Singalila - part two

I had heard some people talking early in the morning. I was sort of awake but had no clue what time it was and had no plans to get up. All of a sudden, I heard a knock on my door. It was 4:40 am. Pasang was there and said to put on warm clothes because you could see the mountains. I just grabbed my camera and warmer gloves because I had so many layers on when I was sleeping. It was true. What an amazing vista!

It was an 180 degree view. Kanchenjunga, head on, like I had not seen before. Plus, and this was a big plus, you could see the Nepal and Bhutan Himalayan mountain ranges as well. Everest was there technically, but cloud covered so you couldn't see it.

At first the sky was dark but kept slowly getting brighter. Even the surrounding areas not covered in snow looked magnificent in that first morning light. All of a sudden the sun peaked through the clouds on the Bhutan side. Kanchenjunga was amazing as the sun hit it. There's just a little touch of some pink and then the mountain just gets brighter. There are three peaks called the 3 sisters. You couldn't really see the definition of the mountains until the sun hit them--but then they were pretty too. Of the ten highest peaks in the world, we could see 4 at this moment in time. Everyone was happy after seeing the mountains. The difficult climb up of sometimes a 65% grade seemed so far away.

We decided to stay put today and visit the yak farm. The view from Phalut is similar to the one we just saw but closer. The 21 km walk to get there at a steady 3600 meters or 12,000 ft would be difficult in good weather conditions. But we needed one more day of snow melt. It is also possible the trek would be in vain if there was no view tomorrow morning.

We walked up to the yak farm and found out they had let the herd out for a roam. There was a baby yak in the front yard and he was so playful. We were invited in the family's home for some warm yak milk. The taste was very sweet but nice. They also make yak cheese.

We decided to go look for the herd and do some exploring. We heard the yaks as they have bells around their necks. But we only saw one. This little wander took us about 1/3 of the way to Phalut (7 km each way). We stopped at a gorgeous overlook and hung out for about 1/2 hour just relaxing in the sun.

I took a nap after lunch and when I got up, you could see part of Kachenjunga again. New arrivals had appeared in Sandakphu. Some hiked from Tonglu. Others came from Kalpokhri. There was a couple in their 60's from Milan. They had a horse with them just in case they couldn't make it walking the whole way. They were going to Sikkim after this trip. They were really sweet.

Then a family arrived from Switzerland. They were currently living in the Mauritius Islands. The man was about 50 and had come here 30 years ago. He thought it was time to come back and show his family. His wife was complaining how the weather where they came from was really hot and perfect. She was wondering what they were all doing here???

I laughed a lot that night. The couple from Switzerland had a 17 year old son and 15 year old daughter. The son's biggest problem was why he always had to speak English when there was an American around? I couldn't answer but only smile. I understood some of the French that was spoken, but they also spoke a lot of English. The woman from Milan had Swiss parents but was born in Italy, so she was speaking French too.

Then later everyone was wondering if they could smoke. They said, an American is present so they weren't sure if they were allowed. I said they could all smoke as everyone except me and the 15 year old wanted to. Pasang and I had a small glass of roxy. The Swiss couple started with rum and then switched to roxy.

The Italians looked so comfortable lounging in their chairs after dinner. We knew they were drinking roxy, but later they showed everyone the hot water bottles they had underneath their clothes. We all laughed. I left shortly after dinner because I was hoping for another early morning with a view of the mountains.

So around 4:45 the next morning, I woke again by a knock on my door. Rumor was the view was clear and today we could also see Everest!

It's just this incredible feeling to see these mountains that you have heard about your entire life. The challenge of explorers wanting to climb them and also the failed attempts to do so. I mean in front of me were 5 of the 10 highest peaks in the world in three different countries Nepal, India, and Bhutan.

Kanchenjunga was one of the last to be conquered and is considered to be sacred and not allowed to be climbed now.

We had breakfast around 7:30 or 8:00 and left for Gurdum today. The walk was all downhill for 12 km, and a 1400 meter descent. We decided against going to Phalut because of the current snow there. Plus the first village that you reach was 17 km in. So if you needed shelter due to rain, this was not a good place to be hiking.

We started our hike in the sun, and then it got hazy and later misty. I had peeled off all my long underwear for the first time in days. We passed some beautiful wild flowers including many different colored rhodadendrums in bloom. The mountain ranges we had seen this morning soon became lost in the clouds and forest. Coming down the mountain, the rhodadendrums soon turned into bamboo forests. I kept my eyes peeled for the red panda as this is their habitat, but to no avail. We came to an area of the forest that had recently been burned. Pasang explained that this actually helps the red panda. It was a controlled burn and the bamboo would grow back stronger, faster, and more healthy after the monsoon rains. So by fall, you wouldn't know the forest had burned.

We arrived at 11:30 and beat the rain. Since we left Sandakphu, we would be in India the remainder of the journey. First I had a cup of tea and then hot water for a bath. Lunch was shortly afterwards. I felt like I hadn't even earned lunch today. There was a lot of mileage, although it was downhill. As we approached this town, we could see flower and vegetable gardens and how steep it is in this valley.

A young couple from Israel/Switzerland, working in Bulgaria the last 3 years for a gaming (poker) company had come down the mountain this morning just like us. They were staying at a different place overnight and still had about 5 km to go. They both quit their jobs and have 3 months to travel in India and Sri Lanka. They would have the rest of their walk in the rain. We were the only ones staying at this guesthouse tonight. It was a quiet evening. But the sky was clear and you could see so many stars.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bilochun/sets/72157627358461570/