Pedong

Why this icon Mule caravans crossed Pedong on the trade route to Tibet over the Jelep La. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Zostel Homes

The story

A clear autumn morning on the old trade route out of Pedong: a traveller leads a pack mule loaded with wool bales along the stone-walled trail, while Kanchenjunga glows on the skyline above the Teesta valley.

Why this picture

Pedong, a ridge-top town at about 1,240 m east of Kalimpong, lay on the old trade route from Kalimpong to Lhasa: until 1962 mule trains, sometimes in the hundreds, carried wool, salt and borax along its trails. From its ridges the whole Kanchenjunga range glows gold on a clear October morning, the Teesta valley falls away in blue folds, and large cardamom grows under tall trees on the slopes.

The sky wears Gond scales, from Madhya Pradesh.

The motion

The mule's tail swishes, its ears flick and its bell swings; the sun's rays turn; a few minivets cross the sky; the cardamom and the deodars sway. A 16-second loop.

Colour

Orchid #AA5EA5

Valley Blue #4F87C7

Blush #F6ADCD

Pedong takes Valley Blue #4F87C7, one of the three Valleys colours — with its icon in white on it.

Another moment in Pedong

A second scene: another true moment at Pedong, drawn in the graphic vocabulary with the animals and city symbols that belong there. Wide for screens, tall for a phone held upright.

The story

Dusk at Damsang Fort near Pedong: on its forested hilltop the Lepchas' ruined fort stands quiet, its broken stone walls pale against the evening sky, fallen blocks at their foot; rhesus macaques stand by the old walls, pines stand round it, large cardamom grows in the shade by the trail, a big moon rises over the hills while clouds and birds cross the sky, and the explorer who has walked up through the forest points out the ruins.

Why this moment

Damsang Fort, about 7 km from Pedong, was built by the last Lepcha king, Gyabo Achuk, around 1690 and lies in ruins since the Anglo-Bhutan war of 1864: low broken stone walls on a quiet hilltop, sacred to the Lepchas (Zostel's Pedong guide: discover the ruins of Damsang Fort; pine forests wrap the ridges). Large cardamom grows in the forest shade round Pedong and Kalimpong, and rhesus macaques live in these foothill forests. Spring evenings are clear.

The motion

A flock of birds crosses the evening sky home to roost; clouds drift across the whole sky; the moon's rings turn; the pines sway; the cardamom nods. A 16-second loop.

In the picture

Its files

wide: wide second scene, SVG wide second scene, Animated SVG wide second scene, PNG
tall: tall second scene, SVG tall second scene, Animated SVG tall second scene, PNG

Also in the kit's zip, in its own folder.

Pedong in symbols

Beside its icon, the things that are Pedong, drawn in the Brand Manual's city language: a monument in the city grey with its openings cut, the things of the place in flat landscape colours. Each comes in colour and in the city grey. Every place's symbols

Damsang Fort's ruinsMonument
Damsang Fort (1690), the Lepchas' fort near Pedong and the only fort in Darjeeling district, seat of the last Lepcha king Gyabo Achuk; ruined since the Anglo-Bhutan war of 1864: low broken stone walls on its ridge.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
Large cardamomOf the place
Large (black) cardamom: the Eastern Himalaya's spice crop, grown in the shade of the forest on the slopes round Pedong and Sikkim, its red capsules clustered at the foot of tall leafy stems.
SVG Grey SVG PNG

Also drawn for Pedong 3

Detailed icons from the library that name Pedong among their places: one drawing, on the page of every place it belongs to. Those drawn for Pedong alone come first. Every detailed icon

Say hello to Pedong's Zobus

Zobu in Pedong's own dress, on the palette. Hover or tap one and it waves. Each comes still and alive — idle, hello and hop — for stickers, stories and the app.

Every destination's Zobus →

Female
Still Idle Hello Hop Face Wave
Male
Still Idle Hello Hop Face Wave

The animals of Pedong

Animals and birds the research behind Pedong's picture names, drawn in the Brand Manual's animal style, in colour and in the city grey. All the animals of India

MuleEquus asinus x Equus caballus
SVG Grey SVG PNG

The kit

Everything Pedong needs: its profile, its cover, wide and tall, its icon, tile, display picture and lockup, its loop and the symbol becoming it, its second scene, its city symbols and its Zobus — every file ready to download.

44 files in one zip, the cover, its second scene, its symbols and its Zobus included

Profile

Pedong’s page as a story, 1080 × 1920: its cover, its tile, its name, its line and its verbs — for stories, status and a phone’s lock screen.

SVGOther formats

Cover, wide

1600 × 900, for screens: a page’s top, a slide, a share card. The still is the loop’s first frame. The animated SVG loops in 16 s; where it shouldn’t move, use the still.

SVG Animated SVG PNG

Cover, tall

900 × 1600, composed for a phone held upright: stories, reels, a lock screen. The animated SVG loops in 16 s; where it shouldn’t move, use the still.

SVG Animated SVG PNG

Tile

The icon in one colour on Pedong’s own — for a grid, a story, a sticker.

SVG PNG