I signed up for a trekking expedition with the Adventure Club of IIT Kanpur. After intense training for two months, we set out for our trip on March 15, 2019. The adventure seemed to have started even before reaching Bhutan since it was a struggle for me to get into the train (as it was the first time I was traveling in sleeper class)! After a day’s halt in New Alipurduar (the Indian city closest to Bhutan’s border), we set off to Bhutan’s Phuntsholing (the Bhutanese city closest to the Indian border). This was to be my first trip outside my home country! After getting our passports stamped, we visited a temple in city and waited for our teammates to join us (who had embarked on another “adventure” to procure their passports).

Temple in Phuntsholing

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).