India Day 17: "Himalayan trek"

India Day 17: "Himalayan trek"

It's 2:30am and my alarm sounds. I reach and hit snooze. Ben groans and asks what the time was and then "is your clock still set at Katmandu time (15mins later than India)?" We're elated to have an extra 15 mins to sleep. Today we set out on our 16 mile Himalayan trek. Next we met our taxi driver, who seems to excited to be up this early and we set out towards the trailhead picking up our guides along the way. Ben was upset that we had to hire a required guide to takes us up the mountains, we aptly named them 'Furpas' (as in the other products found in India such as foakles and Folex). As we ascended there were still worrisome clouds in the sky but a radiant sunrise lit the sky in a tie-dye of purples, reds, blues, and oranges. We kept ascending.  Ben "mountain goat" Rosenfeld climbed around nimbly up the first part of the trail which entailed nearly 1000ft in just under 2km. I, on the other hand, sweatily huffed and puffed like a pregnant woman in her 20th hour of labor (though, to my credit I out hiked both our guides!). We were able to hike above the first set of clouds to a heavenly site were we witnessed clouds pouring like water over mountains and through valleys. Again, The most beautiful place on earth. As we cleared the pine forest the scenery changed to low cut grasslands comparable to what I picture the Highlands of Scotland to be. Rolling green hills terminating violently over steep mountain faces that give way to profound valleys, were again splayed before us. After our initial leg the trail softened and the views started melting away in to the rolling cloud banks until we found ourselves hiking through the clouds themselves. We stopped at a few rural houses for tea and checked out some colorful Hindu/Buddhist shrines along the way. For lunch we stopped at a local's house and Ben and I sampled some homemade items such as fermented liquor,

 some sort of easy gum, and some other foods that are hard to describe. We out-hiked our guides, when they would ask to stop and rest Ben and I would

exchange proud smirks. We were able to catch a glimpse of the world's 4th highest peak through the clouds. On the way down it started raining. Our guides didn't want to hike but Ben and I pressed on. Serene views all around.  Oh! I forgot to mention the leeches! Apparently in this region there are 'grass leeches'. We were told to be weary and in fact we saw many! Mostly on cows but our guide found one on his pants. Anyways, we made it back down squished in the 12 other people into a land rover and bounced uncomfortably back to Darjeeling. After returning to our hotel famished and exhausted we crashed. Tomorrow we take off for Calcutta so you may miss the next blog.