Trek To Sandakphu

There has always been a constant pull from Himalayas.  The mighty Himalayas  standing as the natural boundary of our nation. I started looking for some trek in Himalayan range and came across Sandakphu. It is situated in northern bengal, the highest peak of West Bengal state of India. Also from this point one can enjoy the beautiful view of Kanchendzonga, the highest peak in India (if you discard K2 which comes under POK), you see the Mount everest very clearly and enjoy a nice sunrise. It takes four days of hard trekking to reach this point but it is totally worth it. 

To Siliguri

I read little about Sandakphu, how to there and what all to carry. I had to go to Siliguri in West Bengal and continue from there on. Last time when I was in this area I missed the opportunity to see the famed Darjeeling and so I planned to do it this time. I choose my breaks in autumn to be the appropriate time for the travel.

This time around I had a friend to accompany me, the philosophy of the trekking is quiet different from one of simple touring. While touring I like to go alone so as see the maximum, know the maximum and there are indeed a lot of things of observe, while trekking you are simply walking and enjoying the nature's bounty you don't need to focus too much. Also trekking is a risky venture and you don't want to caught up somewhere in the middle of nowhere all alone.

Rides to Siliguri have always been one with a lot of pain and why should it be different this time? As I reached the Bus station in Guwahati city, I got to know that my bus has been cancelled and when I can I came with the determination to go and I coming back to college was no option. It was late at night fortunately I was able to get one bus to Siliguri.

It was a rickety bus with holes in its roof and water dripping at a lot of places. I somehow tried to not think about it and carry on. But the worse was yet to happen, the driver was one restless fellow, after a journey of some thirty minutes, he hit the bus into some other vehicles back. As the traffic was slow nothing more than a dent was caused but or driver got out and made a tamasha out of it. I thought Alright, the worst has gone what more can happen now but God had something else in mind.

Next, we stopped at a roadside restaurant for some tea break, as we were boarding the bus again we got to know that it broke. Now what to do? All of us had to shift to another bus going to Siliguri which was already packed, we were given a place in "Cabin" with some eleven other people. We somehow managed to spend the night with constant springs from the top. In the morning I was an old Nepali lady engaged me into conversation. She started telling about beauty of Nepal, places I should visit if I ever happen to be there and so on. 

Finally after some fourteen hour of horrible bus experience we got down at Siliguri and by this time I was sure that I would never do this kind of daredevliry again. 

Silguri To Darjeeling

I was already ready with what would happen once I get down at Siliguri. Hoards of agents with "best deals" will come to offer, but I respectfully no to all of them and took a shared cab to Darjeeling. They charge you some 150 Rupees for this ride.

Siliguri to Darjeeling is some two hour ride. There are sprawling tea gardens on the way to Darjeeling and the fresh morning breeze hits the face. There is an old Toy train track from Siliguri to Darjeeling which runs on the sides of the road. Shanty small towns which pass by as the dirt from the road spins around in air. One can also so see small Toy train stations on the way and finally as we passed the Ghoom town I saw the Toy Train standing at the station. Two year of comfortable ride borough us to Darjeeling.

Getting down at Darjeeling we started looking for a place to stay. We walked around the small alleys and after walking around them sometimes we realised that we were spinning around in the Labyrinth, passing same spot again and again. After wasting some half an hour in this venture we took the help of a Gentleman on the street. The problem was that I had already read about this one hotel in Darjeeling where I wanted to put and we were not able to figure the place. After his guidance it took us another half an hour to walk around, getting lost twice, to reach that place.

After putting our luggage we headed out to take a look around in the city. Somewhere in the middle of the city JAM was going on. Also around near a public park a house part sort of thing was going some, people dancing to the tunes. Then we entered some small alleys searching for some pubs, and indeed we found one. But the aura inside was not one of party but of gloom and soon we cane out. It was cold and  we wanted to gulp some drink so were located a wine shop and bought some vodka. Then we headed to a nice pastry place to drank some hot chocolate. There was a nice pizza place inside a small marketplace and we took thick crust pizza with some fried momos and than headed back to the hotel. Inside hotel we had vodka neutralised in sprite with some snacks and with a little light head and warmth we retired for the day.

Manebhanjan

Early next morning we packed everything and walked towards the Bus stand. We had to trek down for some half an hour and in this venture we were able to see the whole of Darjeeling. Its rich colonial architecture and fancy new hotels to full fill the growing tourism market. After reaching the bus stand we took the a taxi to manbhanjang. It took us some half an hour to reach Manebhanjan. We went inside a government building which helps with the guide. There I met Praveen Rai, a student of botany, local of Manebhanjan and our guide.

Praveen explained us the route that we were to take and how many hours and how much distance will we cover each day with this mind we started trekking up the Singalila. After walking for some twenty minutes it started pouring hard and we went inside a hut on the way. The lady inside was very gracious and served us with some tea. She also had some Local beer, "Hit Beer" of  Sikkim for us to have. While I took a mug of it my companions did not touch any.

As the cloud stopped to pour the heavens on earth we started walking again. The trek was not tough and the path was well laid by pebbles. Strong wind was blowing and Himalayan landscape was mesmerising. We met group of students from Australia after a while and the journey spent in knowing each other.

After walking for some nine kilometer we reached small town of Meghma, we had some tea there and continued our way. While in Meghma we were presented by two options  either to walk some four kilometres to Tumling in Nepal or walk some two kilometres to Tunglo in India. We planned to end the day in Tumling Nepal.

Tumling

Tumling is a small town with not more than ten houses. We stayed in one such place. The rooms were very nicely maintained. We have some tea and then went around to see the place. There was a shiva temple and we went inside. There I met this Baba who who was half naked in this frized cold. He involved us in a Shiva Tandav Stotram that he was singing and then started telling us his stories, which were very fascinating indeed. As the day was about the end we saw a huge storm in sky and we all went inside our rooms, retired.

Early next day, as we got out of our room we saw a beautiful view of Kanchenjunga from the balcony. I look a couple of pictures. We took our morning tea and then started to walk again.

The road was pebbled and I slipped twice while walking on the road, we hardly saw any local on our path. After walking for some two kilometers the trek started turning down, the road was still pebbled and recent rains had made it very slippery. I was taking every step very carefully. Also to pass the time while on trek I started talking to our guide, he had a working knowledge about the vegetation around us and I was always inquiring.

After another two kilometers we had steep climb for a kilometer and then again a road bending down steeply. Finally, we reached Gairibas which is a border town between India and Nepal. I saw the National flag flying brilliant around on a government building and took some time rest. Then we started walking again towards Kaliphokri.

Gairibas To Kaliphokri

There is a cemented road between gairibas and kaliphokri but we wanted to take the road less travelled. So we started climbing up through the forest. The air around was full of life and green was never so green. Every moment in that forest climbing up, resting for some water and listening to silent murmurs of life was so fulfilling.

After we covered some four kilometers we came out of the forest and started walking on the pebbled road again. On this pebbled road we came across wide variety of flowers and our guide also show us some plants which we were poisons but look so appealing that you feel like eating them.We walked some two kilometer more on this pebbled road and finally reached Kaliphokri.

The name Kaliphokri comes from the black pond which is there in this very small hill town. There was one hut near the pond, we went inside the Hut and eat some brilliant fried momos and then to beat the cold, I had a "Hit" beer.

We started walking again, we wanted to reach Sandakphu before the day ends and so we were walking very fast. We crossed a checkpoint where they checked for our Indian nationality. Our guide wanted to reach on the top early because he wanted to do some reservations for us. So we parted our ways, we were still walking in our slow pace while the he raced up to the top.

Kaliphokri to Sandakphu

There is a concrete road from from Sandakphu to Kaliphokri and we were asked to come through that, but we in our spirit of adventure started walking through a forest trek which was running parallel to the road, never completely missing the sight of the road.

We had already trekked some thirteen kilometers that day and th e tiredness was slowly seeping in. For covering a distance of six kilometers we halted some four times. The view from the forest of the roads and small settlements down below was amazing.

After waling for three hours we reached on the top. Sandakphu was beyond all my imagination.

In Sandakphu

These three pictures sum up the experience in Sandakphu.

From the view point, when you look straight you see beautiful Kachenjunga, which is also called the sleeping Buddha because of its shape.
Towards your right hand side you can see sun rising and towards your left hand side you can have a excellent view of Mount Everest
I sat there for some four hours in the morning. Amazed !

Sandakphu to Timbure

We started climbing down at around 10 in the morning. The image of early morning view of Kanchenjunga was still fresh in my mind. The route was through a forest filled with bamboo glades. After half an hour of trekking down we saw a small Panda at a distance, enjoying the "delicious" bamboos.

Trekking behind us were three beautiful french girls. They were in Indian on an exchange program to IIM Calcutta. My companion on the trek, Aditya started a conversation as he was totally smitten by one of them. After walking two more hours we ended up in a fine street side cafe. The owner of this cafe was one pretty young lady and I could not resist myself and before leaving I confessed it to her, mentioned few words on her beauty. However, later one I realized that I could have asked her name.


Anyway, so we kept walk down the bamboo glades, we witnessed some sporadic views of springs on the way. I started talking to the guide of the French girls and from them came to know about a local drink of the region, Tungba. They promised to get me some at the place where we were supposed to put up at night.

Timbure

We reached Timbure at around 2 PM, timbure was like an other small hill side village. There were few houses and small pond where people sit and spend there time. Our hosts arranged Tungba for me and I very heartily gulped two full "bamboo glass" of it.

At around 4 PM they invited us to a Nepali wedding, it is nothing like a North Indian wedding. The bride and the groom were sitting on a bed and well wishers came and showered them with gifts. After that a sitting was organized where all the male members sat and had beers. I enjoyed one beer with my Nepali hosts while they discussed about the plight of Gorkha soldiers and their legitimate demand of Gorkhaland.

One more interesting thing happened, my friends Aditya wanted to talk to the pretty french lady and as he knew that I had a basic knowledge of french he came up to me for help. I wanted to play with him on this and I taught him this. "Je parle Soeur Francaise, Vous etes une chienne "  Which translates to, I speak french sister, you are a bitch. And when the lady heard him saying this, she started laughing. It was fun though.

At night all of us had some more Tungba. We were all sitting outside in the wild. Discussing about Europe, India, Nepal, Buddhism, Gorkha and all sorts of things. Then the hosts invited us for a dance. So all of us were dancing on some random Tibetan song, breaking a sweat. This continued till 2 AM and then we all retired.


Early next morning we hurriedly started trekking down. We wanted to be back to Siliguri by around 2 PM so as to catch some bus. It took us four hours to reach Srikhola. We waited in Srikhola for some time for a public vehicle to come, to kill time we did some window shopping in local stores and had tasty momos of the street.

From Srikhola we took a Jeep to Ghoom, Praveen our guide got down in Maneybhanjang, We had a very pleasant time with him and I parted him with a brotherly hug. From Ghoom we took another Jeep going to Siliguri.

We were in Siliguri by 3 PM but unfortunately there was all the buses going to Guwahati had already left. So we were left with no option but to take a train. We went to Siliguri station and made an inquiry.

We took a late night train from Siliguri to Guwahati, early next morning we were back. The beautiful view of mountains, the freshness of water in the spring the warmth in the hospitality and adventure was filled in my mind.

Like any other travel experience, I could feel it that this trip made me more mature, outgoing and brought me more close to nature.