Darjeeling/Nepal/Kangchendzonga

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Just before i begin this blog id like to fix a mistake in the last blog that i became aware of. As i said previous to last blog sorry for the mistakes but there are 5 million not 50 million people living with aids in india.

I would like to thank everyone who has been reading and enjoying the blogs and commenting, keep em coming guys.

Before i get to all the stuff about the mountains the day before we flew north we visited a community in kolkata called L'arche which is french for the arc. L'arche dealt with the mentally disabled of Kolkata who would most probably be left to die on the street as for many families owning a disabled child would be a financial drain. Larche was a beautiful place with a very happy and friendly auroua surrounding it. The best part of this experience was the fact that we were treated equally to all the disabled members of the L'arche community; we all sat together and drank tea all on chairs in a circle while we watched them dance. Twas a tragic mixture of 80's disco grease lightning and 90's techno but the enjoyment the guys got out of standing up and dancing for us while we applauded them was a very rewarding and uplifting experience. While at L'arche we visited two of the houses L'arche owns about 500m away from each other. The second was where we experienced the dancing but at the first we visited the workshop. The workshopis set up by the community to give some stimulation to the people in the community while making it self viable as the products made are sold overseas. Candles, Cards, L'arche banners, Tye Dyeing are some of the things that the people of L'arche make. The was one man with Down's Syndrome called Gopas who made cards. He showed us all his cards about 15 of them each one he showed us proud as punch pointed to the card then to himself and smiled. We bought every one of his cards to his delight and is is great to know that you were buying products 100% of the profit going back into this great cause.

The next day we woke nice bright and early and drove through mad kolkata traffic to the airport with the worlds longest name to board an internal flight to Bagdogra about 80kms from Darjeeling. That 80kms was the longest 80kms possible. Winding spewing, winding, spewing, winding ... u get the picture not a happy trip for will eve and cathy. When we finally reached Darjeeling at 2100m (altitude plays an important part in this blog) it was very dark the air was thin so we ate then slept.

darjeeling as a city is an amazing place perched on the side of a hill with 100 000 people calling it home. The architectural feats is amazing and the lengths people have gone to to secure their houses on the side of this mountain is amazing. The old british buildings are still their quite impressive typical british architecture. The most british thing in all of Darjeeling is the train system or toy train as its fondly known as the toy train, think aussie trains but halve the track with and shrink down the engine to about a quarter f the size but with the same amount of passengers. Unfortunately we didn't get to go on tjhe train but one again the track was an engineering feat.

The main part of our trip to the mountains was the trek component guided by the marvellously fit Nepalese Vivek or Vick and his assistant guide Paymar. The trek started nice bright and early with the boarding ofa bus and a short drive to Maney Baheng at 2100m. We waited whie for the horses and sherpas during that time using probably the most disgusting toilets in india (yes we do have pictures of the facilities)

Day 1 of the trek began with a lovely 3 km uphill climb to a little house perhed on top of a hill where the clouds rolled over which made it quite dark and cold we stopped there for lunch cooked by our accompanying cheffs and were entertained by the antics of Batman Patchy and Phantom the puppies f the residence. From there we walked and walked and ... walked some more untill we were told you are now entering nepal, Everyone was reallyexcited and stuffed and did the whole im in india your in nepal lets take photos thing untill we got bored of it. Our first eperience of nepal was with a very well travelled tea grower. This man markets his tea in USA and Japan and plans to come to australia one day, eve gave him directions to Elderslie! We sat and chat for a while and drank his tea also excited that at this point we were 2 m higher than anywhere in australia (2900m) and then continued not very far to the trekkers hut for the night. It was an experience tolive somewhere where cows basicallylived inside the house andit was hard to avoid them.

Day 2 was a full day of walking not quite as eciting as the first as we were very very tired. The wholenovelty of walking had worn off and uphill sections were our number one enemy. At night, again we were in nepal in the town of Tongli, we sampled (5mL) a very rare local wine. The wine was made from the magnolia tree and was not at all similar to a grape wine although APV wise probably stronger. We sat outside for a while watching the sun set but for us this was a very different experience as we were watching it sink into the clouds not out from them. For the first time many of us were looking down at clouds. Lauren especially couldnt get over this and quote it was
"one of the most beautiful things ive seen". Lauren Reynolds.

Day 3 of the trek was the shortest day of the lot with only 7kms to walk..................................uphill! by the end we were almost dead but our reward was amazing. We had achieved a height of 3636m and had unparalleled views of the Kangchendonga range which contains the world's 3rd heighest mountain (kangchendzonga at about 8500m not quite sure) and we were also able to see the mighty Mt Everest. We watched sun set over the mountains not uite ready for the cold cold night that awaited. Gerard for some reason got a very high fever and got very sick but vicks traditional nepali head massage cleared it up within a few hours. Our night in Sandakphu isone we will never forget.

Day 4 was the longest of our trek with 21kms needing to be covered in a day but to our happiness it was ALL downhill. We trekked down through all different levels of forest from tundra topine forests to what seemed like rainforest. Once we got to the end at the smalltown of Rimbick we were all very tired but pleased. There we jumped on a bus for a this time 5 hr bus trip bck to Darjeeling for the night.

So that was Darjeeling; a week of unformed faeces, letting the world know about it, vomiting and walking and Vick. Vick our guide became our friend along the way and is probably the friendliest and definately most compassionate yet. I'm sure we can all elaborate about him when we get back. Anyways my next blog will be from the Holy city Varanasi on the Great Ganga (Ganges) River.

ttfn ta ta for now,
gerard.

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Comments

[Helen]

G/day !
Hi Gerard, Eve and Ben and your fellow travellers, Have read your entries with much interest and envy!! You are having such an experience and no doubt will have hours of stories to tell when you get home. As I write this it is 39 degrees C in the kitchen and was almost as hot yesterday. They say a cool change is on the way ?? and that tomorrow will be in the low 20s. I do hope so. Gerard, it seems that you experienced some "altitude sickness" and maybe some microscopic parasitic infection of the digestive system and so will have some points to add when we do "In Search of Better Health". Hopefully I'm able to press the right buttons to get this thing to send the message that I love the info and am thinking of you all and wishing you God speed ......and safely. No more of the hash, Gerard! Bye for now and love Helen