DAY 22 : INDIA : Singalila Ridge Trek : Stage 3

Weather : windy, clear, freezing to sunny and foggy afternoon.

 

Today's walk was from Sandakphu (3,636 m) to Rimbik - 16 kms.

 

 

Eureka! A clear morning - perfect for Himalaya gazing - and not so common an occurance. Lucky us. We could see Everest to the left and the Sikkim range to the right.

 

 

 

 

 

Sharing the joy with many others, including another Dawa, who is very engaging guide, with his family business based in Newcastle. Adopted as a child from the Buddhist monastery in Darjeeling he has returned, with a great passion for his life - in the Himalayas and great love for his family in Australia.

 

 

Downhill all the way today, which suited me but Mark finds taxing on his knees. We walked through a lot of bamboo forests - home of the Red Panda - none in evidence today.

 

 

 

Lunch at  Sherpa Lodge - half way down the mountain - early lunch, in fact, because we'd made such good time. Feeling a bit jelly-kneed.

 

 

Rhododendrons everywhere. Colourful flowers grown outside all the hillside houses.

 

 

Play-time at a local school. These primary school students will have to walk 2 and a half hours on the steep paths to and from the next stage school next year. Twice a day - we are doing it once in a lifetime and suffering. No school buses and only basic facilities for these tiny government schools.

 

 

Long climb down.

 

 

Exultant that we had finished in good time at Rimbik - not without incident, Mark slipped and twisted his knee on the way down. Our driver collected us and we drove the winding road back to Darjeeling (60 kms - 3 hours). We had amazing views of the hillside villages and farms of Sikkim - too hazy for a good photo. Sikkim was only annexed to India in the 1990s at their request because of their disillusionment with their monarch.

M&M

mm_smith@bigpond.net.au