Homes have an altogether different shape. They are taller, flatter and have a colourful Sikkimese-style to them.

Prayer flags flutter on long bamboo polls. Terraced fields of bright green rice swirl across the landscape. Picturesque alpine forests, bursting with breathtakingly beautiful flowers and thousands of species of birds and butterflies, line the roads.

It is not just the look. There is a different feel too around here. You suddenly sense you are in a very cheerful and peaceful place.

As you approach Gangtok the landscape gets steeper and the snowy mountains much closer. They tower over you.

Nestled in the eastern Himalayas and adjoining Nepal, Darjeeling, Bhutan, Assam and China, the Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim is the land of the Lepchas and Bhutias.

Sikkim or Su-khim means Happy Home. The Bhutias call Sikkim The Hidden Valley of Rice. The Lepchas refer to Sikkim as Nye-mae-el or Paradise.

Come have a look at this Paradise...