Sikkim, India

18 April to 5th May
Another yongo tour

India Tour Operators : Showland Holidays
www.snowland-holidays.com

Arrive at Indira Ghandi International Airport in New Delhi.
Rachel and Kelly with Mohinder our tour guide.

Get on the bus to our hotel

Stop to buy bottled water

Hotel room in New Delhi

Dinner at a nice restaurant

Sugar and spices to freshen up your mouth after a meal.

Kelly trying out the local ice cream

Buying grapes

Next day, simple breakfast

Taking local flight to Bagdogra

Budget airlines something like Air Asia

View of mountains from the plane

Arrive at Bagdogra airport, waiting for jeeps.

In the jeep with Yeow, Kelly and Rachel

On the way to Darjeeling

Tibeten monastery on the way to Darjeeling

Arrive at Seven Seventeen hotel in Darjeeling

Nice cosy hotel room

Shops

Walking around in the evening

Dinner at blind date restaurant. Ate some moh moh (something like pau)

B arber

Next morning, wake up early to catch the sunrise.
Abit hazy so can't see much. Very cold.

Interesting scenes of locals coming to see the sunrise

Hot coffee

Selling postcards

Kelly and Rachel

Getting cameras ready

Furry dog

Stop by at Tibeten Temple

Lovely breakfast at hotel

Shops

Selling newspapers

Pigeon house

Traders on the way to the zoo ..

Himalayan mountaineering institute

Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.
A museum where you can see lots of interesting stuff like the people who have climbed Mount Everest, and all the equipment that they use, also has a small scale model of the Himalaya mountain range with all the mountain peaks labeled.

Snow leopard at the zoo

Red panda

We visit the home for the orphans, Tibeten refugee self help center, Darjeeling

Tea plantation

Yeow, Rachel and Yoon Kian sampling some Darjeeling tea.

The houses on hillslopes in Darjeeling

Showing off my new shawl

Bookshop in Darjeeling town

Shopping

European style building in Darjeeling town

Dinner in a posh restaurant

Tandoori Chicken

We visit the hotel owners house... on top of the hotel (penthouse)

Snacks and tea in the hotel owners house.

Tibeted hotel owner and Kelly, my room-mate

Inside hotel owners tibeten prayer room ...

Mr. Chin facinated by the Darjeeling toy train.

School

Mr and Mrs Chin

Pema, our professional jeep driver from Darjeeling who listens to hip hop music

Tea ladies plucking tea leaves

Toilet stop

La la lah

More houses on hill slopes on the way to Sikkim

Sikkim checkpoint

Checking passports etc...

Bridge

River

Stop at another Tibeten monestary...one of the oldest ..

Who's got a bigger stomach ?

Waterfall

Shops at waterfall

Arrive at Yoksum, starting point of the trek

Check in to guesthouse and take group photo with jeep drivers

Next morning, briefing by Mohinder.

Start walking around the village

Cows / Yaks ... lots of cows in India because they don't eat beef.

National park office.. I think...

Ok, start trekking. Me overconfident, carrying stupid backpack ...

Early part of the trail on first day

Keep walking .. still a long way to go...

Up on a hill.

Me and Mohinder having some tea at a tea house along the trail.

Mohinder helps me to carry my backpack... and shoes.

Yaks having dinner...

Arrive at camp site... this is our tent ...

Hut where we have our dinner

Toilet

Next day start trekking...
Tree with red flowers... forgot the name (ok ok its rhododendrons)
.. the white flowers are Magnolia..

Lunch break at open area... lots of other trekkers.
No appetite, still having diarrea .. oh yeah its my birthday...
Later that night, had a small celebration. They baked a cake and gave me an umbrella as a present together with birthday card.

Next morning at 2nd campsite... quite cold at night.. about 3 degrees.
Kelly had to rub my hands and give me hot water to drink.

Feeling ok in the morning and walking around taking photos.
Washing dishes at stream.

Mohinder at the kitchen tent.

More photos of 2nd campsite..

Feeling ok and start trekking ...

Group photo .. total 12 of us in the group

Yaks carrying our luggage

Porters

Mohinder, Saw Hoon and Chia.

Another campsite

Our porters and cooks ...

Today feeling lousy.. but only have to walk 2 hours..
flat plane..no uphill .. so its ok

Arrive at 4th campsite... spending 2 nights here.
I stayed in the tent. Not feeling well.

Next morning the rest of the gang go up to the summit.
Wow, nice view. I stayed in the tent. Photo from Shoo Chan.

YK and Shoo Chan

Chia

Lake

Nice shot of snow capped mountain from Kelly

View outside my tent. One of the peaks is Mt. Kangchenjunga,
highest peak in India and third highest on earth.
Quickly took photo and went back into the tent.