Despite the elevation (over 12000 feet), the fresh mountain air compared to polluted Delhi was as refreshing as the dip I took in a freezing fresh mountain river.
The trip started at midnight in Jaipur, Rajasthan, when John and I boarded a night train headed for Delhi. When we arrived, we took an auto rickshaw to Luke's place and began our plans for the day. We had until midnight to pack and buy supplies, including a propane stove, packed food, gear (including my new "forester" swiss army knife!), and a rental tent. We embarked the 32 hour train with 6 loaves of chocolate banana bread from a bakery owned by Luke's friend. The train was filled to the max, but emptied around noon the next day at a popular station in Bihar- it's capital, Patna. Left on the train were mostly those headed to the north-eastern state of Assam. These people were incredibly nice, and we shared a compartment with a family of 5. When we got to New Jalpaiguri, we ate a quick meal, and took a shared rickshaw to Siliguri and a shared Jeep to Darjeeling, a hill station that used to be the summer home of the British when Koklata got too hot (ironically, I am presently in Kolkata in the hottest time of year- it reached 47 degrees Celsius the other day). We ate momos for lunch (a tibetan pirogi) and got another shared jeep to Manebanjan. We booked a shirpa (guide) at the tourist station who was to meet us the next morning, so we set up tent on a plateau and gave our virgin propane stove it's first job- soup!
We trekked for 6 days, covering 87 kilometres, and raising to around 3800 metres at the highest point. The views in the third and fourth day were the most spectacular, we could clearly see Everest, Makulu, Lahotse, Kachenjunga (India's highest, 3rd in the world), and many others. It's called the 'sleeping Buddha' because when viewed from Sankadphu and Phalut (where we saw it), it looks like a big belly, where the one to the left looks like a face (with a nose and chin protruding) and to the right are feet (I guess you have to see it). The views were spectacular, and it felt pretty hardcore to carry 60 pounds on our backs and sleep in a tent. One morning, we awoke to frost on the fly- proof of the cold nights!
Our guide, 'Tsering Shirpa', was a hero. At 38, he is an extremely experienced guide who knows the passes inside and out. Everytime there was a leaking hose on the side of the road, he would do a quick repair- probably saving a lower town from water availability issues. Since we were sleeping in a tent, we had freedom to stay wherever we wanted, so Tsering would bring us to his relatives, who treated us to chapati and Yak meat! Sooo good! Honestly, we spent more time in Nepal than India on this trek (named the Singalila trek) because the main road acts as the border, and we spent most nights the Nepal side. If you get queasy, please skip the next section.
We wanted to eat a chicken for dinner, so every day we would ask Tsering "can we buy a chicken in this town?", which he would answer 'no' until we reached Gorkey on the second last day. A local woman caught a chicken from a small coop, and brought it to us. Because I bought a new swiss army knife (the "forester") and I was dying to use it (no pun intended), they offered the chicken to me to cut its throat. After cutting it (and it did take some sawing force action) it bled a fair bit, and it kicked for a few minutes. An old man was holding on to it, but I can see without a doubt where the phrase came from ("running like a chicken with its head cut off"). We proceeded to make the best chicken noodle soup I have ever had, and a stirfry to top it off. The village cat was happy with the leftovers.
We had a few days in Darjeeling where we saw the zoo (red pandas, himalayan black bears, tigers, snow leapoards, and deer) and the himalayan mountaineering institute. The cuisine in Darjeeling was tibetan and delicious- momos and tibentan bread! We listened to a live band playing covers of random western hits, and then said goodbye to Luke the next morning. John and I saw our first bollywood film in theatres (race) and did a lot of running around. World famous Darjeeling tea, great local novels, and a traditional Gorkey military knife were some of the purchases made.
Life changed as quickly as the weather when we dropped from Darjeeling to Kolkata, but I'll elaborate on that next.
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