Sandakphu - A photo story

Oh ! Poor Dear ! Dont worry , plan it soon after the training programme ...

dear aditiban

trekked sandakphu via tumling and came back via gurdum in three days. left kolkata on 8 th (doljatra) night. did you get too see kanchenzonga under a moonlit night. had a good view this time, but not even near to what i saw last time (november 2009). it seems from your thread i was just travelling ahead of you. did you came down to sirikhola via gurdum ?? and missed the next day shuttle from SEPI ??

souvo

Day 2 :

The morning started at 4.30 am . There were only 2 toilets . The water was cold like anything. Brushing your teeth is a hazard there . After getting vfresh we went out for a brisk walk.

the morning glory




the dawn breaks :



The snow capped peaks were visible from inside the fog in the morning though we could not get a proper photo of it.



The sunrays fall on the Pine trees




A call for breakfast. Maggi with burned omlettes . Auntiji said they eat omlettes like this only . We filled up our stomachs because today there is a huge ascend till chitre.

And we start at 7:45 am



This time i did not feel so much breathless as i felt last time during deoriataal trip . This time i had been going for morning walk for an hour from the day we decided we would be visiting sandakphu.

Leaving Maneybhanjan



Yes the ascend was tough through shortcuts. We used shortcut through the hills and forest. But it was a lovely experience. We were walking in line, all 11 of us . We were keeping eclairs in our pockets . Another group started early than us but they were following landrover road . Soon we caught them up .

At around 9 am we saw a gompa. Srijan told it was Chitre Gompa. The abode of peace among the peacefull valley. I wished i could stay here itself.

Chitre Gompa

first two photos taken in my blackberry....









Its pious to see



The valley



After having a sip in the hot tea we started for Lameydhura. The road had beauty in abundance. It seemed as if God had created the road for us with his own hands and had done the make over with all his craftsmanship.

Way to Lameydhura



The view of the road





Finally we reached Lameydhura at around 11.10 am. A break for a noodle soup and a song from my hubby and Srijan.





After a 20 mins break we started for Meghma, the beautiful name, the land of clouds....The trail was not so steep. We reached there at around 1 pm. A small break and now towards our today's destination , Tumling, around 2 km from here.








A marriage reception Gate just before reaching Tumling...



the barati...hope i could see and taste the gala lunch



Finally ...our destination... Sikhar Lodge, Tumling at around 2.15 pm. Oh! So relaxed !
The hotel was really clean, good, well maintained.









The hot hot lunch of 'khichdi' , salad, alubhujiya,achaar,papad,butter and what a sumptuous lunch ! We were hungry and felt like we could eat buckets of khichdi

the dining hall






We had booked the dormatory for all 11. It was very cozy . After the lunch we sat outside in the sun for 'adda'. None were allowed to sleep inside the room as we wanted to enjoy outside.

As the sun set our feet started becoming numb.The evening was shining due to pieces of stars in the sky....up above the world so high...like a diamond in the sky....

It was cold. We had roti-chicken for dinner and inside the sleeping bag.An activity full day is over for now.

we came through gurdum and did not missed the shuttle from sepi ...yuuuuhuuuu....did you start your trek from dhotre ? hey we left kolkata on 9th night.11th night we were in tumling, 12 th kalapokhri, 13th sandakphu. what about you ?

@ aditiban

you are just amazing ......wonderful write up.......keep them cumin I am feeling I'm going with you gang

@ aditiban

is he the poor husband had to carry two extra responsibilities even on Himalaya.......wife & her luggage

Hey ! Do you think i am 'resposibility' !! No , No this is not my hubby, this is Sajuda, he does expeditions and all ... and thank you for your motivating words .

thank you so much sagarneel !

Whoa!! Maneybhanjyang looks astinishingly changed over the time. When we trekked, it was a village with just around 15 local huts, 3-4 shops , one youth hostel and a telephone booth.

thank you mithun !!

Some of my other travelmates were also telling the same... it is a small town kind now ... market , shop , beauty parlours, hotel, secondary school ,laptop everything is there. Srijan , our guide used towork in Limtex call centre inKolkata, he is now learning French over internet...so you can understand.... only change is constant....

We stayed in Youth Hostel. There was a part-time caretaker called 'Jeevan Sir' who used to teach in a primary school in Agarpara (Kolkata). He was an amazingly wise person and he knew the whole Sandakphu and Falut regions just like his own palm. He without any guidebook and any reference to any map, drew us a trek map of whole of the Sandakphu and Falut region including shortcuts and all. That was really unbelievable. We saluted him and because of that map, we could do the whole trek without a guide.

Does anyone know if he is still there??

He is there, we talked to him over phone ,known as masterji, in hotel exotica....his number 09733044512

Thanks Aditi. No wonder he is so renowned nowadays

Nice picture Aditiban.

I went for trek to Sandhakphu in 1995 & returned through Rimbik forest.

As its long ago & was my first trek while reading in school,so cant remember the name of the hut/ lodge where we stayed at,but I can clearly recall that time there were only two hut in at Sandhakphu & Manebhanjang was not so much developed...

Eagarly waiting for somemore snaps.

Will post some of snaps of my trip which was 17yrs ago....

it sounds great.......we'll love to see the snaps of 17 years ago....... when I was new to wearing full pants

Dear aditiban

no, in that case we were ahead of your schedule by one day. 8th sealdah(rong mekhe), 9th manebhanjan, 10th tumling, 11th sandakphu (bypassing kalapokhari), 12th sirikhola (via gurdum), 13th njp, 14th joined office ..........

FB link for my photos,
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...3&l=500ed5d072

Himalayan bug has bitten me badly, have lost half my mind, might plan something 6-8 april maybe.

regards

souvo