Goechala; wilderness of the Himalayas - My 1st Himalayan Trek ever - Last leg

Days 8 - 10 can be called 'Gratitude'

Exhausted, as we were after 7 days of climb, but the journey downhill was a beautiful time!

Before I talk about the last leg of our journey; there is a video at the end of the post, if you would rather watch than read :)

We woke up fresh after a good night's sleep, had breakfast and began our journey to Tshoka from Khokchurung. It was a perfect bright sunny day. It was such a good decision to take this detour on our way back, as it was a beautiful way!

We were walking on the narrow trails on the edge of the mountains, with an abyss on our left, that was covered with dense Himalayan forest, full of rhododendron trees and snow clad mountains past them. It was such a treat for all the hard work. Feet were rolling on their own now and we took lot of breaks to sit by the streams, on the rocks and under the trees...

We took our lunch break in Phedang and just sat and chattered with all the fellow trekkers, guides and porters who were travelling with other groups. It was so fascinating to know such wonderful people. We had all seen each others' ups and downs on the trek and there was a strange sense of comradery among us.

Phedang was a common point of our upward and downward journey and we were on our way again, on a familiar trail this time, to Tshoka.

The handmade bridge from the other side :)

Kanchenjunga National park is among the greenest places on earth

Red Rhododendrons

We are back to Tshoka and I am capturing some memories with our team

Dhava, our shy chef was kind of opening up to us finally :) He baked a cake for us that said "Happy trek" at 9650 feet! At night we had our last meal together (with some chaang that we got packed ;) ) and we thanked everyone from the bottom of our heart for making this experience so special for us.

Next morning, we started our final day of trek. Once back at Yuksum, we decided to leave for Gangtok after lunch. We were craving for a proper bed to sleep on, after these 9 days in wilderness.

White Rhododendrons on our way

One of many breaks! we were in no hurry to get back

Dhondu. One of the voices in our Goechala vlog

By 2 pm we were back to our base and into the taxi for Gangtok, capital of Sikkim state. We slept off, the moment taxi moved ahead. My feet had finally given up and swollen, so much so that the slippers wont fit.

Gangtok is a beautiful hill town, where there are flowers all over. By far, the most beautiful city I have come across in my country...

We finally reached at the hotel (Sonam Delek) in Gangtok, took a warm shower (after 9 days!) and ordered a lot of food; but slept off before we could muster the strength to get up and eat it..

Gangtok Morning greeted us with Bob Marley's 'One love' sung by someone sitting on the adjacent roof :)

With this last tale, my Goechala series comes to an end... It is one of the journeys that I would remember for life time. It is experiences like these, that combine like a series of prayer flags and give some meaning to life.

Here is our pictorial vlog of our Goechala journey. The background score is a combination of the folk songs recorded in our kitchen tent on the Himalayas and some popular Nepali songs in Sikkim

In the end, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone, who took time to read one or more of the posts of my Goechala series.

I fold my hands in Namaste to thank you!