another tourist from Spain.

Apart from traditional food there were crafts from Nepal, Bhutan and Northeastern states displayed on the venue. But cultural dances and music were greatly enjoyed by the visitors.

“This is actually a revival of our own culture to strengthen it more,” said Ms. Norzang Tshering a chairperson of Rabong Tourism Development Committee (RTDC). “This festival also helped generating employment for locals as they are busy operating boating, tree-house café etc” she added. But people behind the scenes responsible for making the event a success remain unnoticed.

“We are organising this event from the past three years and are getting tremendous response from tourist and visitors” said Mr. Ugyen Namgyal, a executive member of RTDC. “We have even put the events dates in state government calendar on the first week of April” he added. To encourage the young buds RTDC had also organised “photo exhibition cum contest” with different themes and ‘state flower show cum competition along with singing and dancing competition.