Dzongri trek - In the chowkidars' huts

Among the treks one can walk in Sikkim, the Goechala trek has the reputation of being both scenic and difficult. I can add that it is quite rustic. With no showers, no comfortable accommodation and not much food available on the way, tourists are highly encouraged to book full-package expeditions, i.e. with many porters, yaks and horses carrying their equipment (tent, food, mattresses, etc). Being just the two of us, Birendra and I were the exception to this rule. We were carrying ourselves some dry food and our mattresses and sleeping bags.

Overall, I appreciated this, since it gave us the chance to spend more time in the "chowkidar's" huts (guardian's hut). Here the chowkidar and his family of assistant cook and sleep and welcome the guides/porters as well as some indian trekkers. You are being offered a cup of milk tea upon arrival and then the endless conversations start. In nepali, tibetan or hindi ! I could barely understand a few words... and mostly the english ones. But I seized the opportunity to try on my newly-learnt hindi sentences. Which would make everyone laugh... I especially enjoyed one night, when we had a singing session with some Indian students in forestry. One of the guys had a great voice and was excellent at singing Indian romantic songs.

Despite this nice atmosphere, I was a bit disappointed by the landscapes, especially after the amazing Anapurnas trek. This was mostly due to poor weather conditions : fog and rain, again. No wonder why Sikkim is so green ! Even waking up at 4 am to climb to the Dzongri top (around 4200m high) did not allow us to enjoy a wide and clear view over the mountains.

In the end, I decided to shorten up a bit the trek: bad weather, lack of money (everything there is so expensive!), lack of comfort and privacy (I was all the time with Birendra), eagerness to get back to my bike also, all contributed to this decision... We did so by walking a bit faster and longer than the "normal" days and by turning back at Dzongri. The second and last Goechala viewpoint was actually closed, due to attacks by snow leopards on tourists ! (?)
The last descent was long : we swallowed up what some trekkers do in 3 days in only 1. After 4 trekking days, we were back in Yuksom.Read more