gall bladders, otter pelts, and shahtoosh wool into India. The Indian government has undertaken a program to sensitise the police and other law enforcement agencies in the area. Tourism Nathu La is part of the tourist circuit in eastern Sikkim. On the Indian side, only citizens of India can visit the pass on Thursdays to Sundays, after obtaining permits one day in advance in Gangtok. There is no 'no man's land' at the pass. Minimal military presence and barbed wire separates both sides. Tourists informally shake hands and take photographs with the Chinese soldiers and army office in the background. Only meters apart, soldiers at Nathu La are among the closest soldiers along the entire Sino-India border. Domestic tourism at the pass was opened up in 1999. The pass provides an alternative pilgrimage route to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. The route through Nathu La, as compared to the original route through Lipulekh pass, requires pilgrims to make a much easier and shorter trek. However, with new road construction by the Border Roads Organisation, the Lipulekh pass route has also been made easier. Baba Harbhajan Singh memorial and shrine is also part of the Nathu La tourist circuit. Mail exchange Twice a week at 8:30 am in an exchanging lasting only 3 minutes, on Thursdays and Sundays, the international surface mail between India and China is exchanged by postmen of the respective countries at Nathu La's Sherathang border post. While the volume of mail is declining due the advent of email and internet, it is mostly from the Tibetan Refugees in India or among the locals with relatives on both sides of the border. This arrangement reduces the mail delivery time for the people of border areas to few days which would otherwise takes weeks to be delivered via the circuitous logistics chain. In this short exchange, no words is spoken as both sides do not understand each other's language, mail is exchanged, an acknowledgement letter is signed, sometimes empty mail bags are exchanged due to dwindling mail volume. This system, since the times of chogyals, continues uninterrupted even during the India-China disputes at 14,000 altitude where temperature drops to . An agreement between China and India in 1992 gave official recognition to the process. Transport The Gangtok–Nathu La road was first made motorable in 1958. At the time it only existed to Sherathang after which the journey was on