Trekking the Singalia Range

We were picked up by our car at 6.30am to make the one hour driver over to Maneybhanjang - the starting point of our 5 day trek. We had tried to pack light but walking for 5 days still meant a fairly full ruck sack each day with sleeping bags, roll mats and warm weather to prepare us for those cold winter nights in the tea houses. Innos from the guesthouse came with us. The first stop was at the passport control - most of the walk veered between the India and Nepal border so there were tight regulations about entering the national park. We were then introduced to our guide - Pemba Sherpa. Immediately we liked him and he seemed to have a good sense of humour (the Indians love Guy's jokes so he was in stand up heaven!). As part of the arrangements we also had a porter called Menos, this really young guy with a smile that looked like he was up to no good but a really warm and friendly personality! Porters as used in every walk and although we felt strange about it, it gives the local guys regular employment. As we had two bags, Menos was Guy's porter and Guy became mine! (and I got off scott free with just the camera!).

The first up hill set the tone for the whole of the walk - it was steep and long and within the first hour we got our first glimpse of the Himalayan mountains that would be surrounding us for the next 5 days. The weather, despite our worries, was warm, clear and dry and we had definitely warmed up by the time we reached the top of our first ascent. We came across a Buddhist monestary that straddled the border and had a look around. Pemba told us that the monks there go into a room to meditate and don't come out for 2 years! (We kept away from the room). We were able to see the beaurtful white, red, blue, yellow and green prayer flags that would be a familiar sight during our walk. Buddhists write their prayers on them and then let the wind take the prayers to heaven. Our first rest stop was a immaculate tea house next to the monestary where we sampled a cup of chai and some yak's cheese. We tried the soft and hard variety - the hard was like chewing on a bit of plastic and takes about half an hour before it softens enough to eat it - good trekking food we were told! As we left the tea house we got our first view of Kanchendzonga - the 3rd highest mountain in the world after Everest and K2. The range in which it sits looks like a reclining Buddha which is the reason why it's a sacred place and no-one's allowed to scale it anymore. It started to make us realise just how remote we were. Our lunch stop was a delicious bowl of noodle soup (plus seconds!) and more chai before a short climb to our stop for the night in Tumbling which sits in Nepal. The weather was starting to get really cold and we gratefully huddled around a fire in the tea house where we were staying. One (of many) mangey cats seemed determined to sit on my lap and pull clumps of fur from its skin as I read - nice! Our room was a lot more comfortable that we expected - even a Western toilet, although no toilet paper to be seen. More on this later... As the sun started setting Pemba took us up to the top of a nearby hill to watch the sun set and show us the route for the next day. We had covered 14km in day one and had 21km of steep climb to look forward to tomorrow. Our dinner was a feast of 4 different curries, chapatis and rice only slightly tainted by a giant caterpillar / grub / maggot that we found in our curried egg! The dark and the cold made us head to bed even though it was only 8pm. There then followed a farcical mime show as, dressed in hats, long lohns and thermals and looking like Marcel Marceau!

The morning of day two started with a beautiful sunset over the mountains and a big breakfast of pancakes, jam and tea. Still no sign of loo paper so in desperation we started to tear pages out of Tess of The D'Urbervilles that I was reading - starting at the front of course as I hadn't quite finished the book! Our walk today was long and tough. A sharp descent took us to the start of the Singalia National Park with anothr passport check. But what goes down must go up and we had a 2km hike up a 45 degree ascent. The air was starting to get thinner - we were at about 3,000 metres at this point - which made the going that much tougher. Our lunch stop was another tea house where we tucked into enormous helpings of yak meat stew and rice. The family cooking for us kept arriving with more and more food and in our polite British way we felt we couldn't say no. Outside, the local men were all gathered around a battered looking jeep taking it apart and putting it back together. The big lunch caused big problems in the afternoon as we made our final climb of the day up to Sandakaphu. The climb was about 3km long and so steep. We had to stop and get our breath back at every turn and the air was getting even thinner. When we finally made it to the top (3,600m) at about 4pm we crumpled into an exhausted heap! That night we were too tired to talk. We were both suffering from a bit of altitude sickness and it didn't help when Pemba gave us the local brew to try. It was a bamboo tube filled with millet. As you poured hot water on to it the alcohol gathered at the bottom which we then drank through a straw. It was a bit like mulled wine - but at high altitude felt pretty potent! We were sleeping in a hut with the porters and local army guarding the border and it was quite basic. Still all the layers we (or rather Menos and Guy) were carrying were put to good use. The night was a little disturbed as Guy's altitude sickness kicked in and he had to make a few cold bleak trips to the mankey squatter toilet! We also had a worrying moment when he thought his brain had swollen up in his head but it turned out to be a bad headache!

The next morning on day 3 we were starting to climatise and managed to haul ourselves out of bed to catch the most breathtaking view over the Himalayas and got our first sight of...Everest! It was incredible to be that high and that close to Everest and it looked really spectacular in the pink morning sun. Everest is known by the local people as Sagarmater (Mother of the Sea). Today's walk was 23km, so longer again and just as many ups and downs but we were both feeling stronger and more climatised. The weather was another crisp clear day and we spent it walking towards Everest and Kanchendzonga. It was really breathtaking and so remote. We hadn't seen anyone else (apart from those tha lived there) since we had started walking. We surprised ourselves but making it all the way to Phalut by 2pm and the climbs proved less of a challenge than the day before. Phalut is the only place on th ridge where you can get a 360 degree view of the mountain ranges. It's so remote that trekkers never normally stay there but Pemba's friend was caretaker of a lodge there so we ended up in the rooms saved for the Government's Forrestry Commission! The weather by this point was so cold and we huddled in the hut reading under 14 blankets!

On day 4 we got to wake up and enjoy the awesome view. It was a special moment for both of us. Never had we been somewhere this wild. From our viewpoint in Phalut we looked into the hills of Nepal that no tourist or foreigner is allowed to visit. We scanned the peaks of Kanchanzonga, Padim, the Two Sisters round to Everest on our right and the Indian state of Sikim on our left. It was truly breathtaking and a once in a lifetime moment. To top it off, Pemba and his friend prepared beakfast of chapatis and potatoes outside, setting up a table and chairs for us in the courtyard of the tea house. We felt like royalty and it was the 'best breakfast with a view' that we've eaten! Only 5 minutes after we had set off we encountered an Indian army checkpoint. Up until now these checkpoints had been pretty straightforward but this time we encountered a bit of resistence today. A couple of guards wanted to look in our rucksacks. As soon as they started asking, we were surrounded by 15 soldiers. It was quite intimidating but Pemba stood his ground with all of them and explained that any tourist travelling with a guide isn't allowed to be search. Considering they were all 6 foot and he was about 4 foot nothing, he waas pretty brave and eventually they backed down and let us pass! Our walk on day 4 was down, down, down as we wove through the bamboo and fir tree forests into a lovely little village called Gorkey that sits on the border of Bengal and Sikim. While you normally need a permit to visit Sikim we were able to sneak across the rickety bridge at the border for free! We spent the afternoon reading and resting in our little hut before another giant dinner of chicken curry. We had seen the chicken running around that afternoon before they killed it - so we knew it was fresh!

Day 5 - our final day - was another 21km but Pemba had promised us it would be an easy one. However we had realised by this point that Pemba often told us that to keep us sweet. The day was beautiful and walk was throguh local farm lands as we started to near civilisation, but the walk was tough and steep. Our fitness had dramatically improved - even after 5 days - and we managed a 2km steep uphill hike without stopping for breath. There followed much whooping and 'high fiving' and Pemba and Menos thought we were mad! Our walked finished in Rimbick on market day so the town was pretty full of people from the hills and mountains who had travelled many miles to trade their goods. We had a final lunch of pork momos (like steamed dumplings) before the long 3 hour drive back to Darjeeling. On our way back we dropped 'the boys' (as Guy had taken to calling them) back in Maneybhanjang. Pemba and Menos had made the trip so great with their amazing knowledge, sense of adventure and ability to laugh at Guy's terrible jokes! As we said our goodbyes they presented us with Buddhist prayer scarves. The gesture was so heartfelt and we were both really moved by how sincere and affectionate they were. We had become so fond of them over the last 5 days. In fact all our encounters during the trek had shown us what friendly, open and honest people there are in India and Nepal and how much they welcome you into their lives. We returned happy to the warmth of the Dekeling Guesthouse to have a much needed shower!