ONSET FOR SUNDERDUNGA TREK
My long desire to resume trekking happened all that thanks to my dear friend Sanjay, who himself is an avid trekker. He made all the arrangements starting from choosing the spot, planning the route, itinerary, travel plans, foods and all. He even carried along my rucksack, mattress and sleeping bag all the way from Kolkata to New Delhi for me. Our other companion was Debashis'da, colleague of Sanjay, whom I met for the first time. Debashis'da is a sweet, gentle and very contended kind of character. Aged 45 years, as yet he could not stuck eyes to any girl for marriage and instead opted to wed a Nikon Analog SLR Camera. He fondly calls the camera, his wife. People like him are truly rare to come across.
I joined them at New Delhi and together boarded Ranikhet Express on May 16, reaching Kathgodam, the next dawn. From Kathgodam, we hired an Alto car for Rs.2200 for Saung, via Bhimtal, Almora, Bageshwar, Bindsar. That distance of 235 km took us 8 hours. For some unknown reason I suffered from acute Nausea and vomited not less than twenty odd times on the way. Our driver, Shyam was patient enough to stop the car at every bout of my puking. A dose of injection at Govt. District Hospital at Bageshwar made me feel better. Worth to mention that the Hospital was cool: Very clean, with prompt and genial service, I feel pretty sordid comparing it with any other Govt. Hospitals I see in our cities.
Reaching Saung, we arranged for a Guide named Bhandari, an amiable person but somewhat bounty at waist and tummy, as against any usual guide we come across of hilly regions. We did a trek of about 2 km to reach Lower Loharkhet village at three in the afternoon and stopped for the day at Raju Tea Stall & Restaurant. Raju is actually a postmaster by profession and the post office is at his own house. He also gives rooms on hire to trekkers at a charge of Rs.200 per day. He himself cooks food for the guests even and for dinner fed us Rajma, Potato curry and thick brownish rotis made from a local grain, called Motua. Bhandari meanwhile swapped himself with a person called Amar to be our guide at prearranged rate of Rs.350 per day plus fooding. Amar by the way is an interesting character as we gradually learnt on our way, of which I will reveal later.
A puking day for me thus came to an end as I laid stretched at the terrace of the house looking at the sky full of twinkling stars. The moon was only two or three days old, but still it was emitting light much brighter than what we see at cities. My eyes gorged at that pollution-less firmament and strengthened my lungs for the journey ahead.
Raju's house, Lower Loharkhet village( 1600 mts), our trek start and end point.
I joined them at New Delhi and together boarded Ranikhet Express on May 16, reaching Kathgodam, the next dawn. From Kathgodam, we hired an Alto car for Rs.2200 for Saung, via Bhimtal, Almora, Bageshwar, Bindsar. That distance of 235 km took us 8 hours. For some unknown reason I suffered from acute Nausea and vomited not less than twenty odd times on the way. Our driver, Shyam was patient enough to stop the car at every bout of my puking. A dose of injection at Govt. District Hospital at Bageshwar made me feel better. Worth to mention that the Hospital was cool: Very clean, with prompt and genial service, I feel pretty sordid comparing it with any other Govt. Hospitals I see in our cities.
Reaching Saung, we arranged for a Guide named Bhandari, an amiable person but somewhat bounty at waist and tummy, as against any usual guide we come across of hilly regions. We did a trek of about 2 km to reach Lower Loharkhet village at three in the afternoon and stopped for the day at Raju Tea Stall & Restaurant. Raju is actually a postmaster by profession and the post office is at his own house. He also gives rooms on hire to trekkers at a charge of Rs.200 per day. He himself cooks food for the guests even and for dinner fed us Rajma, Potato curry and thick brownish rotis made from a local grain, called Motua. Bhandari meanwhile swapped himself with a person called Amar to be our guide at prearranged rate of Rs.350 per day plus fooding. Amar by the way is an interesting character as we gradually learnt on our way, of which I will reveal later.
A puking day for me thus came to an end as I laid stretched at the terrace of the house looking at the sky full of twinkling stars. The moon was only two or three days old, but still it was emitting light much brighter than what we see at cities. My eyes gorged at that pollution-less firmament and strengthened my lungs for the journey ahead.
Raju's house, Lower Loharkhet village( 1600 mts), our trek start and end point.
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