Cross One Off the Life List

Most little girls obsess over ponies and princesses. Never one to follow the norm, I have been fascinated with mountains, specifically the Himalayas, for as long as I can remember. It's been one of my goals to go trekking through them for a long time, and last week, I completed a short, four-day trek along the Indian-Nepali border.



We started the trek in Mana Bhanjang, about an hour's jeep drive outside of Darjeeling. We crossed the border multiple times, actually staying one night in Nepal. The trek was the right level of challenging--not so hard that I thought more about my pain than the scenery, but not so easy that it felt like a waste of time. The Singalila Ridge offered stunning views of the lush green hills dotted with tiny farming villages. The villagers who opened their homes to trekkers for tea, food and lodging were so kind. The place we stayed at the first night was great, although I was a little thrown by the life-sized poster of Avril Lavigne in the main room.

The high point of the trek was Sandakphu (3620m). It was freezing cold, but I hauled myself out of the snug burrow I created out of my sleeping bag and five blankets to see the most spectacular sunrise of my life. The Sandakphu sunrise was a million times better than the view from Tiger Hill because you weren't witnessing it with hoardes of Indian tourists cheering and chattering away. Instead, there were only a handful of Indian tourists and about an equal number of foreign trekkers. My idea of enjoying a sunrise usually involves a meditative silence and quiet appreciation, but Indians cheer wildly as the sun starts to peek up over the horizon, growing exponentially louder as it rises. At first, I found this quite annoying, but now I find it sort of endearing. How great to be so excited for the dawning of a new day!

The other reason Sandakphu's sunrise top's Tiger Hill's is the excellent view of both the Kanchenjunga range and the Everest range, all at once. Like seeing the Taj Mahal, there was a surreal element to witnessing this view. It looked simply like a fake backdrop, a replica of photos I've seen dozens of times. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I was looking at these mystical mountains for real.