Rinchenpong is a town in Gyalshing district,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is situated in West Sikkim, about 123 km west of

Gangtok Gangtok (, ) is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Sikkim. The seat of East Sikkim district, eponymous district, Gangtok is in the eastern Himalayas, Himalayan range, at an elevation of . The city's population of 100 ...

, 47 km due south of

Gyalshing Gyalshing (also Geyzing, ) is a city, located in Gyalshing district, in the Indian state of Sikkim. It is administrative headquarter of district. The town is connected to the capital Gangtok by a metalled road. Geyzing is also connected to the ...

, close to the village of

Kaluk Kaluk is a small village located in the Himalayan foothills of West Sikkim, near the West Sikkim capital of Gyalshing in East India. Kangchenjunga, the world's third highest peak, is visible from Kaluk. It is one of the windiest places in S ...

. It sits at an altitude of 5576 feet (1,700m). It is known for the Reesum Monastery and trekking routes. Near the town is the site of a historical battle between the forces of the then ''Chogyal'' (King) of Sikkim and the invading British forces. The Lepcha tribesmen used a concoction of unidentified herbs to poison the only water source, a lake (local term : ''pokhri''). As a result, more than half of the British forces were killed, which stopped the British invasion and resulted in an accord. The lake remains poisoned even to this day and is known as ''bikh-pokhri'' locally (poisoned lake). The region's local language is Nepali, Lepcha,

Bhutia The Bhutias (exonym; Nepali: भुटिया, "People from Tibet") or Drejongpas (endonym; , THL: dre-jong pa, "People of the Rice Valley") are a Tibetan ethnic group native to the Indian state of Sikkim who speak Drejongke, a Tibetic ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and English. The area's height is 5576 ft., and postcode is 737111.

External links

Travel article on Rinchenpong by Rangan Datta
Hiking trails in India Cities and towns in Gyalshing district {{Sikkim-geo-stub