Sandakphu
My brother Vishal had come from Vapi for our trek. We had decided to go to ‘Sandakphu’ in West Bengal. For that we had to go to Darjeeling. We were told that there would be too much cold and were advised to bring ample woollen clothes and thermals. On the first day at home my brother told me that he didn’t feel much cold but on the second day, he felt cold. So I told him and my other friends that I didn’t feel much cold and they should not imitate me and buy some inner thermals. They followed my advice and bought thermals.
We took train to Delhi and a flight from Delhi to Kolkata. We reached Kolkata early in morning and freshened up. Our next flight was from Kolkata to Bagdogra. The flight took off in time. It was a small flight of 30 minutes only. I ordered some nodules on flight and the air-hostess was delaying the order so that we land but then the flight was not able to land because of bad weather even after taking 2 circles and we had to return. Then I told the air-hostess to bring my nodules as it would take 30 more minutes. She smiled and brought my instant nodules instantly. The announcements were going on at the airport that if we want fare to be returned they would return it as there were no more flights on that day. The next flight was on the next day. We decided not to take any refund. We all were new there so Sandip called his dealer at the airport. I asked the port manager of Jet Airways if we could get any accommodation nearby as we didn’t know anyone there but he said there was no hotel around. Sandip’s dealer also came but he was also not aware about that area. We decided to search for ourselves. As we were leaving, the port manager came and said, “Do you want to arrange for hotel?” I said “Yes, but in how much?” He said it was free from ‘Jet Airways’ and we all agreed. He explained that a taxi would come to drop us to hotel and the same taxi would come to pick us up in the morning at the time of the flight. We thanked him and moved to a hotel which was around 5 minutes in taxi. Instead of resting we decided to get out and roam around as we just had a single night to roam around.
It looked like we had returned in old India, small shops and hand-pulled rickshaws. It looked like a scene from film. We enjoyed a night there and the driver took us to the airport and this time we landed in Bagdogra. We went to our camp and the trek started. In this trek we stayed one night in Nepal also as it was along the border of Nepal.
I was made the trek leader of our group. I had protested against it by telling that I was used to trek by seeing everything in detail and therefore I was always the last to reach. It was the duty of the trek leader to reach first, so they appointed a deputy trek leader to stay ahead and I stayed last as always. My friends and my brother demanded the best room in the hotel telling that it was for the trek leader. I was comfortable with any room but still enjoyed whatever they were doing.
The atmosphere was too cold that we had to wear our socks, gloves, jackets etc. while sleeping also. We were advised to put camphor tablets in our socks for heat. Everything we saw on the way was frozen. We saw many frozen water falls and some sparkling icicles. This was the longest trek where the longest distance covered by us was 14 kilometres in a day. There were some ‘Land Rovers’, which were taking people to Sandakphu in just 5000/- rupees. These were very old and even the Land Rover company had disowned them so we didn’t take the risk.
There was a point from where we could see mountains at 360 degrees. I mean wherever you see, you can see mountains only. We came to know that it was illegal to take garments from India to Nepal so the garments were smuggled from there.
Finally we reached Sandakphu, the highest point of West Bengal. Temperature there at day time was around -4 to -5 degrees Celsius but at night it fell to -8 or -10 degrees Celsius and wind blew with full force. We were housed in a wooden hotel. One had to melt snow for water requirements. In the morning water in the pipes would be frozen so I had to change my toilet habit and to go at night time. There was also army check post and we were required to register there. They did duty in such atmosphere at night also and the person on duty would have to empty all the rubber hoses of water otherwise they would burst when ice was formed at night. I felt proud of our army. Hats off to them for doing their duty in such harsh conditions where fumes rose when we urinated in bathroom and the water kept in the bucket turned into ice at night.
The sun rise of Sandakphu was amazing but we had to get up at 6:00 AM to witness it and it was so cold that after clicking just one photo one had to wear gloves again but it was a mesmerizing experience. After eating some momos on the way we returned to Darjeeling, the tea capital of India. The trek got over and we had kept 2-3 days more for Darjeeling.
We went to market and we saw many of the shops had some colorful square pieces which looked like erasers to me and like loban to other friends. We asked to a shopkeeper and he said it was cheese and it was hard cheese. I wanted to buy some green tea for friends at home so went to a tea shop and asked about green tea so she asked whether I wanted green tea or black tea. I did not know the difference so she explained me. Then I asked her frankly, “How can we check the quality of tea?” She told that the tea with 1 flush was costliest and its price decreased with number of flushes and also to know the quality and fragrance of tea leaves we need to crush them in our fist and smell them. I learnt a lot about tea from her and also bought many packets of green tea and black tea for my friends and family. I saw a wind flute in the shop of ‘Tribes of India’ and bought it also. I was awed by the collection of ‘Khukuris’, the traditional weapon of the Ghurkhas, in Khukuri house shop. I wanted to buy one but then they were priced very high and secondly it had no use for me. We did buy some trekking equipments. I came to know that Sandakphu was the training ground for Himalayan Expedition and one could hire Sherpa from here for the expedition. Some of the fellow trekkers also went for some country liquor made from rhododendron flowers. I could not get any chance to taste it but it smelled nice. I celebrated my birthday there by giving party to my friends.
Finally we took train to return as we had not booked our return flight. We enjoyed some great Gulabjamuns and Rosogullas on the station sold by vendors. I also bought some wooden toys as they were fascinating. It took around 42 hours of travel and it was cold so I decided never to book train for return journey. I got fever in train, something which had not happened even in the sub-zero temperatures. Finally we all reached home after lots of boredom and lots of sleep.
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