After a briefing session with our guides, we headed towards our camp site.

As part of the Dagala Thousand Lakes trek, the excursion for the first day was a 7km (more like warmup) excursion to Gur. The following day, we walked a substantial 12km (upto an altitude of 4300m) to Labatama for our second camp.

That evening, I saw snowfall for the first time in my life! The experience was simply breathtaking. All of us came out of our tents to enjoy nature’s gift of white pearls.

The joy of snow was short-lived. It snowed all night which hampered our chances of venturing out for the trek. Our able trek guides informed us that the routes have been blocked due to the slippery ice formation. After much deliberation, we decided to continue with the planned route as far as we could go before returning back. Nature seemed to have different plans for us! The trek would then be modified from “Dagala Thousand Lakes” to “Chakula Pass” trek.

Towards the end, we halted near a village. The kids were enthusiastic to interact with us, despite the language barrier. We learnt a few words and phrases in Dzongkha, like ‘kuzo zangpo’, ‘kadrin chhe la’; and were offered really tasty ‘ja’ (tea).

To conclude the wonderful trip, we planned a visit to the famous Tiger’s Nest monastery in Paro on the last day (March 22). The adventure, however, was far from being over. We received information that our train back to Kanpur had been cancelled, not only for March 23 but for the entire week! It was another tussle to obtain some tickets in another train (general class, of course).

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