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Published: December 20th 2005
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Darjeeling Sunrise
Here is the view I had from my hotel roof, with the mountains mocking me from a distance. The big one in the middle is Kanchenjunga. From the time I arrived in India, I knew that my ultimate destination was to be the Himalayas. As November was winding down, I grew increasingly anxious to get north. I wanted to take a trip hiking in the mountains, and with winter approaching it could only get colder up there.
After nearly 24 hours of continuous transport, by rickshaw, then train, then jeep, I made my way from Varanasi to the former British hill retreat of Darjeeling. Darjeeling is famous for its tea plantations, and pleasant restaurants, tea houses, and old English hotels abound. It made for a very comfortable staging area for my trip into the tiny northern state of Sikkim.
Darjeeling itself is not actually in the mountains, but is situated at some 7,500 feet, in the foothills of the Himalayas. The train from Varanasi terminates at the town of New Jalpaiguri on the plain below, so it is a steep ascent by jeep up a windy road to Darjeeling. The ride wasn't completely terrifying, but judging from the number of signs warning drivers to proceed cautiously, jeeps must go plunging off the narrow road with some regularity. In spite of the fear these roadsigns should
Observatory Hill
This hilltop in Darjeeling was covered with Buddhist shrines. The colored bits of cloth flapping everywhere are prayer flags. They have prayers written on them in tiny black script. Such flags are all over Buddhist country. have perhaps invoked, most of them were very funny. So funny, in fact, that I wrote down a number of the witty sayings as I was riding up. For example, "Hurry, burry, spoils the curry." Or "Enjoy the beauty of hills at low speed." My personal favorite was, "Don't gossip; let him drive."
In the two weeks or so I spent in the hills and mountains, the Himalayan climate and flora never ceased to amaze me. Darjeeling was quite cool. At night I would wear a sweater, jacket, gloves, and a hat inside my hotel room (which had no heating). At the same time though, the hills around the town are densely covered with almost tropical vegetation. There are palm trees and bamboo, and in general the forest is everywhere very lush. If I think about going to 8,000 feet in the Rockies in early December, I would expect snow, but it would seem that the Himalayas have an environment uniquely their own. I was never snowed on during my mountain excursion, and snow in Darjeeling is apparently a rarity.
From my hotel's roof in Darjeeling, I had an amazing view on clear days of a distant ridge
Monastery
Here's a Buddhist monastery I visited in Darjeeling. An elderly monk showed me around the place, but I could barely understand a thing he said. Not just because his English was poor, but because he held a rag over his mouth the entire time he spoke to me. Maybe he thought I was spewing germs at him. of snow-capped peaks to the northwest. Among them was Kanchenjunga, the third tallest mountain in the world, and my goal. Not that I was planning to climb it exactly, but I was determined to get as close to it as I could.
I spent a few days in Darjeeling gathering some of the gear I expected to need for my mountain trek. I rented a thick sleeping bag, a heavy down coat, rain pants, and a pair of extremely worn hiking boots. I had talked to some Canadians at my hotel who were just back from the trip I wanted to make, and they talked about the bitter cold in the mountains. I'm of the opinion that Canadians know a thing or two about cold weather, so I braced myself for the worst. I stocked up on cheap sweaters from the markets around town.
There are a number of tour operators based in Darjeeling, but none of them seemed to be offering tours on the route I wanted to take. It was also not easy to find a group of hikers that I, just one person, could tag along with. I was in a race to get something
View from the Trip to Yuksom
You can see how green the hills are thanks to the rich flora. set up, as the trekking season was all but finished.
I opted to head straight to Gangtok, the capital city of Sikkim, and try to arrange the trek directly from there. Before I could make for the mountains though, I had a mountain of red tape to plow through. I had come to accept the fact that as a foreigner travelling around India, my movements about the country would be be excessively documented, but going to Sikkim takes the bureaucracy to a whole new level. I had to go to the Office of the Darjeeling District Magistrate to fill out a form stating my desired date of entry into Sikkim. From that office on the outskirts of town, I then had to tramp up to the Foreigners' Registration Office to get a required stamp on my form. Then it was back down to the ODM to sign a promise that I wouldn't cross the Indian border into Nepal, China, or Bhutan from Sikkim, and I was at last granted a permit to visit Sikkim for 15 days. I took a jeep the next day to Gangtok, where I promptly went to the Foreigner's Registration Office there to extend my permit for a further 15 days, since the trek I was planning takes about a week and a half to do, and I couldn't be sure how soon I'd be leaving.
My initial rounds of the trekking agencies in Gangtok had me worried. No one seemed to be outbound, and I wasn't keen to make the trip alone. At last, I found a place where there was another solo trekker planning a trip. He wanted to do the same 10 day hike to Goecha La that I wanted to do, and he and I could leave within a day or so.
My companion was Swiss (and naturally, a card carrying member of the Swiss Alpine Club), but was 53 years old. Perhaps, I thought, by virtue of my youth, we would be on equal ground as far as our capacities for making the trip. Uli (short for Ulrich) had done quite a bit of hiking in the Alps (making the high altitude crossing from Switzerland into Italy, for example). But Goecha La pass's 16,000 feet of elevation would be new territory for him as well as for me.
The first day of the trip was simply a jeep ride from Gangtok to the village of Yuksom, near the border with Nepal. To facilitate Uli and my trip into the mountains, our trekking agency assembled quite a team, and we were assured that we could not manage with a group any smaller. We had a Nepali guide, a cook, two porters, a yak man, and two yaks. Early the morning of November 30th, we set out carrying light day packs (the rest of the gear was divided among the yaks and the porters, who carried huge bamboo baskets with their heads) to make the 10 mile climb to our first stopover--Tsoka.
To be continued...
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Andrew
non-member comment
mountain scenery
You've taken some spectacular photos. I'm imaging just how indescrible it must be to experience this scenery in person. It seems from the journals that you're making the right kinds of acquaintances along your trek. Soon you'll be speaking 12 langauges and claiming friends in 40 nations. -Cheers