"I can turn to that day as though
it were a page in a book. It’s written so deeply upon my mind I can almost
taste the ink."
Hannah Kent, Burial Rites
Well, that's how I feel when I remember the hike to Phajoding last month. Phajoding was on my bucket list
for some time now. Six years to be specific. Until I crossed it off on 22nd
February. Phajoding lies at an
altitude of 2500m to 3600m and is 5.7 km hike uphill. Our itinerary was:
Day 1: Hike to Phajoding top most
monastery and halt for a night
Day 2: Hike to Dungtsho which is
about 8.1km (according to our walking speed) from the base monastery
We were blessed with absolutely good weather for the entire hike. The weather was sunny and warm with clear
blue skies, perfect for the hike! We started at 9am in the morning from
Sangaygang as the base and reached Phajoding by 12 in the afternoon. After a
quick lunch we hiked up to the top most monastery which took us about an hour.
Since we were banking on the monks for a place to halt for the night and if
possible some supply of food and warm blankets we reached there by early afternoon.
It was already freezing then! The kind monks gave us a room to stay and some
hot tea with biscuits. It felt heavenly! If you’re planning to carry your own
tents and food supply, it’s better to start in the afternoon and reach the top
most monastery just before dusk.
With nothing to do the whole
evening, we had a quick dinner and got into bed by 8pm. Mice ran over us in our
deep slumber. So it’s better to cover your entire face like a ninja and curl in
bed. By bed, it means that we slept on
the floor. We waited for the dawn to come. Literally counting the hours. Soon sleep
overtook and we had a good night rest despite the mice running over and the dog
bark at night.
My alarm was set for 5:30 am the
next day just before sun rise. I had been meaning to see Thimphu enveloped in the
morning mist. Unfortunately, mist is a thing for monsoon and not winter. Nonetheless,
I got to experience the glorious sun rise from the monastery at 6am. The
morning air was dead silent and far from the horizon, marmalade strips of sun
started appearing. The wonderful silence just hummed my ears. The moon from the
previous night was still there. However, the sunrise soon overtook it. The
night battling the cold and mice was totally worth it!
The coffee that made the morning sunrise even better |
Then we faced the most difficult part of the route. And the most worthy as well, now that I look back. A long snowy downhill trek. Later we found out that it was a short cut route which cut down our time by half an hour. Skidding and shrieking and playing, we were finally able to descend the snow clad mountain.
After an hour’s hike also, we couldn’t come across any
tsho (lake). Doubt started to creep in and the fear of being lost started to
shroud. We hiked a little further and crossed a mountain and that’s when we
encountered the first tsho. Good heavens! The feeling was almost ethereal.
After that, it just became more
heavenly. Tshos after tshos, a total of five tshos before we finally reached
the final one – Dungtsho. Without any proper trail and directions, one needs to
solely depend on one’s intuition. We were a lil’ confused on the route when we
finally found a small plate that points the way towards Dungtsho. The uphill
climb was treacherous, but it did not deter us. After 3.5 hours of treacherous
hike we finally reached Dungtsho. The feeling was out of the window!
Travel
always teaches me new things; endurance, patience and a different outlook in
life altogether. It makes me appreciate my country even more and I always always emerge with a positive outlook in life. It makes me feel blessed. I'm grateful for this little life, always!