Day 48 – 23rd June 2009 – Sikkim and our trek to Chanchenzonga, the third highest mountain in the world - 23rd June 2009

Hello again,

We’ve just got back from trekking in Sikkim, which is the state just north of West Bengal in between Nepal and Bhutan. We did a ten day trek to the base of Chanchenzonga which is the third highest mountain in the world. I won’t really bore you with a full on day to day break down of the trip, so I’ll just give you the highlights.

We trekked up from a town called Yuksam, and along with Ev and I we had our guide Akal, our cook (Gordon Ramsey), our two porters (tweedle dee and tweedle dum), the horse driver (pony boy), and the two horses. The guide rather strangely only decided to tell us their names on the very last day, but we’d managed to forget them before he’d even finished!! I was a little disappointed that we weren’t taking Yaks, as we’d been told we would, but since it was getting to the end of the season, most of them had been sent up the mountain to be left out to pasture. They are actually a cross breed of Yak and cow (Cak or Yow – You choose!!)

We both got a bit of altitude sickness on the second and third day, and from the look on Ev’s face when she got out of the tent on day three, I really thought we were in for a case of “fiancicide”. But she soon got over it, and by the evening of that day it was my turn to be lying in the tent moaning with the worst headache you can imagine. However we both survived and we made it all the way up to the top.

The view point we reached on day seven in the moraine field at the base of the mountain was at 4600m, 15,100 feet, and was the highest Ev had ever been, even higher than the parachute jump she done! (whilst not in a plane), and we had spectacular views of Chanchenzonga (about 8500m high). We were really lucky since the day before there had been thick cloud covering the whole valley and any sight of the mountain would have been a miracle.

The cook (Gordon) was great, and served up a huge feast every meal time. Most of the food was really nice (except the porridge and the rice pudding), and he even managed to make a steamed chocolate cake on the last day. There was however a distinct lack of meat on the menu, and far too many vegetables, and we were both farting like troopers for most of the week.

We stayed in stone huts for the most part, and the nights got pretty cold. I was alright for the most part in my nice down sleeping bag, however Evs’ quite cheap synthetic one, which I bought :-o was a little bit on the chilly side for her, even when she was wearing two pairs of socks, fleece trousers, three tops, a fleece, and my down jacket!! So I did the gentlemanly thing and swapped with her for a night or two!?!

On the last night when the cook served up our chocolate cake, they also gave us some tongba to try. Tongba is the local brew, and is made by adding boiling water to a mixture of millet seed and yeast that is left to ferment for about three weeks. It was really nice, especially since I think it was probably at least 10%!!

The day after we got back to Yuksam, we went for a day trip around the local area, and visited one of the oldest monasteries in Sikkim, a ruined fort which used to be the capital city, and yet another sacred lake. There seem to be quite a few of them!!

So in summary;

Highlights
• Great Views
• Loads of nice (if vegetarian) food
• Tongba!!
• Exercise (I’m sure I’ve lost weight)

Lowlights
• Altitude headaches
• Toilets from hell
• Not really washing for a week and a half
• Slightly homicidal fiancé on day three (I kept a wide berth that day)
• Getting eaten by leaches (Ev walked for an entire morning with a leach in her shoe. The sock didn't look pretty!!)

We’re now staying in a bit of a swanky hotel in Darjeeling after a seven hour jeep ride back yesterday. We’re going to be catching the Darjeeling Toy Train down to a town called Siliguri tomorrow, before heading over the border into Nepal and flying over to Kathmandu. When we arrived yesterday Ev was like a kid in a candy store when she found the menu for the Spa. We both had a massage yesterday evening, and she’s gone back in this morning, and I think is trying everything they have on the menu. Well, a facial, manicure, and pedicure at least, but for around £4 each she can knock herself out!!

I’m a little bit pissed off, as the wireless internet here is really expensive, and I bought a card for about £4 for an hour, and managed to send two emails. The rest of the time was spent trying to upload some photo’s to Facebook. But it crashed and none got uploaded!!! Grrrrr!!!!! Try again later!

Bye for now.

Simon and Ev xXx