We had to wait almost a week for that view in India, but when it finally showed up, every shivering, cold moment in Pelling was worth it. That’s the Kangchenjunga Range in Sikkim rising up out of the mist-covered valleys and lower mountains. Mount Khangchendzodnga is 28,000 feet. Third highest mountain in the world.
Sikkim doesn’t feel like India much, it’s much more Tibetan/Nepali. I fell in love with the people and the Thukpa (seriously delicious noodle soup).
What Sikkim has – well, all of India – is an overdose of cute. The children are gorgeous and open and friendly, following you down the street, asking you where you’re going, where you’ve been, are you going to the Goompa, do you like Buddha or Shiva or Jesus, and would you like to go fishing with them tomorrow. They’ll stop and pose for a picture as soon as they see you pull the camera out. And if you give them any time at all on your Droid and show them how to zoom in and out on a picture, about ten little hands will be all over it. They charmed me completely.
As we hiked, the children would run out to greet us or yell hello from a distance. Sometimes we never saw them, just heard their voices in the air.
And we were walking through some of the most beautiful land I’ve seen. Terraced mountains where they farm rice, millet. Peaks that tower above you in the distance, lush, tropical, covered in prayer flags
. Tropical Himalayas.
Lakes that are so serene and peaceful the locals say they are so holy, the birds won’t even let a leaf stay on the water. You think they’re exaggerating until you stand and look at it and can’t find a leaf anywhere, and the peace is palpable and becomes a part of you.
I’ve thought about a thousand ways to tell people about my trip to India, and however I tell it never seems big enough. 
I will tell you about the details, but what stays with me is all of it – how every day is random and unique, the people embrace you in their lives. Some things make you crazy and make you cry, but it is a country that is magical. Yes, I even felt that way sleeping on my concrete bed in my concrete room with the very sketchy pillow case that I would put my head on without my sleeping bag between me and it.
What does that have to do with Parfum de Nicolai Kiss Me Tender? It’s pretty magical as well, with an open innocence that invites you in. Notes of Vanilla, aniseed, almond, fresh cut hay make it soft, interesting, enveloping. The hay isn’t as strong in it as I would have liked – I am a hay bitch – but the overall feel of it is fluffy as well as rich. If you’re not a fan of vanilla or anise/almond, you can just skip over this perfume completely.
And I haven’t forgotten the samples I need to draw for from before I left. I’ll get that done by next Tuesday, but I’d love to give out like three samples of the PdN Kiss Me Tender too. So just make a comment to be entered in the drawing!
I would love to be included to the draw for Kiss Me Tender.
You had me at “Guerlain’ish almond/vanilla.” I would love to try Kiss Me Tender.
Of all the regions in the world, the Sikkim/Nepal/Bhutan/Tibet area has the most beautiful children in the world. In every picture I see, their faces are so expressive, and yet serene. I loved your description of their curiosity and openness and innocence. Thank you for sharing those wonderful pictures. This area of the world is at the very top of my wishlist to see.
Ur descriptionwas exactly like a tender kiss! what a beautiful beautiful piece on India
Aaaaw, that picture of the little girl in the red leggings is the best. What a cutie! :x (She didn’t dress up for you, did she? She has some blue on top and red on bottom with stars? I guess there aren’t any stripes though!)
Please enter me in the sample draw for KMT. Thanks!
Laura M
Lovely pictures from your trip. Thanks for sharing. I would love to try anything with almonds. One of my all time favorites.
I have never been to India and the only pix I’ve seen were all the usual spots but none with the ones you took that make the India I’ve seen so different.
The children are cute — is right. So natural and not so posey like my grand kids and others with their taught cheesy little smiles.
Please enter me in the draw. Almonds and vanilla get me every time.
Thank you,
N
Patty, thanks for giving us a view into your trip. It sounds amazing. My brother went for 3 weeks and said it forever changes you. Loved the pictures!!
Oh, and I’d love to be entered in the drawing as well, anise & vanilla sound lovely!
Oh, the kids are beautiful! Hope your travels were safe, joyous and fun!
Throw me in for the PdN, I’m very curious!
Enter Me!
Fellow hay bitch here. Would love to be entered in the draw. Thanks!
Thanks for the lovely pictures. They are breathtaking.
I’d love to be in on the draw, thanks.
Patty, your trip sounds amazing! True story: I once wanted to be an India scholar, but I still haven’t made it there! It’s high on the list. I myself just returned from ten days in Japan, which has some magic and some craziness of its own.
I’d love to be in the draw; vanilla/anise/almond/hay sounds great to me in every way.
What a treat for us to be able to follow your trip. Have a safe/great time. Please enter me in the draw as well.
Welcome back Patty!
WoW! What breathtaking pictures! And the children…Thankyou for sharing your experience!
India and its magic and spices beckon…
I hope your sleep schedule flips back soon!
I love hay and would be grateful to be entered in the draw if not too late…
Thank you for letting us live vicariously through your voyage! India sounds magical!
Please enter me in the draw. I’d love to see if Kiss Me Tender at all similar to Apres L’Ondee. :)
Yes, please enter me in the draw.
More importantly, I have been waiting to hear about your trip. It sounds absolutely amazing. Please give us some more writing about it. I have some students who have been to India, and they really didn’t like it, but they were only in Mumbai. (And they are quite young.)
Almond, not so much, but I am a mad fan of anise and vanilla, so this sounds kind of like me.
Beautiful pictures. India is one of those places that I am pretty sure I am never going to visit (watching The Amazing Race is as close as I’m likely to come), but it sure looks lovely.
What are other people’s favourite hay fragrances?
Hey Annie: I think my fave is PG Felanilla. You’d think Santa Maria Novella Fieno (Hay) would fill the bill — and it’s quite nice — but it’s not the end-all IMO.
Lovely pictures,Patty!! I’ve always wanted to visit North-east India- it is supposed to be beautiful- especially Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. I am visiting family in India this month- so your pictures just increased my excitement..:) [Though I’ll be in the South]
Oh- and please enter me in the draw..anise is a tricky note for me- it isn’t my favorite note but I have loved perfumes with that note (e.g Aimez Moi)
Vanilla + anise + almonds sounds very Annick Menardo, whom I’m quite into lately. Please enter me in the sample draw!
your pictures are lovely and the trip sounds magical.
What beautiful photos! Your trip sounds like such a blessing, Patty. I think travel, at its best, draws us closer to the rest of humanity while broadening our horizons. India, Nepal and Tibet shared their magic with you…looking forward to your stories when you spread the magic our way! :-)
I enjoy the PdN scents that I’ve sniffed, so I’d love a chance to sniff this one, too. Thanks.
Gorgeous pictures. Gorgeous children. I shouldn’t ask if they sell them somewhere…
Please enter me in the drawing, thanks.
Lovely photos. Thanks for sharing the experience with us. India is definitely on my bucket list, but I have a hard time narrowing it down to specific areas — it’s a big country! Hope your tummy is feeling better.
Photos are simply amazing–what an incredible experience. Hay bitch is too cool!
This is place I need to visit. My heart is enchanted by everything you experienced.
Beautiful! India always looks so colorful in pictures and movies. I’d love to see it for myself someday.
Please enter me in the sample draw. I’ve been wearing a lot of Sacrebleu lately, but I’m not really familiar with the rest of the PdN line.
Love ur photos! Would luv to sample!
Gorgeous photos, Patty. India will stay with you for many years to come. Aren’t the people amazingly endearing?
Please enter me in the draw.
Hugs!
What a trip – certainly hope to travel there someday. Please enter me in the Kiss me Tender drawing, as I love anise, almond, and hay notes.
I love those pictures and your writing. Hay bitch and hay ho must now be worked into my conversation today. :)
I so want to go. Thank you for sharing& please enter me.
Beautiful photos and a lovely description of your trip. Your writing conveyed serenity and beauty. Glad it was a wonderful time, Patty!
Please enter me in the draw…I’m an “anise bitch”. :)>-
I was having a horrible morning at work and stopped for a quick cup of tea with the Posse. Thank you Patty, for you have salvaged this day. Beautiful prose and pictures.
Welcome home! It does sound magical, I’m thinking India may be showing up on the list now. And however did you stop yourself from kidnapping one of those children? Oh, those cheeks!!
I don’t need a sample of KMT, I’m already in love with it. I was with Shelley at the seminar, and was also one of the people who at first went, “Meh,” and later went, “Oooooooh…” I’m happy to see it getting some love, it’s such a pretty thing. I love M. de Nicolai’s hand with gourmand-y notes, she’s so deft. It must be her Guerlain blood. The opening breath of a spritz of KMT is such an amazing, dead-on rendering of a bunch of fresh-cut stems – it makes me smile every time.
Those kids are adorable! Glad you are safely back and that your trip was magical. I love vanilla, anise, and not sure about the hay, but am very curious. Please include me in the draw. Thanks.
Love being an armchair traveler through your wonderful photos and description of your trip. Going to think calm thoughts through my day. Thank you.
Please enter me in the drawing for the Kiss Me Tender. Sounds pretty.
Your trip sounds amazing and so does the perfume,I love almond and hay notes. Though, I’m with Cheryl on the name..ick. I’d love to be entered in the draw, please.
Patty,
I have always wanted to travel to India. Your pictures are killing me!!! India seems to be a country that is so different from here (US), yet similar and so very beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
You don’t need to enter me in the drawing as I have already received a sample from the very generous Denyse. I too enjoyed Kiss Me Tender. It is a very happy and hopeful fragrance.
Those photos are beautiful. It makes me wonder..do we live in such beauty where we are but can’t see it? Or is our society so much about stuff other than beauty we have erased its possibility? Sorry for the early morning ramble. The perfume sounds great..don’t love the name..but the notes are appealing…please enter my name as well.
It sounds like your trip was magnificent Patty! I am looking forward to my Christmas trip to England (the Cotswolds and London) but doubt that it will be as exotic and scenic as your trip was!
Please enter me in the draw :)
Thanks for the beautiful pictures. And yes, enter me in the draw. Thank you.
I can certainly see how nothing you can say seems “big enough” to capture India. I’m an unrepentant homebody, so I’ll probably never see it myself. It’s good to see the photos!
While all of the photos are lovely, I am especially drawn to the last one. The arch framing the view…very cool!
Yes, please enter me in the drawing and welcome back!
It brings me a certain kind of happy whenever I hear someone has had a (happy) transformative experience. This was a lovely something to come upon as part of the start of my day, photos and words.
I’m a HayHo and PdN Fangirl myself, but keep me out of the drawing, as I had a lovely little experience of my own and got to see her lead a seminar on the history of perfume. And was fortunate enough to walk away with a sample of Kiss Me Tender, which I thought at first was too simple, too sweet (though it isn’t really sweet), not enough depth. I was wrong. It grew on me. Now my decision is do I want more/how much? :)
Welcome home.
Welcome back, Patty! What beautiful photos and lovely commentary. Everyone I know who has gone to India comes back with the same sense of calm and mentions it has changed them. There are magical places in the world. I have been lucky enough to travel to some of them but I’ve always hesitated about India. Not anymore … I just need a travel partner or two. :-)
I also love PdN so please enter me in the draw! Thank you!
Oy… that sentence. Need more coffee
*to have traveled
(obviously)
Dang. Those photos are unreal.
Please enter me in the draw. The notes sound so much better than the name …!
Thanks for a great post Patty. I’m not sure how I missed trying this PdN, so please enter me in the drawing.
I dream of a life of travel. Love it. I’m certain India transformed you in a way you never imagined. Seeing photos and reading stories just doesn’t equal the experience of going yourself. Not easy to go outside our comfort zone, but I commend you for risking it all and JUST DOING IT!!!! Thanks, Patty, for the inspiration.
I’ve been contemplating buying Kiss Me Tender unsniffed! I love Nicolai. And anything under $100 is the new free, right? Thanks for the draw!
I could happily travel 3-4 months out of the year if my budget and dogs would let me, It is harder to go outside of your comfort zone, but once you do it, the fear of going somewhere that seems exotic or far different from what you’re used to goes away. You just have to be willing to live as they live, if you really want to see that place. If you stay in the fancy hotel outside of town, you’ll sleep a lot better, but you’ll be a spectator traveller.
So, yeah, it was transformative. I heard some saying a while back that if you take something with you to India that you don’t know what to do with or don’t want, India has a way of fiing it for you. It’s like it knows how to undo chains that bind anchors to you. Anchors you may or may not want in your life, but that you definitely need to have unbound. India floats.
Welcome!
The beautiful photos and all the things you have told us have moved me. How I would love to see that peaceful lake! I’m needing lots of peace in my life these days.
Please, enter me in the draw. The perfume sounds charming.
Lake Khecoperi (sp?) is that amazing.There’s a little dock going down to the lake, lined with prayer wheels on both sides that you spin as you walk down and back. I sat there for so long, and I think I could have sat there all day, just watching the ducks and the prayer flags on that still, still water.
In Sikkim, there’s so much poverty, but it’s peaceful poverty. I don’t know how else to say that. It’s a people that are content with the life they have and seem to love where they are, even with so little. i’m sure it’s not that idyllic in reality, but they just ooze contentment.
Welcome back. Have missed your awesome posts. please enter me in the draw.
Oh, thanks, I missed all of you!!!