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We had a comfortable night in the hotel and a late start for our trek. Breakfast was at 0730 hours Indian Standard Time, also known as Indian Stretchable Time, as we found out waiting for our meals. The food in the hotel was good but the porridge was very different, as it wasn’t made with oats. This time our bags were loaded onto 12 Dzo and 7 horses. We should be camping for the next 8 days and everyone was eager to get moving. Our guide had to negotiate with the official to get passes and tickets for us to use cameras on the trek and then we started walking.
It was 0930 hrs as we started up the slope to the forest in the mud and the rain. Some of the team had purchased umbrellas after seeing the locals wandering around the hillside with them or plastic sheets to keep dry. The umbrella’s proved to be very effective as the rain poured intermittently throughout the day. Overall, the weather was warm, humid and wet. The track was narrow and muddy for the majority of the day and we crossed several rivers using suspension bridges. One particular bridge was in desperate need of repair as the wooden slats were, in part, either missing or rotten. The bridge bounced up and down as we crossed and it started to sway as the Dzo took their turn. Our guide was keen on keeping the countryside tidy and at one point he collected litter that he blamed on the people from the plains and lit a fire to burn it whilst we waited for the cook team to get ahead of us.
Lunch was excellent: local bread and chicken pasta with curry spice. The Dzo were not as fast as the horses on the first trek and we regularly managed to overtake them. The trekking route was quite busy with other groups moving up and down the path throughout the day. The route to Goecha La seemed to be very popular and we could here the bells on the Dzo long before we could see the other trekkers. Although we saw several leeches it would appear that nobody hosted one for lunch. The noise of the river was almost constant and at one point there was a mini landslide above our path, which caused some rapid heartbeats. Everyone had tired legs at the end of the day: if you can imagine walking up and down stairs all day with the occasional landing to catch your breath, then cover the stairs with leaves, mud and cow manure you will be close to the task we faced. Add rain, trees and waterfalls and you could imagine you were with us. As we arrived at the Bakkim campsite the porters had almost completed pitching the tents and we realised how fortunate we were. It was great to be back out in the hills. Our night stop was at 2674m, only another couple of thousand to go! The evening meal was very tasty as we were treated to some local delicacies: nettle stew and forest fern with ricotta cheese.
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