Tolung Monastery Trek (Sikkim) Tolung Monastery was first built in the reign of Chogyal Chakdor Namgyal in the early 18 th century. It contains rare and valuable scriptures and artifacts of other monasteries that were brought here for safety during the invasion of Sikkim, by the Nepalese during late 17 th and early 19 th century. Once, every three years in the month of April the relics are shown to the public in the monastery complex. Tolung, situated at an altitude of 8,000 ft, lies in the sparsely Lepcha populated Dzongu areas of north Sikkim and falls in the restricted area for which inner line permit is required by Indian nationals. To reach Tolung, one has to travel by road upto Linzey. There is a daily bus service from Gangtok to a place slightly short of Linzey. From Linzey to Tolung is a 20 km walk and takes approximately five hours along the thundering Tolung river through dense forests and cardamom groves. The easy track is surrounded by precipitous cliffs from which plummet down waterfalls in white plumes hundreds of feet below into the narrow gorges to the valley floor. As one walks towards Tolung, the surrounding mountains on the top of which ice clings tenaciously even during the summer seem to close in. There is Pilgrims hut. An easy walk of about an hour along the Tolung river takes one to a religious spot -- Devta Pani.