Sandakphu - Version I

The year was 1990. Perhaps January. Certainly not beyond February. I cannot remember clearly. I had just come back from Bhutan for my winter vacation, which used to be from mid-December to end March. I was desperate to go out on a trek. With no friend available to go with me I decided to go out alone.

I am sure I would have taken the bus to Siliguri and from there a shared jeep to Ghum. For all you know, I might have even come from Darjeeling to Ghum also. I have quite forgotten and it doesn’t really matter any more. But I do remember that from Ghum I took another shared jeep to Sukhia Pokhari. Sukhia at that time was a small hamlet with just a few shops and a jeep stand. It’s a full-fledged bustling, noisy town now.

From Sukhia I got into another shared Land Rover to Maneybhanjang. I remember the Land Rover driver got rid of us in the middle of the way, saying a nut had fallen off one of his wheels and it would be dangerous to be travelling with so many people !!! I guess I walked the rest of the way or perhaps hitched another ride in another jeep. Once again I cannot remember clearly and it doesn't really matter.

I do remember starting from Maneybhanjang in the middle of the day and in all likelihood after a hearty lunch. The sun was up and it was pretty hot. I asked someone which way to Sandakphu in crisp Nepali and they showed me the way.

Even Manaybhanjang, which is a big town now, was a small hamlet with only a few shops around the main road. In fact Maney was still a small sleepy village when we next visited it in 2000. It's only recently that it has grown into such a large town.

Another thing I remember clearly about this trip is that I had a thick, brown leather jacket on (I had just bought it from the Lexpo in Calcutta) and a pair of Wrangler jeans. I was wearing a pair of Power Joggers. The rucksack was an old external framed sack and it had a very high quality down sleeping bag inside it, which we had bought from Kathmandu a few years ago during our Langtang trek.  

So, around mid-day I set off for Sandakphu. It was warm. I was alone. I was doing Sandakphu in the classic solo Alpine style J

My enthusiasm soon took a hit. It was hot. I was wearing a super warm leather jacket. I had a load on my back and my whole back was aching. I was thirsty. I had exhausted the bottle of water within half an hour. By 45 minutes I knew I could not carry on any more. I was thoroughly exhausted.

To make matters worse I could not see a single human being anywhere in the vicinity. In fact, since starting from Maney I had not seen anyone. I was desperately looking for a human being or a house. After some time, I saw a cow shed kind of thing. A hut with tiled roof and a few huge cows tethered to pegs on the ground – a very familiar sight for me. I went to the door of the house and parked myself on a slab of stone meant for sitting (like a bench outside our tea stalls here). There was no one around. I kept knocking on the open door. No one around.

So I kept waiting. Finally a young girl came along. She is a Tibetan in her teens. Not a Nepali. I asked her if her parents were around. She asked me why. I said I needed to spend the night here. She was totally flabbergasted. She said no way could they let someone sleep in their house. And insisted that I walk just a little bit more to a place called Meghma. I said nothing doing. If you do not let me sleep inside the house I will sleep outside. There is no way I would go any further.

After this her old father came. He was also equally flabbergasted to know that a stranger wants to sleep in their house. He said tomorrow is our Losar (Tibetan New Year, which is a very big festival among Tibetans all over the world) and our son is going to come from Darjeeling tonight. How can I let you stay here? There is no space. I was quite serious about spending the night outside their room. Finally they took sympathy on me and let me spend the night in their drawing room on a divan.

The son came along. Quite an educated guy who works in Darjeeling in some government department. We hit it off pretty well and had a wonderful evening chatting together.  We spoke about my experience in Bhutan and he explained the finer points of Tibetan Buddhism to me. I do not remember the dinner we had. But next morning I left after just a tea, thanking them profusely.

Before going out I asked them what the name of the village was and they said it was called Chitre. Just one house village and it has a name of its own. I felt pretty tickled. Chitre, thankfully, has remained more or less the same. But I guess that hut is now a full fledged guest house. More importantly, most trekkers now know it by its name. I guess I have the distinction of being the first trekker guest of Chitre, albeit unsolicited.

Meghma, I soon realized was certainly not round the corner as the “bainee” (sister in Nepali) told me it was. But Meghma lived up to its name. There were clouds all around. I realised I wasn't feeling as tired as I was feeling the day before. That first day's trek warmed me up and frankly right up to Sandkphug, over the next couple of days I did not ever feel tired.

I entered the first house that comes when you reach Meghma. It is a Lama’s house and they had a huge kitchen. I feel very comfortable in such settings. I soon put my sack down. Sat near the large oven and ordered for Momos and noodles. Dried Tibetan cheese sticks were hanging all over the huge kitchen. I thoroughly enjoyed the company of the two young girls in their late teens, their fat old mother and the old, ever smiling Lama. After some time, much against my wishes I took their leave and set out for Jaubari. 

While the trail from Chitre to Meghma is an uphill climb, it flattens out after Meghma. Within minutes I came across a bamboo check post in the middle of nowhere. This is Nepal border, I am told. The check post is nothing but a long bamboo pole kept blocking the trail. But it's an international check post nevertheless !!! I called out blindly (the Nepali equivalent of "is there anyone out there?") in the hope that someone would be around. Soon a lady came from nowhere and I realised that she actually had a small arrangement to make tea in that middle of nowhere. She made tea for me and we had some chit chat about this and that. She refused to accept any money for the tea from someone who could speak Nepali !!! I learnt this place is called Tumling.

Tumling now has quite a few guest houses and in fact many going to Sandakphug stop here to spend the first night. A status that Meghma enjoyed in the 80s and early 90s. Meghma, meanwhile, has become a mini-bustling town now with its own little monastery.

From Tumling to Jaubari is a non-descript walk which was completed in a short time. Jaubari had a nice system to accomodate guests. They had two guest houses there. One, as you entered the village. It was called Teacher's Lodge. I guess it was owned by a teacher. The other at the end of the village called Indira Lodge. I believe, while Teacher's Lodge has folded up Indira Lodge is still going strong. Now, the system back then was Teacher's and Indira hosted the guests every alternate night. The night I was there, it was Indira's turn. I unloaded my stuff there and then went to roam around in the little village.

I soon found my way to Teacher's Lodge where only the two daughters of the owner were there. The three of us had a wonderful evening chatting in Nepali. God only remembers what all we chatted about. The only thing I remember is they had huge copper pitchers and they really loved my leather jacket and wanted to buy it from me. If memory serves me right, I had tongba with them at Teacher's.

I remember eating pasta at Indira Lodge for dinner. The pasta was produced out of a small hand operated machine in the kitchen itself. I found this rather unique.

I must mention that I found I was the only tourist in that region. Next morning I left for Kalipokhari. On the way was Gairibas. I do not remember anything about Gairibas except that there was some army check post. On the way I saw a few Israeli tourists. One of the guys was feeling rather sick and wanted to call it off. I felt sad for him.

I remember entering Kalipokhari in the afternoon when it was very cloudy. There is a very small pond in Kalipokhari. It was covered under thick cloud. I remember nothing about where I stayed in Kalipokhari but there were a couple of places there to stay.

Next day I went to Sandakphu. The hike was quite a long one and I felt very very tired trudging my way up to the top. Towards the end some huge dogs started barking around me. As it is I was feeling very cold and tired and then these dogs were surrounding me. I picked up some stones from the trail and the dogs knew what it meant. They soon ran away but kept barking at me. I was indeed a little scared at this stage.

Finally I reached Sandakphug.

If I remember correctly, there was just one shack in Sandakphug back then where I spent a couple of nights. If I am not mistaken that has now morphed into the super luxury hotel of Sherpa Chalet. There was another Japanese tourist there in Sandakphug. As usual we hit it off pretty well. He is the first guy who ever told me about Karakoram Highway. We had corresponded for a few years after this. But as things happen he is lost somewhere in this big bad  world.

I remember just two things about Sandakphug - there was just one hut in the hill top where I stayed. That hut had a bitch that was sitting with its litter and I stepped on her. She bit me as I stepped on her while going out for a pee in the night. The Japanese guy told me not to worry as it was a natural reaction and the dog was probably not rabid. He even gave me some ointment to apply. Although it had bitten me over the jeans, I bled a little.

I also remember the thick snow behind the hut. I was super thrilled to see so much snow. The weather was glorious. I wished it would snow. But it didn't.

Aftter two nights in Sandakphug, I went down towards Rimbik. One walked down up to Bikaybhanjang, which is the common trail towards Kalipokhari. From here the trail bifurcated. I went walking towards Rimbik. This is a narrow trail going through a dense rhododendron forest. There were places where the trail was snow covered and one needed to take steps rather cautiously. I quite did all that without batting an eyelid. I once lost the trail and got distracted a bit. But soon enough I realised that I was off the trail and came back to the main trail.

Towards the end of the day I met a group of porters who had just about started from Rimbik and walking towards Sandakphug. They said they would reach way before sunset. I was quite amazed by this claim.

Finally my solo trek to Sandakphug ended when I descended on Rimbik - the road head. I remember there was a Rod Stewart poster in the room where I stayed. The lodge owner gave me a guest book to write my comments on. One of the comments left by a previous guest was: What's Rod Stewart doing in my room? 

I had taken a lot of photographs during this trip with my Olympus OM10 camera. I do not know where they are.