For the first time I am going to write a blog in English, to make it accessible for my English friends. I can’t promise that I might get tired on the way and switch to Dutch again. 

The 4th of November our (Jelle’s and mine) flight to India was planned around noon. However, storm was predicted, so friends and family sent some concerned texts asking if our flight might be cancelled. These texts got me a bit worried, but luckily Jelle was very relaxed. Around noon our flight departed on schedule, however our transfer in Istanbul was delayed for an hour or so. We did not yet know but this would lead to the first setback of our trip…

The flight to Delhi was horrible, loud Indian people, a hot plane, and no multimedia available to kill the time (since sleeping was almost impossible in these circumstances). 

Meanwhile the time was ticking, would we make it on time for our transfer in New Delhi? 

The answer is no. We really tried, and by that I mean everyone really tried for us. We were very fast going through the border control, but then we had to wait for 30 minutes for our luggage. Which made me sceptic, but Jelle thought we still had a chance to catch our flight. We ran to the other terminal and told the employers of IndiGo that we only had 45 minutes to catch our flight. Not the first time they handled such a situation, they led us through the right desk. Unfortunately, the nice lady behind the desk told us the check-in of luggage was already closed, but that we could try to bring our big backpacks through security. We ran to the security and again nice employees let us go first. Our big backpacks were put through the x-ray machines. Of course, we needed to show what was in our backpacks; Jelle lost his “firestones”, his Opinel knife was not found, same for his hiking sticks which were put away in his backpack. My hiking poles were not so discrete and put outside my backpack. The officer told me that I couldn’t bring them, and I refused to let my relative new hiking poles go, “Ugh, that was all for NOTHING.” I almost screamed. Hungry, tired, and very hot I had not much energy left. With that last energy Jelle and I booked a new flight for that afternoon. 

Finally in the afternoon we arrived at Badogra airport, were our driver (Navim) and guide (Lakshman) for the next 2 weeks were waiting for us since that morning. Walking to the car I saw a monkey sitting on a car, I pointed it out to Jelle, but somehow (probably very tired) he does not remember it by now. In the car we learned that belts are only for show in India, because there is nothing to put them in. The 7-hour ride was interesting and mostly in the dark. For our Sikkim permit we needed a copy of our passport and pictures, so on a very busy road Navim pulled over and we found ourselves in a small room with a printer and a man with a camera. The next hour or so we had to get out of the city, in other words; the smell of burned plastic, the sound of a lot of honking, and the sight of small houses, big hotels, statues in the making, and food booths filled our senses. Finally, the sign “Drive slow; Elephants” told us we were out of the city of Siliguri. The real drive began over roads through the mountains towards the Himalaya. That was a bumpy ride. Especially at some parts of the road that were damaged by the huge flooding in the beginning of October.

We reached Sikkim: a state Northeast of India, it borders Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. Sikkim was the latest state to join India (1976), before it was its own kingdom. Therefore, Sikkim has its own rules and we needed a permit to enter the state. 

Big with Nepalese influences I was very happy that we could order Momo’s (Nepalese dish) mid-way, served by a lovely young woman in pajama pants. Later we learned that pajama pants is regular fashion here. In my opinion it would be nice if we adapt this hype to the Netherlands (right mum?). We arrived after midnight in our guesthouse in Yuksom, and the owner left us a lot of food. So filled and tired we could finally go to bed. We arrived in India. 

Yuksom is a little town on the foothills of the Himalaya. We spend two days here to visit a Buddhist Monastery and a waterfall. I was fulfilled by the feeling that this place reminded me so much of Nepal; the warmth of the people, the food, the prayer flags everywhere. The spoken language is even Nepali. In the guesthouse we met Garret, an Irish guy who would go on the same trek as we were. He gave us some tips for the rest of our trip through India, what I mostly remember is that he totally convinced us to go to Varanasi. “It’s the good SHIT.” he told us. We went to bed early, and said our goodbye to Garret, expecting we would see him every day on the trek. 

After two delightful days at a lovely guesthouse (Limboo Guesthouse) with a beautiful garden, we started our Goechala roundtrek. What we did not know then is that the first part of the trek (day 1 – day 8) are very popular, but mostly people walk back the same way. 

The last stretch of the trek that we would take, had not been used for three years… At first Jelle thought this was exciting, but by now he has changed his mind. 

Day 1 – Yuksom to Syachen

The first day we experienced our first miscommunication with our guide. He fixed a SIM-card for us to make it easier to reach us (and with lack of WIFI so far in the Himalaya, it was a way for us to tell our parents that we were safe and sound after 3 days). He first called us that morning during breakfast and asked us if our off-road backpacks were ready for pick-up. 

So we thought that he meant our stuff (laptop, climbing gear, nice clothes, hairconditioner etc) that was not needed on the trek and that we could leave at his brothers place as agreed the day before. 10 minutes later a man of around 65 and a young boy arrived at the hostel and asked for our bags, thus we gave our bags to them. Later we found out that off-road bags mean the bags that are carried by the horses/yaks. Luckily we were on time and the bags were returned to Navim, before he departed. 

We had a peaceful morning and a peaceful start of the hike. We started around 11.00h and after a hike climbing through the jungle, and meeting a big group of Indian people who were doing the shorter version of the same trek (and together we were making fun of the amount of sunscreen we need as white-ass people), and stepping aside of big groups of yaks and horses carrying stuff of us and the big group of Indian people, we arrived at our campsite in the middle of the jungle in the afternoon.

That evening we discovered what a glamping trip we had actually booked. We were served as a king and queen. Okay I might exaggerate that. We still had to sleep in a tent (while temperature went further down when we got higher), carried our own sleeping bag and mat (because we wanted to), and mostly ate outside in our down jacket or in the “kitchen” tent (where the smoke of the frying/cooking mostly made my eyes tear). 

But that first evening we ate outside. Every day we were served tea and cookies when we arrived, and a three-course dinner(!), and our tent was set up for us. When we asked if we could help everyone refused. We should relax. At first Jelle and I found this a bit difficult, to be served like that, but it took us 3 days to get fully accustomed to this luxury. However, every morning we would ask again if we could help pack our tent, and every day Lakshman (our guide) was laughing/smiling guide when he said “No.”. 

The crew: Lakshman (guide), Suk Hang (Chef), Bhadur (Kitchen-staff/Porter), Sanjai (Kitchen-staff/Porter), Bishal (Kitchen-staff/Porter), Suk Hang (horse-man).

Day 2 – Syachen (2250m) to Tshoka (2900m)

Breakfast was porridge, omelets, and pancakes (they even brought peanut butter, jam, honey etc.). Later in the trek they learned that I preferred the Indian breakfast (chapati; savory pancakes with potato curry). 

After breakfast we made our way to the next campsite, through the jungle. The forest is something different here. Big trees, big leaves, everything green and (this time of year) a few yellow and purple flowers. 

We arrived early for hot lunch and had time to discover the campsite. It was beautiful with a view over the “hills” leading back to Yuksom, a little lake, and a little monastery. Further up on a hill there were two little stupas contrasting the landscape. In Buddhism, stupas are objects of prayer and worship that contain holy relics such as bodily remains of great masters and/or profound texts. 

Day 3 -Tshoka (2900m) to Dzongri (3500m)

The next morning it was time for our first real climb. It started to get more exhausting to climb, and we actually passed a point where a sign told us that we were around 3600 meters, but the fancy watch of a fellow trekker told us that we had reached 3900 meters already. Note that the treeline in the Himalaya is at 3500 meters.

This fellow trekker is Mina. She was part of the Indian group. And she is a real bad-ass, who reminded me a bit of Charlotte (a bad-ass friend of mine who loves bike-packing and chilling). She is an Indian woman around 50 that already did some trekkings, goes on bike trips everywhere (Vietnam, Sri-Lanka, and planning to go to New Zeand), homeschooled her kids who now both live in the USA and went to good American universities. She didn’t take breaks on the trek and kept walking. 

This day we also met Kiko. A dog that we came to adore. In India there are dogs everywhere. Living on the street or living with people. In Yuksom they kept us awake at night because they were keeping a barking contest until late after midnight. 

We arrived in Dzongri in the early afternoon, in a cloud. It was cold and you could barely see more than 5 meters ahead. We stayed most of the afternoon in our tent. This was the first really cold tent, and Jelle figured that his sleeping bag was a bit colder than mine. He was having a hard time during the night… 

Day 4 -Rest day

The next morning we climbed the Dzongri top (circa 4000 meter) to see the sunrise. We woke around 4AM, both armed with 2 pair of socks, 3 layers for our legs, 4 layers for our upper body (underwear excluded). Outside (and inside) the tent a layer of frost was covering the landscape, even the little creek next to the tent was partly frozen. During our walk up the layers made us hot, and at the top Jelle almost lent his jacket to Mina, however when standing still enjoying the view, we realized we were glad we were wearing all the layers. 

It was a crowded top (the Indian group was here too) and we even got interviewed by an Indian youtuber. Lakshman offered us coffee, and because the huge amount of sugar even Jelle liked it. We stood there over an hour or so absorbing the beautiful views of the Himalaya and the path that lay ahead of us. 

Back down we were very happy with the clear weather and decided to do some laundry (underwear, socks, and shirts). We were not in the illusion that we could smell nice after that, but it was worth a try. However, soon enough the clouds started to come in, and our hope was gone. We hung some clothes in our tent, but both (clothes in and out the tent) were frozen the next morning. 

The rest of the day we spent reading(Eva), playing Sudoku and watching previously downloaded Anime (Jelle), and playing Hanabi – a game we got as a present from our good friend Victor for our trip (together). Jelle soon got bored and decided to make a stone man and left his prayer shawl around his creation. Kiko, the dog, spent a part of the day with us too. At one point a big dog came running up to him and he sought shelter behind our tent. The aggressive dog (attacking Kiko) tried to run through(!) our tent. Jelle came running out the tent and came to save the day. He picked Kiko up in his arms, but the big dog kept trying to bite him. Next, a crew member of the kitchen stuff (Bishal) came running towards and used his magic Nepali sounds (SHUSSH) to scare the dog away. After that Kiko spent a few hours following us everywhere, but then he got distracted and we did not see her again unfortunately. 

The night was cold. However, the lovely chef (Suk Hang) surprised us with fries(!), however this might be another day. I cannot really remember what food we got served on which day. 

Day 5 -Dzongri (3500m) to Thangsing (3930m)

The next day was exhausting. We both had a good sleep, Jelle packed in his down jacket and extra pants he lent from me in his sleeping bag and me in just one layer in my sleeping bag, and a good breakfast. Still it was not good enough to prevent my morning cranky-ness. And at one point I just was angry at Jelle because he opened his jacket without discussing. 

We visited a hill with two stupas, surrounded by player flags, along the way. This place is used to ask permission from the gods to enter the mountain pass. Mount Khanchendzonga (8534meter) is the third highest mountain of the world, and is considered a holy mountain for the Buddhists. Therefore it is not allowed to climb this mountain. However the Goechala pass (the trek we were doing), could bring you as close as possible to this beautiful mountain. 

After a few hours we switched roles. Jelle lost all his energy on our way down a steep path with a lot of rolling stones, to a valley with a river.

Lakshman was a bit hurried, but instead of telling us why he kept running ahead. After a while and a lot of questions we discovered that it must be because we were getting late for lunch. And somehow they have the rule that we have to eat first, before the crew can eat (believe me we can’t change the rules), so he was worried about his crew. Although we did understand his worry a bit, we couldn’t walk faster. We were very tired. After going all the way down we had to get up again. And that felt like a very long way. Lakhsman told us we were almost there and made a hand gesture, like we only had to pass one little hill. By this time we already learnt that this gesture meant nothing. It could mean that the campsite was 3 hours away, 1 hour away, or 20 minutes. 

Thirty minutes climbing up a hill later, we finally saw Garret again, the Irish guy we met at the Limboo guesthouse. He was already on his way down. He did day 1 and 2 in one day and skipped the acclimatization day. That is why he was always ahead of us. He was happy and exhausted (woke up around 2AM). He told us we were almost at the campsite, and we decided to trust him. Luckily he was right and 5 minutes later we arrived. 

The campsite was a stunning field on the foot of a few enormous mountains. The horse and Yaks were roaming happily in this habitat. 

Day 6 -Thangsing to Lamuney

The next morning, we had a lazy start, because we only had to walk 3km, over flat terrain. However, as a Dutch person you might think really “flat” if someone says flat. But.. for people living in the mountains flat means up and down but never “really” steep. Nevertheless, it was a peaceful day and our next campsite was a really windy place, were Jelle found himself a boulder to kill some time, and I forced myself in 3 layers of clothes and wind jacket, to read my book in the sun (finally a very clear sky). During an evening stroll with Lakshman and Sanjai we saw some blue sheep crossing the river. 

Luckily during the evening the wind died down and we had a cold, peaceful sleep. 

Day 7 – Lamuney – Goechala (4700m) – Thangsing

We woke up in the night/morning (3.15AM) to put on all our layers to climb the “highlight” of the trek: the Goechala pass. When we met Mina again the previous day (she was one day ahead of us), she told us the pass was peanuts compared to passes she did before in Nepal. Because we already knew she was a bad-ass we decided not to trust her on this statement. 

For me this climb was a challenge, every step cost a breath, and I really tried to stay as mind-full as possible. I enjoyed the challenge, but to be completely honest I did not have breakfast and I got very annoyed with our guide who did not let us have breaks when we needed; for example to change the batteries of my headtorch or for a water/protein-bar break. He tried to challenge us to walk further, but we just really needed a break now and then and really had to ask multiple times to convince him. 

Jelle was struggling with his mental game. He was really struggling to push forward and almost gave up, because he did not see the need to go further. Luckily, he made it and crashed when we arrived at viewpoint 1 of the goechala trek. Unfortunately (I thought)/Luckily (Jelle thought), that viewpoint 2 and 3 were closed because of the amount of snow leopards living there. We were surrounded by enormous peaks, with the holy Mount Khanchendzonga (8534meter) looking down on us. It was impressive but not the most beautiful point of the trek yet in my opinion. 

The way down was in the day light and more peaceful. We had time to make pictures and really taking in the amazing views of the peaks, and a (holy) mountain lake. For a second Jelle was tempted to make a jump, but our guide told us that was not allowed anymore because this lake is the source of the river that is the main water recourse from Yuksom. Since trekkers made a mess of this lake it is announced holy, so people treat the lake with more respect. 

We had a peaceful afternoon. I did some yoga, and our guide taught us a new card-game called “Rumi”. 

Day 8 – Thangsing (3930m) to Lampokhari (?) and day 9 Lamhokhari (?) to Katuri Orar (?)

The next morning we woke up full of energy, because we thought that from this point on we were only going down. Also, we would start with a part of the trek that had not been done since 3 years. How exciting… And how oblivious we were. The horses went back the way we came, so now the crew was carrying all our stuff, and we felt very grateful for that.

The next two days were absolutely stunning and definitely my favorite parts of the trek, but also the toughest. We had to climb some passes up to 4000 meter and up to 5000 meter. The path followed a ridge with views over the hills we climbed the previous days and the peaks of the Himalayan mountains. It was incredible. But man oh man, I cried on my way up to some of the passes. My legs were tired and I just hadn’t expected the amount of climbing, and every time our guide told us: just only one climb to go and of course I did not trust him, but still a part of me hoped it was true. It was definitely worth it and I would do it all again, but it was tough. 

The first night we slept between high boulders, and because my tiredness made me ask in tears if we could not sleep somewhere else, because it reminded me of my fall 3 years ago during mountaineering in the Austrian Alps. After some noodle soup and beautiful sunset over the 5 layer mountain-range ahead of us I came to my senses and finally actually enjoyed our stay there. Especially because the crew was sleeping in a cave created by the boulders, were collecting hay to sleep on, and creating a fire to keep the Himalayan bears away. What an experience. 

The next day we reached the FINAL high pass of the trek around 5000 meters, and the whole crew was cheering for us when we reached the top. A highlight of the trek, and such an amazing panorama view. The way down was a bit less more fun than we thought, because it started with a very steep way down. Jelle got so tired and hungry that he slipped and fell down on his hiking pole. Frustrated at his now bended hiking pole, we decided to take it slow. However, the crew was already sleeping at our lunch spot far below, and every step did not seem to get us closer to them. In the end we made it. 

The way after this was a more delightful hike through the Jungle. Soon enough we made it to our last camping spot looking over Mt. Narsing. The water source was far away and the crew of course was making sure they would get enough water for our multiple tea moments and hot bottles for the night. We were feeling blessed after two tired days. 

Day 10 – Kasturi Orar to Labdang

The last day of the trek might have been the most challenging. The path through the Jungle got smaller and most parts it was so small we could not even put our feet next to each other. It was muddy, some parts of the path were completely overgrown. Trees were fallen down everywhere, and created holes in the ground. At one point my left leg just disappeared fully in a hole and Jelle had to help me get out of it. The ground couldn’t be trusted.. Later Lakshman and Sanjai were waiting for us behind a fallen tree. They told us it was very slippery and even our local Sanjai fell in a hole behind the tree. Surrounded by three men I felt encouraged to show them how it’s done and refused the hand my guide was offering me. He told me I could stand on a branch behind the tree and I put my right leg on it (left was on the slippery trunk of the fallen tree), and my right feet fell right through. There I was hanging on my left tree, screaming because my knee hurt. Such a brave woman….. (rolling my own eyes). They took my backpack off my back and brought me over the obstacle. Of course Jelle just jumped (not really) over the obstacle without any problem. 

After 15 minutes of rest the pain in my knee did not seem to be that bad, and I could carry my own backpack. A bit more afraid of the holes in the ground we continued our path. 

The worst was yet to come, because at the moment we could see our final destination the path was nowhere to be found. The floods in the beginning of October had flushed away part of the path, and the other parts were completely overgrown. Our whole crew was getting their Ghorka’s from their sheaths with grins on their face. Happy to use them. 

A couple of 10 stings (per person) of the nettles growing in our way later, we reached a better part of the path. Jelle and I almost ran our way down. It felt like we could finally keep up with the crew on this very nice path, with enough oxygen. 

Just before sunset we arrived in Labdang. Where (Christmas) lights were welcoming us from the few houses in this little town. Not real Christmas lights. The lights were on because of a local festivity that was ending that day. Unfortunately I cannot recall the name. Navim was waiting for us all to drive us all in one car to Tashiding. The baskets the crew members carried were put on the roof of the jeep and exhausted and smelly we all jumped in the car. Poor Navim. On our way we bought some local beers (HIT beer), and in the guesthouse we all sat down to cheers on our achievement. 

What an adventure.