Goechala; wilderness of the Himalayas - My 1st Himalayan Trek ever - Day 3/10

The day 3 of our trek can be called 'The Reality Check'

Bheem (our Guide, who is now a friend) wakes us up early in the morning on Day 3, in Sachen and tells us point blank that the honeymoon period is over; and we have to now be prepared for steeper and longer treks.. We have to now consciously breathe deep and well while trekking as the Oxygen levels would start reducing. But he promises, the journey will be fun and reaching the top will be worth all the pain.

Trying to get a feel :P He just picked it up for like 30 seconds.. these boys carry 25 kgs sweetly!

It was getting more beautiful with every step; white streams, old bridges, grazing horses, the mist...

And bang! it starts raining!! It was a day where my mind and body were acting like two different entities. While I was enjoying the view, I was starting to feel dizzy already and the rains didn't help much. But nevertheless, I carried on thinking it will be fine, once I get into the rhythm of trek.

This was the trail, we were walking on..

The dizzy feeling was turning into a sinking feeling by this time and I did not need to tell Bheem or Avi about it, as my walk said it all. I tried and tried and tried, the feet wouldn't listen to me. I was walking in slow motion, without realizing it. The slow motion turned into stillness and next, I was sitting on the rock, unable to move, breathing heavily, voice was barely making it out of the throat.. I could see our destination of the day, a Forest Guesthouse in Tshoka (9650 Ft), uphill. It was some 50 steps away; but my feet wouldn't listen..

Bheem was a young school boy, but at that moment, he was a wise old man, who knew exactly what to do. He asked Avi to stay with me and ran ahead and 15 minutes later, he was back with Susheel (trainee cook) and some warm water in a kettle. He told me to slowly sip in the water; I obeyed! He sat beside me and gave me this mini speech about how he will ensure that I complete this entire trek , even if he has to literally drag me till the top.

I wanted to remember the place where I got my reality check and where I decided that I will complete this journey

It worked! I was standing, taking one step after the other; it took half an hour to scale those 50 steps. Bheem held my hand and walked the talk, like a true mentor. I have no idea what time it was; but it was starting to get dark already. I was cold and I cannot express the feeling I had, when I reached the kitchen on the ground floor of the guest house and finally sat beside the warm kerosene stove..

Dhava had a hot bowl of soup and popcorns ready for me, which I gobbled with a lot of gratitude. Popcorns, because these are said to help fight AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness)

Dhava special soup, in the mid of the jungle, when I needed it the most!

By this time, I had become an ardent fan of our team and felt so overwhelmed at their gestures. Bheem did not need to motivate me. He had nothing to lose! He would have still earned his pocket money, even if he took us back to Yuksum, instead of motivating me to carry on the trek. Dhava nurtured me like a mother, when I was sitting sick in the kitchen.

Nevertheless, enjoy a few more pictures of Tshoka

View of Tshoka from uphill. You could count the roofs :D

The Forest Guesthouse, where we lived

After the meal, we retired to sleep in one of the dorms of the guesthouse. I performed my Chakra meditation, before finally hitting the bed (in this case, a sleeping bag), to align my energies and to express gratitude that I had such wonderful people around me and that this day ended on positive note..

White Rhododendrons. Rhododendrons are only found in Himalayas. I will show you the classic red ones in my upcoming posts

If you liked Tshoka, you are going to love the next stop, Dzongri, which is going to be a part of my next post on Goechala.

I will be releasing that soon! Hope you enjoyed reading about the first 3 days of my first ever Himalayan trek till now. I can only promise you, the best is yet to come :)