The following is a description of what I think were 8 amazing days in the mountains.
In true blog fashion I have listed the 1st day at the bottom and today at the top, so go to the bottom of today's entry for the start of the journey.
Today: Journey from Yuksom to Pelling
I said goodbye to Martin and Maria. Was sad, we had met on a shared Jeep to Darjeeling nearly two weeks ago and had become good friends. I feel we made a great team and we were very lucky with the weather. I climbed in my jeep to head to
Pelling as they left to the capital of Sikkim (
Gantok). I am now on the only Internet computer screen of
Pelling. A small town 2hrs drive from
Yuksom.
I think I will stay here tonight only and make my way back to Darjeeling where I can book train tickets and plan my route to Delhi to see my special friend
Abi.
Day 8: Relaxing in Yuksom
Eating and drinking and resting was in order for the day.
Edith was still ill with her chest infection but was in good spirits. Christian was sharing out his Swiss Snaps. All was good in
Yuksom.
I took a long walk up the hill to look at the oldest
Monestry in Sikkim. Took about 45
mins but when I got there I found it was closed. The gardeners grunted at me as I took some pictures and made my way back. I had my first and LAST cut-throat shave. I thought the nutter was gonna snap my neck with his post shave "massage".
Day 7: Tsokha to Yuksom
The last day was a pleasure except that my knees were killing going down-hill.
So I found that if I moved faster then the pain was less, so I started running.
I ran the last 3Km arriving in
Yuksom triumphant after climbing the
Goecha-La.
God knows what it must be like to climb a real mountain to the top.
Our group of 3 had more or less become 5 with Edith and Christian from the Swiss Alps joining. Along with Ray joining from another group for the final two days down.
We were told that a Yak had gone missing the
nigth before. They found it had been attacked by a snow
leapard. Nice.
Day 6: Thangsing to Tsokha
We decided to miss a day out and make it back to camp in 7 days rather than 8.
We set off taking a short cut around the side of the hills rather than over. Real Jurassic park trekking. Through thick forest with less of an established trek, I was just happy it was not raining, we were again lucky with the weather.
We made our way down to the place we spent the first night, of course stopping for more Chang on the way and more Roxy (distilled millet). By now I was knackered but glad to be at a lower altitude. The approach above
Tsokha was clear and I was able to look down on the village from above. On the way up it was misty so I never saw what it looked like.
This was the last night on the mountain with our team. They baked us a cake (God knows how) and sang and danced Nepali songs in the hut. We had to join in, which was no problem
concidering how much Chang I had drank.
Day 5: Thangsing to Goecha La (4940m) and back to Thangsing
This was the big push. The trek was getting harder each day, in terms of altitude and general difficulty. Up until now I had just signed up for a 8 day trek without reading anything. People were talking about some mountain and places I could not remember.
We were woken in the freezing hut at 01:45am. I moaned as I drank my lemon tea and packed my day pack. Today was the Day. The Day where we went to the highest point to view at the foot of the
Khanchendzonga mountain.
It was dark as we set off at 02:15. 20
mins later I had to stop to fertilise the big toe of the big mountain on my right. I don't know its name, but no one has climbed it since 2002 and it has claimed 40 lives in recent years. It was freezing, but I was well wrapped up. The moon was almost full and we hardly needed torches as we made our way up the stream over the vast valley bottom. We all stumbled as we went higher and over the ridge and down the other side past the base camp tents for the unclimbable mountain I had just pooped on.
The walk was endless, and as we went on the moon light was obscured by the high ridge on the left.
I was thankful when we came out and looked down on the still and calm holy lake. We went right down to the side and the Goddesses reflection across the water was amazing. No camera could have captured this image of the moons beauty. By this time the sun was still not up and I could see the moon was going to drop behind the ridge for good. I thanked her for her protection and
waitedfor her consort to rise and light the way.
The next ridge was so steep down I did not think it would be possible, but somehow we all made it. Now there were only 4 of us on the big push with 3 guides. The previous smugness of my Rs650 outfit over the trek-snobs and their fancy gear dissolved as the sweat on my chest, back and shoulders started to freeze. I got bobble-hat confusion. If I took my hat off my forehead went immediately numb, if I put it on my ears burnt. The rocks opened and we entered into a dry lake walking across the vast open space below the mountains in the sand, it was bizarre. Next came an ancient dried up Glacier. All that was left were the HUGE boulders and rocks it used to carry down the mountain side. We started our climb. I started to feel dizzy. Christian was ahead of me, an experienced Alpine man determined to beat the English-man. Behind me was Martin and Maria. At this point I forgot what I was doing, all I knew was to keep going. I made my way through the rock and up on to the side of the ridge. Steep, one step at a time. At this point I thought
"what the f*ck am I doing". I pressed on, not looking more than 2 feet
infront of me in case I looked up and lost my balance and fell to my death.
By this time there was ice and snow to add to the already torturous conditions. Pin-step by pin-step I snaked my way up to the final ridge, passing a guy on his way down and then Christian who was complaining he was feeling unwell. I could see the top, the view point for
Khanchendzonga (which by this time I decided to call by it's proper name and not Cow-a-
bunga). I crawled up to the Tibetan prayer flags and collapsed on my knees and looked down the pass into the kingdom on
Gondor. The altitude was playing tricks on my mind and I feared I was bleeding from my eyes sockets and ears as I realised it was not
Gondor but Nepal down the pass. I got my breath back just as Martin and Maria arrived with the Guide. We took pictures Everest style at 5
kM above sea level and started down.
We had made it in 4.5hrs without a break.
Going down was harder than going up. It took longer and we had more breaks, as we did not have the motivation of the peak on our side.
We passed the late risers and smugly told them how many ages they had to go to the top. ha ha ha. The walk back really brought it home to how far we had come in such terrain and conditions, 18KM, 9KM each way. I arrived back and immediately got into my bag for a sleep. I woke to find that Ray the Taiwanese guy who was fasting and carrying 35KG the last two days was still not back. Considering he had set off only 15
mins after us he was now 6hr behind us. We got back at noon, were it was now nearly 6pm and dark. We were all a bit worried, but soon the mood lightened when he turned up and told how he had had a runny trouser accident at the 5000m peak, he had to walk back 9km on the gravy train. Poor fella. I was aching all over, from the trek and from the high altitude cricket.
Day 4: Dozongri to Thangsing (3840m)
We woke again at 4am to get the Sun refection on the mountains. This time the sky was clear. The drunken Yak men singing with the resident evil hut caretaker until 11:30 in the evening seemed to have done the trick of
chacing the clouds away. (bed time is 7pm in the mountains, so I had to ask the old hag to shut it).
Incidently, there are only Yak-men and no Yak-woman. New Yak-men are born from mountain rocks.
The sun refection was breath taking as was the view. About 30 people made the top. I got a couple of hours sleep before we set off again. Maria was not feeling well and said she would not make it, I was about to lose my Trekking buddies. Also Edith of Edith and Christian from Switzerland had a chest infection.
When the time came we all set off, the girls had decided to push on. Ray from Taiwan again insisted on carrying his 35kg pack and was on a 2
nd day of fasting- crazy. With about 8 people in our super-group we left for the next camp. Today was my favourite in terms of scenery. The forest we went through was amazing as we went up and down and over wide open valleys. We crossed a collection of streams until we came to a HUGE one and had to cross. I left the trail here and walked up under the mountains alone and down the river side. I took my time for the first time since we started, walking slowly.
Martin and Maria caught me up through the next forest and by a smaller stream. I had the urge to jump in. But being a bit more sensible
and not wanting to be washed away to the bay of Bengal I found a semi still pool and stripped off and jumped in.
Washing my sins away in the freezing water. My head and legs went numb immediately, the Guide thought I was crazy, as I was. We arrived at the next huts in the mid afternoon, not much higher than the last night. We were now about 10 in a room, much colder.
There were rumors about the
Yetti being spotted in these parts but I did not see him. However, I'm pretty sure he visited the communal toilet just before I did. The porters were playing cricket. I was invited to play and we played 40 overs. I had never played high altitude cricket before and I was truly knackered after 40 overs.
Day 3: Acclimatisation in Dozongri
We had risen another 1000m in the past day, so we needed to acclimatise.
We rose at 4am to hike 200m up to the top of a local hill to see the sunrise and reflection on the main attraction, the
Khanchendzonga peak. The mountain we were aiming for. This is
Sikkim's and India's highest and considered a Goddess and very holy to the local tribal people. Setting a foot on her slopes is forbidden.
However the weather was crap, visibility was poor and the altitude was making several people sick. When we got to the Tibetan flags at the top all we could see was mist as the sun came up.
We went back to bed. In fact we all spent the best part of the next 20hrs in our bags trying to keep warm.
Day 2: Tsokha to Dozongri (4025m)
The toilets at
Tsokha where petty bad and the temperature cold. But after a good breakfast of Porridge and omelet we all set off up to the next site.
The way was steeper but still had the feel of an organised trek. This is easy I thought. Look at all these "trekkers" in their
Gortex gear, fancy walking sticks and such. Here I am in my Rs650 outfit of a hat, scarf, gloves, jumper and jacket
bought from Darjeeling.
I smiled smugly as I made my way up in my 8 pound outfit past several groups to arrive at the new place. The little valley was colder, and the huts more basic and to top it off the 2
nd Guide had forgotten to load the Yak with my sleeping bag ---GREAT---
I got the Guides bag as a
replacement and found it was not as warm but still
ok.
We had dinner and chatted to the different groups. In all about 4 groups with about 12 people in total in the huts and about 20 in tents.
Day 1: Yuksum to Tsokha (3050m)
We started the first leg of the trek at about 07:30. The day was sunny and the mountains where high behind the the hills This part of the trek I could see was very popular. The road was either cobbled or had wide wooden logs down so the horses and Yaks could easily follow it. Saying this, it was steep in places, both up and down. We went though lush forests and over small bridges and around waterfalls. The scenery was outstanding.
We arrived at our first sleeping point and were shown our trekkers hut over 1200m higher than we started. The huts were basic and cold but better than sleeping in a tent.
While the cook and the kitchen boy made our food I went to explore the village.
Tsokha is the last point of civilisation. A collection of about 6 houses with 3 trekkers huts. Amazingly there is a mobile phone signal here.
I met a fella from Calcutta and together we looked inside one of the houses. We were welcomed in and a fire was lit. They had taken in foreigners before for they sat us down and offered us some local Chang (this is "beer" made from fermented Millet).
The family were from Tibetan origin, rather than the usual Nepali. The room got warmer as I watched the old lady fill a wooden Bamboo container with "dirt" from a sack. She then filled it with some hot water and brought it over.
"DRINK" she said.
The dirt was not dirt but millet that had been fermenting for the past few months. Now the warm water was
dissolving the
alcohol. It was very nice and warming in the freezing weather.
I recharged the glass 5 times before I said goodbye as they were slicing Yak meat for their dinner.
I made my way back down to the trekkers huts for my own dinner. The food was
amazing and we had 3 courses and chatted to all the other groups, some going up like us and some on their way down.
Day 0: Darjeeling to Yuksum (1780m)
There is no
scheduled transport link between Darjeeling and
Yuksum so we chartered our own jeep. The journey took about 6 hrs and went through some spectacular hills. It went quite
quickly considering the length of the journey and the shocking state of the roads. We stopped at a Tea factory on the way but found it was closed to visitors. However, the power of the Rs10 note did not fail us as Martin, Maria and myself gave our own tour through the factory. Because Sikkim
bordered Tibet (China), Nepal and
Butan the permits are required. We stopped at the Sikkim border to have our permits checked and from then on the roads did improve some, the strips of tarmac joining the holes together were
noticeably wider. The roads are only better in Sikkim because the government has a fear of China so has good roads built in case they need to move the army here fast.
Finally we arrived at
Yuksom, the large sized village which at one time was the capital of Sikkim and hosts quite a rich history (stone throne, 3
monasteries etc).
We checked in the hotel and were greated by the Guide who did not speak any English. At this point we thought we had been "scammed" by my friend of a friend in Calcutta.
However, we soon got a new Guide and I got my sleeping bag and settled down for the last night in a proper bed.
Our team consisted of my trekker mates Martin and Maria, with our Guide, a 2
nd Guide, Cook, Kitchen Boy, 2 Yaks and a Yak-man. They had to carry all the food for 8 days, as well as
kerosene to cook.
The train left NJP station south of Darjeeling at 11:20am and after about 17hrs it pulled up at Mulgra Sari station just 14KM outside my destination Varanasi. Seventeen hours on a train sounds like a lot of time and you're right it is. However, I got to hang out of the doors as we zoomed along. I also got to meet a few interesting people.
I tried to pick up some more Hindi but failed. I did manage to convert 3 locals to the power of Su-do-ku before our time was up. Once in Mulgra Sari my new Indian Army Captain buddy helped me in my auto-rickshaw negotiations. I also promised the driver and extra 25% if he promised NOT to talk about any hotels on the way. I secured his word and for the next 25mins he told me how amazing and much cheapness Hotel SunnyTime was and how my hotel (which I did not even mention) had burnt down. 
I specifically chose a hotel near one of the Ghats so I could get there without too much help. However on arriving at 04:30 in the morning I was dropped "near" and had to negotiate the tiny ancient streets in a hunt. I must have been blessed for as I rounded the 27th corner I suddenly came across it near the waterside. I was greeted by Bulboo who happened to be a boat man. Within 2mins we had agreed on a 2hr row at sunrise up the Holy Ganges. This is Varanasi the holiest place on the Hindu map and a great time to see it is at sunrise. My fifth sunrise since I got here.
Now I have been awake for sunrise before but usually in Robbie's flat talking total crap not on a long row boat feet from the steps watching people floating candles and seeing bodies being carried to wooden piles and set alight. The Ganges is the Mother of Life, the river has special significance and especially here at Varanasi. People come for 3 reasons. Firstly to wash their sins away by descending one of the 125 Ghats into the water, at a peak 60,000 people a day bathe, swim, clean their teeth, shave and even drink the holy water (which incidentally has 100,000 times more human feacal matter in it than legally allowed in the UK). Such is the religious conviction of the faithful that the locals come each day to wash themselves and the bedsheets from the hotels. The second reason for coming is to increase and gain Karma points. This can be done by giving to beggars or donating to poor people so they can be burnt. There are many waiting to die in Varanasi. 
This brings me to the 3rd and final reason. People come here to die. If you utter your last words and draw your last breath at Varanasi and are delivered back to the great mother withing 3hrs then you escape the eternal cycle of rebirth. No more being born as a dung beetle or fruit fly, you automatically step from the process and into Nirvana. Normally people are burnt at special "Burning Ghats", only a few are dropped to the bottom of the river (babies, pregnant women, leapers, small pox sufferes and holy men), the rest are burnt. Now it is hard to describe a burning, for a foreigner it looks odd for sure, but to Hindus it is normal and deeply moving. I won't go into too much detail and I did not take any pictures out of respect. 
It is hard to explain what it looks like for a belly to melt and guts set on fire or what it looks like for a burning head to fall off and be picked up by over sized bamboo tweezers and placed back on the fire. It is best to see for yourself. It is not a sad of grim atmosphere, it felt more like watching old men play French bowls or a father teaching his son how best to turn the sail on a model boat on Regents park lake than the burning of a bead body. This goes on 24/7 all day and all night. All around children play, kites fly in the sky, cricket bats swing, beggars crawl and holy men dressed in orange chant. Cows walk around, dogs bark, goats lick at hip bones that have washed up on the shore. The Ghats stretch for miles and after walking most of it I decided to explore the old town, wandering it the Muslim area where I found silk weavers making the cloths. Varanasi is also famous for its silks. I passed what must have been 50 Hindu temples. I asked how many temples there were I was told 100,000 or 1 million.
I contemplated jumping in the Gangees myself it is the kind of stupid thing I would do, but my gut instinct told me not to, I had a feeling that somehow the sins that were washed off everyone else might stick to me. My head could take no more, for a place with so many sinners washing their evil deeds and for so many widows waiting to die it was bursting with life but a bit of a brain-ache. It's funny how different cultures view such an undeniable event. After seeing and taking a picture of the "ETERNAL FLAME" (said to be burning for over 4 and a half THOUSAND years) I headed back to the hotel for some lunch. The waiter brought over my Vegetable Thali together with a 1.5metre stick. Before I could ask what it was for I could feel the "eyes" on me ". MONKEY" he grunted and walked off.
I'm feeling pretty tired now, 17hr and not much sleep on the train and straight to the river for sunrise. I ordered a beer and watched the sunset. From the hotel balcony with over 50 children's kites in the air as the sun dipped behind the temples and trees. The chanting got louder and the drums more frantic........I feel Varanasi is just coming alive now the sun has gone, but will I have the energy to explore a city that is older than history itself?
