The following day I spent wandering around the charming little town and trying to find someone to do the Singalia Ridge 6 day trek with. The town was quite nice although very confusing and I managed to get very lost among the little alleyways and steps. So it resulted in me taking a couple of hours just finding my way back to my guesthouse. On the plus side wandering around the town was very pleasant, even if I was lost, as there was almost no traffic and very few touts and beggars.
My second full day in Darjeeling I visited the zoo, but mainly for the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute that was located in the grounds. The zoo itself was pretty good containing snow leopards, red pandas, tigers, deer, goats, lots of different birds and several other animals. It was especially good though because it seemed that the cages for the animals were all fairly big and that none of them were stuck in cages way too small for them, something I was expecting from zoos here in Asia. Even the zoo was a worth the journey I was looking forward to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute the most. Here there is a museum containing different equipment and stories of Indian mountaineers, it also has an Everest museum which talks about all of the early attempts to summit Everest. The Institute was run by Tenzing Norgay for several years who was the first person, along with Edmund Hillary, to summit Everest. The descriptions of the summiting attempts for Everest were pretty interesting, however the rest of the museum was mainly just displays of the gear that people had used when climbing which wasn't too interesting. Also the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute runs climbing and mountaineering courses but unfortunately all of their training facilities were closed to the public so I couldn't see them.
After the visiting the zoo and the mountaineering institute I managed to find someone to do the trek with me (I was going to do it solo anyways if I didn't find anyone). So the next morning we set out to Mana Bhanjang in a jeep from Darjeeling, here we started the trek up to Tumling. The first 2 kilometers of the trek was pretty much straight up and I was hoping that it wasn't going to be like this for the entire trip, but after the first 2 km it started to flatten out and the next 10km for that day were fairly easy. The trekking was great as there would be a little village (containing only 5 or so houses) every couple of kilometers where we could stop for tea and snacks. The first half of the trek (up to Phalut) runs along the Nepal India border so the first and second night were actually spent in Nepal!
The second day of the trek was from Tumling to Sandakphu where we spent the second night and also at the highest elevation that we would attain throughout the trek: 3636 meters! Not only was this quite high but also as a result of the elevation it was freezing cold (at night I think it got down to -5 degrees and I was really glad to have my sleeping bag with me). However it was promised that there would be some great views of Kangchenjunga here and if we were lucky we would also be able to see Everest. We weren't lucky. We weren't even able to Kangchenjunga as the fog was so thick we could only see for about 20 meters, even when we woke up early the next morning for sunrise (the morning is when it's supposed to be clearest) we were still encased in fog so no views at all, only coldness.
The third day of the trek we headed to Phalut which was also very high (3600 meters) as a result the trekking between Sandakphu and Phalut was fairly easy and not too steep at all. Once arriving at Phalut we were greeted with an extremely basic trekkers lodge and kitchen, the only buildings there. However we were rewarded on the morning of the fourth day with somewhat clear skies, and after a short walk up a hill from the trekkers lodge we saw our first (and as it turns out or last) views of Mt Kangchenjunga. It was pretty impressive being the third tallest mountain in the world standing at 8586 meters, but according to some other trekkers that we met the view from Sandakphu was even better. Also we didn't get to see any views of Everest as they are only possible from Sandakphu but it was still great just being able to see Mt Kangchenjunga.
The forth day was spent descending into lower and warmer elevations as we headed down to the small village of Gorkey. Gorkey was a nice little town located in the bottom of a valley with Sikkim (a different province in India that you require permission to enter) right across the river. The town is spread out over a hill side with each house having a large space of gardens around it growing peas and potatoes. It was quite a nice village and if given the opportunity I would have liked to spend an extra day there relaxing but unfortunately we couldn't due to lack of time. While there though we did meet an Israeli guy who had been living there for 3 weeks! But I'm not sure what he was doing every day besides relaxing as it seemed as if after a few days it would get pretty boring as there was nothing to do.
The last day of trekking was just out to the town of Rimbik and civilization. Rimbik was a decent looking town however there was no reason to stop here at all except that we needed to take the 6am jeep out the following morning back to Darjeeling. So this ended our 6 day trek (really 5 but with one day of jeep rides) and it was really enjoyable and worth it even if we were only rewarded with views for a couple of hours on the morning of the fourth day. The last couple of days had some nice weather as well but we were too low down in the valley to be able to truly appreciate any views.
Back in Darjeeling I spent a couple of days just relaxing in the town after the trek and waiting for my train out to Varanasi. The journey leaving Darjeeling was an experience in itself as I decided to take the Toy Train (the local train that runs on a narrow rail gauge) down the hill to the main station line. The experience of riding the Toy Train was quite fun and for the first hour or so it was really enjoyable; however, it turned into a really long trip to Varanasi: 32 hours. As the Toy Train took 8 hours followed by waiting for my train to show up then taking an 18 hour train ride to Varanasi. Needless to say I really wished I had taken a jeep from Darjeeling to the train station instead of the Toy Train, but at least I made it safely. A new post will follow shortly with my experiences in Varanasi including the festival Holi.
Some kids from one of the villages that we had a tea break in.
A short clear break on one of the days of the trek. For the first and second day we had a window of about 20 minutes where we could get some views, but none of Mt Kangchenjunga.
A lady from one of the villages cooking our dinner over the fire in their home. We were all crowded around inside the small house trying to stay warm by the fire so we got to watch all of the cooking as well.
A yak standing in the cold mist.
A view of myself with Mt Kangchenjunga in the background visible through the clouds.
Standing over a creek on the last day of the trek when the temperature had become nice and pleasant at the lower elevation.
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