We start our morning in the middle of the fog, which wasn't a very good sign for our trek. But we had breakfast at Glenary's Bakery, which was amazing eggs, beans, and toast, while Andrew got eggs, sausage, and bacon (sausage wasn't very good though). We walked down the street to the trekking office and met our guides Neema and Vicki. We then started out on our adventure with a 45 minute taxi ride to Maneybhang, a tiny little town on the border of India/Nepal. DAY 1 TREK Manebhanjang to Tonglu-distance: 6.83 mi/ 11 km elevation change: .57 mi/ .92 km At Manebhanjang (7053ft/2150 m) we had to get our passports checked and write down our names. The trail dips in and out of Nepal, so while we didn't need a visa, we still had to be documented every time we went in and out. This is one of the other reasons why all foreigners must have a guide to do this trek. Other than getting lost, they want to make sure people aren't smuggling in and out of the border. That day we were scheduled to cover 11 km (6.83 mi). The first mile or so of the trek was on a road, and it was incredibly steep. We did switch backs back and forth and all of us were immediately out of breath and questioning how hard the rest of the trip was going to be. Finally we got off of the road and onto what Neema called "beach" which was cobblestone path. It was all pretty steep but at least the rocks were more interesting to climb than just the road. While walking I talked to Neema about Darjeeling and Gorkhaland. Darjeeling is technically in the state of West Bengal which runs North-South all the way to the Bay of Bengal. It's a pretty large area, and Darjeeling is just a little part of it. The roads and public schools of Darjeeling are a mess, and most people blame it on the fact that they are in such a large state. Darjeeling is a major exporter of tea and can produce a lot of money that way, but unfortunately the government of West Bengal (located in the South), redirects the money away from Darjeeling to other areas of the state. This makes a lot of people angry and they want their own state separate from West Bengal-called Gorkhaland. He said that they have been trying since the 80's but it is hard to get people in Delhi organized or concerned about Gorkhaland, so it's a slow process. It was pretty interesting talking to him about it. The Indian government has legislation similar to our Affirmative Action, except it is directed at "tribal" people. Neema fits into this category. He is from a small tribe on the border of India/Nepal and has lived his life between the two countries climbing peaks and leading expeditions (not on Everest...yet). Even though he is classified as a "tribal" he was very educated on the subject and had a vast knowledge of international politics (probably from leading foreigners on treks). He wanted to know all about my studies and sociology, and thought that what I study is very interesting as well. We finally rounded a bend where we could finally see why it's called the Sringalila Ridge Trek. We were very obviously on a ridge, and could see the line of towns that we were to hike to for the next two days. In the center of this ridge was a tiny little "pit stop" type bamboo shack which we stopped at for chai and cookies. Here there were about three families, filled with some older women spinning wool, the younger women making chai, the older men playing cards, and the younger boys chasing the chickens and dogs. Down the path from the chai stop was an army camp. I'm not quite sure what all these check posts were for, but about 7 times along the trek, we had to stop at these barb-wired fenced camps full of guys in flip-flops in sweater and fill out our passport numbers, where are you from, where are you going, why, with who. The guys were obviously all very bored, playing basketball, cards, and drinking lots of vodka. For the first one we saw Andrew snapped a picture, then the guy told us "no pictures" so we didn't get anymore. But he didn't make us delete the old one, so you can see a little bit of what it looked like. It was a bit ridiculous among the small clusters of bamboo shacks to have the barbed wire and machine guns, but I guess about 25 years ago this border was disputed and these are the remnants from that. Neema pointed up a rather large hill and said "That's where we are staying tonight." So we put on our packs and headed up. There were two paths, the longer flatter one and the shorter steeper one. Of course being 20 years old and invincible we all chose the shorter one. It was pretty death-defying. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but it just went straight up the hill along this ridge. It was massively windy, to the point were we almost had to shout at each other to hear each other. Neema said to walk with a stance wider than your shoulders so you don't get blown over by the wind. That's pretty complicated to do while walking up such a steep hill. I think I ended up just putting my hands down for support too. Finally we got to the top, and it was amazing. We had spectacular views of Mt. Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world (28,169 ft./8585 m), as well as the cloud blanketed India to the East and Nepal to the West. We stayed at a little government owned lodge in Tonglu (elevation 10,072 ft/3070 m), which is really a collection of 5 buildings more than a town. First order was to change out of our sweat drenched clothes into some dry ones then have a snack of Maggie noodles (kind of like Top Ramen) and more Chai. The sun went down quickly and with it went any form of warmth. We quickly wrapped up and walked around while the sun was setting to get a look of the views. Our meals were cooked in a separate kitchen, but an older Nepalese man. The kitchen had everything from pickling peppers to full sets of china enough to feed a small army. The man also kept two small kittens in the kitchen. We found this to be regular in the kitchens as the kittens like the warmth of the fire and free food droppings and they probably catch the mice. They were really sweet and a lot of fun to play with. Also roaming around were lots and lots of well fed dogs, and a couple of families of chickens with baby chickens chirping away every time the kittens got too close. For dinner we had daal and rice (a kind of bean dish), which was pretty filling. The rooms at the government lodge were bunk style, so we ended up just pushing all the beds together and sleeping in one big bed to keep warm. I was very grateful that I brought my sleeping bag, it got really cold. DAY 2 TREK Tonglu to Sandakphu- distance 11.80mi/19km elevation change: .35mi/.566km The next day we woke up 5 am to see the sunrise over the mountains, the view was just spectacular. I had seen pictures of other people's treks before we left, and I knew that we were very, very lucky to have such clear weather (usually it rains a lot). It was a really amazing view of Mt. Kangchenjunga and we could even see Darjeeling in the distance. We then went down to the kitchen for a meal of oatmeal, boiled eggs, and more chai. It was really good oatmeal, I don't know if I was tired or cold, but I felt like it tasted amazing. I played with the kittens until we headed out at about 8 am. Headed towards Sandakphu (elevation 11,929 ft/3636 m). Now, don't be fooled by the elevation change numbers. Although it seems like there was less, really the second day was considerably harder than the first. For the first two hours it was down hill along the ridge. It was beautiful weather, almost a bit too warm, with easy down hill walking. There were sheep, goats, dogs, and small houses dotting the trail and we were generally all in a good mood. Then we hit another check point, more where from, where going, why, with who; and we had to pay a fee for entering a national park. We would have had to pay extra for bringing in the video camera, so instead we forgot to mention we had it and decided to not take video for that day. So that's why there is the lack of video for Day 2, sorry. We then realized how far we had gone down, and how far up we now had to go. Again, Neema pointed straight up and said, we're staying at the top of this hill. It was really intense going. Along the way I started to feel really tired and got a pretty intense head ache. The group had split into two (Andrew, Will, Neema and Eric, Giana, Vicki, Me). It was pretty tough going and I got pretty frustrated. Needless to say, at that altitude and being tired I quickly got a headache and upset. Luckily, at around noon we stopped for lunch and I had a chance to recuperate and we all decided to stay together instead of dividing into two groups. Vicki saw that I was pretty upset and didn't eat the lunch of rice and vegetables, so he had the woman make me garlic soup. It was pretty much the most disgusting thing I have ever taken in my life. It was shredded garlic, boiled, in water, probably a little salt too. So not to be rude, I tried to down the huge bowl as quickly as possible, but once I got to the bottom it was too much shreds of garlic and I had to put it down. I let Andrew try a little bit and he said he felt like he might vomit. I also took a bit of Motrin that Giana had carried to compliment the traditional medicine. As we started Neema said that now the trek was actually going to be steep, of course I was pretty confused, I thought what we had done was already steep enough, but up we went. We had great clear weather and although we were in better spirits after lunch, we were all still pretty tired. The trail again split into steep vs. shallow. Of course we still consider ourselves invincible (call us stupid) so we chose steep. This time I was using my hands pretty much the whole time because there were parts where landslides had taken away parts of the path and so we had to jump around. Although it was physically more exhausting, I think we were all having a lot of fun trampling around and making our own path. We arrived in Sandakphu at around 5:30 pm, just in time for the sunset and to catch our first glimpses of Mt. Everest! It was pretty exciting, but all of us agreed that we were exhausted and will enjoy the view more fully in the morning. In Sandakphu we stayed at the Hotel Sunrise Valley (I think there was one other choice). Which was immaculately clean, and the family running it was really nice. The showed us to our room upstairs, which was nice and warm, and wood paneled, and brought up chai for us. They even had electricity! For dinner we were served egg chowmein or egg fried rice. The older woman then came into the room with a large pitcher of dark liquid and told us it was "red beer". Then Eric, Will, Giana, and Andrew started to feel their sun burns pretty bad. I guess I some how got lucky and didn't get it as bad as they did, but Will and Andrew had pretty nasty burns on their necks and Giana had bad burns on the back of her calves. Because we were in the attic, it was considerably warmer than the night before, and we were pretty comfortable in our room. DAY 3 TREK Sandakphu to Rimbik- distance: 13.05mi/21km elevation change: -2.75mi/-4.429 km We woke up at 5 am excited to see Everest, and we weren't disappointed. We climbed a nearby hill and had an absolutely amazing 360 degree panoramic view of the mountains. We could see Mount Everest, Mt. Kangchenjunga (3rd highest), Lhotse (4th highest), and Cho Oyu (6th highest). We were all pretty astounded by what a great view we had. Again, after having read previous blogs about this trek, I thought that perhaps we would have a clouded view of Everest for maybe 10 minutes (the clouds move quickly at that altitude). Instead we had a full 45 minutes of absolutely clear skies straight to Everest. It was truly amazing, we were so lucky. It was best to watch the sunrise because you could see the way that the light would hit each one of the mountains, some before the others, and it reminded you of how huge these mountains are, and that the world is round, and how weird all the math is that goes into explaining all that. I don't understand it, but it was cool. We then had porridge for breakfast and had to leave by 7 am for the 21 km trek to Rimbik, our last stop on the trek. The trek was incredibly steep downhill the entire time. It was pretty slippery going down the backside of the hill that was mostly in the shade and so was pretty damp. I fell multiple times, but nothing serious. The guides hiked faster than us, and Andrew liked to keep up with them. Apparently while they were hiking they told him that he was the best trekker they've ever seen and that he was a "natural born trekker" (que Andrew's ego exploding and now anytime he does anything wrong he says "Well, at least I'm a natural born trekker"). Once we got farther down into the valley we started to pass little huts that were surrounded by farms. There were lots of people there who were obviously self-sustaining. It was weird to see the kids playing with the chickens and women doing the laundry in the river and wonder what their life is like. We stopped at one house and had a snack of boiled potatoes with black salt. I love the boiled potatoes but I still can't get over the black salt. It's really popular here, but to me it tastes like sand. It's gross. By 11 am the path started to level out as we were nearing the bottom of the valley. The climate became more tropical again, with lots of waterfalls and cool flowers everywhere. We passed a bridge over a waterfall and pool of water and the Neema said we could stop and swim here if we wanted, of course, you didn't have to tell Andrew twice, he was down at the pool, in his boxers before any of us could even take off our packs. He said that as a natural born trekker, he's in his element. Of course the water was snow run-off and was bitterly cold. But we were all really tired (and dirty, no running water for the past 2 days), so Andrew, Will, Eric, and I jumped in. Then we quickly got out to sunbathe and warm up. Andrew like swimming around a lot more and did circles around the rocks. Finally we all changed and kept walking. The guides preferred to walk ahead of us, and that was okay with us. They left arrows and notes in the sand for us to follow, it was kind of like a treasure hunt. Then every hour or so we would see them waiting for us ahead. At noon we finally reached a crazy little town of four or five shops along the river that were all painted really bright and eccentric colors. We had coke and Maggie noodles and rested our legs. Unaware of how stiff we had become after lunch it took a good 15 minutes to be able to walk again because we had taken such a long break for lunch. The rest of the trail was rolling hills that crisscrossed the river on suspension foot bridges. The bridges were covered in Buddhist prayer flags; it was pretty cool, but also very frightening as many of the boards were loose. Finally around 2 pm we arrived at Rimbik (elevation 7500 ft/2286 m). Rimbik was a much bigger down (being connected by a road that can be driven on). So there was a whole line of shops and bazaars. We stayed at the Hotel Green View and were pleasantly surprised by a hot water shower! It had been about one month since my last hot water shower, so I was really grateful for it. I forgot how great hot water feels. We all took showers, had some chai, and relaxed in our beds. Hotel Green View is an eccentrically painted little hotel with all kinds of décor on the walls. Everything from Gorkha knifes, to guns, to shields, and Buddha, Pravati (a Hindu Goddess), and the Virgin Mary. It's owned by a Tibetian family who is obviously proud of their heritage as posters and picture of Tibet are the only theme of décor throughout the entire hotel. We went down into the town and walked around, there isn't much to do but it was nice to stretch out our legs a bit. We bought some crayons and paper and went back to our room to color. For dinner we were served traditional Tibetian chicken soup (called Thukpa). Although it was good, I was still hungry after the 21 km trek that day. We had HBO in the dinning room and the only thing in English was Seinfeld (the one were Jerry gets a bad haircut). But we were all pretty exhausted and quickly went to sleep. Day 4 Jeep back to Darjeeling One of the best parts about the trek is sleeping afterwards. Being out in the middle of nowhere there is truly silence. Laying in bed you can feel the tingling numbness of your tired muscles, and your brain in a state of blissful exhaustion. Except at 4 AM when you are disorientated and woken in the pitch black by drums and singing. The month of October is a holy one for many of the religions here, especially Hindu. It's kind of like Christmas time back home. People get all dressed up and lots of shopping is done. And apparently certain sects also have to greet the rising sun with drums. We all stumbled out onto the porch to see a slightly satanic looking circle of people with candles all singing and pounding drums right outside the front door. The men would sing a really low verse, then the women and children would sing a shill high-pitched verse. It was quite eerie. Then they started to move in a circle and then broke into a line that walked up the street through the main part of town. Later we asked Vicki what they were doing and he said it was a black magic cult song that they have to perform to great the sun during the holy month. At 5:45 am we woke to have breakfast of vegetable sandwiches (would have preferred porridge), and waited for a jeep. Apparently there aren't any private jeeps going this way, so we had to take a "share jeep". That basically means that you shove as many people into a jeep as possible and then drive. It was incredibly uncomfortable, and I was pretty irritated with the whole situation. There is no concept of a person bubble here what so ever, and after the whole trek, I was pretty fed up with it all. At one point the girl sitting next to Andrew thought it was perfectly decent to just lie on his lap and take a nap. It was really ridiculous. But after four hours we finally got back to Darjeeling. We had chicken burgers and milk shakes at Glenary's Bakery. I think that here they take American foods literally by their name, our milk shake turned out to be literally shaken milk with a scoop of ice-cream on top, but whatever, the chicken burger was good. Andy's hotel was full so we checked into moldy Hotel New Mall View and took a nap.
We start our morning in the middle of the fog, which wasn't a very good sign for our trek. But we had breakfast at Glenary's Bakery, which was amazing eggs, beans, and toast, while Andrew got eggs, sausage, and bacon (sausage wasn't very good though). We walked down the street to the trekking office and met our guides Neema and Vicki. We then started out on our adventure with a 45 minute taxi ride to Maneybhang, a tiny little town on the border of India/Nepal. DAY 1 TREK Manebhanjang to Tonglu-distance: 6.83 mi/ 11 km elevation change: .57 mi/ .92 km At Manebhanjang (7053ft/2150 m) we had to get our passports checked and write down our names. The trail dips in and out of Nepal, so while we didn't need a visa, we still had to be documented every time we went in and out. This is one of the other reasons why all foreigners must have a guide to do this trek. Other than getting lost, they want to make sure people aren't smuggling in and out of the border. That day we were scheduled to cover 11 km (6.83 mi). The first mile or so of the trek was on a road, and it was incredibly steep. We did switch backs back and forth and all of us were immediately out of breath and questioning how hard the rest of the trip was going to be. Finally we got off of the road and onto what Neema called "beach" which was cobblestone path. It was all pretty steep but at least the rocks were more interesting to climb than just the road. While walking I talked to Neema about Darjeeling and Gorkhaland. Darjeeling is technically in the state of West Bengal which runs North-South all the way to the Bay of Bengal. It's a pretty large area, and Darjeeling is just a little part of it. The roads and public schools of Darjeeling are a mess, and most people blame it on the fact that they are in such a large state. Darjeeling is a major exporter of tea and can produce a lot of money that way, but unfortunately the government of West Bengal (located in the South), redirects the money away from Darjeeling to other areas of the state. This makes a lot of people angry and they want their own state separate from West Bengal-called Gorkhaland. He said that they have been trying since the 80's but it is hard to get people in Delhi organized or concerned about Gorkhaland, so it's a slow process. It was pretty interesting talking to him about it. The Indian government has legislation similar to our Affirmative Action, except it is directed at "tribal" people. Neema fits into this category. He is from a small tribe on the border of India/Nepal and has lived his life between the two countries climbing peaks and leading expeditions (not on Everest...yet). Even though he is classified as a "tribal" he was very educated on the subject and had a vast knowledge of international politics (probably from leading foreigners on treks). He wanted to know all about my studies and sociology, and thought that what I study is very interesting as well. We finally rounded a bend where we could finally see why it's called the Sringalila Ridge Trek. We were very obviously on a ridge, and could see the line of towns that we were to hike to for the next two days. In the center of this ridge was a tiny little "pit stop" type bamboo shack which we stopped at for chai and cookies. Here there were about three families, filled with some older women spinning wool, the younger women making chai, the older men playing cards, and the younger boys chasing the chickens and dogs. Down the path from the chai stop was an army camp. I'm not quite sure what all these check posts were for, but about 7 times along the trek, we had to stop at these barb-wired fenced camps full of guys in flip-flops in sweater and fill out our passport numbers, where are you from, where are you going, why, with who. The guys were obviously all very bored, playing basketball, cards, and drinking lots of vodka. For the first one we saw Andrew snapped a picture, then the guy told us "no pictures" so we didn't get anymore. But he didn't make us delete the old one, so you can see a little bit of what it looked like. It was a bit ridiculous among the small clusters of bamboo shacks to have the barbed wire and machine guns, but I guess about 25 years ago this border was disputed and these are the remnants from that. Neema pointed up a rather large hill and said "That's where we are staying tonight." So we put on our packs and headed up. There were two paths, the longer flatter one and the shorter steeper one. Of course being 20 years old and invincible we all chose the shorter one. It was pretty death-defying. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but it just went straight up the hill along this ridge. It was massively windy, to the point were we almost had to shout at each other to hear each other. Neema said to walk with a stance wider than your shoulders so you don't get blown over by the wind. That's pretty complicated to do while walking up such a steep hill. I think I ended up just putting my hands down for support too. Finally we got to the top, and it was amazing. We had spectacular views of Mt. Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world (28,169 ft./8585 m), as well as the cloud blanketed India to the East and Nepal to the West. We stayed at a little government owned lodge in Tonglu (elevation 10,072 ft/3070 m), which is really a collection of 5 buildings more than a town. First order was to change out of our sweat drenched clothes into some dry ones then have a snack of Maggie noodles (kind of like Top Ramen) and more Chai. The sun went down quickly and with it went any form of warmth. We quickly wrapped up and walked around while the sun was setting to get a look of the views. Our meals were cooked in a separate kitchen, but an older Nepalese man. The kitchen had everything from pickling peppers to full sets of china enough to feed a small army. The man also kept two small kittens in the kitchen. We found this to be regular in the kitchens as the kittens like the warmth of the fire and free food droppings and they probably catch the mice. They were really sweet and a lot of fun to play with. Also roaming around were lots and lots of well fed dogs, and a couple of families of chickens with baby chickens chirping away every time the kittens got too close. For dinner we had daal and rice (a kind of bean dish), which was pretty filling. The rooms at the government lodge were bunk style, so we ended up just pushing all the beds together and sleeping in one big bed to keep warm. I was very grateful that I brought my sleeping bag, it got really cold. DAY 2 TREK Tonglu to Sandakphu- distance 11.80mi/19km elevation change: .35mi/.566km The next day we woke up 5 am to see the sunrise over the mountains, the view was just spectacular. I had seen pictures of other people's treks before we left, and I knew that we were very, very lucky to have such clear weather (usually it rains a lot). It was a really amazing view of Mt. Kangchenjunga and we could even see Darjeeling in the distance. We then went down to the kitchen for a meal of oatmeal, boiled eggs, and more chai. It was really good oatmeal, I don't know if I was tired or cold, but I felt like it tasted amazing. I played with the kittens until we headed out at about 8 am. Headed towards Sandakphu (elevation 11,929 ft/3636 m). Now, don't be fooled by the elevation change numbers. Although it seems like there was less, really the second day was considerably harder than the first. For the first two hours it was down hill along the ridge. It was beautiful weather, almost a bit too warm, with easy down hill walking. There were sheep, goats, dogs, and small houses dotting the trail and we were generally all in a good mood. Then we hit another check point, more where from, where going, why, with who; and we had to pay a fee for entering a national park. We would have had to pay extra for bringing in the video camera, so instead we forgot to mention we had it and decided to not take video for that day. So that's why there is the lack of video for Day 2, sorry. We then realized how far we had gone down, and how far up we now had to go. Again, Neema pointed straight up and said, we're staying at the top of this hill. It was really intense going. Along the way I started to feel really tired and got a pretty intense head ache. The group had split into two (Andrew, Will, Neema and Eric, Giana, Vicki, Me). It was pretty tough going and I got pretty frustrated. Needless to say, at that altitude and being tired I quickly got a headache and upset. Luckily, at around noon we stopped for lunch and I had a chance to recuperate and we all decided to stay together instead of dividing into two groups. Vicki saw that I was pretty upset and didn't eat the lunch of rice and vegetables, so he had the woman make me garlic soup. It was pretty much the most disgusting thing I have ever taken in my life. It was shredded garlic, boiled, in water, probably a little salt too. So not to be rude, I tried to down the huge bowl as quickly as possible, but once I got to the bottom it was too much shreds of garlic and I had to put it down. I let Andrew try a little bit and he said he felt like he might vomit. I also took a bit of Motrin that Giana had carried to compliment the traditional medicine. As we started Neema said that now the trek was actually going to be steep, of course I was pretty confused, I thought what we had done was already steep enough, but up we went. We had great clear weather and although we were in better spirits after lunch, we were all still pretty tired. The trail again split into steep vs. shallow. Of course we still consider ourselves invincible (call us stupid) so we chose steep. This time I was using my hands pretty much the whole time because there were parts where landslides had taken away parts of the path and so we had to jump around. Although it was physically more exhausting, I think we were all having a lot of fun trampling around and making our own path. We arrived in Sandakphu at around 5:30 pm, just in time for the sunset and to catch our first glimpses of Mt. Everest! It was pretty exciting, but all of us agreed that we were exhausted and will enjoy the view more fully in the morning. In Sandakphu we stayed at the Hotel Sunrise Valley (I think there was one other choice). Which was immaculately clean, and the family running it was really nice. The showed us to our room upstairs, which was nice and warm, and wood paneled, and brought up chai for us. They even had electricity! For dinner we were served egg chowmein or egg fried rice. The older woman then came into the room with a large pitcher of dark liquid and told us it was "red beer". Then Eric, Will, Giana, and Andrew started to feel their sun burns pretty bad. I guess I some how got lucky and didn't get it as bad as they did, but Will and Andrew had pretty nasty burns on their necks and Giana had bad burns on the back of her calves. Because we were in the attic, it was considerably warmer than the night before, and we were pretty comfortable in our room. DAY 3 TREK Sandakphu to Rimbik- distance: 13.05mi/21km elevation change: -2.75mi/-4.429 km We woke up at 5 am excited to see Everest, and we weren't disappointed. We climbed a nearby hill and had an absolutely amazing 360 degree panoramic view of the mountains. We could see Mount Everest, Mt. Kangchenjunga (3rd highest), Lhotse (4th highest), and Cho Oyu (6th highest). We were all pretty astounded by what a great view we had. Again, after having read previous blogs about this trek, I thought that perhaps we would have a clouded view of Everest for maybe 10 minutes (the clouds move quickly at that altitude). Instead we had a full 45 minutes of absolutely clear skies straight to Everest. It was truly amazing, we were so lucky. It was best to watch the sunrise because you could see the way that the light would hit each one of the mountains, some before the others, and it reminded you of how huge these mountains are, and that the world is round, and how weird all the math is that goes into explaining all that. I don't understand it, but it was cool. We then had porridge for breakfast and had to leave by 7 am for the 21 km trek to Rimbik, our last stop on the trek. The trek was incredibly steep downhill the entire time. It was pretty slippery going down the backside of the hill that was mostly in the shade and so was pretty damp. I fell multiple times, but nothing serious. The guides hiked faster than us, and Andrew liked to keep up with them. Apparently while they were hiking they told him that he was the best trekker they've ever seen and that he was a "natural born trekker" (que Andrew's ego exploding and now anytime he does anything wrong he says "Well, at least I'm a natural born trekker"). Once we got farther down into the valley we started to pass little huts that were surrounded by farms. There were lots of people there who were obviously self-sustaining. It was weird to see the kids playing with the chickens and women doing the laundry in the river and wonder what their life is like. We stopped at one house and had a snack of boiled potatoes with black salt. I love the boiled potatoes but I still can't get over the black salt. It's really popular here, but to me it tastes like sand. It's gross. By 11 am the path started to level out as we were nearing the bottom of the valley. The climate became more tropical again, with lots of waterfalls and cool flowers everywhere. We passed a bridge over a waterfall and pool of water and the Neema said we could stop and swim here if we wanted, of course, you didn't have to tell Andrew twice, he was down at the pool, in his boxers before any of us could even take off our packs. He said that as a natural born trekker, he's in his element. Of course the water was snow run-off and was bitterly cold. But we were all really tired (and dirty, no running water for the past 2 days), so Andrew, Will, Eric, and I jumped in. Then we quickly got out to sunbathe and warm up. Andrew like swimming around a lot more and did circles around the rocks. Finally we all changed and kept walking. The guides preferred to walk ahead of us, and that was okay with us. They left arrows and notes in the sand for us to follow, it was kind of like a treasure hunt. Then every hour or so we would see them waiting for us ahead. At noon we finally reached a crazy little town of four or five shops along the river that were all painted really bright and eccentric colors. We had coke and Maggie noodles and rested our legs. Unaware of how stiff we had become after lunch it took a good 15 minutes to be able to walk again because we had taken such a long break for lunch. The rest of the trail was rolling hills that crisscrossed the river on suspension foot bridges. The bridges were covered in Buddhist prayer flags; it was pretty cool, but also very frightening as many of the boards were loose. Finally around 2 pm we arrived at Rimbik (elevation 7500 ft/2286 m). Rimbik was a much bigger down (being connected by a road that can be driven on). So there was a whole line of shops and bazaars. We stayed at the Hotel Green View and were pleasantly surprised by a hot water shower! It had been about one month since my last hot water shower, so I was really grateful for it. I forgot how great hot water feels. We all took showers, had some chai, and relaxed in our beds. Hotel Green View is an eccentrically painted little hotel with all kinds of décor on the walls. Everything from Gorkha knifes, to guns, to shields, and Buddha, Pravati (a Hindu Goddess), and the Virgin Mary. It's owned by a Tibetian family who is obviously proud of their heritage as posters and picture of Tibet are the only theme of décor throughout the entire hotel. We went down into the town and walked around, there isn't much to do but it was nice to stretch out our legs a bit. We bought some crayons and paper and went back to our room to color. For dinner we were served traditional Tibetian chicken soup (called Thukpa). Although it was good, I was still hungry after the 21 km trek that day. We had HBO in the dinning room and the only thing in English was Seinfeld (the one were Jerry gets a bad haircut). But we were all pretty exhausted and quickly went to sleep. Day 4 Jeep back to Darjeeling One of the best parts about the trek is sleeping afterwards. Being out in the middle of nowhere there is truly silence. Laying in bed you can feel the tingling numbness of your tired muscles, and your brain in a state of blissful exhaustion. Except at 4 AM when you are disorientated and woken in the pitch black by drums and singing. The month of October is a holy one for many of the religions here, especially Hindu. It's kind of like Christmas time back home. People get all dressed up and lots of shopping is done. And apparently certain sects also have to greet the rising sun with drums. We all stumbled out onto the porch to see a slightly satanic looking circle of people with candles all singing and pounding drums right outside the front door. The men would sing a really low verse, then the women and children would sing a shill high-pitched verse. It was quite eerie. Then they started to move in a circle and then broke into a line that walked up the street through the main part of town. Later we asked Vicki what they were doing and he said it was a black magic cult song that they have to perform to great the sun during the holy month. At 5:45 am we woke to have breakfast of vegetable sandwiches (would have preferred porridge), and waited for a jeep. Apparently there aren't any private jeeps going this way, so we had to take a "share jeep". That basically means that you shove as many people into a jeep as possible and then drive. It was incredibly uncomfortable, and I was pretty irritated with the whole situation. There is no concept of a person bubble here what so ever, and after the whole trek, I was pretty fed up with it all. At one point the girl sitting next to Andrew thought it was perfectly decent to just lie on his lap and take a nap. It was really ridiculous. But after four hours we finally got back to Darjeeling. We had chicken burgers and milk shakes at Glenary's Bakery. I think that here they take American foods literally by their name, our milk shake turned out to be literally shaken milk with a scoop of ice-cream on top, but whatever, the chicken burger was good. Andy's hotel was full so we checked into moldy Hotel New Mall View and took a nap.
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