On a masochistic errand on Rinjani

Boy, were we glad to see the end!

The finish gate at Senggigi

Lounging on a couch, enjoying a fresh watermelon juice, watching the blue blue sea just a day later, Rinjani already seemed far far away. I was flipping through the Lonely Planet or some other guidebook on Indonesia when I glanced upon these lines or something similar – ‘to try and climb the Rinjani summit and go down to the lake and back in 3 days is definitely a masochistic way of seeing the mountain’. And, guess what, a masochistic itinerary was what we had picked up, unknowingly. Thinking back, it was more than a bit frustrating that several of the trek organizer’s offer a 3 day trek (summit and lake) as a standard option, without a hint of the challenge it actually entails.  

The first day was hard and I already had a feeling that I may not make it to the top. In fact,  we were all wondering if we should just head to the lake instead. Anyway, we decided to go ahead with the  summit  ascent. To our luck, we also had very strong winds almost threatening to blow us of.  Halfway to the summit, I lost heart - there was no way I was walking another hour, only to decide to turn back. So all 3 of us ended up turning back at different points.  And for the fun part - the descent to the lake involved a lot of scrambling and crossing big boulders - and without poles or sticks, I messed my knee.  Anyway, our itinerary ended up going for for a toss as our progress was much slower than what had been planned. We didn't have enough time to make it back to the crater from the lake. What that meant was that we had to start pre-dawn to make up for lost distance. We ended up waking up at 3.30AM to climb up from the lake to the crater and then proceed back to the base. My knees were shot on the climb down, and one of my friend’s back condition worsened. I was wondering how it was that we seemed so unfit compared to some others. To top it all, the 3rd friend in the group was constantly comparing and contrasting the Everest Base Camp trek (which I had recently done and Rinjani)… I suspect, I had somewhat disappointed her!

The summit mocking us!

Notwithstanding that Rinjani was one of the most difficult experiences by a far mile, the mountain is beautiful and the views make it worth the hard work! I hope to go back once again, and may be this time I will make it all the way to the top.

Views on the way to the Summit

The crater lake from above

Anyway, a few things that is good to know about Rinjani, especially if you are an amateur  - 

1) Although Rinjani isn’t very tall with its 3000-odd metres, it is a difficult mountain to climb. On the first day, you nearly ascend from close to zero to around 2400m, which makes it a steep and intense climb. And obviously, choosing the right itinerary makes all the difference. Everest Base Camp trek is hard, but a lot of the challenge is also in battling altitude. I found the EBC itinerary very well laid out giving time for trekkers to ramp up into it and also acclimatize very well. And most importantly, if you’ve done a few of these, you will know – every mountain is different. So prepare to be surprised. If you are looking to do both the summit and lake, a 4 day itinerary would give you a decent amount of time at the summit and also flexibility, if you take more time than originally planned at the summit. A friend recently did a 4 day trek and also mentioned it was still hard work.

2) The trek agencies didn’t feel like the best (I have come across) in terms of being able to advise trekkers about things like the level of difficulty for example. Our guide for example was quite casual when we asked him about things like a trekking pole, which turned out to be quite important.

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      3) You can either start the trek at Senaru or complete at Senggigi or vice versa.  If attempting the summit, the Senaru option may be easier as you attempt the summit on day 2 and are not tired out.

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      4) If it’s a big group, there may be a chance that some would want to turn back on the way to the summit. It would be good idea to check if one or 2 porters can act as guides on summit day. This way no group is stranded without someone helping them.

      5) Our itinerary said 3 hours to the summit – but on average, it takes much much longer. So, better to be mentally prepared for a longer summit ascent.

     6) The descent into the lake and ascent involves a fair bit of low-grade rock climbing type moves (no need for equipment, but you will be using your hands and legs to pull yourself or scrambling on your butts)

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      7) Trekking poles are a must – the summit is very slippery and on the way down to the lake, the boulders are of very different heights and you could end up messing your knee (which I did).   Think gloves and wind proof jackets are quite important too. On our summit day, we had one of the worst winds that was threatening to blow us of

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      8) The nights can be quite cold (even when you come down to the lake), so pack accordingly.

The first view of the lake

Camping by the lake

Christmas break, remembering Rann!

Christmas break is around the corner, and I’ve finally convinced my sis to take a few days off from work. Yeay!

Thinking of Christmas reminds me of the Rann of Kutch trip last year.

I can still remember the December chill in the air, even as the sun burned down on us. The bright colours of the women’s Sarees and Ghagras (a long skirt and blouse teemed with a shawl) contrasting with their heavy jewellery. Men in white dhotis and shoes. Sleepy, sleepy village towns with old traditional havellis, but all in disrepair. A shepherd with his sheep blocking our jeep. Camel’s pulling carts with people and loads. A fat fati in the middle of nowehere. I couldn’t help but be reminded of my four years in another desert state – the landscape, people, the dryness, the heat and chill, all had a familiarity of yesterday.

I had always meant to post Devjibhai’s details (we stayed at his camp), and also some more photos. Meanwhile, I am looking forward to going someplace with my sis this time!

How to get there? There are several points of entry into the Rann of Kutch. Through bhuj and Gandhidham, you can enter the Greater Rann, and through Dhrangadhra or Zainabad, you can enter Little Rann. We went to Dhrangadhra. From Mumbai, we took a sleeper bus to Ahmedabad. From here, you can take both buses and vans to Dhrangadhra. From Dhrangadra, there was a jeep drive to the camp.

Where did we stay? Devjibhai Damecha runs a camp here and offers both huts and tents for accommodation. He is a nature photographer, environmentalist and birder. We found him very helpful – despite the lateness of our request, he was able to accommodate us. The safari’s were also well organized. In the evening, he even offered us a short ride to catch the sunset.

Devji's website is here.
Other options include: Desert coursers, and the Rann riders. Best way is to shortlist among these and call them for info!

How many days? We spent about 2 and half days. Reserving a day for the safari is good, but we were on a much slower pace, with nowhere else to be.

In a crowded van, chugging towards ...

Road blocked!

Mr. Shepherd

A beautiful sunset

Our hut or Kbooba

Cute dog in the camp

Gadget attack!!!

I wasted a good 8 hours worth of blogging transit time today from Manila all because 1) I didn't have the right converter for my India plug points and 2) my laptop battery drains battery faster than the steam in a cup of coffee....

Agree, issue#1 is because of poor planning - so in the Singapore airport, I decide I am going to buy the WORLD CONVERTER ... which converts any kind of plugpoint to any kind of point... and guess which ones it doesnt support? The India 3 pins. We account for 1/6th of the world population - how can a world coverter not support my laptop power point??? Come on!!!

And now I have another useless converter, in addition to 4 chargers - for my phone, my laptop, my camera and my blackberry...And now, I will still go find another world charger, a world which includes India.

And just today I was just thinking how heavy my laptop was and whether I should get a net book... then I think of all accomapniments that may follow, the trouble of keeping both the laptop and netbook charged and backed up and the inevitable hours of delibaration before every trip - should i take the laptop or the net book or any one at all... I am dizzy

How many gadgets can we handle???

I am drowining...

ps: Just all my chargers took so much of luggage space :( :(

Travel secrets - now an eBook!

Remember this post? It was a Tripbase tag asking bloggers to share their travel secrets. Well, Tripbase has decided to take it to the next level after they recieved an enthusiastic response. These tips/secrets have been collated to create a downloadable eBook. Moreover, for every person who downloads an e-book, Tripbase will make a $1 donation to Charity:Water.

The Mission
1) To provide funds to build freshwater wells and clean drinking water to people in developing nations.
2) To raise awareness about this fantastic cause, encourage hundreds more people to donate and to make a real difference on the ground.

And all you need to do is download these books for free. So, please go ahead and take a look at these e-books! And as a personal favor, don't forget to specifically look up As I See It featured on the Worldwide Travel eBook and Worldwide Beaches eBook.

Personally, I am kicked - feels good to see my name against something other than my research reports! :) :) :)

"Mishandled"

Blue, black, black, black, black ... and yet another black bag on the conveyer belt with no signs of wine ... I had been standing there for more than twenty minutes and was going through my usual post flying trauma of "will it or will it not come?". It never seems to matter what kind of bags I carry or whether I am the first to check it in - my bags are usually the last to arrive. And, by the time it appears, I've almost decided that it is lost, and am shedding invisible tears for my preciously hand picked pieces of colthing and shoes (the only valuables I usually carry and mean more than the money that got them).

We had landed some 30 minutes back, and my bags hadn't yet arrived. I was absently observing to myself "Did you know that a vast majority of the luggage is black? Wine is proving to be an infinitely cooler choice". Another 10 minutes .... and slowly there were whispers.. "Bags mishandled". "problems in heathrow". What seemed like half the plane was still around me, how could so many bags be "mishandled". Was this some kind of a joke?

Apparently not. Or rather a poor one if it was. BA had finally managed to do what seems usually unimaginable and set a new record that night. They had left behind luggages of 80 people. But, one thing that worked in their favor seemed to be the time. Landing at early morning 2 o clock, after a 17 hour flight seemed to have mellowed down people. Some were ranting that "BA is known for this". One lady actually said that this was the second time it happened to her, and last time she didnt get her bags back. Why she flew BA again, i couldnt fathom! But people were definitely bonding over there mishap.

Personally, at 2 o clock, the whole thing just seemed unreal. Also, I seemed to have become a veteran at losing things (cell phone, luggage - this is my third major luggage incident in last five years), that my acceptance levels have risen up considerable. And I swear, my new Kenneth cole shoes and Sephora makeup didn't race through my eyes. But thankfully for me, my bags did arrive two days later. But for those who didn't know (like me), BA has the highest rate of mishandled bags - so be prepared!!!

PS: Yes. BA does have highest rate of mishandled bags. Though they have a decent enough system for tracking your bags. Only crib is that, for a long time, the status was just "tracking", it would have been better if it had said "identified. in london. waiting for shipping details"!

The Luggage Headache

If there is one aspect of making a trip that I find very tedious, it's packing. Not just what to pack, but which bag to pack in. Deciding which bag is as difficult as planning the entire trip. In fact its probably more difficult. Over the years, I have collected an assortment of luggage ranging from day packs to back packs, air bags, suitcases - and every single time I have always bought a bag too small or too big or too heavy or too something other. And obviously, every single trip - I am left with the feeling that I don't have the "right" piece of luggage.

And no surprise, just as I am about to leave for a month long trip, I have been gripped by the same paranoia of "deciding the luggage". This time, the decision was further complicated as I had to buy a new bag - therefore instead of choosing between the 5 to 10 options from my collection, the choice is thrown open to 1000's of brands, sizes, shapes, materials, features and blah. Color of course is limited!

So finally, I chose a shop close by , spent couple of hours discussing at length the pros and cons and picked up a wine colored Giordano 28 inch suit case ideal for travel for longer than a fortnight. Well - happy ending right? So one would like to think. Instead, I come home - and the bag appears far too big than it is supposed to have been. I am concerned - should I have gotten one size smaller? I call my mom, crib to her for a while. I spend a sleepless night. First thing in the morning - I am on the net, looking for information - and guess what? I couldn't find anything!!! called up few colleagues, bothered my frequent flying friend. Called the shop manager, got myself an "exception" to exchange. And even after which I couldn't decide what to do - to exchange or not to. Ultimately, I decided I cannot let such a minor event ruin my peace of mind (though the cost of it isn't minor) and did the "pick a chit" test which said stay with this bag. So that's the end of the matter.

But for those who are as confused as me, I finally found this price chart - thanks to luggage online luggageonline.com and some infor from about.com. Though, I am still not entirely convinced with my purchase. :)

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Price chart from luggageonline.com.

Anyway - what one really needs is a luggage invention which can change into different forms and sizes. And if it can gauge the owner's mind and pack itself - nothing like it.

PS: I am surprised that a lot of people actually agreed with me on this one when I thought, maybe, I was in fact spoilt for choice. I agree with girl with big eyes' sugesstion of use and return. Personally, I would prefer it if the luggage shops had items like shoes, clothes, business suits, cosmetics kits - so one can actually pack it in in the shop to get an idea. I feel that is the most difficult part of the purchase - trying to visualize what a bag can hold.

In my case, the extendible bag proved to be a good choice to fit in all my shopping. so women - definitely go for that one!!

Not so frequently found answers on Sikkim

While planning for Sikkim, I found a lot of information on some of the popular destinations or packages like the Yumthang valley tour or the Nathulla pass tour. However, I was looking for some info beyond this and found it on one or two rare websites. So have decided to put these titbits and some knowledge gained on the trip down here –

View from Kewzing of Kabru and Narsingh

1.Sun Down by 5:30
Traveling in Decembers, the sun down time came as a shock – yea, the sun sets by 5:30and by 6 it feels like 11 in the night. And yea, in most of the places, Gangtok inclusive, most restaurants etc shut by 9. So ideally, try fighting the biting cold and waking up early to maximise your day, cos not much is possible beyond sun down!

2.Who needs Avomines???
The first thing that struck us and we all loved about Sikkim – hardly any hair pin bends. After fear of being nauseous for the whole trip, it was a pleasant shock that we didn’t feel the “uphillness” at all – not even to the levels one feels while in ooty or kodai! Ofcourse, Ofcourse, the Yumthang to Zero point stretch is an exception to the case – but otherwise, the whole drving experience turned out to be not too tiring and good fun!

3. Allocated stands for Cabs
All cabs, depending on the part of Sikkim they ply to, are segregated and have specific stands they are allocated to. So you will need to transfer to a local cab (Maruti Omni's) from these cab stands.

4. TAAS (http://www.taasindia.com/)
There is a sikkim travel agents association called TAAS. Their website lists a number of travel agents. In most cases, the travel agents suggested that we come to Gangtok and make payments - we were just asked to keep them informed in advance - may not be the case in peak season.

5. Most Landlines don’t work. So don’t bother with those.
In my case, none of the landlines I tried worked. And after 3-4 days of banging my head I gave up. My theory is that these lines are probably down due to landslides which are common in the state. And now with prevalence of mobiles, people must have stopped bothering about landlines. Mobile connectivity was good in most places.

6. Accomodation
By friend has done an exhaustive feedback on all places we stayed. You can check it out here: Sikkim for Travelers
Katao Resorts : I particularly loved this place in Lachung. It was arranged through Dreamland Tours and Travels.
Deki Lodge: This place in Sikkim was also a great pick!
Yangrigang: This is the best available in Yuksom - so says it all!

7. Dal , Chaaval and Aaloo
well, that was our meal in most places! I was quite surprised to dfind that rice instead of rotis is the staple here. And for some reason, veggies were limited to aaloo, gobi and mattar!

8. ECOSS
is an NGO which has been working towards creating homestays is several villages. I came across their Sikkim homestay program from their website . Though their website lists just Dzongu, they have it in other places such as Naitam. You can contact Mr. Adrian Parkhin from ECOSS who was also very helpful with out itinerary and trip planning.
Contact: Adrian Parkhin 9733003300

9. Kewzing Tourism Development Comittee
For Kewzing, there is a community based organization KTDC which manages the homestay program. We loved our 2 days here and I would have loved to base myself in this place for more than couple of days. The cost of homestays (not just in Kewzing) is however slightly more expensive as compared to Sikkim average standards, but the experience was worth it.
Contact : Yugen Bhutia, President, +919434865154

10.The homestays are geared largely for foreigners
I think it would be difficult for Indians to get taken in by some of the stuff as it is possible that u might have seen this in your own houses or villages. But definitely, staying in a bhutia house, hot home cooked food, campfire at night, meeting people, and hikes around the village was beautiful. We loved this place

11.Arranging Treks
Ok - everyone i spoke to kept advising me 'land up and figure it out'. While this is good advice for people who have done it before, it just left me clueless - where to look for guides, how to go about arranging it? Though, I dont think i finally figured it out completely!-

In gangtok, the regular travel agents help arrange for guides, and porters for any trek. One agent i spoke to mentioned that it was possible to get sleeping bags for hire too. Not sure if travel agents are the best option, however. One can also talk to drivers - they have good contacts.

In Yuksom, we contacted Tensing Bhutia of Yangrigang. We had vaguely heard of a one "Mr.Bhutia" who helped arrange treks - and we managed to track him down. Very helpful with planning our itenerary here. Contact : 9434164408 / 9474351279 / 03595-241217

12. Trek routes
I was looking for doing some treks which could start of near Kewzing, to avoid any more driving than necessary... these were some of the options i came up with.

• Tendong hill trek, can be done from Damthang. From Rabongla, the road splits one way for Damthang and another for Kewzing. Kewzing to Rabongala is an hour walk. Kewzing to Damthang maybe an hour and a half drive.
• In Kewzing, if u are halting for more number of days, there is a route to trek to reshi hot springs - 2 to 3 hours one way, i think.
• The Reshi hot springs as such wasn't so great - it is definitely a miss, except for maybe the trek. Couldn't find info about any other hotsprings, which are more hidden and lesser known.
• Kewzing is a good place to base yourself, if in south sikkim. You can do the oldest Bon Monastry and Lepcha Monastry from here as well. Tolung monsatry which also has a lovely "jungle walk" leadign to it can be done - but you may need to drive a bit from Kewzing.
• From Rabongala, also there are lot of options. On a wall, there was a map painted which indicated a lake, a very tall buddha and couple of monastries in the area.
• As for trekkking between towns, these are a few options: Yuksom - Khecheoplari, Khecheoplari - Pelling, Pelling - Yuksom - these are not mentioned in too many places. Lots of small places can be trekked, but call an agent in the area to check.
• Khedi trek. There is a KHEDI Ecotourism & Ecodevelopment Promotion department, but like mentioned above, the landlines werent working. So couldnt fine much information. This starts from Pastenga.
• For moderate trekkers, we were able to do 14-16 km in 7 hours which includes breaks. This I think is a good gauge for people unsure of how much they can do in a day.

13. Jeeps?
Initially, we were not able to get much info on how often jeeps ply betweent towns. But after landing up there, we found jeeps are the way to get between any two places and almost equates to public transport. But, using these local jeeps would also mean a lot of "waiting" time to get one- as i dont think these are too frequent. So, if you have a sizeable group, and are short on time, it may make sense to hire one for ur group - although you may miss the "true wing it your way" experience.

14. Seeing the Kanchejunga
I am still not sure if we saw the Kanchenjunga peak from Gangtok. I believe it is more visible from Pelling???

15. Rafting
While Malli close to Kalimpong is the most popular one, you can also do it at Legship as well as Chungthang in the North.

16. Our Best find : The perfect map of Sikkim
We found this perfect map hanging in a restaurant at Legship, and in my opinion, its the best map of Sikkim i have come across so far. Most of the maps of Sikkim i saw (online) didn't offer these many details - were there were details, the map was split into 4!!! This was the only one which showed all places i wanted to see (Temi, Damthang, Kewzing, Reshi, Rabongla...) Anyway, sadly these are not in ciculation according to the owner. Well, what else are digi cams for??!!!

15. Other Links:
The Blue Yonder (www.blueyonder.com) - For sample itenararies
Arun on Sikkim : Yumthang Valley
Arun's trip report to Geochala
Mridula on Sikkim
Sikkim Trekking Tour guide - lovely trek options
FAQ from Mridula - she has a lot more posts on Sikkim, so poke around
Tendong Hill from Escape Artist
Geochala Pass Trek Account on Travelpod - here is how we tracked down Tensing Bhutia
Things to do in Sikkim