Trek from Sangam Chatti to Hanuman Chatti over the Darba pass

I will start by saying, a guide book is a just a book and not a guide. I only now fully appreciate what it is to have someone show you the way through a place that in my view has no clear path. Our original plan was to trek from Sangam Chatti to Lake Dodital, which was very easy to find our way with plenty of places to stop for food and chai. I am running out of time at the internet cafe so I will keep the post quite brief and hopefully let a series of pictures tell the story. Our mind changed when we were in manjhi and decided to camp near a group of Indian, they all spoke English very well and we understood that they were under taking the same trek as us. It was only until the morning when we left the lake that they were not planning to trekking over the pass. I was over confident that with a guide book in my hand it was going to be straight forward. Only a couple hours into leaving the Darba pass we seem to be following a faint trail over some dangerous patches of ice. It got to around 5 pm and we were very lost. We hiked up to a high point and saw a place in the distance that showed some sign that people had been there before, a burnt out camp fire and flat area to pitch the tents. We were faced with a hard decision to either carry on hiking up to try and re find the trail or descend down an extremely steep slope and cross a frozen river to safety. We were running out of day light and decided to try and make it to the camp site. To put it bluntly, it was the scariest moment of my life, but we made it to the other side of the river with a few scratches and boots filled with mud. We pulled out a few ray mears tricks, one was melting snow through a t-shirt for water and placing a metal container on a rock in the fire filled with snow. A little bit of advice when melting snow near a fire, if you have a lid for a metal container, use it. Otherwise you'll be burping up smokey flavored water the following day. We ate the food we had and built up a big fire to warn off any animals. As the previous night we had a Leopard outside our tent. We stashed the remaing food in under a pile of rocks near the fire in the hope that if a bear did come it would be able to lift the heavy stones. Fortunately we all had a decent nights sleep with no bears and no leopards, unfortunately the stack of rocks wasn't crow proof and crow flew off with Jerrys chocolate bars, haha I don't think I have even seen Jerry so annoyed. Ok seems like I am telling the story now, but I really have to go, anyway the following day we found a definite path that took us to a steep gully that was explained in my book, we hiked down this into a dense forest and after a couple hours hit another path. We spent the rest of the day finding and losing paths that took us north west through the forest and across rivers. Until we bumped in some shepherds. It was an amazing feeling meeting people again, they told us to carry on the same path, which again eventually seem to disappear again. We made it back to the shepherds who seemed to find us very entertaining, but we pleaded with them to take us to Hanuman Chatti, they agreed to take us the following morning. However just as we were about to spend the night in the forest a knight in shinning armour appeared! Prymod and his wife had spent the day digging up roots in the forest for medicine, we agreed to give them 500 rs to take us to Hanuman Chatti, we said our goodbyes to the shepherds and went off at break neck speed down the mountain following paths that broke off of other paths. We arrived Nishni around 7pm and kindly Prymod offered up his home for us to sleep and fed us very well. Many villagers greeted us and we had a wonderful evening. I look forward to seeing Prymod again some day.

Gangotri to Gomukh the source of the Ganges

Our second experience of trekking was brilliant, the guide book stated it was a easy trek, no steep climbs very obvious path and lots of people to say hi to on the way. We started the trek a bit late avoiding sleeping at Gangotri, this meant that we didn't really have enough time to acclimatize as Uttarkashi was only 1150m

above sea level and the start of the trek is around 3000m. However in a way this really work to our advantage as we slept in a tea hut which is meant for a lunch break. The guys running the place were very friendly, gave us food and a bed. Jerry and I got really excited when we saw some ibex high on the opposite slope. Jerry grabbed his camera and we both went running after them to get a better view and pictures. We are all really glad we stayed and didn't struggle with our heavy bags to the next place as the views of the mountains were amazing and we felt like we had the place to ourselves

We were promptly woken the next morning by some early morning hikers after some breakfast. Still in his sleeping bag with one eye open Jerry was bombarded with "which country are you from?, do you watch cricket?" kind of questions. We reached the next place to have some lunch and drop off our bags so we could go and see the glacier where the Ganges flows from. It's really exciting, every 15 minutes or some a chunk of ice or rock falls from the glacier, and when a big rock falls it makes a booming sound. Mayu was very excited when we met our first Japanese travelers, Ittoku from the north and Moi from the south. We spent the night with them at the ashram at Bhojwasa, Ittoku being a great entertainer and never short of charas.

                                             

The following morning we all went back to Gangotri and on to Ganganani hot springs where we met another Baba (guys in the orange get up) who had somehow met this Ukrainian fellow and had been travelling on the back on his motorbike for the last two weeks. Again, as most Babas, never in a short supply of charas.

Leaving the East

Spending time in Sikkim was soothing for the soul, everywhere you looked was greenery, wildlife and fresh air. It's not the place to prepare you to head back to Delhi, but its a must if you want head north. Arriving in NJP from Darjeeling, I wasn't in the best of moods, I think the heat, pollution and poverty was getting to me a little. Still not sure how some places in India can be so tranquil and some places so chaotic. We spent a few hours waiting in the strain station watching shit being blasted with water off the tracks, I can see why they ask you not to take a dump at a station, I could also see that everyone ignores the signs in the toilet. I remember thinking how short sited it was to clean up the stations, because as soon as the platform ends the rubbish begins. I was thinking this whilst watching three men sweep up and collect all the rubbish people were throwing on to the tracks, firstly a bin at a station might start to solve this issue, and secondly people's attitude, even whilst the station was being cleaned, passengers were throwing rubbish in places that had just been swept. I'm not really angry about it now, but was at the time. Someone we met on the train really gave me a boost, he was the father of the family sleeping next to Mayu and I, hes the smiley one on the left. He was enthusiastic about life and we had a great chat about life, India and human kind. I went to bed feeling positive and ready to carry on with my travels.

Walk from Yuksom to Tashiding

A little disapointed we returned from the mountains to the foothills, however we came back with the knowledge of a great Israli card game called Yaniv, the rules are on wiki, you must check them out, but be careful its very addictive!

We met a lovely ozzy chap over a game of Yaniv that evening that said he was planning to walk the next day to a village called Tashiding. The walk was a good lenght about 19km, there was so much to see, Sikkim is full of some many different beetles and butterflys to entertain you along the way.

We met a funny chap along the way that insisted that Jerry took his photo, can't remember his name but he gave us a broken address that hopefully someone can translate. He spelt west sikkim 'doest sekum' I'm sure the photo will find its way to him somehow.

After Yuksom we took a jeep to Jorethang and on to Darjeeling, its a bit rough here, like Delhi but in the mountains, and theres a political strike at the moment so no where is open. We are here for 2 days and then back to the home comforts of Eva's house!!

The first trek

Setting off at 9am from Gangtok to Yuksom, with a stop for lunch it took roughly 4 hours. The drive was bumpy but beautiful. One of the highlights was the views from the huge suspension bridge.

The morning of the trek Mayu finally had her first experience of Delhi belly, I was starting to get jealous of her strong stomach, I of course joined her for my third round. So we starting hiking white faced and very weak, I didn't dare tell Mayu how white she looked, it was scaring me enough already, I thought it was best to keep it to myself and just make sure she didn't collapse near any sheer drops.

The break for lunch really helped us both recover, we had a bit of rice and roti, filled up on water and on we went. The first day was pretty gruelling, but after I started feeling better, it became must easier and the hut instead of our tiny tent was really welcome.

On the second day we all felt on top form, the sun came out for the morning, Jerry snapped more amazing pics and we started walking. The second day was all steep and relentless to be honest. I started getting a headache about half way up around 3300 metres. By the time we reached camp at 3900 I was completely breathless, my head was pounding with every movement. I filtered some water with the trusty lifesaver bottle and lay in the tent for a few hours hoping that I would begin to acclimatize. We were woken up by a welcome dish of popcorn and coffee, it was amazing the service the guys gave us, when you see them lugging 25kgs up the mountain to cook you breakfast, lunch and dinner your manners increase ten fold, you want to give them as many thank yous as you can.

After a good nights sleep, I woke still with a headache. I was told it would be a short 30mins walk to a view point to see the mountains and then we could spend the rest of the day resting. Just the 30mins was really testing we, such a strange feeling when your legs feel fine but head is pounding. I guess its like having a really heavy hangover. We reached the view point and the views were amazing, we managed to muster some enthusiasm for a group photo.

It was a real disapointment to find out that the group we were with wanted to carry on to the next stage that morning, which was a further 6 hours walk. After struggling with my head for 30minutes I knew I couldn't do it. It was a great expirence and a good learning curve to take things much slower for the walks to come.

Beautiful Sikkim

We arrived in Gangtok, and Daniel an Indian guy we met in the jeep put us in a taxi and told to driver to take us to a hotel, we found ourselves at the bamboo retreat, its was a little pricey for what we were hoping, 800rs per room but the place had hot water, big clean rooms and amazing views of the mountains, which we found out the following morning. Mayu and I woke up around 6am and looked out the window, I could see this huge white mountain in the distance, like a kid on christmas day I ran to Jerry's room to wake him up as well. We sat there for 10minutes admiring the mountain and then went back to bed to get up at a reasonable 10am.

Gangtok was a super chilled place, on the second day we enquired about trekking to Gochela, it was pretty expensive, around 1100rs per day per person to do the trek. This is included transer to Yuksom plus food and accomodation for the whole period.

Unfortunately we had to pospone the trip because Jerry and I both funny bellys, his was all coming out his mouth and mine the other end. 24hrs past and we were back on solids with chow mein and momos.

Lets get out of Delhi

Delhi has been and eye opener, and hopefully it is what someone from the west should be expecting from the stories you hear. Everything is so surprising that eventually nothing comes as a surprise.

We boarded the Rajastani express, train 12424 at 14.00 from New Delhi to NJP to arrive at 10.00 in the morning, time to find a share jeep to Gangtok. The train itself was one of the best trains we were told, and to be honest it was very good. In 3rd AC sleeper 1800 rs we started off with lunch, then afternoon tea, followed by dinner and pudding. After a peaceful sleep we woken at 06.00 for tea and breakfast, a bit early but it allowed plenty of time for Jerry to hang him self outside the train to take some more amazing pictures. It was a bit like playing time crisis trying to get things in focus on the fast moving train, haha it was really fun.

Arriving in NJP was pretty intense, it was very hot that day, and Jerry straight away was befriended by young begining indian boy, he stayed with us for about 20mins until he was shewed away by the guys running to jeeps to Gangtok but he was quickly replaced by an old lady that very little vocab, stood by the car with her hand out and repeated "ah hello, hello, ah hello, hello" we drove away whilst she continued her chant. We ended up paying 250 rs a head for a 5 hour journey to Gangtok I think we overpaid, but it was money well spent, it was cramped and unconfortable but the scenery quickly let you forget those things.

Old Dehli and the markets

Old Delhi is on its own groove, can't say I've seen anything that is as busy, unorganised and unfit for humans. The place is pure mayhem. I think most big english summer music festivals have been based on the markets in old Delhi, the place sinks, theres way to many people but when that sun starts setting the atmosphere all seems to make sense.

Our main aim for the day was to visit the Red Fort, and the narrow markets. The rickshaw driver was promising me that he was not hungry for money, he was a decent chap, but kept slipping me the idea of paying him for a tour around old Delhi that we didn't need or want. At least he wasn't as bad as the tour operators that tried to convience us to go on a 3 day package to Kashmir. After we told them we'd think about it, the boss had us followed into a cafe, where on 3 different occassions, 3 different guys wanted to just mention out of the blue how wonderful Kashmir was this time of year, haha the third guy we entertained just for the fun of it. Dehli is intense, but there's many laughs to be had if your in the mood, however I was feeling I'd like to move up to the hills for cool weather and beautiful landscapes.

...all pics from Jerry Wilson...

2 weeks in and finally a blog

The Internet has not been brilliant in India, my first attempt at a blog was a week ago but I spent an hour achieving nothing, but today the computer seems quite fast, we are staying in the most luxurious place so far, Jerry is sleeping on the floor, but I promise you it is very nice.

So going back a bit Jerry and I arrived in the Delhi around 2 weeks ago on 20th April. We had a slightly traumatic incident at heathrow, just before boarding the plane an old Indian man started coughing heavily, which followed by being sick on himself, things are running thought my head, maybe this is the first out break of some terrible disease. He was sitting down, but decided to get up from the seat and started walking toward Jerry, he looked out of it, and fell backwards smacking his head on the floor. We both looked at each other in a sort of 'what the F@#K has just happened!' I run over to the staff desk in a panic saying "we need a doctor", however the drama quickly ended when the guy came to, cleaned the sick off his face and seemed fine.

After the flight we were greeted by the lovely Eva, who has been amazing! I am not sure how we would have coped with the Delhi mayhem without her, its quite a shock to the system.

We were picked up from the airpoty without problems, haha typing error but I quite like it, Eva took us straight back to her apartment, I will be very honest and say I thought the area was a proper dive, but after spending a day in old Delhi it is pure paradise! Ok it may not have the simple things, in English neighbourhood for example we have grass verges between the pavement and the road, the buildings have some sort of uniformity and the place isn't covered in dust, Greater Kaliash has none of these things, but it's a world away from the poverty that seems to be all over delhi.

Had a quick moment to freshen up in the shower and it was straight to Agra, there was no hanging about. Anyone who has visited knows how special the place is, I couldn't help but feel Id been there before, it might have of unfortunately been the overload the brain gets from pictures and TV, making you feel like you've visited somewhere before you have. All in all it was a great introduction to India!