Before I go into detail here are the highlights of the trip
Tough Facts of the trek
· First high altitude trek
· Sleeping in tents that too in chilly night when it snowed
· Using toilet papers
· Taking no bath literally for 6 days
· Sleeping inside a sleeping bag and a sleeping liner
· Slept in 3 layers of clothing almost every night
· Limited or absolutely no access to internet and phone
· Dry toilets near the tent camp
Fun facts of the trek
· Sharing a single mug, plate and lunch box with my 3 trek mates and later fighting on who will wash them
· Sleeping in sleeping bag and sleeping liner
· Playing in the snow
· Chatting with all other 22 people on our trek
· Chai aka tea made with YAK milk
Missing L about the trek
· Early morning sunrise and sunset
· Eating Wai Wai and Maggi in the chilly weather, most delicious food for that weather
· 22 trek mates and their jokes
· Pleasant views, nature, mountains and beauty
· Fresh air and water
Sweet memories of the trek
· Met Lovely people
· Sunrise before 5:30 am
· Fixed chai time,soup time and dinner time
· Singalila National park
· Colourful flowers and soothing greenery
· Rhododendrons (National flower of Nepal)
· Amazing Landscape
· Photography, felt to capture every moment of it.
· Chai aka tea made with YAK milk
· Pass by Nepal Border
Couple of tips for the trek
· Neither underestimate nor be over confident about your capabilities.
· Do not take medicine without telling your trek leader.
· Drink lots of water to keep hydrated.
· Carry dry fruits, chocolates, chips, energy bars for munching in between the breaks.
· Be prepared for the sudden surprises by nature.
Most of the itinerary proposed by IH was in place except the Day 6, where we have to cut short our journey from Sabargram to Gorkhey. We did not go to Phalut as the view was not clear because of the bad weather. We missed the sleeping Buddha and Clear view of Makalu, Lohte and Everest.
8th April – Hyderabad to Kolkatta
Four of us, me and my 3 MBA classmates (Dilshaad, Sayantan and Kaushik) took a flight at 6 :15 am from Hyderabad to Kolkatta and reached at 8:15 am. I decided to visit Dakshineshwar Kali temple and rest of them went to Sayantan’s parents’ home in Kolkatta. I took an Uber and reached temple in half an hour. It was a very nice temple with a systematic que system in place to visit the goddess. I spent an hour to get my turn, later took another cab, and reached Sayantan’s parents home. Aunty fed me with a nice breakfast and later in afternoon; we all had a lavish traditional Bengali food prepared by aunty. We had Sukto (typical Bengali dish), Bhaat, Fish curry, Prawn curry, Parwal curry, potato curry and Mishthi Dohi (a fav dish of all Bengali’s). Last but not the least Rasogulla, it was a feast in Lunch. Later she packed Chikcken curry and Jeera rice for dinner for four of us. We all started from their house to reach station to catch our HUMSAFAR J it is the name of the train we travelled from Howrah station to New Jalpaiguri. Train was 2 hours late and after we boarded it was 3 hours late so we reached our destination at 7:30 am instead of 4:30 am.
Dishaad, Sayantan, Kaushik and myself
9th April 2017 - Day 1: Getting to base camp – Jaubhari. Pick up from NJP at 9:30 AM. The travel time to Jaubhari is 4-5 hours.
Sumo cars arranged by Indiahikes picked us at 9:45 am from NJP station. Two cars with 11 people started for a 4- 5 hour journey. In between, we stopped at Mirik Lake for Lunch and later were dropped off at first camp Jaubhari at around 3:45 pm. We checked into our rooms and got introduced to our trek organisers, their team and rest 19 trekers. Information about the trek and health & safety was discussed. BP and oxygen levels was monitored and were issued health card to monitor daily. We had dinner and slept early. Let me introduce other trekkers of my batch.
1st Base camp
Sunrise at Jaubhari
Me and nature
Apart from IH crew we were 23- Me from Hyderabad, My MBA mates from Hyderabad – Dilshaad, sayantan and Kaushik, Vidya ji from Goa, Shri sir from Bangalore, Bindu from Gurgoan, Mythili from Chandigarh, Anu from Mumbai, Lavanya from Hyderabad, Rakesh GP from Hyderabad Raakesh Ramesh from Bangalore, Vinay from Devanhalli, Poojan from Bangalore, Vijay from Hyderabad, Surya from Hyderabad, Rohit from Kolkatta, Sheetal from Mumbai, Dorina from Mumbai, Mrinmoy from Kolkatta, Dripto from Kolkatta, Simanthini from Dehradun and Sandeep from Bangalore.
India Hikes team - Buddha ji(our trek guide), Abhirup (our trek leader) and Sanjeev (our trek sweeper, who make sure that all 23 of us reached safely to the destination). Jhum Jhum was the code Buddha ji use to call us to start and we have to respond Yella yella but we ended up saying cala cala J.
I totally agree with this quote –
“It’s always further than it looks. It’s always taller than it looks. And it’s always harder than it looks.” (the three rules of mountaineering)and beautiful sceneries.
Journey started with straight road to hilly mountains, trails. Every day was mystery whether we will ascend or descend the mountain, trust me both are hard in their own style. While ascending your lungs speak with you loudly and while descending your knees curse you for going on the trek. Initially I assumed that 11 kms or 6 kms is a easy distance which can be covered in 6 hours but once I started trekking understood it was not an easy affair. I literally huffed and puffed at every 3 steps while ascending the uphill and the pain was worse in my knees while descending. For the first time I realise that walking 1km in this trek was sometimes walking 10km or more.
10th April 2017 - Day 2: Jaubhari (7,000 ft) to Tumling (10,128 ft); 11 km, 6-7 hours
For the day 1 trek - I woke up at 5 am to see the sunrise. During my entire trek I woke up early to watch sunrise before 5:30 am. We all finished our breakfast and couple of us offloaded our backpacks. Offloading is an option in which you can drop our heavy backpack at the base camp and horses will carry them for you to all destinations.
Most enthusiastic day of the trek where novice like me are excited about the entire trek fun. Unware of the difficulty, thoughts wandering in mind with high expectations from the trek starting from sunrise to sunset, watching birds, Rhododendrons, red Panda and what not. The entire trail was up and down with mostly rocky road. We had short breaks to recover the tiredness and again walk on the trail during which we use to munch snacks. We had a Lunch break and chai break every day during our trek. Somehow, we all dragged to the first destination Tumling. After checking into our rooms, the best part after finishing every trek was to do stretching with Abhirup. Later we had our tea, soup time and dinner.
All set for the trek !
Mountains in betwen them sn
Treak leader in action
Agree to this - “In the mountains there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can’t.” (Rusty Baille)
11th April 2017 - Day 3: Tumling (10,128 ft) to Kalipokhri (10,400 ft); 11 km, 7 hours
Woke up at 5 again to view the sunrise. I watched sunrise from the front side of our homestay and as the sunrays started coming up the view of Kanchenuganga range became clearer. Sleeping Buddha was not very clear but able to see the White Mountain made my day. It was mesmerizing to watch it while sipping my morning tea. We all had breakfast and started our route to Kaliphokri. We walked through the Singalia National park; we were hoping a few wild animals to be spot including Red Panda but unfortunately we could not see any. We keep walking the ascending and descending trails, I swear I do not even dare to count them. We walked further post lunch to reach Kalipokhri before Lunch. We reached the destination and checked into our new homestays for the night. Regular oximeter check-up, stretching and dinner were like daily rituals. After asking my trek leader, I took Combiflam tablet, as my legs were paining badly. However, that was the first and the last pill I took for the entire trip. I appreciate Abhirup for constantly discouraging to take medicine. We had some fun chat and took rest at night in our rooms.
12th April 2017 - Day 4: Kalipokhri (10,400 ft) to Sandakphu (11,929 ft); 6 km, 3 hours
Day began with beautiful sunrise and we started our day with Jhum Jhum slogan by Buddha ji. This was a quite a windy day with slight chilly waves. The entire trail was ascending so we walked very slowly and few trails were very narrow where I felt just to save myself by not tripping over or slipping. I forgot that I want to see the flowers and beautiful valleys, it was just me and my concentration to walk carefully. We took approx. 4 hours to reach Sandakphu. We had a little free time to roam around if interested, but I was confined to the canteen room as they have fire and cozy place to stay away from cold. Another excitement or say fear was to sleep in tents. They gave sleeping bags and sleeping liners to sleep inside the tent. It was chilly outside but my 3 layers of clothing and sleeping liner saved me from the cold. First experience of sleeping inside the tent with sleeping bag and liners.
Capturing Sunset t Sandhakphu
Sunset at Sandhakphu
Nepal border
13th April 2017 - Day 5: Sandakphu (11,929 ft) to Sabargram (11,807 ft); 14 km, 6 hours
Next day morning, I woke up little late for sunrise as it was cold and I could not sleep well inside the bag. We all had our breakfast and headed to our next destination. Today it was little longer distance as the trail was more flat than ascend or descend. Weather was cloudy and windy so had our warmers on while walking. As our trek started climate kept changing. After couple of hours it started with drops of water, which turn later into small ice balls (ole in Hindi) and once we reached our camp Sabargram it snowed. Snow covered the entire field, lovely view but chilly weather. We geared up with extra layer of clothing’s and warmers and started playing in Snow. It was an hour fun and later we ended up sitting in a cozy room to finish our tea, snacks, soup and dinner. It was a scary night for me as I was preparing mentally that I have to sleep in tent in this snowy weather. Somehow, I fall asleep and I was happy to wake up without any problem. Tent nights were over J
Me in my tent surrounded with snow
Beyond that thread was our tents place
Snow at Sabargram
14th April 2017 - Day 6: Sabargram (11,807 ft) to Gorkhey (7,546 ft) via Phalut; 17 km, 6 hours
We started half an hour late as the weather was cloudy and we decided not to go Phalut and instead go to Gorkhey directly. We walked through a beautiful bamboo forest for almost entire trail. We reached beautiful Gorkhey village in 4 hours. This was the most pleasing environment with many beautiful houses and landscape. In between, we passed water canals too. This was the last night with the entire gang. After checking in homestay, we all wandered in this beautiful village with full of colourful flowers, beautiful houses and came back for dinner. This was the special dinner because we could order chicken curry separately with the regular daal, chaawal and sabji. After dinner, we had a bonfire with musical night. We all sang songs and spent our last chilly night in bonfire along with IH team. It was fun. On the top Abhirup and IH team gave us the certificate of Accomplishment for finishing the trek successfully.
Route to Gorkhey
15th April 2017 - Day 7: Gorkhey (7,546 ft) to Sepi (6,234 ft); 15 km, 5 hours.
This was the last morning of the trek with the group and after breakfast we all started little early as many of us has to catch trains and flights from either Darjelling or NJP (New Jalpaiguri). We took 5 hours to reach sepi for our last stop. We had lunch and said good-bye to rest of the trek members. Me, Kaushik, Dilshaad, Sayantan and Abhirup took a cab to NJP. Abhirup got down at Jaubhari (1st base camp) and we went further to NJP. We reached around 8:30 pm to Siliguri, went to Kaushik’s grandmother’s house, and took some rest. I got to chance to have again a Bengali food with delicious fish curry. We started at around 12:30 pm to station as our train was at 2:45 pm. The moment we reached to station, we came to know that our train was initially 30 min late and it prolonged further. It came at early morning 4 am. It was 4 hours delayed which also affected our plan to visit Sayantan’’s house in Kolkatta on our way back. We got down at New Jalpaiguri station at 4:30 pm on 16th April and rushed to Airport, as we have to catch our flight at 7 pm. Finally we made it and was back to Hyderabad home by 11 pm and had a most awaited shower.
“My journey for this trek began with fearful thoughts wandering “How will I stay so many days disconnected with my family but my journey ended with these thoughts J - why I was not connected to nature and mountains earlier”.
lov
me and Buddha ji
certificate
In midway of the trek I wasn’t worried about the flowers or the animals instead I was worried about me and my life. A small wrong step or slip can throw me down in the bushes. Whenever it was steep corner I just said to myself be brave and cross the danger. Dedication, discipline and endurance are the key points for the success of any trek.
Inspired by nature jotted down few lines of poem, I use to write in college days, now again after 15 years :)
रंग बिरंगे फूल और पौधो की हरियाली, आंखों को भा गयी ।
ताजी हवा के झोकों से जैसे, वो मस्त हो कर नाचने लगी ।
एक बार पलक झपकाई कि नहीं, वो दिल को छूकर चली गयी ।
हम कदम आगें बढाते रहें, और वो वही रुक मुस्कुराती रही ।
दिल कहता रहा कि बस एक बार, हम उन्हें और देखें जी भर के ।
पर हमारी टोली रुकी नहीं, आगे चल पडी, पर
रंग बिरंगे फूल और पौधो की हरियाली आंखों को भा गयी ।
ना अंधेरे का डर था, ना मंजिल की फिकर, बस हम राही चलते गये।
दूर दूर तक सिर्फ पहाड और हरियाली थी
समझ न आया कि ये रास्ता कहा तक जायेगा
एक मोड दिखा कि नहीं मंजिल और दूर नजर आयी ।
इतने में मौसम ने अपने रूप बदले
धूप, बारिश, ओले और बर्फं की बौछार गिरायी ।
फिर भी रुके नहीं हम, बस यूही चलते रहें, क्योंकि
रंग बिरंगे फूल और पौधो की हरियाली आंखों को भा गयी ।
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