Full steam ahead (Day 26 of world tour)

September 30, 2019

The night was a bit restless because I always associated the sound of raindrops with spiders :O Finally, the alarm clock rang at 6:00 a.m. Breakfast was supposed to be at 7:00 a.m. and then we were supposed to leave at 7:30 a.m. Alright! :)

We still didn't have light, but luckily our bathroom boiler was working! With the fat spider on the bathroom ceiling always in sight, I decided to take a warm shower before there would be no running water in the coming days. The boiler wasn't lying either. When I turned on the faucet, hot water came out and immediately filled the room with steam. Jonas's phone with the flashlight function turned on was lying opposite on the washbasin so that I could see something, and I had to be careful that the phone didn't get wet, as the sink and shower head were directly opposite each other (about 1 m apart)... Oh my.

Sensibly enough, the unbearably hot stream of water also hit the shower faucet itself, so you couldn't turn it back without burning your hand. And of course, you can't just "close your eyes and go through", but the faucet is very difficult to turn, so I would have had to expose my hand to the water for at least 10-15 seconds... In my desperation, I saw only one solution: I turned off the boiler. Then I just had to wait until the hot water was gone and stood in the still lukewarm water towards the end to quickly shower. Shower: check! :D

At 6:55 a.m., Jonas and I had everything packed, in hiking gear, brushed our teeth, and ready for breakfast. But when we went upstairs to the dining room, we were a bit confused. No one was there! :O We looked around and two more Indians from our group joined us, but they didn't seem surprised at all. Hmm. Tea was served around 7:15 a.m., but breakfast itself was still nowhere in sight. It wasn't until our three friends came upstairs that we were informed that it was probably "Indian 7:00 a.m.", which means you always add 40-60 minutes. Oh! Since the bus to Dehradun had left so punctually, we thought that was just a stereotype. Gaurav, on the other hand, seemed surprised that our bus had left on time. So that was probably the exception and not the rule :D

Well. Breakfast was finally served at 8:15 a.m., but if you thought we would start right after, you were mistaken again... All the equipment (tents, sleeping bags, cooking utensils, food) had to be brought on jeeps and taken to the next village so that the mules could carry them up. It was raining again (or still?) and most of the sleeping bags and mattresses were already in the rain. That was encouraging :p

Around 9:30/10:00 a.m., the first group of our group was taken to the starting point of the hike. The rest of us were supposed to "wait a moment", but then we heard that the vehicle had gotten stuck and yeah. I had just considered lying down again since the night hadn't brought much sleep, but suddenly everything happened quickly. It was like hop hop, and within 10 minutes, the rest of our group was in a second jeep. The official seating arrangement of the vehicle looks like this: 2 in the front. 2-3 on the back seat (with the middle seat having no seat belt) and in the "trunk" there are two side benches on which 1-2 people could sit without a seat belt. That's the theory ;-)

In reality, there were four people sitting in the front, four more in the back, plus a child sitting on the father's lap, and Jonas and I were sitting in the trunk with three others. I had about 10cm of seating surface and was squeezed against the back seat, but hey. At least I was safe! :D After the first few meters in the overloaded jeep, we encountered the first muddy/gravel hole where we might have gotten stuck. So as many passengers as possible had to get out, walk a little further on foot, and then get back in after the puddle. Yep. Amused by the situation, Jonas and I got back in, let ourselves be squeezed in, and then came the worst part!

We drove along an unpaved road along the edge of the abyss, which was characterized by rain and landslides. Parts of the road had already slid, but no one seemed to be worried except Jonas and me :O I can't put into words how insecure we felt! I prayed to God, closed my eyes, held Jonas's hand, and with every jolt, my heart skipped a beat. Was this our end? Of course, other vehicles were also coming towards us and somehow it worked out, but the amusement was over. Jonas and I felt sick to our stomachs, and when we had to get out again, this time because the jeep was crossing a river and the wheels kept turning left and right, we said to ourselves that we wouldn't get back in... The relief came at the last river, which had washed away the "bridge" and was now being crossed by most people without any support. We would have to walk the rest of the way, which Jonas and I were relieved about rather than disappointed ;-)

But first we had to balance our luggage on a structure made of tree trunks, and then everything became a bit calmer... We met the rest of our group at the starting point, marked with "Har Ki Dun - 27 km." So we set off highly motivated. In conversations, we learned that almost everyone in the group was new to trekking. The maximum they had done were day trips, which you wouldn't expect since everyone showed up with Quechua (Decathlon brand) equipment. There were three or four of the same things in our group alone^^ They probably all went on a shopping spree at Törki before the hike :)

The trail started, and Pati (an 8-10-year-old girl, the only child in our group) started walking with a brother/friend of the father. Jonas and I followed, quickly leaving the others behind. The trail itself was more or less paved for the first 100-200m, but then it was mainly loose stones, mud, and mule droppings. Thanks to the rain, the consistency of this mass was impressive :p Anyway, the others had to be careful where they stepped, while Jonas and I had no problems with this type of trail. Cheers to our hiking shoes and our previous walks/hikes :D

After about half an hour, we passed Pati and her companion, unintentionally taking the lead of our group. The others kept getting closer or even overtaking us until we reached the first climb. I had thought about being the last one, and here we were - leaving the Indians behind :D It was already very strenuous, but if you walk slowly and leisurely without breaks, it's doable. Breaks not only drain your energy but especially your motivation ;-)

So Jonas and I trudged ahead undeterred and only saw Ashka and Pati's companion (without Pati :( ) behind us. Then we entered the forest, and without the rain, it would have been really beautiful, but oh well. You can't have everything... At kilometer 4 (which felt like kilometer 10), we had definitively left the others behind and were on our own. Jonas's goal was to reach the camp before darkness, which was not a given, as we had started walking at 12:30 p.m. instead of 9:00 a.m. :O The stage was supposed to take about 5 hours, and it gets dark at 6:00 p.m...

At some point, when we had to climb higher again and I couldn't breathe anymore, our guide Rischab (or however you spell it...) caught up with us. "Wow. You are fast. The others are 3km behind you." Ha! Not bad! That's just Jonas's taste ;-) We also learned that there were only 1.5 km left to the camp, and motivated by that, we also managed the rest of the stage.

When we arrived at the camp, which was simply a meadow with a small stream that could provide water, we were allowed to choose a tent. Yay! That's the advantage of being the first to arrive^^

Although we had been quite fast, both of us felt good and didn't feel particularly exhausted. The Rothaarsteig last year was more tiring ;-) Well. We spread out our damp sleeping mats and sleeping bags in the tent, hoping they would dry a bit, and then waited for the others. Ashka and Pati's companion were next, and the four of us could already have tea and yeah.

It was a great relief for me that there was a "toilet house". It was a small tent with a hole dug out on the ground floor. Next to it was the dug-up earth and a shovel as a "toilet flush". I had been worried about this too, but with the tent, it was totally fine!

Dinner was delicious, but everyone was totally exhausted (some had arrived in the dark and felt demoralized), and we quickly went to bed/tent. Since it wasn't raining for once, our sleeping bags were dry enough to sleep comfortably in them. A real plus point :)