Nothing ever goes the way it’s planned when traveling. You just have to go with it, let go of your expectations, and then just accept all of the what I like to call, ‘Huh? Whaa? I just..wait..? What the..?’ thoughts. And it usually turns out to be a pretty good time, just like the hike was in Sikkim.

The Swedish couple backed out of the hike at last minute, and so it was only three of us that set out from Pelling. Here’s Russo, the Spaniard who likes to say he’s from Albania. Thank God he stopped calling me Priscilla.

Here’s Stephen, from Oakland, the recently retired dental hygienist/real estate broker.

Tom Robbins couldn’t make up better characters than these two.

The hike went on a main road, but there are a bunch of short-cuts to take, where you get the real ‘rural’ perspective…aka getting lost on random footpaths and having to ask people directions from their homes. Russo took the responsibility of this.

With the houses spread out like this, you can imagine how many people we met.

We were convinced that these people were pulling our leg about which way to go. I mean, seriously, look at these poker faces.

We eventually made it to Kchecheopalri lake, just before the rain set in. No electricity meant sitting around a candle under a tarp in the pouring rain, drinking tea out of a plastic bucket. It was fun in that ‘memorable but I don’t want to do this again cause I’m cold’ kind of way.

The craziest thing though is the next morning, as we’re loading up on tibetan momos and tea, I see my friend Toby from California walking down the path! His girlfriend, Bella, and him were supposed to be in Thailand, and here they are in Sikkim, no less in this ’so small it’s not even a town’ place near the lake! Unbelievable.

That night after another day of walking on the road/trying to find short cuts, we arrived in Yuksom, the starting point to a longer, more costly hike called the Goecha-La trek. We met some other travelers, Toby and Bella got ahold of a guitar and a harmonica…

And then somebody pulled out a dijerido (an australian instrument). (How often do you get to say that anyway?)

A jam session was born.

The next day Russo decided he was tired of walking, and took a shared jeep back to Pelling. Stephen joined my California friends on the longer hike and I was left to finish the trek alone. But then who do I see walking down the road? The Swedish couple!

We couldn’t find the short-cuts the last day, so we walked on the main road the whole time, which was lame-o. There were some interesting bridge crossings…

And some adorable school kids.

I started the trek with Russo and Stephen, and ended it with the Swedish couple. And in between, I had a dijerido/harmonica/guitar jam session in the foothills of the Himalayas. Strange how things work out.

Now I head to Nepal. There are plenty of cheap guest houses to stay in Kathmandu, but who wants to do that? I figure let’s make it interesting- I could try to stay with a nice Nepali mother I meet on the 20 hour bus ride, or look to stay in a monastery with monks. Or I could couch surf it, using www.couchsurfing.com. Vote or write a comment, tell me what you think.