Darjeeling... I pictured lush mountain hill tops, neatly scattered with sun drenched tea plantations, perhaps the odd tea picker or two in brightly coloured clothing, and maybe a few road-side tea stalls offering the day's finest pickings and opportunities to gaze out over the magnificent Himalayan mountain vista...
Landing in Darjeeling having just spent 6 weeks in the tropics of the Andamans came as a shock to the system. We quickly realised that this tea-famed hill station was pretty far from our romantic expectations.
My first thought as we struggled through the smoke choked, litter lined back streets was 'What have we done!' - had we really chosen to leave behind the heat of the south to spend our last few weeks in India freezing our butts off in Darjeeling? I literally felt myself shrivelling away into a heap of snow and ice. We had no idea it would be this cold.
Back in November after completing the Annapurna trek we'd packed up and sent home all our warm gear, not anticipating we'd need it again. There's only one thing more striking than a pair of lost looking foreigners fighting their way through the hustle and bustle of Darjeeling street life - a lost looking foreigner in minus conditions wearing flip flops and a beach dress (that was me!). No haggling was required as the man selling us the fake Mammut fleeces saw the chattering of our teeth and our lips turning blue. I rummaged for the best of the garishly coloured gear in the limited local market including long-johns, a shawl, gloves and a wooly hat, the same one I later spotted a 90 year old woman sporting. Now I really did look the part, or more like ready for retirement.
Once kitted out and stationed at Andy's Guesthouse (cold but squeaky clean) and run by a sweet Mr & Mrs Gurung, we were ready to sample the famous Darjeeling tea and found ourselves in the very surreal Windermere Hotel. As if transported straight back to British colonial times we indulged in over-priced afternoon tea in the Victorian style 'salon' where we were aptly joined by an old English gentleman who enthusiastically told us about his schooling in Darjeeling in 1946 blah blah blah and 'oh how Darjeeling has changed ' - yawn and time to escape! Just before leaving the hotel I had an Alice in Wonderland moment, whimsically wondering whether we'd step outside to find ourselves in the heart of the English countryside having dreamt up our wonderful Indian adventures after all. We were relieved to find the world outside was just as it should be.
We had planned to visit Darjeeling because of Arnab's recommendation to do the Singalila trek (Arnab is a Land Artist who we met at ANET, working on the treehouse build with Klas). - a 5 to 7 day hike taking you up onto the ridge which straddles India and Nepal, with views out over Bhutan and Sikkim. At its highest point the ridge reaches 3675 metres, and most excitingly - provides the opportunity to stroll past 4 of the world's 5 highest peaks - Everest, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse and Makalu.
A guide is mandatory in this region because of border control between India and Nepal and this was swiftly arranged in Darjeeling over a chai with Subash who managed a local trekking agency. Ajay, our guide, close in age to ourselves, welcomed us onto the 5 day trek by inviting us into his family home and presenting us with Buddhist 'good luck' scarves, which he tied onto our backpacks. We also had the pleasure to meet Anita, his wife and their gorgeous little daughter Ashnita.
The trek is considered as a type of 'tea-house trekking', and happens in a similar way to what we experienced in Nepal. You spend each day hiking (between 6km - 22km) depending on the altitude and gradient and in the late afternoon or early evening arrive to a small mountain lodge where dinner and a bed is provided, heat unfortunately is not. The great thing about having a guide (which we realised we'd missed out on in Nepal) was being thoroughly looked after. Ajay brought us hot water to wash our faces, fed us endless amounts of tea and biscuits and best of all gave us hot water bottles before bed - which we desperately needed, I have never before slept in waterproofs! He even woke us up in the morning with a cup of tea!! Primitive luxury. He also had a fascination with taking artistic style photos of us whilst hiking, some of which were a bit odd actually.
During the first couple of days spring came to life with the first blossoms as we hiked through misty oak forests, which reminded me of autumn in the countryside where I grew up, and although we sensed the valleys falling away from us on either side, could only make out a few steps ahead. As we climbed higher we entered red panda territory and hiked through green and blue bamboo forests which covered the hilltops as far as we could see, the mist had finally started to lift. Along the way Ajay shared his extensive knowledge of the local flora, which included teaching us how to make a toothbrush from a twig and the Hindu legend connected with indentations resembling teeth marks on a certain type of leaf.
On day 3 we made the final steep ascent from Kalipokari to Sandakphu, along with Ian, our new hiking companion we'd picked up at the lodge the previous evening, interestingly we discovered he'd been the script writer for Eastenders, Casualty and The Bill for many years, but now preferred to travel the world!
We reached Sandakphu at midday, 3675m, the highest point of the trek, We raced through the army checkpost and up onto the hillock above the lodge to see if we would catch a glimpse of elusive Everest, (remaining hidden along the trek up to now), before it became enveloped by the accumulating cloud.
We had spectacular 360 views of some of the highest Himalayan majestic mountains, Lhotse, Makalu, Kanchenjunga and the highest peak in Bhutan, they appeared so close despite being 200kms away in some cases - a measure of their sheer size. Everest remained tucked away in the cloud, tomorrow morning would be our final chance to catch a glimpse before heading steeply back down along the ridge to the village of Rimbick - for a hot shower, a celebratory beer! and the return to Darjeeling the following day where we'd say farewell to Ajay.
Klas peeped out of the frozen window by the side of the bed, orange light poured into our tiny wooden room; I looked at my watch - 5.30am. We rolled out of bed (already dressed for the day) pulled on our boots and speedily climbed the nearby hillock, the highest point apparently in West Bengal, Ajay and Ian were just behind us ( Ian unfortunately scared of heights found negotiating this climb at the crack of dawn rather challenging). Once at the top we had the most unbelievable view of Everest along with his brothers, sisters and cousins. A radius of mountain peaks illuminated by the red glow of the early morning sun, bringing highlight and shade to the spikes and valleys. We felt completely speechless (that could also have been due to minus conditions to be fair ;) - a super memorable moment.
I reflected on how fortunate we've been throughout our adventures, experiencing these powerful and serene moments surrendering completely to nature. A feeling of being in the absolute right place at the absolute right time, from the bottom of the ocean to the highest mountains of the world.
During our first days in Darjeeling we felt miserable and cold, a few days hiking in the mountains had left us feeling totally transformed, reassured and excited about what India had in store for our final adventure..
