Very good place to stay. Clean and comfortable. Very central location. Downside is that there is a lot of noise from the street even during the night. 500 INR (about 9 euro) for double room with bathroom. Despite the noise, I recommend it.

Gangtok (1 night)

I normally prefer the DIY version of travel, but Sikkim, India seemed like one big difficult mystery, with special permit requirements, long drives between towns, and a general dearth of information. So I booked a 10-day package trip that includes hotel, transportation, and some sightseeing excursions, too.

Seven days into said trip, it occurs to me that the itinerary (which I admittedly didn’t study too closely in advance) was developed for far different travelers… perhaps an elderly Indian couple. Today’s sightseeing trip around Gangtok was positive proof of this.

We visited six places in all, what they call a “six-point tour.”  None of them was even vaguely interesting to either of us, so we managed to get through all of it before noon (it was supposed to last ‘til 3pm).

1) First stop was the Enchey monastery. It was in a nice pine forest, but the building itself was pretty trashy. There wasn’t too much to look at. I got a nice photo of a lady at the prayer wheels though, so I guess it was a worthwhile stop after all.

2)  Next up was the Flower Show, a small hall filled with cut flowers, the majority of them way past their freshness date. I got one of my prettiest flower pictures, ever, there. Steve insisted that I also photograph the dead flowers, too, for a truer representation of the site. BTW, this place was full of Indian tourists. This is a rural area, so I guess there’s not a whole lot to do.

3) Then we went to a government-sponsored craft school, the Institute of Craft Industries, where children and young adults were learning traditional techniques in wood carving and weaving. There was a small museum with textiles labeled like,  “hand made rug. 18 years old.”  Nothing was very old or very precious, but it was all jealously guarded and no photos were allowed. Steve was interested in a four-string instrument on display, so I sneaked back in a snapped a photo when no one was looking. Take that! We peeked in on students dong their lessons and learned that carpet weaving is tedious work! They had a small shop where I bought a scary mask for my dear friend Lisa. It is sure to give her nightmares for years to come.

OK, we are halfway done at this point in our countdown of crappy sights!  

4) Then we went to the Research Institute of Tibetology. Steve waited outside because he didn’t want to take off his shoes. I went in to study some old manuscripts and look at about a million Buddha statues. There were signs everywhere that said “SILENCE PLEASE” and of course everyone was ignoring them. Hey, people, there’s no need to yell when you are having a conversation with someone one foot away.

5) From there it was a short walk up a steep hill to the Chorten Stupa. Bult in 1945. I have seen enough of these to last a lifetime.

6) And finally, we took a cable car to the Nam Nang Viewpoint, above the city. I forgot all about being afraid of heights until after we had boarded and the rickety thing started off on its journey. The cable seemed too slack, our link to it quite tenuous, and it was incredibly hot in the overcrowded car. I felt shaky and nervous and inexplicably weepy.  I was so happy to get off. The viewpoint was mainly clouds, but we could see a small mountain off in the distance. No snow-covered peaks, however. I have all but given up on that.

Home at last! I set to work in the mothball-scented business center, managing to book airfare and hotels through Jordan. I was very productive! Then we had dinner, which was one of the best dinners thus far on this tour. It was comprised of the special boiled vegetables they now automatically make me for every meal, and some really tasty Indian food I have never had before (Paneer Bhujia, which is a homemade cottage cheese-like dish, plus a salad made of what I would describe as adzuki bean sprouts.)

Tomorrow we are off to Darjeeling, reportedly a five-hour drive. We are both feeling like, “oh, dang, we have three more days of this.”  Hopefully the hotel will be better yet, although it’s quite likely to be like the rest: quaint, charming, scruffy, and low on the  cleanliness scale.

Gangtok (3 nights)

Armed with my permit, I set off for tsomgo lake, climbing 7,000ft in the process (by jeep of course). If I tell you that the journey of 28km took two hours, you'll get the idea. A sign along the way exhorted us to "think of the people who risked death to bring you this road". At the third police checkpoint (we were very close to the Chinese border) there were half a dozen stalls, each selling hats and gloves. Hmmm.

I arrived at the lake to find it a bit chilly. The lake was frozen over, and the surroundings in deep snow. There was no chance of walking around it as the  guidebooks suggest. So I did what had to be done. I hired a yak and snowboots. I say snowboots...the stall was full of cool, white, snug snowboots. But in my size? I got kids' green wellies.

I'm not sure that my yak, Raju, was that happy in his work. Some of them were quite perky, but Raju (black, but with a head of blonde, Marilyn Monroe style curls, kept his head down and plodded very slowly, however often I called "choo" (which is apparently Tibetan for 'giddy up'). Half way round I got off and had a very brief try at walking up a rise, but quickly sunk in the snow up to the top of my wellies, and fell over. To add insult to injury, the yak minder then asked me what I did for a living. When I told him, he pulled an 'I guessed' expression and said "You have face of a teacher" That nearly ruined my day. Raju got me back to the other side, and in a little shack, I had some very very sweet tea and some more momos. This time with a coriander and chilli 'salsa'. I'm a chilli wuss, but in tiny amounts, this was great.

Then back to the  Mintokling Guesthouse, which is lovely. The Bhutanese owners are so kind and friendly, the beds are the comfiest in India (according to the girl from San Francisco who I met this morning - and who has four months of research under her belt) AND there's even loo roll in the bathroom - a first. But the real excitement - included in the five pound rate, is a TV! With BBCWorld! What luxury.

Amusing road sign of the day (and I have many examples): as we were passing a landslip area..."Rolling Stone ahead. Please drive carefully" I wonder which one it is?

I'd typed this far last night, when there was a power cut - and lost the lot. Two minutes later there was a roar, a clap of thunder, and then the most amazing hailstorm I've ever seen. The road was at least two inches deep in white hailstones. The lady who runs the three booth internet place fed me pastries she'd made for a festival, while I sat it out. When it stopped, I set off in the pitch dark, scrunching through the hail to my guesthouse - and yes. My torch was in my other bag. It was very scary.

Well, I was up with the lark, but still the mountains were hiding. I said goodbye to Andy's guesthouse, and Genesis and Matilda - surely the sweetest and kindest of hosts. Throwing on my backpack I headed for the jeep stand - and got there far too early. As luck would have it though, a family of five rolled up looking for a jeep to Gangtok, so I was bunged on with them and so got an early start. Even better, the jeep was reasonably new AND had decent tread on the tyres (always good when you're about to be negotiating perilous mountain roads). AND the driver was refreshingly free of the deathwish that my previous drivers have demonstrated.

So we were a happy little band. The driver put Indian pop on his stereo, and the kids of the family sang along as we travelled along the most scenic of roads. The kids were great. Very curious about me but polite and asking questions in excellent English.

So arriving in Gangtok, I walked into town to arrange yet another permit - this time to visit the Tsomgo lake tomorrow. Then I hired a taxi to take me to Gangtok's (very widely spread out) attractions. And very tame they were. It was almost embarrassing. Each time the driver stopped somewhere, ( a deeply unimpressive fountain, a traditional crafts museum, a monastery which seemed to be under construction..etc) after five minutes I was done. In the end, I was worried that I was offending him by clearly not appreciating the hot spots of his town. So after visiting the 'flower exhibition' (basically a greenhouse) I sat on a bench and drafted this - just to pass a decent amount of time. Just as he had said we would go back to the hotel, he suddenly remembered another monastery to take me to. I despaired. The last one had been awful. I was muttering under my breath as I left the car - furious that I was having to humour him. But...

Thank goodness I did. If there's any picture I wish I could have taken, any video I'd love to have had...this was the occasion. I could hear music coming from inside. I peeped around the curtain, and was waved in by an elderly monk. The hall of this monastery was the most wonderful, and most ornate I've seen - and I've seen a few. But best of all, ten young monks - between the ages of 12 to early twenties, were alternately chanting, and playing instruments the like of which I've never seen - including a couple of six foot long wooden horns. It was stunning, and I was the only person there. The elderly monk whispered explanations of what was going on, and it was just wonderful. I stayed for ages, made a donation and left feeling great. The taxi driver was forgiven. I asked him the name of the monastery. He didn't know. It's obviously not an important one - but wonderful.

Wandered into town later to find some food - only to hear shrieks of joy and "Sarah, Sarah!" It was my young friends from the jeep. They were ridiculously excited, and couldn't stop talking, vying with each other for their moment to ask or tell me something. They were so lovely. I seem to have an invitation to their home in Kolkata when I go back at the end of the holiday. But as their parents don't know, I'd best not take it up.

Ooh - I nearly forgot. Prashant won. I bet you've all been desperate to know that.

    After an hour, the jeep left crammed with 12 of us.  The exceptionally beautiful drive to the hills consisted of constant hairpin turns on frequently potholed roads and always along a very steep cliff inches away from our vehicle.  Our driver didn't seem to notice how close we were to near-certain death and instead chatted away on his cell phone, admired the scenery,  turned up the radio, and seemed to be practicing for the Indy 500.  I just listened to Indigo Girls and Sarah McLachlan because it's very hard to feel stressed out when listening to Get Out the Map.

We reached Rangpo and the entire jeep had to wait while I went from office to office to get my permit to enter Sikkim.  Sikkim is a protected area in India, almost like a state that has been turned into a national park, with many rules such as no spitting (thankfully as everyone's hocking loogies on the street throughout the places I've visited), no plastic bags, and no horns in many places.  Thankfully the jeep was still there after I obtained my permit and we went the 6 hours to Gangtok. 

Upon arrival I took a share taxi to the actual city of Gangtok and with the help of one of the guys from the jeep found a really great hotel for the night.  I enjoyed a great chicken and aubergine (eggplant) pizza while coughing so loudly I scared the other patrons. 

The next morning I enjoyed my complimentary breakfast of eggs, cereal with boiling hot milk, mango juice, tea, and five pieces of toast (I only ate two) with a stick of butter and half a jar of cherry jelly.  I really don't know if they eat this way normally or if it's what they think an American would want.  While I ate I actually saw one man carry an entire couch down the street.  They use these long strips of cloth tied in a loop that hooks onto the bottom of the object and slips over their forehead, but I still had a hard time believing it.

I then made my way across the hotel area to find a taxi which took me up to a small monastery.  From there I walked a grueling hour long climb straight up to Ganesh tok (it was hard to tell it was even a path) in very hot, humid weather.  I enjoyed the views of the valley and then walked across the street to the zoo.  The guidebook said you should see this zoo in a car because it is so big.  I, of course, walked several hours seeing the snow leopard, red panda, yaks, and other animals.  The animals are in huge enclosures that are surrouding their natural habitat and signs say clearly that you may not see any animals on your visit due to the natural design.  I saw most of the animals, things were so poorly marked (and often for the wrong animal, unless a barking deer looks like a yak) it's hard to say what I may have missed.  You also had to climb these "paths" that were very difficult just to get to the enclosures.  Very strange, but the animals seemed much happier than the ones in the US zoos.  On the way out of the zoo, a bunch of kids were playing with sticks and hoops down the long hill.  A taxi driver on his way to the zoo entrance offered me a free ride back to Ganesh Tok where I walked another mille before finding a taxi back to my hotel.

I had lunch of mushroom soup and stuffed tandoori bread (with potatoes, garlic, and onion, yum!) before finding another taxi to take me to another monastery and Tibetan artifact museum.  They even had skulls that are used in rituals, in addition to multiple ancient buddha and tara sculptures and sacred texts.  I walked over to the Damovar ropeway which is similar to the skyway at the State Fair all the way up the hill.  It was very cloudy today and I thought it might rain for the first time during my trip, but nothing thus far. 

I then made the very long downhill (for once) walk through the confusing streets to find an internet cafe.  By the way, I learned there was a bird flu outbreak the same day in the exact place I was in while visiting Bangladesh.  But I'm pretty sure my sickness isn't that, since I had it before visiting Dinajpur.  I was very lucky though because apparently they blocked the borders a few hours after I left which would not have been fun.  Tomorrow I plan to head back to Siliguri in the morning then it's the overnight train to Kolkata (Calcutta).

Mountains, more mountains and again more mountains what was I thinking of when I decided to go to the Indian Himalayas. Do more trekking? Suffer a bit more? Have I not been damaged enough? Do more crazy stuff? Test my vertigo once again? Well I think not... and besides that Mt. Kazonchanga is totally covered in a thick shroud of clouds which renders it completely invisible from the naked eye.

5/17/07

New Videos - scroll to the bottom of the pictures to see a couple short videos of the Goeche La pass and surrounding mountains as well as an avalanche.

It wasn’t too difficult to wake up early and prepare to leave at 4:00am since we went to bed so damn early. Hopefully when this trek is done we can go back to sleeping in a bit. Bebe “knocked” on our tent with his typical “Hallo. Tea!” which we drank and then donned our boots and packs and headed out with Thupten in the lead. I knew from the hike yesterday with Carl and Karin that it would be a tough start as it was very steep. What I didn’t count on was Cindy’s pounding headache, I guess from the altitude. She rallied strong however and we made it up first to the sacred Samiti Lake again. Everything was very still and cold and you can see the reflection of the mountains in the small stream by the old, abandoned trekker’s huts.

From the lake, another steep trail leads up to the first viewpoint, about two hours of walking and scrambling amongst the boulders. We did get to see lots of very pretty birds and really pretty, often tiny little mountain flowers (pix on the last day of the trek…)

Even from before the viewpoint, the stellar views of the Khangchendzonga Range get more and more spectacular the closer you get, especially at sunrise. Karin, Carl and their guide caught up with us just before reaching the first viewpoint and we all walked up there together and hung out marveling at the mountains and snapping photos. As you can see from the picture of Cindy, Thupten and the other guy (Karin and Carl’s guide who strangely enough had the identical REI jacket that I have) it was pretty cold but exhilarating. I know that the shot of Thupten Cindy and I in front of Kangchendzonga looks about as realistic as the one of that Crystal Cathedral guy in front of the Great Wall of China (which was faked…), but I swear it is just the fill flash on my camera - we really were there and looking fashionable in my Peruvian hat purchased en-route to our trek to Machu Picchu last June.

Well now it was decision time - do we go on to the Goeche La pass another couple hours of hiking or return to Lamunie happy to have incredible close up views from this viewpoint. My money was on Cindy bailing. Karin was still not feeling well and was somewhat tired from the hike up. In addition, they were not returning to Lamunie that afternoon but hiking all the way past Thangsing to Kokchurong probably three hours out of Lamunie. She didn’t think it made sense to go (and everybody said that the views from the first viewpoint were so fantastic that you can’t get much closer without climbing Kangchendzonga so decided to head back. I could tell that Carl, who is a very strong hiker and healthy to boot, was feeling torn and she told him to head on if he wanted. At this point, I figured that it would be Carl and I and whoever lost at Rochambeau, Thupten or their guide, going to Goeche La. Needless to say, I was wrong - Carl did the polite thing and said he would head back with Karin and Cindy surprised me and said she was ready to push on to Goeche La. Thupten gave her no time to change her mind, grabbed his pack and started off. We said quick good-byes to Carl and Karin but plan to see them in Darjeeling and promised to take a video at the pass.

The next part of the trek involved a fairly precarious traverse of a glacial scree path followed by a steep descent (thankfully, Cindy was concentrating hard on not falling and didn’t bother to ask Thupten if we had to come back up this way - we did..). Once down the switchbacks, we came out onto a glacial moraine - basically looked like a flat, dry lake bed covered in several inches of fresh snow! The storm last night brought new snow and we were tracking across it. I was kind of wishing that I had real boots instead of just trekking shoes which aren’t exactly warm but loving the bizarre and beautiful scenery. We were the only people on the moraine (the Alabama group had headed out earlier and were already making their way up the pass) and it was truly incredible to walk in the valley surrounded by Pandim, Talung, Kabru and Khangchendzonga mountains so early in the morning. Yesterday, I neglected to mention that I met two European guys coming back from the pass who said it was incredible but new snow covered the ground and the pass itself was a bit slippery. I figured that Cindy didn’t need to hear about the snow so…..I just kept my mouth shut J

As the sun started coming up (see the pic with the sun just behind the mountains) it started warming up and we started shedding layers. After crossing the long moraine, we took a rest and then started up the pass itself, Cindy saying “Go ahead in case I don’t make it” but Thupten was hearing none of that and stayed behind, calmly pushing us on. The path was a very steep, billy goat path, still covered in snow and frost and still a bit treacherous. Most of the way up to the pass, off to the right was what looked like a spectacular ski run (OK needs more snow and perhaps a lift…) that I decided to name “Carl’s Run” in honor of Carl (who is a Ski Patroller at Homewood in Lake Tahoe). I took a brief video and decided he and I should head back here to make a first ascent and descent and then he can practice his EMT skills and fix my broken body at the bottom. There are actually three saddle entries and it is a fairly steep pitch, but wide open, so I am confident we can make it - call me Carl!

Another fifteen minutes of labored breathing (the altitude is over 16,000 feet) and we could see the American group from Alabama as well as three Indian guys who have been on our circuit hanging out at the pass which was of course strewn with prayer flags. We hung out talking with them and taking pictures for quite a while. I did talk to Paul, the Dr. who summited Everest as well as a hell of a bunch of other impressive mountains which was pretty interesting. I snapped some photos for them of the group with Khangchendzonga in the background and they obligingly snapped the one of Cindy and I in front of the third highest peak in the world. At one point, there was a loud cracking sound and suddenly, an avalanche when careening down the rock face you see in the picture. At the bottom of that rock was a huge pile of glacial avalanche debris (could it be global warming?). This ended up being a frequent event, the roar of the snow and ice rushing down the mountain is pretty impressive. Looking back over the pass you can see several brilliant blue glacial lakes which are really pretty. Pandim was also providing spectacular views. Cindy decided that, based on the looks on my face, she may have more trekking and camping in her future J

The Alabama group left and we had the pass to ourselves for another 30 minutes or so, spent mostly just staring at the incredible mountains. Thupten, who is very under spoken, reiterated how lucky we were that, not only was the weather great, it wasn’t windy at all. Apparently lots of times it is so windy on the pass that people hike up there, snap a few pictures and turn around to head back down. We on the other hand were so warm that I had to sneak behind a prayer flag covered rock and take of my long undies. Maybe getting naked in front of Khangchendzonga brings good luck (but seems perhaps a tad sacreligious…)

It was long hike back and as you can see from the shot of Cindy with Thupten behind her trekking across the moraine, the snow had melted. Thupten’s eagle eyes spotted some “Blue Mountain Sheep” far across the valley which we stared at through binoculars for a bit. There were also tons of mountain flowers (again, see the last day for consolidated flora and fauna pics). Everything was fine until we got to that precarious part back up to the first view point which was pretty steep. Cindy’s altitude sickness came back with a raging headache but Thupten quietly said “not so far” and I counted the 200 steps up the switchbacks till we made it to the flatter part, close to the first viewpoint. 200 steps doesn’t sound like much but after six hours of trekking at over 16,000 feet, it is enough. I am sure that Dr. Paul (sorry, don’t know his last name) from Alabama’s last 200 steps up Everest was a bit tougher, but these were tough enough and I don’t think I am convincing Cindy to head to Everest (maybe at least Nepal…)

We made it back to Lake Samiti and saw some really pretty golden ducks from afar (sorry, my Tamron 200mm lens just wasn’t enough to make them look that good but maybe we will add them to the “Flora and Fauna” pix on the last day of the trek - stay tuned…). After traversing the lake, we scrambled down the last descent to Lamunie where Lapa, Bebe and Mundar were preparing tea (mandatory!) and lunch. We took a nap and doled out another chapter of the audio book (batteries on the Ipaq are running seriously low) and then managed to sort of bathe, Cindy in the tent and me standing up in the bright yellow toilet tent (carefully trying to not fall in the little hole…). The Bhutanese man made it back from the pass and the cave (we were a bit worried about his stamina…) Cindy is very excited because this is to be the last night of tent camping - tomorrow and the next night are trekker’s huts at Kokchurong and Tsokha. It is kind of cool because with the Sleep was evasive due to the constant dinging of the horses and the Dzo bells. At least it didn’t start raining (yet) since Mundar managed to break the zipper on the rain fly on our tent. Tomorrow we head back down through Thangsing to Kokchurong which is alongside the river and should be a bit warmer.

Even though I am supposedely "verbose" I didn't write enough to have all of the pictures show up here in-line so scroll down and click on a thumbnail for full size views and click on Next to see all the photos (hint - the photos of the mountains from the pass are at the end and not displayed inline...)

New Video uploaded - if you scroll down to the pictures and click on the last one, there is a video of sunrise over Mt. Khangchendzonga which is the third highest mountain in the world from Dzongri

05/15/07 - There are more pictures than text here so if you want to see them all, click on a picture and click on Next Photo to see them all or scroll all the way to the bottom...
We woke up at dawn, actually before dawn since we went to bed so early and the beds weren’t exactly "heavenly". The fog was hanging over Tsokha but started to clear as we headed out on the steep, rocky path leading out of the village. You can see how small the place is in the one picture of the village from above yet, small as it is, they have still built a little temple (the red roofed building on the right above the "lake"). It was a steep two and a half hour hike to Phedang for a lunch break. The sun poked it’s head through as we slowly worked our way up through the Rhododendron forests, walking on dirt paths often lined with trees or rocks. Luckily it hadn’t rained too hard so the path wasn’t overly muddy. On the path, we met a happy, portly guy who greeted us with a hearty Bhutanese greeting and ended up being from Bhutan. He had married one of the few local girls in Tsokha and now spends part of the year in Kalimpong and part of the year in Bhutan. He told us that the Indian government wants to remove Tsokha and make it more pristine for trekking. Apparently they are going to give everybody a small house and some land in Yuksom and then just leave the trekker’s huts, removing the rest of the village. Thupten said that this was true and no one is particularly happy since the government doesn’t tend to be fair in these types of situations.

Lunch ended up being at 10:30am in Phedang and consisted of popcorn, noodle soup, eggplant, warm cheese and tomato sandwiches with no crusts and sardines in tomato sauce (which we neglected to eat. All of this served smilingly by Bebe which is short for something we can’t pronounce in halting English. All three of the guys cooking/helping seem really nice but we aren‘t exactly expecting gourmet food. We also ended up talking with a couple from California, Karin who is American and on sabbatical and Carl who is Canadian and a chef in the summer and a ski-patroller at Homewood in Lake Tahoe during the winter. They seem very nice and are on pretty much the same itinerary as us to the pass.

As you can see by the shots of the Dzo, the fog started rolling in again after lunch as we headed up the steep and windy path to Dzongri at an altitude of 4,200 meters (13,800 feet). I was talking with the Bhutanese man and was wondering if he was going to make it as he was sweating and breathing very hard. At one point the mentioned something about the Minister of Tourism visiting Sikkim and doing the hike to the Goeche La pass recently, this time actually walking instead of riding a pony. The Bhutanese guy said "He was a big, fat man like me! More than 100 kilos but now he is following a guru and doing yoga and lost enough weight to walk." I guess the minister made a bunch of recommendations to fix the path with logs and rocks as well as some of the huts and provided the finances for the work to be done recently.

We hiked another two hours, mostly straight up thru creepy, mossy rhododendron Forests enshrouded with milky, white mist. It was like we were waiting for the Wicked Witch of the West (ok, of Western Sikkim) and her evil flying monkeys to come attack us - that is how eerie it was. Thupten was becoming more talkative and pointing out flora and fauna which he seems to know pretty well. Like I said earlier, we are going to put all the picture flowers on one page of the hike blog later.

We eventually arrived in the small camp at Dzongri, still enshrouded in clouds where we struck up another conversation with Karin and Carl while they guys set up our tent. We decided to take a rest once the tent was set up and try to get things organized for warmth. We crawled in our sleeping bags and listened to our audio book for a while (have to conserve batteries). Cindy is already counting the remaining nights of camping and hoping to not freeze her ass off. At 4:00, Bebe came by tapping on the tent and saying "Hallo" with a pot of tea which seems to be a daily ritual.

Sunset was really pretty looking out over the foggy valley towards Darjeeling and we sat around in the damp, mist snapping pictures and talking. Carl and Karin are into bird watching and pointed out some cool birds that were flitting around the camp. There was a large American group from Birmingham, Alabama at the camp too - they are heading to Goeche La tomorrow. We are supposed to "acclimatize" here in Dzongri for another day but don’t really feel the need. Cindy is angling for cutting a day off of the trek and getting back to Yuksom early. When we found out that Karin and Carl are heading to Thangsing (the next camp below the pass) tomorrow, we brought it up with Thupten. He was somewhat reluctant but eventually agreed that, if the weather is good in the morning when we are getting up really early to hike to the Dzongri viewpoint, then we can push on toe Thangsing tomorrow instead. This seems like a good idea to me, saving the extra day for any weather issues at Goeche La which is apparently often clouded in or rainy and seems like a great idea to Cindy who is hoping to camp one night less (but I told her not to get her hopes up…)

A huge dinner (similar to the Bhutanese, the Sikkimese have big appetites and we could only finish probably 40% of what they prepared) and a "touch" of our Special Coronation Whiskey and it was off to bed early with our audio book. Cindy put on everything warm she had and prepared for the worst. Tomorrow we are getting up at 4:00am to do the 45 minute hike up to the viewpoint in Dzongri for some hopefully spectacular views of Mt. Pandim and Khangchendzonga.

05/15/07
Well I never woke up to Cindy’s teeth chattering away so all in all, the night wasn’t too cold or uncomfortable. Bebe woke us up at 4:00am with some hot tea and we pulled on our boots and headed out up a very steep path to the viewpoint with Thupten and the Bhutanese guy. Sunrise was really pretty with the light creeping over the silhouette of Khangchendzonga and Kabru and Pandim slowly. Typical of Himalayan viewpoints, the top of the mountain is shrouded with colorful Tibetan Prayer Flags that you see in some of the pictures. We hung out watching the ever-changing colors as the sun rose and spread light across the peaks and valleys. Clouds still covered Darjeeling but it looked like it might be a nice day. We headed back down to the Dzongri camp and had breakfast before packing up and starting the hike to Thangsing.

5/20/07
We woke up early and eager to finish the hike down to Yuksom. Even though it rained hard last night, the trail was muddy and slippery but wasn’t as bad as we thought. Thupten was on high speed mode, unusual for him, but he was probably anxious to get back too. All in all, it was about five hours of walking, mostly downhill, crossing bridges and winding through the jungle/forest. This was the same path that we initially walked up the first day and we were impressed with ourselves after the fact for making it all the way to Tsokha the first day. Amazingly, my knees were fine, even with donating one of my two precious trekking poles to Cindy. I guess those “deer shit” pills from Bhutan must have helped (although we later found out from Thupten that I was supposed to be taking three at a time, not one. Not sure how Kemcho missed that…)

We stopped along the way for our last lunch prepared by Lapa and the boys. They prepared the food on a rock overlooking a little covered picnic area with tree stumps for seats while we figured out their tips. Contrary to popular belief, the picture of me with my pants tucked into my socks is not a fashion statement, au contraire, it is the infamous (and non-successful) “Anti Leach Posture”. This is a little known form of Sikkimese Tantric Yoga that fends off leeches requiring great dexterity and two bamboo sticks with salt bags on the end. If you look closely, you can see how completely ineffective it was by the large blood stain on my left ankle. Sitting down for a rest before lunch, I actually saw the little bastard who was so gorged with my blood that he just dropped off. The damn bite still itches (ten days later) but no harm, no foul I suppose.

After lunch we gave Lapa, Bebe and Mundar their tips which they shyly crammed in their pockets and hopefully later whooped and hollered about (ok it wasn’t that much but we think generous enough to make them happy). They enthusiastically shook our hands good-bye and we headed off for the last bit of the hike to Yuksom.

As we were getting closer to the village, there was more and more trash on the path (actually, most of the trail was very clean but this part wasn’t) so I decided to pick up any not-to-disgusting trash like the abundant candy wrappers until we were back. I ended up with a pocket full and finally gave up as we wound our way back down to the trekking station. Thupten went off to do something pointing the way back to the Tashiding Hotel and said that he or the pony man would bring our bag by in a bit. We walked the twenty minutes along a dirt road back to the hotel, past the orange farmhouse you see in the picture, by a small lake and chorten. I asked Cindy if she wanted to wander up a few hundred yards to the stone throne used for the coronation of the king back in 1643 (see the first entry on Sikkim for a brief history of the three Tibetan Lamas who came here and started the Choygal dynasty) and she said “No way. I want a hot shower!” Guess we will have to see that some other time…

We checked into our same room from before and took a hot shower and washed our grimy hair for the first time in eight days which felt great. Luckily, we had left some laundry to be done at the hotel during the trek as the bag didn’t show up for a while. Eventually, there was a knock on the door and our bag was delivered. Cindy gave the guy the tip for the pony man and then wondered if it was indeed him who had dropped off the bag. I asked her if she was sure and she said “I think so…” The pony man on the trek wore the same t-shirt the entire time, a beat up, yellow and green shirt that read “Chica Latina” . We found this amusing and told Thupten that the pony man’s shirt translated in English means Latin Woman which he found humorous too - we aren’t sure whether or not he told him. I asked if the guy she tipped was wearing that shirt and she said no but thought he had changed. We hope there is not one mighty happy bellman who got the pony guy’s generous tip and one pissed off, tipless pony man!

After the laborious process of repacking our travel packs, trying to bury the trekked out clothes far from the clean ones, we decided to have a teatime snack of beers and French fries while recharging everything electronic (no more careful doling out of the audio books, yeah!). We spent the rest of the afternoon dumping photos from the trek onto Brenda’s laptop and adding captions before we forget the names of everything…

We had dinner later in the restaurant and, in the midst of the meal, another earthquake rumbled through Yuksom and knocked out all of the electricity. They seemed used to it as the waiters had candles and matches ready. We ended up having a nice dinner by candlelight and the electricity did come back after thirty minutes or so (good thing since the hot water heater is electric..) There were several Indian families with a boat load of kids running up and down the halls all night which was somewhat annoying but the beds were comfy, especially compared to the “Evil Dead Trekker’s Hut” in Kokchurong. The phone rang just before we were going to sleep and the guy at the front desk told us that Thupten had called and wanted to leave at 7:30 tomorrow. We told him to call him back and tell him 8:30 was better J . Tomorrow we are off to Darjeeling which should no doubt be a long, windy, exciting drive. It is good to be back in civilization but we had a fantastic time on the trek. We need to start thinking about what is next as we have only planned things as far as Darjeeling. Cindy is talking about Cochin and Kerala in Southern India where there is a beautiful Hilton with a beautiful beach but we are also thinking about Nepal which is very close to Darjeeling. We will figure it out there I suppose…

Flora and Fauna of Sikkim
Ok, well earlier in the blog I said we would consolidate a bunch of pictures of plants and animals from the trek so here they are. This is by no means comprehensive as Sikkim is one of the most bio-diverse places in India and there is a huge amount of flora and fauna here. Along the entire trek there was a huge variety of Rhododendrons (over 300 species in Sikkim), ranging in size from tiny flowered bushes to gigantic trees and ranging in color from white to red to yellow to pink. The close-up shot of the white flowers gives an idea of how big they get. You can also see the deep red ones in the distant trees of Dzongri and a few shots of light and dark pink ones too. The same tree or bush can have multiple colored hybrids too.

Most of the other flowers that you see are high altitude flowers found above the tree line. The tree with the little hairy yellow flowers that look sort of like a caterpillar are really pretty and we saw them in Dzongri, Thangsing and Lamunie. The deep purple, five petal flowers are called Primula and we saw them all over once at altitude. There are over forty types in a range of shades from blue to mauve to purples. There were a bunch of tiny little mountain flowers up by the pass like the weird shaped, magenta ones surrounded by tiny, green fronds and the tiny, dusty blue/purple ones with little clumps of green mosses. All of them were really pretty and all over the place.

The pretty little white flowers are actually strawberries (tiny and not that flavorful). There are also wild raspberries (which did taste good) growing down towards Yuksom as well. The pretty pink flowers hanging down from the tree were right outside our hut in Tsokha. There are also over 600 species of orchids, one of which we included a picture of. They grow all over high up in the trees and come in every shape, size and color imaginable. There are two pictures of the Aresima pitcher plant, one is a close-up of the purple and green pitcher shaped leaf that eats bugs and in the other you can see the “tongue” that the plant uses to attract tasty bugs to eat. Gene Simmons has nothing on this plant…

As far as fauna, ok we didn’t see tons other than yaks, Dzo, and lots of birds but have included pictures of each here or earlier in the blog. The brilliant blue bird is way up on the way to Goeche La pass and we saw quite a few of them. The two red ones we saw a lot, really cute as they bounce their tails up and down. That shot is from our “base camp” at Lamunie. The one with the blue head and red body in the tree with the yellow flowers was in Kokchurong flitting around the trees chasing flies while we listened to tunes by the river. Unfortunately for you, our eyes are better than our camera skills and equipment so you can’t really tell how beautiful they all are. If you want the names, you will have to meet Karin and Carl from Tahoe who are somewhat avid bird watchers and way more knowledgeable than us. Also, the forest is known for the Sikkimese Red Panda that you see here. Unfortunately, they mostly hide way up in trees and sleep during the day so he is actually an inhabitant of the Darjeeling Zoo…

5/19/07
Well after a none to spectacular night’s sleep in the pouring rain on the world’s hardest wooden floor and waking up feeling like an arthritic old couple, we had tea and breakfast and headed off with Thupten to trek back to Tsokha. Luckily for Cindy, instead of going back via Dzongri (which would have required hiking back up the treacherous path we came down on the way to Thangsing), we traversed the mountains through the wet jungle. This ended up being several hours of muddy, jungley up and down walking without tons to see - sort of Muddy Gully Whomping as we wound our way back and forth across the hillsides.

As usual, after not to long, Lapa, Bebe and Mundar came running past us, Lapa (the chef and highest seniority) casually walking in back while Bebe and Mundar ran in rubber boots and dress shoes carrying the wicker baskets filled with the remains of our pantry, pots, pans and god knows what else. Unlike hikers in the Western world, in Asia, they seem to prefer head straps over hip belts as you can see in the picture of Mundar with his basket and head strap. Talk about a tension headache! Generally speaking, we trek out of camp, they clean and pack everything up, eventually they run ahead of us (really, they run, not walk), they set up camp before we arrive and then jog back 10 minutes or so to meet us with hot lemon tea before we arrive. Sometimes it is good to be pampered, even if you haven’t had a proper shower in a week…

We walked all the way back to Phedang where we had lunch again. There was a couple there we figured on their Honeymoon (since the guide and chef had set up a little lunch table for them surrounded with Rhododendron flowers). Cindy said she would not have been happy to go trekking on her honeymoon and much preferred the wilds of Tuscany over Goeche La. We did hear about a foreign woman getting gored by a Dzo on the trek when she got to close. She was apparently ok but fairly badly injured. Karma wasn’t kidding when he said to give them the right of way!

We made it back into Tsokha in the early afternoon and wondered what we were going to do all day. We sat around at Thupten’s sisters place for a bit but they didn’t really seem interested in us so we went back to the exciting Trekker’s Hut that we had been in a week back and laid down and listened to audio books until the Ipaq was dangerously close to exhausted with eight percent batty left. I passed some time trying to take a very cold water bucket/shower in the less than five star outhouse - at least it felt cleansing. We wandered around a bit and then napped a bit, wondering how some of the Bhutanese and Indian people who do Pujas (ceremonial, multi-day prayers at monasteries) manage to sit there for ten or fifteen days doing nothing but chanting and waiting for the next cup of tea (they generally don’t eat much, if anything during a Puja). There was a nice landscape of the green hills of Tsokha and Bakhim with the cloud covered hills of Darjeeling in the background.

We finally made it to dinner time - this time it was not at Thupten’s sister’s house but in the “Trekker’s Hut Dining Room” which had a table for eight for just the two of us. Lapa went all out with dinner including a salad of cucumbers and onions with a cored tomato lit from inside with a candle and a massive, chewy cake inscribed with “Happy Treks to you!” on it. Everyone was anxious to get back at this point and we ate what we could of the cake and headed off for one last night’s sleep in the wild. Par for the course, it rained pretty heavily and we went to sleep pondering what the last descent (which is actually pretty steep) would be like tomorrow. At least it is warm at this altitude! Tomorrow is hot shower and cold beer night in Yuksom and Cindy couldn’t be more excited (me too!)

05/18/2007
We woke up to nice weather and, as you can see from the picture of Cindy happy in the dining tent, ready to head down from the pass and finish up the trek. No more nights in tents. It was an easy walk back to Thangsing with lots of wildlife and flowers along the way. We really like the picture of the horse in front of the moraine leading back up to Samiti Lake. All over the campsite in Lamunie are piles of prayer stones like the one in the picture. They are inscribed with Tibetan prayers, mostly Om Mani Padme Hung (not that either of us can read the mystical looking script).

We paused for a tea break back in Thangsing where the locals were finishing up the new toilet that they were digging the pit for when we first passed through a few days back en route to Lamunie. When the minister had passed through on his trek, the toilet had been destroyed by a storm and he requested that they rebuild it. Thupten and I went over to check out their progress and they had finished digging the pit. It was supposed to be six feet deep and the other day, I watched them breaking huge under ground boulders into pieces with a chisel held in a bamboo pole and a large sledge hammer (of course wearing sandals…). I think they got sick of the boulders as it didn’t really look any deeper than last time we were here. Now they were constructing the walls out of old timbers and corrugated tin. I asked Thupten how long this would last and he chuckled and said about two years before the pit filled up - ugggh…

Bizarre i2 Technologies Interlude: We headed down the hill from Thangsing towards the trekker’s huts at Kokchurong and a Punjabi Indian man was hiking up with a group following him. The group was a bunch of guys (no women in India are particularly into trekking) from the Indian Railway Company were heading up to Goeche La and I swear, this guy could have been the twin brother of Sanjiv Sidhu, Chairman of the Board of my ex-employer i2 Technologies. Very weird. He started telling us about how great it must be to be a rich American, yada, yada, yada and said something about working for a few months and then, having made so much money, traveling around the rest of the year. We told him that most Americans get two or three weeks vacation a year and that life in America is very expensive but he wasn’t hearing any of that. Maybe he knows about Sanjiv’s billions….

We made it down the hill and through the creepy forest (see the picture of the tree covered in moss that looks like a witch’s face) as it threatened to start raining. You can see the clouds rolling through the valley in the picture of the trekker’s hut in Kokchurong which was something straight out of the cult horrof flick The Evil Dead. Anyone who has seen that wonderful flick should be able to picture Cindy levitating in the corner shrieking “Queen of Diamonds! Nine of Spades” or whatever the possessed girl in the movie starts chanting. Bonus Quiz: The first person to email us the name of the band that sings the quote scribbled in charcoal on the wall of the hut wins some as of yet unknown reward (see the attached pic). The photo is not displayed in-line (since I wasn't verbose enough) but you can view all the photos or try clicking here Bonus Photo

Since we were supremely low on battery life on the Ipaq which plays our audio books, we decided to take a walk around the river, eventually deciding to try bird watching while listening to tunes on Cindy’s mp3 player. We did see some really cool birds (we are no wildlife photographers, nor do we have the patience, talent or equipment to capture them well but you can see one of the really pretty red and blue birds on the last trek day entry - Yuksom). Also, you can see how pleased Cindy was with the facilities at the Trekker’s Huts - luckily the boys soon erected our electric yellow toilet tent J

We finally made it to tea time at four and decided to listen to a chapter of our precious audio book, saving some for later tonight and tomorrow in Tsokha. Man I wish I had bought another Ipaq battery or better yet a solar charger! Suddenly, we felt what seemed like an earthquake. Looking out the window, I saw Thupten and the guys milling around with the horses and looking towards the hut. A bit later, he walked in and said there had been an earthquake. It wasn’t huge but was definitely felt. After dinner we finished the last of our Bhutanese Special Courier Whiskey in honor of actually making it all the way to Goeche La. There were a bunch of other remnant whiskey bottles (non Bhutanese though..) left by previous tenants and used as candle holders so we added to the collection (we neglected to write on the graffiti covered walls though..). That night was fairly miserable with pouring rain and the hardest wooden floor that we have ever slept on. Cindy was counting her blessings that she survived another night and only had one to go. At least we weren’t in the tent! Tomorrow is a long hike back to Tsokha and one last night away from hot water and civilization.

5/16/07
We basically retraced our last evening and this morning’s short hikes on the path to Lamunie crossing the river on log bridges and slippery rocks several times. Other than a little up and down, the path is pretty flat, rising to 4,300 meters or so (about 14,100 feet) and by 11:30 we reached the really nice and remote campsite. The views up the valley and towards the Goeche La pass and the mountains were great, but the fog once again slowly and eerily started rolling in. We had an early lunch and afterwards, Cindy opted to nap and stay at camp (her head was aching a bit from the altitude) and Carl, Karin, their guide and I headed off for the hour or so hike up to Samiti Lake. The hike was actually more strenuous than it looked, criss-crossing up the rocky hill and then across the rocky moraine. Karin, who has been a bit ill with some kind of upper respiratory virus was having a bit of trouble breathing but we persevered and made it up to the top where you can see the view of our campsite from above (including our neon-yellow toilet tent - good to know that, in the event of a storm, the first thing we can see is our private toilet tent.) The lake is a deep, brilliant aqua color and considered holy by the Sikkimese. It looks crystal clear and very cold. Later in the blog are some other shots of it, as well as the now abandoned trekker’s hut as camping is no longer allowed at the holy lake (which is good…) The four of us hiked around the perimeter of the lake for an hour or so with their guide pointing out some of the really colorful and beautiful birds and the never ending and amazing views of Talung, Kabru, Pandim and Khangchendzonga. The view changes constantly with the light and weather and we took literally hundreds of pictures of this incredible mountain range (only a few uploaded here so as to not overwhelm).

Meanwhile, back at camp, Cindy awoke from her nap and was treated to views of a small group of Yaks including a mom and baby yak. She watched them and luckily stayed somewhat distant as we were told later by Thupten that they are very protective and will charge anyone or anything to protect their young. As Carl, Karin and I returned to camp, the fog really started rolling in and next came the rain. Under the circumstances, not much to do other than climb in the tent, bundle up and listen to audio books. We fell asleep to the pitter patter of rain on the tent, hoping that it wouldn’t leak.

Later that afternoon, we heard Thupten saying my name (this was the first and only time he did and we had earlier wondered if he had any idea what our names were…) and telling us we should wake up as the sky had cleared and there were good views of Pandim and Khangchendzonga. We hopped in our shoes and crawled out of the tent to the most spectacular views yet. You can see in the three pictures here (these are so far unedited and my Photoshop skills are definitely better than my Photography skills so I will re-upload these when we are home and they are re-touched..) the incredible sunset over Khangchendzonga, the view of Pandim from our tent and of course the lovely sunset with our electric yellow toilet tent.

Dinner was abundant if a bit chilly in the dining tent where Thupten explained the legend of the Goeche La pass (which apparently means “Lock Pass” or something like that) and the Tibetan monks who crossed it after being shown the way by the mountain god. The three of them went on to coronate a king in Yuksom and started the long Choygal dynasty briefly described in the first Sikkim entry of the blog. The Bhutanese guy took off earlier today and is supposedly going to hike to Goeche La and beyond to spend the night in a holy cave as a pilgrimage. We hope he and his 100kg out of shape body make it! Tomorrow we get up at 3:30am to start the trek to the viewpoint and hopefully the Goeche La pass too at about 5,000 meters (16,400).

More pictures than text so scroll down to see the rest of them...

5/15/07
Well we managed to convince Thupten that, since the weather was perfect and we had great views from the Dzongri viewpoint, we should head off to Thangsing and save our extra day for the Goeche La pass. After packing up, we left Dzongri and started the easy hike to Thangsing, at first climbing over a saddle (where you see the three porters in silhouette) and then walking across the side of some hills with really nice views of Pandim and Khangchendzonga. We walked with Carl and Karin and their guide, looking at birds and the five Chorten on the hill. The fog was rolling in and out, occasionally opening up for another spectacular view of the mountains.

After traversing alongside the mountains, we started a steep, switchback descent. Luckily, my knees didn’t act up. Along the way, we started talking with the group of American’s from Alabama (which you have to admit is a strange state to have a “trekker’s club” all the way in Sikkim!). One of the guys, Mike, was kind of the organizer and is very into trekking having been all over India, Nepal and Bhutan several times. One of the members of the group is a Dr. who did the seven highest peaks on seven contents thing over about three years. He actually summited Mt. Everest so this trek must be a bit slow for him. He is here with his wife and apparently yesterday was their anniversary and the group baked them a cake and bought Indian Champagne which they snuck onto the trek.

After scrambling downhill trying not to fall, eventually Cindy asked Thupten about whether or not we had to hike back up this ridiculously steep, rocky, dangerous trail. Luckily for both of us, he said “No, we go back another way”.

Once we reached the bottom, we had a riverside lunch in the midst, again way to much food, happily served by Bebe. We started off after lunch, crossing the river several times (see Cindy on the prayer flag covered bridge) and Thupten explained that there had been a huge glacial flood here in 1990 that ripped through the valley, leaving nothing but mud and giant granite boulders and killing some people and livestock further down. His sister (who lives in Tsokha) said that it sounded like jets flying overhead but luckily Tsokha was not damaged too badly. After crossing the river, we started back up a steep, Rhododendron forest path (you can see the freaky Rhododendrons covered in moss in the picture) where it started raining for a change, actually just a drizzle.

We got to the camp at Thangsing at about 4,000 meters where the boys had already set up our tent. The Alabama group slowly arrived as did Karin and Carl and then it started pouring so we retired to the tent and tried to nap but all the porters and cooks were gambling and playing cricket so we just listened to audio books. Right on time at 4:00 Bebe awoke us for teatime. Cindy and I decided to take a misty walk out the path towards our next camp, Lamunie. We crossed the river several times with great views of Khangchendzonga and Pandim and saw lots of pretty mountain flowers (look for them on the later trek day entry) before heading back for a huge dinner. Tomorrow is an easy day hike to Lamunie so we don’t have to wake up early (although sleeping in when camping is tough).

5/16/07
Well the storm worsened last night and we were paranoid that the tent would leak but it held up relatively well. Sometime in the middle of the night, there was a loud commotion which ended up being all the porters/cooks frantically trying to put a tarp over a leaky, collapsing kitchen tent. Luckily we didn’t have to get up particularly early, but Cindy and I were up around 5:00 anyway so headed out for a walk on the path to Lamunie again. Once again, the early morning light on Pandim, Kabru and Khangchendzonga provided spectacular views. We unwittingly walked almost halfway to the camp at Lamunie where we saw some very cool Yak Sheperd’s huts in the mist on the hills. On the way back, we ran into Denise, the wife of Paul the Everest guy from Alabama and talked to her for a bit. She was really funny and this is the first time that they have actually gone trekking together. She is much more a fan of flowers and gardening than camping (sounds like Cindy!).

When we got back to camp, breakfast was waiting (that is what Cindy is doing at the little plastic table with the almost broken little seats). As you can see from the picture of the tent, the weather started clearing up and it looked like it would be a nice day to hike to Lamunie. Carl took advantage of the sunshine to shave (he is a very experienced backpacker and having a great time. Personally, I am waiting until we are back but starting to feel pretty grubby). The horse that wouldn’t leave Karin and Carl alone at breakfast really cracked me up. After we finished breakfast, we all headed out for the brief and thankfully flat hike to Lamunie with really great views of the valley and the mountains.