Stefan Tordai and Susanna
North Sikkim Tour & Goecha La Trek
- November 2007
Plagued by bad stomach conditions because it was their first time out to South Asia, Susanna and Stefan nevertheless braved the situation to enjoy their trek and travels around Sikkim.
Above: A sunrise photo of Kanchenjunga from Dzongri taken by Stefan
Here is what they have written:
Hi,
We are safely back home again. Thank you for an excellent trip, all your arrangements were very good and we are very pleased. Bad weather and bad stomachs is of course things that's outside of your control. The guides were very good and we learnt a lot about religion, history, social life etc in Sikkim. We have over 600 photos and will try to compile the best ones during the next weeks.
If you want to use us as references in the future, we are happy to help you.
Best Regards
Stefan and Susanna
Another email which arrived in January 2008 . . .
Early in the spring 2007 we decided to go to the Himalayas. We choose between Nepal and Sikkim. Nepal was ruled out because of the extensive tourism in many of the main trekking areas. Sikkim seemed much more unexploited by tourism. We asked a few Swedish and Indian travel agencies if they could arrange a customised trip for us to Sikkim and Mr Arthur Pazo at Quest Himalaya provided the best service by far. He put together a few tour suggestions, which we discussed and agreed upon. Mr Pazo also answered all of our questions without delay and to the point.
We arrived in Bagdogra in and were met by our guide and driver at the airport. Upon arrival in Gangtok, Mr Pazo and our mountain guide met us and introduced themselves. The first week we spent around Gangtok and in the northern parts of Sikkim. The landscape is full of green steep hills with roads climbing up and down and around. You need patience and time to travel in Sikkim. We drove slowly all the way to the mountain village of Lachung and on to the end of the road at Yume Samdong high up among amazing mountains. We saw yaks, yak-herders and nomad people. We visited several Buddhist monasteries with beautiful wall paintings and even attended a ceremony.
Above: Another photo taken by Stefan at Dzongri
The second part of our trip was a trek to Guicha La. With porters, herders and their animals (a cross between yaks and cows), chef and guide we started our trek. Unfortunately bad stomachs and bad weather forced us to stop at Dzongri after three days. We waited there a few days and finally one morning the skies were clear and we got the most beautiful sunrise over the mountains with Kangchendzonga as the main attraction. All those mountains that had been hidden from us were suddenly visible all around the horizon. That morning was really amazing and something we will never forget.
We finished our trip with two days in Kalimpong, visiting markets and just walking around in the busy small town.
The service provided by Quest Himalaya and Mr Pazo was even better than our expectations. All parts of the trip were well planned and even a change of the program high up in the mountains provided no problem.
Hopefully we will return to the green hills of Sikkim. And when we do, Quest Himalaya is our obvious choice.
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