Derek Fowler's Blog: November 2005

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Walkway to Khecheopalri Lake

... and yes, Ollie did hit his head on one of the timbers spanning the walkway.

Gompa decoartion

Gompas seem to be decorated in a very similar way, with vibrant colours and intricate decoration. The meaning of all the sybols, artwork and shrines we can only begin to understand.

Getting lost in the mountains is not advisable...

... but the forests are very pretty.

It's a bit brass monkeys Mum!

Having a nice cup of chai after walking round Chongdu was a right result.

Yakkety Yak! (don't talk back)

These poor fellas are dragged round the lake by their nose. Can't be very comfortable for the poor beasts...

Mini Monks at Enchey Gompa, Gangtok

This temple is perched high above Gangtok.

Full steam ahead at Darjeeling

India seems to manage to bog itself down with an amazing amount of administration. Just getting a couple of tickets for the "toy train" as its affectionately called took about 45 minutes of hassle. Well worth it though.

The Himalayan Mountain Railway, Bastia Loop

Apparently their motto is "We're getting there", though when no one knows.

On a wing and a prayer wheel

Ollies navigation skills get us to the Tibetan Self Help Centre.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Pelling -> Yuksom -> Kathmandu

Namaste. To get to Pelling from Gangtok it is essential to get down the jeep stand at about 6:30am - but amazingly the pair managed to drag themselves out of bed in time. We met up with our new Swiss friends, Philipp and Sarah and jumped in (with about 12 other people) into our jeep. A friendly American traveller (whose name I forget... i am terrible sometimes) was also in our jeep - who had been travelling for 4 years - and had a beard that was much more impressive than Ollies 2 week effort (though Fowler later recognised his beard would probably be just as ropey.... and ginger). Major topic of conversation was cricket and the english tried to explain every rule and caveat - and had some limited success after the second hour of the journey. During a loo break Fowler jumped onto the jeep footplate athletically and sheered off the rusty step much to the amusement of the driver and passengers - (Fowler really does need to loose some weight but is eating too much curry). American chap jumped out at Geyzing and the pair plus Philipp and Sarah got another jeep to Pelling - a trekking and view point hub. Pelling has great views but as usual when we pulled up to our hotel (The Garuda) the peaks were shrouded in mist.. We still had time to walk up to the Pemayangtse (The sublime perfect lotus) Gompa - which is one of the most highly regarded in Sikkim and contains an incredible wooden shrine that took a single monk 7 years to omplete. Next the quartet made their way (through dense forest) to the ancient ruins of the old second Sikkimese capital Rabdenste. The evening was spent with Philipp and Sarah at the hotel restaurant - great company and great food. It turns out Philipp used to play top flight football for FC Wangen at centre mid, and is now an IT consultant (How many Premiership Players become IT professionals I wonder ?!? ). Amazingly - Philipp was nicknamed The Gazelle during his playing days (against such teams as Barcelona and Man Ure) though I suspect that Gazelle has far more ability than this Gazelle. Unfortunately Sarah couldn't persuade Ollie to drink the local 'Hit' beer, an incredibly powerful ale that Ollie took a major disliking to - at the first attempt. It was decided we'd all go up to Khecheopalri lake the next day and that Ollie and Des would walk back (a 5- 6 hour trek).

In the morning Ollie hit his head on the incredibly low door frame as usual and staggered outside while Des was his usual shambles when getting up early. And then they saw it....

Ollie was the first to look up and see Mount Kanchendzongaand and the rest of the range towering over us through the clouds - he shouted to Des (not using any bad language at all I might add) - at last the weather was breaking!

Khecheopalri - a quiet and peaceful holy lake was very serene on the warm and sunny day. Philipp and Sarah were getting the jeep back but the pair decided to give the walk a go. It took in some great scenery and a dodgey bridge but it was the final asent that was the tricky bit. An almost verticle gradient faced the trekkers at the end which seemed to go on for hours but they managed it in the end - and were assisted in navigation by the locals. The pair realised if they were to trek in Nepal they'd have to wise up and toughen up a bit! Though a few 'Hits' and some more excellent food meant a relaxing evening to the day.

Des was woekn up the next morning by Philipp knocking on the door. It was about 6:30am but the most brilliant sunrise had come up with not a cloud in the sky - and all the mountains were visible in their towering glory. Phillip and Sarah then left for Darjeeling but the English decided to head for Yuksom. Yuksom had a little sight seeing and the pair stayed at a nice hotel with some good views of the mountains once again.

The following day the pair had made plans to travel to Kakarbhitta - which went somethingn like this:

1) Get up at 5:30am. Get shared jeep to Jorethang at 6:30am. Jeep wasn't too crowded and a very comfortable 2 hours elapsed before arriving.

2) Get shared jeep to Kakarbhitta. This was an absolute nightmare - the jeep had 13 passengers - a driver that could would do well in Formula 1 - and no semblance of leg room at all. 3 and a half hours of holdinhg on for dear life ensued - but at least we made it quickly.... and the scenery was fantastic. Little did we know this was just the warm up.

3) Get our Nepal visas stamped and get on bus to Kathmandhu at 3pm. A quoted travel duration of 13 hours turned into 22 hours as a new dimension of suffering introduced itself to the London lads. The 22 hours passed in a blur of military checkpoints, very loud music, bone shaking bumps, intermitent sleeping, several near misses, 2 serious accidents with lorries and occasional vomitting by some of the less battle hardened passengers. The pair retrieved their back packs from the bus to find then literally coated in thick dust.. Well at least they'd saved a fortune rather than getting a flight! (he says trying to be positive).

But who cares, they made it in one piece, the Bus was a life experience and Kathmandu is great - and at time of writting Ollie has come up with a splendid plan of going to the local bar for a nice cup of chai and a bite to eat.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Northwest Darjeeling, lower slopes

Didn't have much luck with weather in Darjeeling - the clouds covered most of the surrounding mountains unfortunately.

Wolves (Tibetan i think)

Ollie in the morning

...sorry, my mistake, its actually a Himalayan Black Bear.

St Josephs School, Darjeeling

The HMI and Everest Museum

After sampling the delights of the Hotel restaurant - (curry and Nepali bread - which is like fluffy pitta bread - and is great with peanut butter) - the lads could relax for abit and plan their next moves. It was very cold in the hotel - probably colder than outside - but this was deemed to be all part of the toughening up process. Power cuts are also prevlent in Darjeeling as Des found out to his cost. As Fowler showered the lights went and he had to stumble through to find his torchwith shampoo dripping into his eyes in very cold tempratures. A handy candle was brought up by the girl at reception also - so a candle lit shower was taken in the end - withe the last of the alotted hot water. This turned out to be not that bad as other nights only cold showers were available which certainly stirred the soul with ice cold himalayan water..

The main thing in Darjeeling is the train and the tea trade. Tea bushes grow all over the mountains below Darjeeling and there are some great views. The pair managed to get round the mountaineering institute, everest museum, zoo, tibetan refugee self help centre (how Ollie found the Tibetan Centre was a mystery to Des, but Ollie had got his directions completely mixed up a few days before - so Fowler put it down as a fluke) and had a joy ride on the Toy train which is greeted by all the local children living next to the tracks each time it runs. The steam train splutters up the track and almost stops every time a sharp incline is reached - but the railway was built in 1881 (and it looks that old) ! From its destination in Ghoom, there was a good walk back to Darjeeling in time for tea at the Windamere hotel. While on an especially long walk Fowler commented that despite eating everything shoved in front of us our stomachs had been behaving fine, within seconds Burdett felt a forceful movement and his pace quickened to a jog, much to the amusement of Fowler once more.

Furthermore, Ollie and Des also had their first competitive pool match which Ollie won despite Des plying Ollie with 'Haywards 5000' beer, a brew so strong it makes you dizzy from just opening the bottle. (a couple of days later Des was able to pull back the series to 1-1 luckily) Darjeeling is also a good place to meet other travellers (and the friendly locals - one of whom told of his pleasure at registering the darjeeling.com domain name - which he uses for his tea trading business) and get opinions of places - we thought Gangtok in Sikkim should be the next stop - for some fine views, temples and trecks, which is a 4 hour shared jeep ride, and we had to get permits on the border at Rangpo. The jeep ride was squashed to say the least - we had 11 passengers and a baby in something no bigger than a range rover!!

In Gangtok a walk up to the Enchey Gompa was the order of the morning - an attractive Buddhist monastery and a very spiritual place - which offers great views over the town and himalayan ranges. After, Fowler and BUrdett hit the twn and sampled the local brews 'Hit' and ' Dansberg' while plotting their trecking plans, 'Hit' was especially volatile and Burdett was once more not impressed (Dansberg is nice though). Our hotel was very cheap - but as Des the biologist pointed out, was a false economy due to the fact that there was a very high chance we would contract the Black Death in its dark, damp, stinking confines, even though there are very few cases these days.. So the pair went slightly up market the next night (well, a couple of quid more) and were able to relax in comfort.

After chatting to more travelling chums an excursion to Chongdu lake was organised taking the the english, a swiss couple and a korean girl upto 3750 metres. Yaks take tourists for a walk round the lake while the Yak owners pull the beasts along in freezing temperatures with a rather painful looking nose leash (note to oneself - dont get reincarnated as a Yak). After opting out of the Yaks we took a guided hike up to a good view point at 4200 metres. Our guide almost sprinted up there in 50 minutes leaving us in his wake - and the Swiss girl with an asthma attack. Views at the top were good but not great due to the cloud and we couldn't quite make out Khangchendzonga (the 3rd highest peak in the world). Still well worth it and glimpses of the Tibet which was close.

After coming back down from the snowy peak we settled into a hut - for a fantastic chai - and warmed ourselves by the stove which our host was generously pouring diesel onto. The journey back down was ok though at points the lads did wonder that the 3000ft drops next to the road were getting close as we entered sections of 3 metre visibility. Right, time for more Sikkimese food - belter!