Trek to Sandakphu

Today when i just opened up the notepad to write about our experience of Sandakphu-Phalut trek i felt that same aroma of mountain roads,cool breeze of air, mighty clouds and THE GREAT KANCHENJUNGA that we will never forget........actually no one on this planet can describe the feeling which is simply out of the world...its like a dream and dear friends no one can express that feeling in words....

Actually the planning and every details of this trek were done by my good friends.. Dhiman, Indranath and Tau( although Soumyadeep is his name, but i prefer to call him by his nickname ).

I had no role to play in planning the tour,they did everything and at a suitable time they invited me with a sweet gesture ..i felt proud to be a part of them.My earnest thanks to them.

After finalization of this trek program we were in a mood of excitement as before this trek we were just novice trekkers, only two of us had the experience of a small trek ( single day 14 km) from GAURIKUND to KEDARNATH during our family trip to religious shrines. So it was natural that our excitement would reach a high.....everyday we used to contact each other and talked regarding the same.

21^st October, 2009

Kolkata to NJP - 567Km

At last on 21st day of the 10th month of 2009 A.D. we gathered at SEALDAH station... and we started our journey to accomplish the trek. Next day we arrived at NJP station at morning(7:30 hrs), and waited for another trek team coming from KOLKATA, we got to know them through INDIAMIKE and after a short while we met them.

[Info: Try booking for train tickets early and try for Darjeeling Mail. If no Train Tickets are available then u can try the Royal Cruiser Bus Service or other NBSTC buses].

22^nd October, 2009

NJP to Manebhanjang - 130Km

We finished our breakfast and started for Manebhanjang by a hired vehicle.

[Info:: Tata sumos, Bolero and Chev. Travera and some others are available for hire. They charged us 1400 Rs. for the 130Km from NJP to Manebhanjang. Try booking a car for Manebhanjang it's the best choice, you can also take an auto to Darjeeling more, then take shared car to Sukhiyapokhri, and then to Manebhanjang.]]

The road runs through a lavish green tea estate and soon our car started climbing and after a 3 hrs journey we reached Manebhanjang,the road passes through Kurseong and Ghum.

At Manebhanjang we met an unique person.. Mr. Jeevan Chetry.... well known as MASTERJI and the only person to help every trekker from his heart. We stayed at his hotel(Hotel Exotica) and masterji helped us by arranging a porter cum guide for us. Here one memorable incident took place as they bought one black cap for me to give our tre k team a professional touch and our team found its name the "BLACK CAPS".........

23^rd October, 2009 Manebhanjang(2134 m) to Tumbling(2980 m) - 11Km

Last night Masterji informed us regarding the procedure of a good trek, information's regarding official procedure and other important things. Before starting our journey we thanked him and with our porter cum guide DAWA TAMANG (BAMBO) set foot on the mountain roads.........

PLANNING OF THE DAY:-

TOTAL PATH TO BE TRAVELED - 11Kms ( MANEBHANJANG TO TUMLING VIA CHITREY,MEGHMA)

ALTITUDE DIFFERENCE - 846 m

STARTING TIME - 7:00 hrs

ENDING TIME - 13:20 hrs

1st Halt at Chitrey - Hawks Nest Tea Stall besides age old monastery

( We found this 2-2.5 Km the hardest of all due to sharp steepness )

2nd Halt at Lamyadhura

3rd Halt at Megma for refreshments

End of first days trek at Tumbling, night stay and Shikhar Lodge.

[Info: get the tickets to the Singalila National Park from their office. Your guide will help you in finding it]

According to this plan we started early morning from Manebhanjang after completion of official procedure and we found ourselves in deep trouble after a 100 mt walk... the toughest steepness welcomed us.. to negotiate that challenge we tried to find shortcuts... and believe me that just dropped us into more trouble. To reach Chitrey, only 2.5 KM from Manebhanjang we were fighting for our own existence. It was the toughest time through out the whole trekking of almost 90 km. After a hard work we were able to reach Chitrey and for the first time we breathed with a laugh. We took rest for a while with a hot cup of tea and then set forth for Megma.

This time we again took shortcuts through a horse-lane and it was really good to walk, during the walk we found valleys after valleys under the shade of hills...

We reached Meghma with a galloping speed and were already acclimatized with the atmosphere. One more thing that we should mention here that during trekking Chitrey to Megma we discovered that our porter Bamboo is a profound singer and roxy (local drink) lover.....the only problem was that his each and every number was of two lines and roxy was too much. He started with a Nepali number ..RESHAM FIRIRI.. .and after that in each and every step we felt that we've got a rare kinda vintage radio mirchi in human form. But we also found later on that Bamboo had a good heart who'll never think twice before extending his hand to help trekkers universally, we will dedicate a separate paragraph on him....like KANCHENJUNGA we will always remember this person, a person well deserved to be mentioned. Through the mountain road and partly jungle path of SINGALILA NATIONAL PARK we reached Tumbling. We still hear the sound of our steps on dry leaves and rocky terrain, smell of the unknown flowers and chirping of birds from the plateau seated deep in the forest and those flowers.... SHAKESPEARE rightly says "THERE IS NOTHING IN A NAME"Mid noon..we arrived at the SHIKHAR LODGE, Tumbling....Tumbling is a small village. There are some lodges situated there, SHIKHAR LODGE was one of them and kept by Mrs. Nila Gurung. She is a perfect host and she welcomed us with a sweet smile. We took our lunch there ,then let loose our hands and tired feet to relax in hot water offered by Mrs. Gurung, otherwise in Tau's language...' ITS COOOOOOLLLL YAAR""........THE WATER was COLD ENOUGH to dare any one to cut his finger off. In the evening a guitar was anyhow managed by one of the porters and again radio mirchi was in its full swing...RESHAM FIRIRI along with some foreign trekkers from France....One of them was LIA.....A really charming lady from the nation of beauty, there was also CAREN & PAREN ..hardly 8 yrs old and enjoying trekking with their parents. One more thing, that night we saw was the star studded sky, but leading the spectacle was the "MILKY WAY" which was clearly visible.........it was a show of speechless beauty.....refreshing enough to feel no pain after a hard days trek...what a night it was!!!....We slept like "kumbhakorno" until dawn.

24^th October, 2009

Tumbling(2980 m) to Kalapokhri(3186 m) - 15Km

IT was 5-30 and Dawa brought us to the view point of Tumbling...and after few minutes the sun started rising "wooooowwww" first ray of sun touches the peak of KANCHENJUNGA and golden Buddha blesses us.......we were standing spellbound............ this first meet with Kanchenjunga filled us with the hope and desire to move forward. PLANNING OF THE DAY:-

TOTAL PATH TO BE TRAVELED - 15 KM (TUMBLING TO KALAPOKHRI)

ALTITUDE DIFFERENCE - 206 m

STARTING TIME - 7:50 hrs

ENDING TIME - 14:30 hrs

Only Halt at Garibas(2621 m) - SSB camp, Park Check post .

End of second days trek at Kalapokhri, night stay at Himachuli Lodge.

Cool air, a little bit strenuous road and above all a fine clear early morning sky.......we set forth for Kalapokhri.

That was only the second day of our trek and we were almost acclimatized with high altitude atmosphere. Just after a few minutes walk we reached the check post of Singalila National Park, official procedures fulfilled and we entered the National Park, from there one can choose any one of the two paths available ...one was the motor-able road via Jaubari, another through the jungle path

which was a bit risky one. As usual we choose the risky path and on God's name we swear the experience of that path was really exciting. We traveled along a narrow path under the shade of pine, maple and other trees and morning dew still noticeable on the road, actually in some places we had to create our own path but due to this we also traveled 4 km more than the other trekkers, but still we have no regrets, and we would suggest others to please take this path to own a rare experience, while climbing down from a hill Tau injured his ankle and we were a bit slow after that, ultimately we reached Garibas after a walk of 3 hrs with an anxiety regarding Tau's injured ankle. We had tea and snacks at Garibas. It was difficult for Tau but he showed his tenacity and courage to set forth for the planned destination..Kalapokhri(by the way there was no other alternative for home left). This time the track was through the forest(short cut) with steep rise(this was tough), we reached Kaiyankata a small village, where we took some dearly needed rest, a cup of hot tea and again set our foot on the road. This time it was a bit easy as the road was almost plain with a gradual rise but we were walking slow to negotiate Taus speed. A portion of this route was through jungle and we traveled through the green forest of south range of Singalila National Park, ultimately we reached Kalapokhri. Kalapokhri, the place got its name from a pond of black water, it is strongly believed that praying before this holy pond is fruitful one. Bamboo prayed before it and we took some snaps of that religious place. Thus we ended our second day trail of 19 km(15 Km + 4 Km extra) and took shelter at HIMACHULEE LODGE and were mostly busy to give Tau's ankle some relief. 25^th October, 2009

Kalapokhri(3186 m) to Sandakphu(3636 m) - 8km

PLANNING OF THE DAY:-

TOTAL PATH TO BE TRAVELED - 8 KM (KALAPOKHRI TO SANDAKPHU)

ALTITUDE DIFFERENCE - 450 m

STARTING TIME - 8:50 hrs

ENDING TIME - 12:30 hrs

Halt at Bikheybhanjang - For tea and check-post work.

End of third day trek at Sandakphu, night stay at Sunrise Hotel.

Tau was fit enough after previous nights rest and hot water wash and massaging and we really liked it when he said "stick together team", we marched for Sandakphu, as usual... we were lead by Dhiman and Indra upfront. Though the brochure mentioned that this portion was toughest but we found it of moderate kind. Though tau was walking his normal way but we maintained medium speed to avoid any emergency. As we moved on, the Himalaya range started to grow on us...it became clearer and bigger just like a giant wall in front of us...

Finally we touched Sandakphu, and THE MAJESTIC KANCHENJUNGA

appeared before us with its full glow........... we lost every sense of our earthly pain, our heart beat suddenly stopped... its a spellbound beauty. Almost the whole Himalayan range was clearly visible from Sandakphu. After sometime we boarded at HOTEL SUNRISE and quickly finished our lunch and again we found ourselves standing on the hilltop to swallow the magical beauty that surrounded us. Sandakphu is the highest point of WEST BENGAL and its chilling cold there, temperature drops sharply during night and we returned to our room for a hot warm shelter.Well i forgot to say about the sunset. Well it's an outstanding, mysterious and one of a kind, one needs to be there to feel the warmth and the mildness of the sunset and the chill of the wind!!! 26^th October, 2009

Rest Day(which was turned to be a restless one!!!)

Last day when we boarded the hotel sunrise we were informed that we'll have to arrange another hotel for the next day as the whole hotel was booked on 26th due to some political activists, accordingly we talked with Hotel Sherpa Challet and booked a room, making full advances. Our morning was a magnificent one as we ascend to nearby hilltop and enjoyed the most beautiful sunrise we ever

witnessed. After such profoundly nice experience we returned to finish our breakfast and to pack our belongings for shifting from Hotel Sunrise to Hotel Sherpa Challet.

But at that moment we were unaware of the forthcoming news which spoiled our day, actually we never thought of such a situation even in our wildest of dreams. We were informed by the manager of Sherpa Challet that they just canceled our bookings due to some reasons best known to them. We argued, we tried to convince them by logic, but they stuck to their arrogance and in that remote place we were helpless ......This was the only ill treatment we got from the lodge owners, when the people of Sherpa Challet abandoned us we looked for the other option which was the YAK HUT which was a kilometer away from Sandakphu and it should be your very last option....... WE CONDEMN SUCH ILLPRACTISE OF HOTEL SHERPA CHALET. When every ray of hope

It's a big day as we had to climb 8km to reach Sandakphu and 4 km out of this path is steeply rising and as per tour brochures this 4 km is toughest. we finished our breakfast at Himachulee lodge and started at about 8:50 hrs, sky was crystal clear and from the trek road we found Sandakphu was visible and the top of hotel Sherpa Challet was also shining in the morning sunlight.

faded, we saw light at the end of the tunnel.... it was our generous aunt of Hotel Sunrise and she arranged a makeover room for us in her kitchen... this proves once more that humanity is left in this brutal world... we are thankful to her and will always remember her cooperation. At last we regain ed our mental state and enjoyed the rest of the day by roaming around view points, taking snaps of The Everest range, Three Sisters, Kanchenjunga range and Pandim range. Cold wind blows there throughout the day and it gets windier and chilling as we move towards evening... sunset.. we climbed on a high hill and enjoyed the spectacular color effect of drowning sun on mountains and clouds(well the clouds are actually like waves with the tinge of sunlight in them.. just WOW!!), a much waited bonanza.WE SPEND OUR NIGHT AT KITCHEN OF HOTEL SUNRISE.WE LIKED HOTEL SUNRISE MORE THAN SHERPA CHALET SIMPLY DUE TO THEIR BEHAVIOR.[Info: if u do not get accommodation in Sandakphu(well that's possible only during the Himalayan Run and Trek) then you can go forward one more Km to The Yak Hut or to Molley(14 Km from Sandakphu), accommodation in Molley will surely be available but do talk to the locals there, they would help a lot.]

27^th October, 2009

Sandakphu(3636m) to Phalut(3600m) - 21Km

First half of our trekking completed when we reached Sandakphu trekking along south range of Singalila national park, now the other half to be traveled along north range...........

PLANNING OF THE DAY:-

TOTAL PATH TO BE TRAVELED - 21 Km (SANDAKPHU TO PHALUT)

ALTITUDE DIFFERENCE - 36 m

STARTING TIME - 6:50 hrs

ENDING TIME - 14:20 hrs

Only one halt at Sabarkum(3536 m) 15 Km from Sandakphu.

Well we had also stopped other places for food but the places had no name!!

For Phalut we started as early as possible, we had to travel the longest path in a single day and as

28^th October, 2009

Phalut(3600 m) to Gorkhey(3100 m) - 15 Km

We woke up early and climbed 1 km for the sunrise view of Kanchenjunga and other mountain ranges as Phalut is nearer to mountain ranges than Sandakphu so its a marvelous beauty to behold, soon after we packed our bags and started for the days journey.

the nearest halt was far away we carried our food and drinking water(more than normal) along with us. The path was through the rocky hills and of moderate kind a little climbing for the last few km otherwise mostly climbing down. The road runs through burnt forest and Himalayan range was visible all along the road. Just after leaving 2 km we encountered with a black bear...and luckily the bear turned back within a second otherwise we would have been in big trouble. After a few Km of walk we took a small halt on a hill top and had some refreshments there. Soon we reached in the midst of burnt forest and it was unique, there the participants of 100 mile Himalayan stage race passed us, they were coming from Molley. It's a long monotonous kind of walk, after 4 hrs of walk we reached Sabarkum... A lone place with a tea stall and then again started our journey......... the scenery changes rapidly there and it turned to grayish rocky face from greenish forest land view, road turned into risky one as it was mostly of loose gravel. We walked slowly as Tau tried to complete the days walk........ the last 4kms was steep climbing and we almost lost our spirit, somehow we had to overcome that challenge and reached DGHC TREKKERS HUT... It took us around 8hrs from Sandakphu.The arrangement at the trekkers hut was enough regarding its high altitude position but there was no facility of electricity, not even solar power, so we had to finish our candlelight dinner by 7pm.The weather at evening was chilly and windy and was not at all clear, at night it was clear and we could see the sky painted with the stars(we recalled Tumbling).

PLANNING OF THE DAY:-

TOTAL PATH TO BE TRAVELED - 15 Km (PHALUT TO GORKHEY)

ALTITUDE DIFFERENCE - 500 m

STARTING TIME - 8:10 hrs

ENDING TIME - 11:30 hrs

As Gorkhey is situated lower than the Phalut so our path was mostly downwards and through the bamboo glades. We started our walk early and soon we were in the middle of north range jungles of Singalila and road a bit narrow. We tried to walk noiselessly in the hope that the rare Red Panda may be encountered in the bamboo glades, but we were not that lucky. After a few km walk we felt that climbing down is more risky and painful as whole body weight gets transferred to the knees. We took a little rest and after a 2 hrs walk we reached Gorkhey. The trekking path was completely through the dense jungle and as morning dew moistens the road, chance of slippage is a parameter to be counted. But the path was really enjoyable and we found Maple and other tree leaves already started to be red... the jungle was preparing itself for winter. We stayed at trekkers hut but it was in a very sorry state. As soon as dusk covers the area there is nothing to do except hearing the roaring Gorkhey Khola(river).

29^th October, 2009

Gorkhey(3100 m) -> Ramam(2560 m) -> Shrikhola -> Rimbick(2286 m) 24 Km

PLANNING OF THE DAY:-

TOTAL PATH TO BE TRAVELED - 24 Km (GORKHEY TO RIMBICK)

ALTITUDE DIFFERENCE - 814 m

STARTING TIME - 6:15 hrs

ENDING TIME AT SHRIKHOLA - 11:10 hrs

We started early in the morning and after a little climbing we were again in the jungle and its mostly climbing down. The jungle was thick in places and morning birds gave us a chirping welcome. We walked fast and took rest and food at Ramam. Ramam is a small village and we found a Montessori school there. We then started for Rimbick and again it was through the jungle. Our knees felt the body weight and we became a bit slow. After some hours we touched Shrikhola named after the river of same name. The natural beauty was fantastic and during our trek through the jungle we saw so many types of orchid and flowers. At Shrikhola we stopped at Sengupta's Hotel for refreshment and when Mr. Sengupta came to know that we will go to Rimbick to catch the early morning car on the next day to Siliguri, he offered us an opportunity that he can arrange for a car on that day itself which will take us from Shrikhola to Siliguri. We accepted his offer and took our lunch there and walked up to Seppey (near by village) and from Seppey we got the car and descended to Siliguri.

Thus "THE BLACK CAP TREKKER'S" Sandakphu-Phalut Trek had a good end. Hurray!!

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THE GREAT DAWA TAMANG( BAMBO )

In this life whenever we will talk about our porter Dawa Tamang(Bambo) the first word will

be...RESHAM FIRIRI.......and after that powerful smell of Roxy filled surroundings. A person full of energy despite of every sufferings of a hard labored life. We accomplished our trek program with flying colors, one of the reasons behind that is Dawa.....in the toughest rising knock turns when our energy and enthusiasm almost exhausted and a mild thought of "give_up" sparked in our mind Dawa started his songs with a little smile to energize us to move forward. He also adjusted himself as per our wish to take unused routes without hesitations and put himself forward. His songs, though limited was continuously sung by him through out the trek. He was even generous enough to extend his hands to help the other groups also if they were in trouble. Some time he seemed to be a magician, particularly in case of Roxy. He could avail it from anywhere in any condition. He is a hardcore Roxy lover. But as a person he is a good hearted one, helpful, amusing in nature and hard working, we wish that his career flourish as a guide from a petty porter, WE LOVE YOU DAWA..

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