Christmas greetings 

Their travels began in Istanbul where they visited Hagia Sophia – once the world’s largest cathedral before being converted to a mosque following the Turkish takeover of Constantinople. Today Hagia Sophia is a museum.

The Crown Prince and his family also made a stop in Amman, Jordan, before continuing eastward to India where they have visited locations such as the city of Jodhpur in the state of Rajasthan and the region of Dzongu in the state of Sikkim.

The region of Dzongu

The region of Dzongu is a long valley at the foot of the Himalayas which borders on Tibet in the north, Nepal in the west and Bhutan in the east. Dzongu is an official reserve for the region’s indigenous population known as the Lepcha. Only the Lepcha people are permitted to own land here.

The population of Dzongu is approximately 7,000. The region has a non-monetary economy and the people live mostly from subsistence agriculture. In recent years, however, electricity and telephones have been introduced to the region.

Special permission is required to visit to Dzongu, which was opened up to tourists only a few years ago. The region has no hotels, but some families offer “homestays” in which travellers may live together with them in their homes.

At the homestay

The Crown Prince and his family were hosted by Gyatso Tongden Lepcha and his family at the Mayal Lyang Homestay in the village of Passingdang where they ate traditional food and lived in the same manner as the Lepcha people.