Sikkim

From Darjeeling I carried on to Sikkim, the largely Buddhist north-eastern corner of India, between Nepal and Bhutan and bordering Tibet in the north. Even more than in the northern part of West Bengal, I felt I was not in India anymore.

Sikkim is a state of mountains, Buddhist monasteries, border disputes and great high-altitude treks. China has not yet recognized the borders of Sikkim so it remains a disputed region even today. Foreigners are subjected to strict rules which limit the stay in the area to 15 days (which you can extend a few times, maximum being 60 days if I remember right). You can do really great trekking in the region but for all expect one trek you need permits, a guide and if you can afford it also yaks and porters. I did not want to spend 30 USD a day trekking so I did it the cheap way: no yaks, only a guide and one porter and our own food which we also cooked (usually) ourselves. I did the Goecha La trek, which goes as high as 4950meters, together with a friend I had met previously on the Sandakphu trek here in West Bengal. He has a cooker so we could prepare our own meals. It was a good way to save a lot of money, but we are now quite bored of instant noodles Anyway, the trek was really amazing and hard enough to really give you the feeling of trekking. We spent 7 days on the trek, sleeping in trekkers’ huts, eating our noodles and admiring the amazing views. The same high mountain I earlier saw from a far on the Sandakphu trek, Khangchendzonga, was now right in front of our noses, after the difficult climb up to 4950 meters. The last couple of kilometers we had to walk in snow about 10 cm deep, which felt absolutely fantastic since I have not seen any snow in about 14 months.

Now I am spending two nights in Darjeeling (again) before heading to Nepal. We were recommended one trek close to Kathmandu by a couple of people who had just been there. I will probably go do that with Andrei and then see how much time I have. I could go through southern Nepal to Uttaranchal in India and perhaps meet a friend from Delhi in Rishikesh. Anyway, I now have exactly one month left in India (and/or Nepal) and I don’t want to go down from the mountains anymore after experiencing the cool climate, clean air and wonderful people of the north.