Day 100, Kanchenjunga [Tuesday 11th March 2008]
Previous day: Day 99, Singalilla Ridge [Monday 10th March 2008]
Next day: Day 101, Sandakphu, Kanchenjunga [Wednesday 12th March 2008]
Porridge, toast and jam for breakfast, then 6km uphill to Sandakphu. There's plenty of snow and ice up here, covering the pine trees that carpet the hills. It's a pleasant walk, and we reach Sandakphu by 2pm, with just a glimpse of Kanchenjunga peaking thorugh the clouds.
We eat a lunch of egg-fried rice and play cards with Santosh and Lakba. We play hearts, and we show each other some card tricks, while Santosh giggles like a little kid!
We walk a few kilometres along the ridge towards Phalut, across some slushy, muddy terrain. We hike up a, crevice thigh deep in snow, into Nepal and visit a family of yak farmers living on the ridge. They have about 10 yaks, each one with a coloured string decoration pierced through their ear. Their coats are thick and soft, and the family use a yak skin as a bed, on the floorboards of an otherwise bare room.
They serve us some Tibetan tea — a smoky, savoury brew with butter and salt, more like miso soup than tea. Santosh buys 1.5kg of yak butter, which the woman weights out on a pair of ancient hanging scales. He says it's purer than the cow's milk from Darjeeling, which has been 'adulterated.'
Back the the huge, freezing hut all the trekkers gather around the fire and listen to a cheesy 70s/80s playlist someone is pumping through a stereo. We get some Dr. Hook, Lee Hazlewood and John Denver. This is followed by an hour of Bollywood remixes. You can plug your iPod or mobile phone in and recharge it for Rs. 30 per hour.
Dinner is rubbish — thin, watery dal and plain rice. We go to bed shortly afterwards, at about 8pm! A group of drunk policemen are huddled together in one of the rooms.
Next day: Day 101, Sandakphu, Kanchenjunga [Wednesday 12th March 2008]
Previous day: Day 99, Singalilla Ridge [Monday 10th March 2008]