An evening with a Lachenpa family

Homestays in Lachen are usually rooms in a family house, often wooden, with shared or simple attached bathrooms. The heart of the house is the kitchen, where a wood or gas stove keeps the room warm and the family gathers in the evening. Meals are simple and filling: rice, dal, vegetables, sometimes meat, and butter tea or sweet milk tea.

Many Lachenpa families have links to herding, with yaks kept in the high pastures above Thangu, and some grow potatoes, radish and barley on terraced fields. Conversation over dinner is the best way to learn how life here changes with the seasons and how the Dzumsa shapes village decisions.

Ask your agency to arrange a homestay rather than a lodge if you want this experience, as shared tours often book whatever is available. Bring a small gift such as fruit or sweets from Gangtok, respect household routines and go to bed early before the Gurudongmar start.