Pedong is a town in Darjeeling district

Darjeeling district

Darjeeling District is the northernmost district of the state of West Bengal in eastern India in the foothills of the Himalayas. The district is famous for its beautiful hill stations and Darjeeling tea. Darjeeling is the district headquarters...

 in the Indian state of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

, located at 27.15°N 88.6167°E.

Geography

Pedong lies 20 km east of Kalimpong on the way to Lava

Lava (town)

Lava is a small hamlet situated east of the town of Kalimpong via Algarah in Darjeeling district of the state of West Bengal, India. Lava is situated at an altitude of . It is one of the few places in West Bengal to receive snow in winter. It is the entry point to the Neora Valley National Park...

 at an altitude of 1,240 metres (4.071 feet). The town, which is located on a ridge, commands a panoramic view of the Kanchenjunga and the Himalayan

Himalayas

The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

 mountains. The town is divided into two parts, Upper Pedong and Lower Pedong. Pedong lies on the historic Silk Road

Silk Road

The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...

 that connects India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 to Lhasa

Lhasa

Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...

 via the Jelepla Pass.

Places

Near Pedong are the ruins of Damsang Gadi, a historical fort built in 1690 by the Lepchas

Lepcha people

The Lepcha or Róng people , also called Róngkup , Mútuncí Róngkup Rumkup , and Rongpa , are the aboriginal people of Sikkim, who number between 30,000 and 50,000...

. It was at the centre of the long-standing feud with the Dukpas of Bhutan

Bhutan

Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...

. Later, it was used to ward off the forces of the British East India Company

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

. After the Anglo-Bhutan War of 1864, the fort fell into decay. Another highlight of the town is the Cross Hill, placed by priest Auguste Desgodins

Auguste Desgodins

Auguste Desgodins was a French missionary who attempted to enter into Tibet in the early 1860s. While both Desgodins and his colleague, the Vicar Apostolic Thomine-Desmazures were granted passports to enter Lhasa, Tibet in 1861 and 1862, they were repelled from the border on multiple...

 in 1882 on his way to Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

. It is considered to have miraculous powers and is a pilgrimage site for the local Christians. St. George's School is one of the famous boarding schools in the region. There are also many nursery schools in this town. The villages near Pedong include Sakyong, Kasyong, Dalep, Kagey, Upper Menchu and Lower Menchu. Pedong monastery, established in 1837, is another place for tourists to visit. Several short treks originate from Pedong leading to Damsang Gadi and to Tinchuley, a fabulous viewpoint offering the closest view of the Himalayas obtainable from the area.

Accommodation

Pedong is an upcoming tourist hub. A number of tourist lodges and restaurants are being established to meet the demand of the tourists who visit this place twice in the year, once during spring and again during autumn.

Travel

Pedong can be reached from Siliguri

Siliguri

Siliguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck - a very narrow strip of land linking mainland India to its north-eastern states. It is also the transit point for air, road and rail traffic to the neighbouring countries of Nepal,...

via Kalimpong with a 3-hour drive covering 100 km.

Flora and Fauna

Pedong is rich in avifauna. Various species of Himalayan and lowland birds can be seen around Pedong.
Pedong Birding Trip