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Sikkim tour feed back |
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Hi Srijana and Satish,
Back in Bangalore.. ( safe and missing the beautiful hills and mountains!). Thank you so much for making it such a memorable trip. It’s the best vacation I have had with my family ever!
Gurudongmar was scary (with my toddler). With my daughter feeling kind of giddy as we reached the lake. The driver (Prashant) was awesome. He quickly got us down to safety as soon as possible.
Lachung, I don’t have words to explain it!! “Beautiful” is really an understatement. The snow clad mountains on one side and the waterfalls on the other.. God must have been in a really good mood when we was working on Lachung. We just got lucky to see it.. and experience it.
Thank you for organizing the beautiful trip for us!
Rashmi, Prashant, and Tanvi
(Bangalore) |
Thanks to Yak and Yeti Travels
Wednesday, 10 June 2009 3:25 PM
Dear Sir / Madam
Hereby I wanted to give you some feedback on the 8 days (during 28th May to 4 June,2009) we have spent in Sikkim . I would like to thank you for the very good organization of the activities and thus making it a successful our trip. Please let me forward my thanks to Mrs. Srijana Singh and Mr. Satish Bardewa of Yak and Yeti Travels.
Thank you very much for the hospitality extended to us during our stay in Sikkim . The arrangement done by your travel; Yak and Yeti Travels for the pickup from Bagdogra to Gangtok was very good. Mahindra vehicle was very good for this travel, as we could cover such a long distance without much fatigue. North Sikkim tour was very well arranged. The food on the way was homely and fresh. The food served in their kitchen was very good with very high level of hospitality. The Hotel Apple Valley at Lachung & Gangtok was good and the caretaker family there served good meals. The Driver Mr. Pashang of the Tsomgo Lake tour was very skilled and drove very slowly, so we never had sudden jerks and vomiting scenes through our journey. The vehicle drivers you provided was very helpful & entertained both our children throughout the journey and our whole journey was pleasurable and we enjoyed a lot without any high altitude sickness. Thank you very much for all the planning and execution of the tour, making it a good memory for all of us.
Overall, Sikkim is a place that one should definitely visit. Definitely not for the uptown and modern amenities loving person, but for a break from your hectic schedules of life and it's one trip that none will forget for the sheer experience that Sikkim offered……. Sikkim as a whole is a great place to visit. It may be something different than expected ...... but eventually it has its own share of uniqueness.......But it is definitely a cool spot to explore and watch out for.......
Heartily regards to all members of Yak and Yeti travels.
With Regards
Akshay Padhiyar
Surat (Gujarat)
Mobile : 99988 |
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from som mitra <som1801@com>
to Satish Bardewa <treksikkim@gmail.com>
date Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 1:05 AM
subject: thanks for the trip
Mar 19/ 2009
Dear Satish & Srijana,
I am now in Kolkata along with my family. Still the nostalgia of Sikkim is with us.
Thank you for arranging such a good tour. The car, the driver (Baichung), the hotel (Super view Superview Himalchuli at Zero Point) was excellent.
It was a great pleasure to spend a day at your resort (waterfall) at Rumtek. We have enjoyed a lot in sharing time with other members of you family.
I will send you very soon the photographs of your Hotel & Resort snapped during our tour.
Hope you are fine.
Wish you a nice and prosperous future.
Joy Ho Yak and Yeti Travels
Thanks & Regards
Somnath Mitra
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On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 11:30 PM, Alistair Dsouza wrote:
Hi Satish,
We had a nice experience in North Sikkim... it got a bit cold the first night but the experience of staying at the house in Lachen was worth it... It was nice interacting with the locals at a close level.. I have experienced that before but my wife experienced it for the first time..
the Lachung trip too was good... our driver Denzing was good fun to travel with... I liked the nice homely/warm feeling to the north Sikkim trip.. it was always service with a smile... could you send me our driver Denzing's mobile number.
will definitely recommend your travels to other friends... I also plan to with a travelogue about my experience and will mention your travel company in it... I post some of my travelogues on outlook india travellers website...
Also I need a scanned receipt for the trip for LTA purposes... could you scan the receipt and send them to me by email...
Many thanks,
Alistair Dsouza
Amagi Technologies
No 26, NSRCEL, IIM-B
Bannerghatta road
bangalore 560076
karnataka india.
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On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 5:00 PM, rajitha reddy wrote:
Hello Satish, Srijana and Yak n Yeti Staff,
A Very Happy New Year to all. Hope you've had a blast on the eve of New Year.
Hope you remember me, I'm Rajitha from Hyderabad, travelled with you guys, from 26th nov'08 to 01-Dec'08. (Bill to be on Rajitha Kollareddy, Hyderabad) Thank you so much Satish! I will let you know once the courier is received. I forgot to mention my phone number for the courier guys to call me....just hope that they deliver.
Whenever I tour Sikkim again, I will go with yaknyeti for sure. My mom conveyed New Year wishes to you all.
Regards,
Rajitha
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From: Marie Ducrotoy
To: Yak and Yeti Travels Sikkim
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 4:23 AM
Subject: Re: Yak n Yeti sends you a BIG hello
Dear Satish,
My apologies for the very delayed feedback! I hope you are well. Helen and I had the most amazing trek thanks to your fabulous team. Suren was a fantastic guide and if it wasn't for his encouragement and professionalism I am not sure the two of us would have made it up the mountain! The food prepared by the team exceeded our greatest expectations (I actually put on weight because they fed us so much!). And the jackets did keep us warm during those very cold afternoons.
Thank you and your team for the most amazing experience, one which we will remember and treasure always. We will certainly be recommending your company to other SARAH volunteers.
It was with sadness that we left Sikkim. We are now back in the UK and missing India very much. If I ever return to Gangtok I will be sure to drop by to say hello.
Thanks again for everything,
Marie.
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From: Ulf u. Renate Müller
To: Satish Bardewa satish.bardewa@gmail.com
date Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 3:07 PM
subject: Trekking in Sikkim
Hallo Satish,
Hallo Satish,
We are back home again and are glad to have been in Sikkim.
The trekking-tour was very good and we ware lucky to have been at the View Point in broad sunlight and just before the starting snowfall. It was a great view!
Chungda and the crew have been very good in guiding us the 8 days. They have provided us with a good time, perfekt food, nice feeling and a very safe guiding. Chungda was always with us, never too fast, never too slowly and with great patience to tourists with foto-equipment. One problem: the cook always made too much to eat for us; we didn´t intent to come back with more weight than before.
So thank you very much for your organisation! Sorry that your last two mail arrived in Germany when we already had left. I hope it was not too bad for you to arrange the tour.
When friends of us intent to go to Sikkim we will send them to your. And we will make a good posting in the net also.
Best regards
Renate and Ulf
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To : Mr. Satish
Goodday Mr. Satish
How r u?
We reached Mumbai on 28/05/2007 at 1000Hrs. Very hectic
journey. Now I settled down in Mumbai. I sent you a card
which I think you got it. But no reply from your side.I
once again thanks to you and your staff for making our
tour successful. You are requested to kindly forward the
complaint copy to my office address as per my visiting
card.Hope you will call me or e-mail me after receiving
this e-mail.Onece again thanks for your arrangements
from NJP to NJP via Pelling, Sikkim etc.
Thanks n Best Regards,
Uday Tikekar
Mobile : 9820123274.
Hello Srijana,
Thank you very much for the hospitality extended to us
during our stay in Sikkim.
The arrangment done by you for the pickup from
Darjeeling to Gangtok was very good. Tavera vehicle was
very good for this travel, as we could cover such a long
distance without much fatigue.
North Sikkim tour was very well arranged. The food on
the way was homely and fresh.
We particularly enjoyed stay at Hidden Hills Lodge,
Lachen, as this is managed by the local Lachenpa family
and it was a great experience to stay with them,
interact with them and see their life from close and we
were made to stay as if we were at our home. The food
served in their kitchen was very good. Very high level
of hospitality.
The Hotel Alpine at Lachung was good and the caretaker
family there served good meals. Still we would have
loved if you had arranged our stay with the local
Lachunpa's. This gives us an opportunity to interact
with the locals, mix with them and that is a different
experience which we miss in the hotel.
We had a nice journey to Gurudongmer as well as Yumthang
Vally. The Driver of the North Sikkim tour was very
skilled and drove very slowly, so we never had sudden
jerks and vomitting scenes through our journey. The
Guide you provided was very helpful & entertained both
our children throughout the journey and our whole
journey was pleasurable and we enjoyed a lot with out
any high altitude sickness.
Thank you very much for all the planning and execution
of the tour, making it a good memory for all of us.
Regards
Narendra
To (Satish) Yak and Yeti Travels
Dear Mr.Satish,
Hello,
This is Mr and Mrs Kulkarni from Mumbai, We would like
to inform you the following :
1) We had a very good trip to North Sikkim, we also
enjoyed our stay at Sonam Palgey.
2) We are impressed with your work and the team of your
members.
3) we were very much impressed with the support ,help
from Mr. Abhinash,Mr Kamal driver, we luckily could meet
Mr. Vikas and we both were impressed with the kind of
knowledge and approach Mr. Vikas has. He too has very
high regard for you.
4) We were also impressed with Mr Nima, and David at
Lachen,and Surja at Lachung.
5 ) We once again would like to Thank you for making it
all possible for us and we had a very very good time.
6) we would certainly like to keep in touch with Yak and
Yeti travels for all our North -East trips, we have
Bhutan in mind now so lets all work on it.
Thanks
With Best Wishes,
Amita Shrikant
Hi Satish,
Subject: Welcome to trek in Sikkim with Yak and
Yeti
Just at Kolkatta airport about to return to the UK and
thought I would drop a quick note - some feedback. The
trek was really fabulous, we both had a great time and
feel it was the highlight of our trip. Prem and the boys
looked after us very well indeed and we still are amazed
are the variety of different tasty dishes that they
cooked for us during the 8 days. The views were great in
the morning and I don;t think we met any other trekkers
until the last day (which was perfect). I guess the only
downside was the fact that as we were both fairly fit
trekkers we were a little bit disappointed that on at
least 5 of the 8 days, we finished our walking by 12 and
had
little to do but try to keep warm until the evening. I
think I would have preferred to squeeze the trek into 7
days to save us from getting very bored and very cold in
the afternoons. Other than that, all I can say is a big
thank you, and I would be grateful if you could pass our
appreciation onto Prem as well.
Thanks, and who knows we may be back one day !!!
John & Lisa
Namaste Satish
Subject: welcome to Sikkim.
Date:Tue, 23 May 2006 12:17:32 +0200
well, our 3 weeks in India are over and we are now back
at home at work. Hereby I wanted to give you some
feedback on the 10 days we have spent in Sikkim. I would
like to thank you for the very good organization of the
activities and thus making it a successful trek. Please
do let forward my thanks to Bikash, Dike and the rest of
the group, who did an excellent job in the mountains.
The food was excellent, sometimes even too much, we
hardly could eat that much as served.
Bikash was an excellent guide, who mastered the altitude
sickness and the split into two groups in an excellent
manner, as well as he was flexible to adjust the program
according to our wishes - early morning/night start to
Goecha La. This gave us the opportunity to be up there
while having perfectly clear sky, see the sunrize and
have beatiful weather until we have returned back to
Lamuni Lake where the breakfast was waiting for us.
I am attaching a picture of the "summit group" being at
Goeacha La early morning during sunrize.
All the best to Sikkim from Austria,
Kind regards, Miro
Dear Satish,
Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 14:04:33 +0200 (MEST)
Subject: tour feedback
just want to drop some lines regarding our Goe che la
trek we did recently.All of us enjoyed it very
much. The people as well the landscape were Just
fantastic. Your guide Abinash did a great job, was
always concerned About our well being, accepted our
wishes | proposals, was excellent in Supervising the
porters and cook. Darwa, the cook, did a fantastic job
too. His food was excellent and very good amounts too.
We wouldn't hesitate to recommend your company and of
course Sikkim. We hope that more people will find their
way to Sikkim in future.
All the best for you and your family!
Stefan, Jens, Jochen
Hi Satish,
We have reached Pune safely and just wanted to thank you
for all your help.
We had a good time with Vishnu; he is a good lad and an
excellent driver. We have all positives with Yak and
Yeti other than Nathula mix-up (which anyway is
not part of your service) and in case you ever need any
reference for your services, please feel free to give my
email address to your clients.
Thanks.
Cordially,
Jagat Pal Singh
Director of Technology
Cybage Software Pvt. Ltd. (An SEI-CMMI Level 5 Company)
Ph(O) : 91-20-56041700 & 56044700 (Ext. 3201)
Ph(R) : 91-20-56248893 & 26690739
Cell : 91-9860000111
Dear Satish,
We have finally returned to Canada from India. Our
entire holiday was a wonderful experience. Thank you
again for arranging such an exciting trek. Joe and I had
a fantastic time on our trek from Yuksom to Guichi La.
As I told you, our guide, Chungda, was great. The entire
team was a pleasure to hike with and we have no
complaints at all about the trek. Kailash and his
cooking team did wonders with a one burner stove, and
the food was a treat. Of course the weather could have
been sunnier, but you have no control over that.Our only
complaint (and that is a minor one) is the cost of the
Himalchuli Hotel in Gangtok. We compared the price to
other options in Gangtok and despite what you told us,
there are cheaper hotels with better value. I think you
arranged that hotel because it is convenient to your
office as well it is owned by your father. The staff
there is very nice and the service was good, but it is
older and could be better presented considering the
price/day.I hope this information is useful to you. Also
we sent a birdbook as a present for Chungda to your
office. I hope you forwarded it to him.Best regards to
you and your family and trekking team. I have no
hesitation in recommending your agency to other trekkers
and friends interested in visiting Sikkim.
Peter Uhlmann
hello satish
tku for yor reply.
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 17:27:52 +0800
i had already given u some feedback. particularly
regarding yukti, bikash,prem n suman doing too much
work. the porters must b trained to set up tents upon
reaching the camp. they must b trained to dismantle the
tents in the morning once clients hv vacated the tents.
this way, the guide (yukti or whoever) need not
personally do everything n supervise even the loading of
the packs n equipment. we always say, "600am bed tea,
700am breakfast n800am start trekking". but, many
mornings, we only start trekking almost at 900am.
because after we vacated the tents (n sometimes, we
clients r late doing so-sorry), yukti has to dismantle
them either alone or with bikash,prem n suman. by the
time he finishes, it is late. so, in order to start
early, the guide must b able to leave this job to the
porters. the porters must b trained n b disciplined to
do this, so the guide can b free to start trekking
early. other things. breakfast. first day, we arrived in
calcutta early, checked in at sikkim house n slept.
christopher n i woke early n found sikkim house
restaurant not ready yet for breakfast. later, they
managed to serve us tea n puri. but outside, there
seems nowhere in calcutta, any shop is open for
breakfast. the day we returned to calcutta, arun sent us
to a hotel at lake town. in the morning, we walked for
one hour up and down lake town street, looking for
breakfast. only snack shops were open selling sweets. no
shop open for breakfast. we finally found a shop after
back-tracking all the way to the main road leading to
the metro station. this shop sells puri n some other
breads but NO hot coffee or water. they only have COLD
coffee or cold lassi in the morning! next time, u must
advise your clients, or recommend to us, where to find
breakfast! lunch was at 400pm after we finished the day
tour during our first day in calcutta. i think the local
guides must b taught that the tour must stop for lunch,
then continue after lunch. the itinerary must allow for
lunch to b at or around 1230pm or 100pm. we went to the
kali temple, we went to another temple near howrah (whc
was closed for repairs). we went to the banyan
tree park/zoo. cannot remember where else we went. but
tour ended only after we told arun we were hungry n he
brought us to hotel lindsay. we can always break day
tour into 2 - before lunch n after lunch. the team was
tired after a long flight from s'pore with a break at
bangkok. so, with no breakfast (except for
christopher n me), the people were hungry n tired. to
promote sikkim internationally, a different strategy is
needed. clients fr s'pore n southeast asia generally r
not as rich as the westerners. we r also more conscious
of budget. while we want clean n safe hotels with
working (!) hot water heaters, we r not keen to pay for
5-star or even 4-star hotels. most of the time, we r out
n do not enjoy or get to use the hotel facilities. so,
no point paying expensive rates for high-class hotels.
if u can arrange for clean n safe hotels with clean
sheets n blankets, clean toilets with working hot water
heaters n hygienic restaurant for meals, we r satisfied.
we also want to b told in advance what we r supposed to
pay n what is pre-paid. for example, that day upon
arrival in pelling at hotel chiminda, u told me the
hotel had prepared snacks for us. u did not tell me i
had to pay. all of us, including the clients, thot it
was complimentary. so, we ate n being full, skipped
lunch. as i was supposed to supply lunch for them (paid
by x-trekkers), i told them i will compensate them w/ a
lunch back at calcutta. the next day, when leaving, the
gen manager presented me with the Rs1694 bill for the
snacks. of course i had no budget. i had already
promised the clients i will buy them lunch back in
calcutta. now, if i had paid this bill, i would have no
money to buy them lunch. not nice to go back on my word,
so i told u i have no money for the snacks. also, i felt
Rs1694 for simple sandwiches, pakoras n tea were too
expensive! if u had told me i had to pay for them, i
would not have accepted. i'd rather buy lunch for
the group. also, we again travelled so long, we did not
stop for lunch at 1230pm or 100pm. whn we arrived
at pelling, it was already 300pm. u must b aware of the
time because clients r used to eating at 1230pm or 100pm
at home. even for westerners, they r also used to
mid-day lunch so u must, if marketing sikkim
internationally, ensure your people stop for lunch. u
must plan the itinerary such that there is a place to
stop for lunch before continuing on to wherever we
r supposed to go.other than that, i think yak n yeti has
met most of our needs. of course,at darjeeling, the
clients at first, were not happy at your absence. u were
supposed to meet us on nov8 then at 300pm on nov9, whc
was changed to 500pm then we finally met u after dinner
at 900pm. as yak n yeti were supposed to supply dinner
on the 2 nights, if the grp is less than 10 n i was not
around, then they wld hv a problem. if u cannot make it
a spromised, u must
get someone to meet the clients n ensure they get their
dinner. your representative must pay for the dinner
first n claim back from u. the clients have all paid
their fees n they know they r supposed to get dinner at
darjeeling. 2 nights in a row without anyone to pay for
their dinner - it is not good. it was lucky i was around
to handle this for the group. n it is to your
credit that your later performance, n the good efforts
of yukti, bikash, prem n suman, won back the goodwill of
the group. at darjeeling, they were not happy. after the
trek, back at your brother's hotel, they were
happy. the good performance of your trekking crew
rescued the situation.
Dear Satish,
Subject:Appreciation for a Great Trip
Thank you for organizing our recent trek to Goechela
Pass. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience, especially
the beauty of Sikkim and its friendly people. We are
completely satisfied with Yak & Yeti Travels and will
not hesitate to recommend your company to our friends.
Ang Sherap Sherpa was an excellent trekking guide. He
did a good job setting the walking pace according to our
abilities, so that we were able to make it to the pass.
It was clear that he was highly respected by all the
other guides and staff we met along the trail.
Dawa was an outstanding cook with a warm and bright
personality. We still can't believe how he was able to
produce such a wide variety of tasty dishes for so many
days on the trail. His assistants were attentive to
making sure our trek was a pleasant one.
Our thanks also to the Yangri Gang Hotel in Yuksom. It
was very comfortable and the manager was most friendly
and helpful.
Please send our regards to Ang Sherap and Dawa. We will
send some photographs when we get them ready.
Best regards,
Eric and Stephanie Richter
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Dear Satish,
I am turning back to our great holiday. Beginning was
not so excellent due to absence of your representative
on
Bagdogra airport. In the agreement has been written that
transport costs were paid by your agency. Advance
payment asked by taxi driver did not boost our
confidence to all the deal.All subsequent steps were OK.
Small trouble with delay and following replacement of
our guide/sirdar I do not consider as a problem. I had
to force our trek start the first morning in Yuksom, but
it was normal folklore for Himalaya range, and I had to
persuade our guide Ningma,that we were able to carry on
our personal items with limited number of porters but
without delay.Following trek was excellent. I prefer
limited comfort not to overload nature by crowds of
people, kitchen tents and huge littering. The guide
Ningma did not disturb our sensation of nature but he
was on the right place all the times. The meals were
excellent the amount of food was a little bit surplus.
We were shy to return so good meal. Our dome (cupola)
shaped tents were better than A-shaped tents used by
your agency in case of wind in the highest camp with
windy conditions and cold. The interior is completely
protected by two fabrics. I can recommend Czech designed
products JUREK or HANAH tested in extreme conditions.
Due to my present overload I can continue later.
Vladimir Prihoda
Dear Satish
Hi, how are you?
We are both fine and settling back into life in the heat
of Chennai after our wonderful trek to Goecha La. We
just wanted to write with some feedback on the trek.We
had a fantastic time and were very well looked after.
Everything was very well organised.UT, our guide was
superb. He was very knowledgeable about the surrounding
area, wildlife and the customs and cultures of the
people and we really felt that we got to know and
understand Sikkim, its beauty and its wonderful people.
He made sure that we were comfortable and had everything
we needed.We would also like to say how much we enjoyed
Prem's cooking. It was really amazing that he could make
such tasty and filling meals on the trek for us. We were
very impressed with his skills.We just wanted to mention
a couple of other things:
as you probably know from speaking to Prem and UT that a
bridge on the Yuksum to Tshoka stage has been swept away
by a landslide. This means having to walk down to the
river and back up at present until the new bridge is
ready. This is a fairly steep bit and adds another 1.5 -
2 hours onto this stage making it quite tough. We spent
the night at Sachin which was fine. It is maybe just
something to mention to people when they are booking
their trek (though I suppose you may not have that many
people booking now because it's winter.
I am sorry that we gave you the wrong details for our
bank when we were in Gangtok - we gave you our ATM card
number instead of the account number.
We deposited a cheque for Rs 64,656/- on 12/10/04 which
would probably have cleared 3-5 days later. It was from
account: 112010200000383 HDFC Bank, 7th Avenue, Besant
Nagar, Chennai. I hope these details are satisfactory
for you to confirm with your account. If you still
require me to send you a copy of the receipt please let
me know.Lastly - I tried to email UT but I do not seem
to have his correct email address. Do you have his email
and if not, could you try and get it for me? Thank you
very much.Thanks once again for everything - we had a
wonderful time, and at some point in the future may come
back to do the trek in April/May time to see the
rhodedendrons in bloom!!
Kindest regards
Carolyn and Shouren
yuenlik_wong (11/19/2004
2:53:28 PM):
I arrived back in Singapore on 17th and wanted to report
to you that the 5-D Dzongri Trek was great. Though it
was very short, I enjoyed it thoroughly and I think you
did well with choosing Yak & Yeti. The guide was great
and had a lot of initiative. Satish was very helpful and
responsive and overall, I think went out of his way to
ensure that we had a great time - including our arrival
in Darjeeling at night on Diwali so that we can see all
the candles being lit along the way.
Best regards,
Helen
To,
Satish(yak & Yeti travels)
apart fr what i had already informed u, re tips, meals
n train
tickets, etc, here is the trip report :
a) overall, the participants were very happy. most had
never gone up to 5000m b4 n so were very happy w/ their
achievement of making it up to goecha la. the only 2 who
did not make it were jesline n shirley. both turned back
at dzongri. jesline cld not sleep n had poor appetite.
but she had no nausea or headache so it cannot b a
conclusive case of ams. shirley had classic ams symptoms
- splitting headache, poor appetite. she also had never
trekked continuously for so many hours, n her knees were
sore. both did not go up to the dzongri look-out to
watch the sunrise. after we returned, they informed us
they wld like to return to tshoka, n then to yuksam.
i made arrangements w/ the guide, yukti, to hv the asst
guide, vikash, accompany them down w/ 2 porters. later,
after we met up agn, i was informed shirley had inflamed
knees - both swollen - n they spent 2 whole days resting
at yuksam, not even leaving the hotel.
b) the itinerary was quite well planned. the
acclimitisation at tshoka n phidang contributed to the
team's success. we met another s'pore grp who had made
their own arrangements directly. they were only staying
at lodges. this made them go fr yuksam to tshoka, n then
directly to dzongri. of the 2 guys n 3 girls, one guy
had immediate ams n returned fr dzongri to tshoka. we
later learned he had stomache problems at tshoka n so
went back to yuksam n then to gangtok for a check-p.
shows the importance of acclimitisation. altho phidang
was filthy n muddy, the extra night stay at tt altitude
contributed to the grp being able to take the higher
altitude of dzongri the next day.
c) the original itinerary was to return fr the goecha la
side trip n descend to thangsing. but, the guide wanted
to change it to kokchurong, further down. the grp
initially welcomed the change as it meant they cld stay
at the lodge instead of in a tent. but, i finally vetoed
the change as, after the gruelling 10-hour return trip,
all were tired n had a headache. even i had a headache
on the way dn fr goecha la. so, after lunch, we trudged
our way down to thangsing n stayed thr instead of
kokchurong. i think no grp can make the journey dn to
kokchurong after the goecha la. it is just too tiring.
d) thr was a serious complaint abt a down sleeping bag.
thr was one piece fr s'pore in a x-trekkers stuff sack.
a red piece. darwin peh complained the first night at
bakhim tt he was shivering inside the bag even tho he
was wearing a few layers. initially i thot he had
ignored my advice not to wear too many layers to sleep.
later, whn jesline also used the same bag n complained,
i thoroughly examined the bag. it seems four of the
front panels had the down shifted. the baffles seemed
empty of feathers - just thin lining w/o any insulating
down. so, i marked the stuff sac n told them not to use
it agn. the
trekking staff used it fr then on. not sure if satish
will raise this issue w/ u. thr were no complaints abt
the other bags - either fr s'pore or gangtok. the
weather was cold - some nights below 0 deg C.
e) i was initially not happy w/ satish. he was supposed
to meet us on nov8 at darjeeling. dinner was to b paid
by yak n yeti. he did not turn up altho we conversed on
the mobile. first we said he wld b thr by 500pm. then
later he said he had an urgent meetihng n wld not b in
darjeeling at all. he wld come on nov9 at 300pm. 300pm
came n went but thr was no sign of him. he turned up way
past 900pm. for both nights, i had to foot the dinner
bill n i charged these back to him whn we settled the
accts. these were apart fr the train ticket fiasco. i
must admit tho he did try to make amends. he
called a friend in darjeeling, a tibetan called
tsewang who runs the local trekking co called trek mate.
tsewang arranged our tiger hill trip n the tea estate n
hmi/zoo side trips. he also picked up the food
bill for shirley n jesline whn the 2 were back in
yuksam hotel. the hotel is owned by his brother. as
the 2 girls were back ahead of the trip, they had to pay
for their hotel rooms but their food was charged
to satish.
f) the trip back to calcutta was a hectic rush. we left
pelling at 100pm n drove almost continuously till
new jalpaiguri. the drivers did not know how to
get to the njp station fr siliguri n we had to
double back after travelling almost 20 mins past the
town. dinner was a rushed affair at the railway
station kiosk as we had not time to find a proper
restaurant/coffee shop to eat.
g) for both return journeys on the train, the grp was
split ovr 3 separate coaches. satish claimed our
instructions to them arrived too late to buy all
the tickets together. on nov7, i was alone in coach 2
while chris n sin were in coach 1. the rest were in
coach 3. the same happened on nov21. i arranged
for the girls to b w/ some of the guys (as merlyn
n sherry knew n signed up w/ tin fong n teck hian)
while chris n sin shared coach 1. better for me to b
alone than for anyone of them. in future, we may
hv to hv an earlier closing date? anyway, it is ok
for one (leader?) to b alone while at least 2 others
share a separate coach. but, we shd make sure
satish get all a sleeping berth as it is not good
to ask some to sit while others get to sleep. after all,
all paid the same price. i was fortunate tt arun
was able to change the 2 seaters to sleepers,
altho at a cost. in future, satish shd bear any
additional costs for such changes as i m sure x-trekekrs
wld hv paid them the price based on sleeping
berths for all.
h) as mentioned earlier, we did not hv breakfast on nov8
on arrival at njp on way to darjeeling. we were
split all over 3 coaches n so i had no chance to
arrange breakfast. they ate on their own aboard the
train. whn we came out, the drivers were eager to get to
darjeeling n the grp was already full. so, i
promised to compensate them w/ a breakfast at
calcutta on our return. but, calcutta does not seem to
hv any shop open for breakfast! we were staying at lake
town (nearer airport) bec the sikkim house was
fully booked. at lake town, we walked almost an
hour around our hotel vicinity b4 we came upon a
snack shop whc also had puris n other food suitable for
breakfast. but, they had no hot water nor hot
drinks. it was either cold coffee(!) or cold
lassi. anyway, we ate what we cld. cld satish in future
provide us w/ info on whr r the local shops
selling breakfast, both around middleton row (whr sikkim
house is) as well as lake town? i seem to get the
idea most locals hv breakfast
at home, n thrfore most, if not all, shops only
cater for lunch! having such info may save us time
n frayed nerves early in the morning - searching
for food! i) i think this is abt all i can think
of. food-wise during the trek, quantity was
sufficient. sometimes, wasted (of course, i m sure
the staff ate the leftovers!) bec we cld not eat so
much. i had already feedback to satish, yukti as
well as the cook, prem, abt the combination. thr
were days whn we had either rice or noodles plus
macaroni! no way we cld eat the macaroni. preference was
for rice or the noodles, altho the fried noodles were
badly done - too soggy! overall, the grp was happy w/
the food.my only concern was tt they brought TOO much of
their own food. teck n tinfong's fullpacks were 28kg
each! on the return journey, the guide had to ask teck
to lighten his pack n re-distribute items to another
duffel. it seems his zo (hybrid bet yak n cow) cld not
manage the weight! for future briefing, we may hv to
emphasise they shd not bring too much s'pore food. the
overall weight is really mind-boggling. they produced
cans of luncheon meat n maggi noodles (for prem to
cook), packs of bak kwah, bags of sweets, cough drops,
etc, etc. they had a mini mahjong set, 2 mini mp3
players plus a audio-tecnica foldable stereo speaker
set!
j) lastly, the flight connection. altho the complaints
were not vigorous, most were not very keen on the 8-hour
break at bangkok. thr was no proper place to sleep or
rest. they wandered around the deserted concourse, had
expensive cup of tea/coffee at one half-opened joint, n
generally were restive until the counter opened at
0500hrs. i q'd n collected their boarding passes for
them, so tt they cld continue to lounge longer on the
floor/plastic seats.
dunno if thr is any alternative to this?
Hi Satish!
Subject:Thank you for the nice trekkingtour
First of all we have to apologise for our late
email.Again we want to say thank you for the nice
trekking-tour we did we your company in October this
year. Everything was organised perfectly by you and your
staff. Madan did a very good job as a guide. He was
absolutely professional and he always was concerned
about our wealth and satisfaction. The food (I rather
would call it dishes) couldn't be better. You
always can hire Mr. Bairagi Lama as a cook again. His 15
years of experience in trekking are more than will make
every trek a success at least the feeding parts
of it J All assistant staff and porters we very helpful
to us all the time. The only point you should consider
is the environmental concern of the crew. The biggest
treasure you have in Sikkim is the almost untouched
nature and tourists come to Sikkim because of that. But
if every trekking tour leaves rubbish in the forest and
even on the Gocha La Pass (even if it is hidden under
the stones) this nature won’t last much longer
untouched. On the last day some of the empty plastic
containers, tins and so on were just thrown into the
bushes. It would be a good advice to your crews if they
carry all the staff out of the mountains what they have
carried in.We really enjoyed our time in India and
especially in Sikkim. This place is something special
and we hope to visit it again sometime. For you and your
family we wish you all the best and hope to stay in
touch with you.
Best greetings from cold Germany.
Anja and René
René Liebkopf
Urlasstr. 16
91207 Lauf / Germany
Phone: +49 9123 96 00 10
Dear Mr. Bardewa,
As you asked, we would like to give some feedback on the
trekking we did last September 2002.First of all, I want
to say that despite the rainy weather and the
High-altitude sickness, the trekking was really well
organized. The staff was simply great: very friendly,
and always helpful.My special thanks to Prem, the cook,
who - besides making 3-star restaurant meals - also
guided us in the mountains at Bigbari, and Raju, who
organized help from the valley and stayed with me in the
hospital in Darjeeling after the trekking.It is however
my duty to report that the 1st guide - Raju -
unexpectedly left for 3 days for an important interview
during the trekking (with our permission). However, we
agreed that this was an exception and will not happen
again.The 2nd guide - Nawang - turned not to know the
trail in Bigbari, reason we lost the way there. We
suspect he has not much mountain experience. If you are
hiring him again as a guide, make sure he gets a good
mountaineering training and gets time to become more
experienced.
Apart from this, we were very content with following
things, and you surely would do well to keep them in the
future:
Your help with extending the Sikkim permit
The complete "mobile dining room" - table and little
chairs, including table cloth & candles
The great food served
The spacious tents
The good guesthouse at the end of the trekking in Yuksom
the great tongba will now list the items that
could be improved. Please don't regard them as failings,
but as nice-to-haves, since they give the trekking just
that little bit extra.
1.Clients might break their leg, get ill (especially
because of deseases they picked up in other parts of
India), or get High-altitude-sickness (in spite all
precautions). Currently the staff cannot handle any of
these situations properly. I advise to give the guide a
first-aid training for the 1st 2 situations. Also carry
a professional first-aid box (containing medicines and
bandages)
Also a high-altitude-sickness training is needed (a
training in which he learns recognizing the symptoms,
administering hi-alt-illness medicines and/or using
oxygen bags).Also carry high-altitude medicines or an
oxygen bag.
2.The guide turned out to be educated through very good
HMI mountaineering courses. The cook turned out to have
gained massive experience on professional mountain
climbs.If you would exploit these by noting these kind
of facts in your flyers, emails & website, you might
attract a lot more (western) clients to your agency!
These things are decisive points in the current
trekking-agency market in Sikkim, which is actually very
intransparent.
3.If you could also offer High-altitude-sickness-trained
guides carrying required medicines or oxygen bags for
safety, this would definitely be a BIG selling point.In
a very unpredictable environment such as the Himalayas
where the weather can change unexpectedly, and other
problems may arise, safety is a very essential topic for
a western client. He naturally expects the trekking
agency to take the necessary precautions. He is very
willing to pay extra for this!!
4.Put the (financial) conditions of the trekking on
paper, and hand it over to the clients, so they know
under what their rights are. You could address following
in the paper:
- What happens when the trekking is cancelled on the way
- How accidents are handled and who is responsible for
the cost
- A bad-weather arrangement
- A serious explanation about the risks of High-altitude
sickness:
Make clear what kind of help you can offer, and what you
expect the client to take care of.
5.Check before the trekking if there are food items that
your clients don't eat, and adjust the menu to this.
6.Give the trekking program as a computer print-out, 1
for every client.
For convenience also mention the overnight altitudes and
the walking time for each day.
7.Update the checklist of items to bring along on the
trekking to make it clearer:print them below eachother
in a (numbered) list instead of on a few lines.Also add
a 1-sentence explanation behind each item why this item
is required.
8.Give the checklist as soon as possible to the clients:
Sometimes the clients have to shop for some of the
items, which are available in Gangtok, but not always in
Yuksom
9.Plan some time for the guide to inspect the clients
luggage if requested.
The client not always knows the quality of his material,
so the guide could give some suggestions.
10.Take a kerosine lamp for the evenings on the table.
Much better than candles to read with.
11.The huts that Sikkim Tourism is offering are not very
comfortable.You could put your clients in a private hut
(at least at Tsoka this is possible).
12.it would be great to arrange a dinner and party at
the end of the trekking.
It would be very nice if also the porters would also
join that dinner, as they always eat separately during
the trekking.
I hope this feedback is useful to you, and maybe in the
future it will serve you to offer even more professional
trekkings.
With kind regards,
Joris Alkema & Leo van den Bulck
The Netherlands
Hello Satish and Mr. Shema
we now got to Thailand. We had wonderful days in
Bangladesh. We met a
lot of very nice and helpful people.When we crossed the
border there was no private car to hire for Dhaka so we
had to take an overnight bus to Dhaka. It was a very
nice bus. And we can really recommend this travel
agencie Khushiara. They are very helpful and offer a
good service.Once again thank you for your service and
help. We wish you all the best and send many greetings
from Thailand.
Sandra and Koni
l@gmx.ch
Dear Satish
its nice to hear from you. We hope everything is fine in
Sikkim and that everything is fine with you. We think a
lot of our trip to Sikkim and will never forget your
hospitality and friendliness. It would be great to keep
in touch. What about Karmapa, will he come to Sikkim
soon? We would love to visit Sikkim again but it will be
difficult in the near future. We are going to have a
baby in March, so we will see how to manage our travels
afterwards......
Please say greetings to Tilac and Mr. Sharma (is that
the right name? I dont
remember exactly....).
All the best to Sikkim and we hope to hear from you
again.
Sandra and Koni
From: "wilfried devriendt"
To: "Yak and Yeti Travels, Sikkim"
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 8:38 PM
Subject: Trekking Sikkim, Gocha La, November 2003
Dear Mr Satish,
The Gocha La trekking was wonderful! We have enjoyed the
trekking very
much. The trekking was strenuous, but very rewarding:-
the views of the mountains was superb -life in the
mountains is a special experience: how the people live
up there, how the staff make their living, ...- the team
was excellent:
* Ugen is a very good guide: he is conscious and caring
about everything around and in the Natural Park, and he
loves the mountains. Unfortunately, he had to skip a
couple of days, because his relative had died in
Dzongri, but he arranged an alternative
* Milan is an excellent and creative cook: with
relatively poor means, he succeeded in preparing lots of
good meals! He is also a good guide: hetook good care of
us when Ugen wasn't there.
* the porters Edbi, Kebi and Dawa also were good
quality: they were always very helpful and
entrepreneurial (especially Dawa has good potential for
additional responsabilities): in lots of details, we
appreciated the difference of service level which we
could compare with other teams around us.
- * the yak-man Indra and the 3 yak also performed as
expected.We thank you very much for having taken care of
selecting such a good team, and to arrange that the food
was like we had discussed with you on beforehand.-
unfortunately we had some bad luck with the weather:
most of the days the chilly clouds covered up for the
rest of the day past around 10 am, but on the very day
of reaching Gocha La, we had the best day of the week,
with the sun shining and the rewarding full views until
noon!
However, we also want to share some remarks with you: -
the hotel in Gangtok could provide significantly higher
value for money,when the staff would take care of
additional cleanliness in rooms and restaurant (the
Tashi Gang Hotel in Yuksam is a nice example of this!)
- the tent was of rather low quality: we would suggest
to use a special "iglo" tent, more suited for winter
like nights...- some of the porters were badly equipped:
some didn't have proper (walking)
shoes, or socks, or (down) jacket, or gloves, or a
cap...: these men really suffered from cold nights: we
have seen them shivering...We regret that we didn't had
the opportunity to inspect the clothing of the whole
team before we went on trekking (we saw it only after
our arrival the first trekking day): only Ugen and Milan
had a proper (down) jacket and shoes. We would have
expected that you, as an experienced mountaneer, would
take care of having your staff properly equipped. Why
wouldn't you provide the staff with good gear: this
would enable them to undertake the in optimal outfit,
and it would also be a good commercial opportunity to
show "Yak & Yeti" on their gear (as we saw another
agency doing). - During our contacts with other
trekkers, we found out that we paid much more than most
others. We do agree that there was a certain quality
difference in services rendered, but this was only due
to the extra added value from the staff themselves;
therefore, we would appreciate it very much when you
would invest some of this money in your staff
additionally: they really deserve it.
- Dear Mr Satish, we had an unforgettable journey, and
we thank you for this.We also keep Sikkim and their
people in our heart and memories, and we
wish that the Sikkimese will keep their mountains as
nice as they are now!
best regards
Wilfried Devriendt Boechoutsesteenweg 70
B 2540 Hove (Belgium)
tel/fax: +32 (0)3 455 14 11
Dear Satish jee, at last the result is coming for
us. now papa kurt is
coming with 5 persons for sikkim trek in the coming
autumn. can you
suggest me the itinerary and the price as the following
plan. probably what could be that bills for him ? if it
was not so big amount he expects to consider or let us
know as much as lowest because he is giving us the
business. now he
is also asking me whether go to you directly or through
me. and of course i prefer to go through me this is the
what the business policy. i had suggested him to go
through me also he is afraid that the price will be
higher. of course will expect something when he will go
through me. but will not keep more profit. if i add will
add, maybe 10% or little above. then now you can do one
thing that even if i suggest him to come to you directly
then he will start to correspond with you but that time
give him a price directly and show me the cost putting
my margin in the cost would also be nice. but this
should be confidence wtih you and me only so that he
should think that i am transperant man. but insidely he
will also think that kedar will not happy when i go to
satish directly. in this case when we have above
agreement, then i could tell papa kurt 'no its ok'. do
not write him now just let us discuss and make an
agreement which way to go and will reply him. he is
waiting my reply. please keep confident this matter. can
you give me your latest and currently using hotmail ? or
which is your personal email (which only you open)
please give me it is necessary sometime.
Hello
The following will appear in the New York Times Travel
section on Nov. 30,
as part of an article about someone's trip to the
Singalila ridge about one
year ago. Will you please let me know if it is accurate?
The Indian government requires that treks in Sikkim be
arranged through an agency at least a day or two before
starting. There are several in Gangtok. The one I used
was Yak and Yeti Travels, run by Satish Bardewa at the
Hotel Superview Himalchuli; (91-3592) 21670 or email
slg_yaknyeti@sancharnet.in. A Web site,
www.yaknyeti.com, is still under construction, though it
contains contact information. For four people, the price
per day was $42 each, with food, tent rentals and the
first and last nights' accommodations in basic
guesthouses included. I would recommend bringing all
your own noncooking gear, including sleeping bags and
tents, because the equipment the agency provided was low
quality and less than ideal for harsh weather.
The writer, Edward Wong, used a guide named Raju. Was
that arranged through you? And also he says that the
Indian government banned mountaineering expeditions on
Kanchenjunga because the mountain is sacred to so many
people? Is that so? Do you know when the ban took place?
He also states that the Indian government had opened
this Singalila ridge path to foreign trekkers only in
2000. Is that true? His group walked north along the
ridge for about a week, then traversed a couple of
valleys to join up with a more established trekking
trail that led right up to a 16,200-foot pass called
Goecha La, right next to the imposing ramparts of
Kanchenjunga. How long would such a trek be, in miles
(or kilometers) all together?
Thank you for your help
Sincerely,
Carl Sommers
Carl Sommers
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York NY 10036
(212) 556-1580
Tue, 29 Apr 2003 13:49:40 +0100 (BST)
Dear Satish
I wish to give you some feed back on our trek and onward
travel organized by Yak and Yeti Travels.I was generally
very pleased with the transport and trekking
arrangements, we ended up teaming up with the 3 French
trekkers initially due to one of the cooks taking ill,
however it was fortunate that we all got on and it
worked out well. The trekking crew were excellent,
notably U.T from Yuksom who proved himself to be an
excellent, highly skilled guide who has excellent skills
at looking after the group of us. Also Pucko from
Darjeeling proved to be an excellent guide too, he was
extremely helpful and really went out of his way to get
things done, he also has excellent English which made
things easy for us. The kitchen team where excellent
(Divi was the cook) and produced a fantastic array of
hygienically prepared food. The Man incharge of the
Dzo's was also an excellent crew member. Although there
was a minor hitch when we arrived in Pelling after the
trek re the hotel, Puckoo dealt with the hotel manager
well and I was generally very pleased with how you
sorted it out and changed our travel arrangements to
spend our last night in Darjeeling (the hotel was
excellent). overall I was very pleased with how the
booking went overall as booking things over the internet
can sometimes be full of uncertainty. Maybe you could
post a list of possible itinerary or treks on your
website and possible additions to treks etc. and a clear
guide of the difference between the different levels of
treks. My only concern on the trek was at times I
felt some of the crew had inadequate warm clothing and
sleeping bags and also there seemed to be no medical
first aid kit available and some of the group used their
personal first aid kits to aid members of the trek crew.
I think it would be a good opportunity for you to raise
awareness of first aid and health issues for the
trekking crew and possibly to provide sleeping bags for
them. I know this was a big concern for a lot of
trekkers I met who were with other companies who
expressed the feelings that they would be much more
prepared to join with a trekking companies tour who
actively participated in bettering the welfare of the
trekking crew. However generally I would be very happy
to recommend your company to other people.
best wishes and thanks again
Steve Smyth
Dear Satish,
Thank you for the email.
After discussing with Raymond, we'll get our train
tickets next time with all the hipcups that happened.
Here's Raymond feedback:
(1) IN future, you might like to get the tickets at NJP
and send to Calcatta. Also it'll be great if the tickets
can be delivered to Yuksom instead of the people getting
at NJP. Else, might have as well we get the
tickets on arrival.
(2) The tents are not of good quality as compared to
other trekkers on the trail. The zip is spoilt and
dirty.
(3) Cooks, guide and porters are great.
(4) The trek is not so suitable for Singaporeans.. may
need to extend the trekking days to suit
singaporeans Neverlessly, all have enjoyed the
trek/trip.
Trekking in harmony with nature,
Exploring is delightful to look forward to and back
upon,
but it is not comfortable at the time,
unless it be of such an easy nature as not to deserve
the name
Dear Satish,
dear UT,
I want to take this opportunity to give you a little
feedback about the Kanchenjunga Trekking we had booked
with you. Attached you will also find some photos.
Satish,
as a guide "UT" was an excellent choice. UT must be very
close to the "Perfect" guide. He really looked after us
and made the trip very enjoyable. Moreover he selected
the right team (cook, kitchen boy and yak man). He made
sure we could enjoy the trip as much as possible. And
most important he ÃÂs a really nice guy and a special
person with a good sence of humor.
The organisation of the trip was done by Yak&Yeti very
well. Everything ran smooth and nice. It was very
enjoyable for us. It is propably the only trekking tour
in the whole world whrere you can't loose weight! The
food was fantastic and plenty.....
UT,
here back in Germany, the leisurely attitude towards
things is almost forgotten as everyone is very busy at
work and Christmas is approaching fast. The nice thing
about Christmas is that everything is decorated nicely.
It is getting cold. We had the first snow already (at
sea level)
Hope you are all well. We wish you a Merry Christmas and
a Happy New Year. Maybe we will see you again one day.
Please give my regards to your lovely family. A big hug
to you from Me and Mami.
Kind Regards from Germany,
Frank & Siggi
Hi Satish,
It has been three weeks since our return from Sikkim and
we are still talking about it. Sikkim is truly a
beautiful part of India, far better than we had ever
imagined. We were so happy with our trip up there that
we are now in the process of planning our next trip,
this time to Ladakh.
You asked for a feedback of our trip so here it is.
Your choice of hotel in Gangtok was great. The food was
very good and the room was spacious. My kids still speak
of the food there. The day to Rumtek and the Institue of
Tibetology was very interesting and your friend was
knowledgeable of these places.
Tsomgo Lake awas great for the kids as they managed to
see snow for the first time in many years. My only
comment here was that the guide wasn't really necessary.
She could neither speak English nor was she
appropriately dressed for the snow. She also didn't seem
to know the place very well.
Transfers to and from all the locations were well
appreciated.
The hotel in Yuksom was fine, though food there was
probably the worst we've ever experienced in India. We
understood later why an english group there had their
meals made by their trekking cook!
Now for the trek itself. The forests and the views of
the mountains were magnificent. Even though the skies
deteriorated by midday, we did get some spectacular
views. The trekkers lodge in Tsoka was fine. The
campsite in Phedang was pretty horrible as trekkers and
animals fought for space, however, it was a good place
to acclimaitise. Our stay in Dzongri was also fine,
though a bit cold...which brings me to the subject of
your equipment.
To be honest, the camping equipment that you provide
need desperately to be upgraded. The zips on the tents
didn't work properly. The tents were obviously very old,
but not only that, they weren't suitable for the weather
conditions that we experienced up there. We had below 0
temperatures on a couple of nights. The sleeping bags
were dirty as well as the mats and the extra blanket you
provided.
The food. Breakfasts were great. There was a good
selection. As for lunch and dinner...I think Prem should
know that you shouldn't serve rice, noodles and potatoes
all at one meal!! His preparation and planning of food
also needs to be improved as it was bland and unbalanced
(high in carbohydrate and fat, low in protein) and quite
surprising as in the case of his pizza. He cooked a
pizza with apple puree, tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese.
It was totally inedible!! On the trek there was very
little in fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. I understand
the difficulty in carrying these things but one can make
cabbage and carrot a little more interesting than
serving it the same way for 6 days!! He could also have
bought more interesting vegetables for the beginning of
the trek and left the less perishable vegetables for the
end of the trek. We got served tinned meat and TVP
(protein + protein) on our last evening, which was
probably our best meal of our trek. His cake was
delicious.
Tea is fine as a beverage, but as it is a diuretic, it
shouldn't be consumed too frequently as one dehydrates
enough in the mountains. Is it possible to get herbal
teas in India. Otherwise, you could suggest that your
clients bring their own.
Our stay in Darjeeling was wonderful. After a trek it
was very nice to slowly come back to civilisation. The
hotel was excellent and I welcomed it with open arms!!
My only comment here; it wasn't necessary for Raj to
accompany us to Darjeeling. As long as you had arranged
with a local taxi driver, we could have done all the
sight seeing on our own.
My comments on Raj? He was a great friend and
entertainer for our son Alex. Without Raj, I think Alex
would not have enjoyed his trip half as much. As a
guide? He is still very young and not mature enough to
understand the responsibilities one has as a guide yet
though I'm sure this will all improve with time.
I hope I have given you enough "food" for thought.
Thanks again for organising the trip.
Yours,
Michelle
Dear Mr Satish,
I am writing to say thank you for a very enjoyable trek.
Sikkim is as beautiful as you had promised it would be
and it was very exciting to be surrounded by such
enormous mountains. All the arrangements went very
smoothly and the skill and judgement of your staff
contributed greatly to my enjoyment and the eventual
success of the trip. Please pass on my best wishes to
them all. If I have one criticism it would be that few
of the guides and porters in the many tour groups on the
trail seemed properly equipped. I don't know if there
are any guidelines that groups are supposed to follow
but I think it might be a good idea if essentials such
as sunglasses and basic medicines were provided to the
guides and porters by the trek companies and then
collected back afterwards to guarantee that this does
not happen in the future. I would be interested to hear
your opinion on the matter. Thanks again for a great
trip.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Yates.
Dear Satish,
Here are some feedback from the participants.
1. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the worst, & 5 the
best), please
rate:-
§ The adventure. {3-4}
§ How would you grade our sikkim agent? {3 } but the
guide, cooks &
yak
herders were very good
Comments:
2. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being chicken feet, 2 being
easy, 3 being
average, 4 being hard but manageable and 5 is tough-not
for beginners),
please rate the trek? { 3 }
Comments: As the trekking hours for this trip is short,
we get plenty
of
time to acclimatize and rest. Thou some ppl might still
fall prey to
the
altitude sickness.
3. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being safest, & 5 not safe),
please rate
the safety aspect of the trip/trek? { 2-3 }
4. a. Which is the best moment of the trip that you
remember. Why?
{ moutains, villagers, gompas & of course the friends on
the trip-
eye opener }
Hi Satish,
(Returned with fewer problems than i started out
with..!! haha)
I was VERY pleased with the trek (and would like to do
the whole thing again.- I just loved it!).The weather
got better and better (mostly) though I never minded the
Wet.
The trek crew were super: considerate, thoughtful,
hardworking and always cheerful and i thoroughly enjoyed
being in their company (I felt like a mem-sahib with
their attentiveness and care). Happily, no need to
'beat' Prem (joke!) for feeding me SO well (my fault
that i had many 2nd helpings of food), because I have
actually lost nearly 3kg caused by a 'vomit' bug - i DID
drink some untreated river water on day one (yes, i
should know better..-completely my fault). However, my
tummy now grumbles at the loss of those excellent 7*
Prem-breakfasts .
UT is a very capable, knowledgable guide & i appreciated
his birdspotting & animal tracking- i asked many
questions(!) It was good to see that he cared enough to
pick up the litter on the track & instructed some of the
porters to do likewise. So nice not to see plastic bags
everywhere.
I haven't had much spare time today but i did get the
180 photos downloaded onto a CD - will look at them
later (when i find a computer with CDRom facility...) to
sort, print & send on.
Will photocopy those pages on mountainbiking section of
LP guidebook and send them on Wednesday - OK?
Do you know the magazine Action Asia? website:
actionasia.com It covers countries from Aust,NZ to
China,Nepal, Pakistan -articles on
biking,trekking,mountaineering,enviromental
issues,diving,adventureracing & has a calendar of future
events....but have not ever seen anything on SIKKIM??!.
I can send you a copy - would you like to see it? Let me
know if i can check out any other info which could be of
any use. ThankYOU again for your helpfulness ( and
patience). Also, I really needed the warmth of your
sleeping bag and i think i owe you for the hire.???
Please say. I can't wait to return (have yet to check
out the current regulations). Now, to fix that bike..
And, Happy Vijaya Dashami!
catch you later....Best,
susan
Hello Satish!
I can't believe it is February already, time is flying
by! I wanted to give you my new e-mail address now that
I have a new e-mail set up here in Copenhagen:
Did you manage to get any more information about where
the wire transfer got held up? If not, I can ask my bank
to put a trace on it, it will cost me about $25 but I
would like to help you find the money as it's a huge
amount! If my bank finds out it got "held up" somewhere
in India what are the chances of getting it sent to your
account? I know that corruption can be a problem in
India.
At last I have a bit of time to tell you more about our
trek and give you our feedback. Like I said, it was for
the most part a really wonderful trek. We were really
lucky with the weather. The food was outstanding and
plentiful, Prem is indeed a great cook. He also did very
well doubling as a guide and cook, when Narwong had to
go back down to Yuksom; he is a very hard and diligent
worker, as is Karke, our porter (not sure how to spell
his name), and both were very pleasant and helpful. We
were very well looked after. Prem is clearly very
experienced and knowledgable, we wish we could have
learned more from him and Narwong if the language
barrier was not as much of an issue. Narwong was very
friendly and helpful, but we wondered if he was a bit
too young and inexperienced to be a lead guide. We were
also concerned that Karke might not have enough good
quality clothing for such cold temperatures on a
December trek. We felt that the itinery was very good,
giving us time to acclimatize and keeping moving at a
good pace. I felt quite nauseous on the way down from
Goeche La, but was fine the next day again. Arthur did
very well with the altitude. I think we may have
ascended a bit too fast the day we went to Goeche La,
behind Prem, the mountain goat!
The hotels we stayed at in the villages and towns were
all very nice, with very good service. We also got to
the airport in plenty of time. During our time in the
villages and towns, sometimes we were a little bit in
the dark as to what was scheduled for that day, the
timing of things etc. although we understand this is
part of the Indian culture.
Feedback in general about the Sikkim trekking
experience: overall, a great experience, beautiful
scenery. The only things we feel could be improved are
the toilet facilities up above Tsoka, we wondered how
environmentally sound the pits are - they seem to
eventually drain out to the rivers? Also, the amount of
litter between Yuksom and Tsoka was unsightly, and we
noticed the porters seem to be equally responsible for
this as the trekkers (we actually picked up several bags
of litter on the way down, Prem helped us!) and finally,
there seems to be a big temptation for over-indulgence
in alcohol for the trekking staff in Tsoka!
Thanks for a wonderful trek, and we really hope we can
find out where the other half of your trekking payment
is tied up! I have not had a chance to sort through my
photos yet but when I do I will send some to you for the
staff.
Best regards
Colleen & Arthur
Dear Satish,
Greetings from autumnal England.
How is life in Gangtok? It feels a frighteningly long
way from life here in England. I have now started my MSc
in Wild Animal Health and I am spending more time in
London than is healthy, but it is fun and I am really
trying to make the most of the opportunity. The course
is excellent - everything I expected and more. I just
hope I can make the most of it and use it to
take me to the places I want to go.
I would love to hear your news. The time I spent in
Sikkim was so special to - Sikkim is a place I
definitely want to come back to. The photo I took of
Gangtok by full moon from my hotel room is a superb
photo - if I get around to scanning it in I will send it
to you.I want to tell you that you made my time in
Gangtok very special, I
have such lovely memories of it. Also for my trek - that
was an unforgettable experience - please try your
hardest to keep your country so unspoiled...
Let me know your news...
With love,
Alex xxx
To: Satish
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 11:16 PM
Subject: Hello from Singapore!!
Namaste or Tashik Delek! (whichever applicable!)
Am sending this message to test that your email address
is correct in case the effort to address my feedback 'go
down the drain', haha! Joking lah, just want to ensure
this email reach you as couldnt really be sure of the
spelling on the namecard.
Apart from some hiccups during our trip, would like to
thank you for the trip which was otherwise a very
enjoyable one. We return to Singapore with fond memories
of the Darjeeling & Sikkim, the rich culture, nice cool
weather, beautiful scenery, sumptuous food, & not
forgetting the friendliness & warmth of the people, esp
UT & Bishnu who had taken very good care of us along the
journey. Of course diplomatically, also have to mention
your goodself :) thanyabard!
regards.. leng
From: PhauyLeng
Mr. Satish,
Now that we are back home and settled in, I just wanted
to let you know how much we enjoyed our tour of Sikkim.
We must thank you for coming up with such an interesting
itinerary. We enjoyed everything from the scenery to the
hotels you chose, food, drive etc. Gopal and Bishnu were
unfailingly helpful, pleasant and went to a lot of
effort to make sure that we could did everything
we wanted to. Thanks once again,
Mrs. Marla
Hello Satish!
I can't believe it is February already, time is flying
by! I wanted to give you my new e-mail address now that
I have a new e-mail set up here in Copenhagen:
Did you manage to get any more information about where
the wire transfer got held up? If not, I can ask my bank
to put a trace on it, it will cost me about $25 but I
would like to help you find the money as it's a huge
amount! If my bank finds out it got "held up" somewhere
in India what are the chances of getting it sent to your
account? I know that corruption can be a problem in
India.
At last I have a bit of time to tell you more about our
trek and give you our feedback. Like I said, it was for
the most part a really wonderful trek. We were really
lucky with the weather. The food was outstanding and
plentiful, Prem is indeed a great cook. He also did very
well doubling as a guide and cook, when Narwong had to
go back down to Yuksom; he is a very hard and diligent
worker, as is Karke, our porter (not sure how to spell
his name), and both were very pleasant and helpful. We
were very well looked after. Prem is clearly very
experienced and knowledgable, we wish we could have
learned more from him and Narwong if the language
barrier was not as much of an issue. Narwong was very
friendly and helpful, but we wondered if he was a bit
too young and inexperienced to be a lead guide. We were
also concerned that Karke might not have enough good
quality clothing for such cold temperatures on a
December trek. We felt that the itinery was very good,
giving us time to acclimatize and keeping moving at a
good pace. I felt quite nauseous on the way down from
Goeche La, but was fine the next day again. Arthur did
very well with the altitude. I think we may have
ascended a bit too fast the day we went to Goeche La,
behind Prem, the mountain goat!
The hotels we stayed at in the villages and towns were
all very nice, with very good service. We also got to
the airport in plenty of time. During our time in the
villages and towns, sometimes we were a little bit in
the dark as to what was scheduled for that day, the
timing of things etc. although we understand this is
part of the Indian culture.
Feedback in general about the Sikkim trekking
experience: overall, a great experience, beautiful
scenery. The only things we feel could be improved are
the toilet facilities up above Tsoka, we wondered how
environmentally sound the pits are - they seem to
eventually drain out to the rivers? Also, the amount of
litter between Yuksom and Tsoka was unsightly, and we
noticed the porters seem to be equally responsible for
this as the trekkers (we actually picked up several bags
of litter on the way down, Prem helped us!) and finally,
there seems to be a big temptation for over-indulgence
in alcohol for the trekking staff in Tsoka!
Thanks for a wonderful trek, and we really hope we can
find out where the other half of your trekking payment
is tied up! I have not had a chance to sort through my
photos yet but when I do I will send some to you for the
staff.
Best regards
Colleen & Arthur
Dear Satish,
Greetings from autumnal England.
How is life in Gangtok? It feels a frighteningly long
way from life here in England. I have now started my
M.Sc. in Wild Animal Health and I am spending more time
in London than is healthy, but it is fun and I am really
trying to make the most of the opportunity. The course
is excellent - everything I expected and more. I just
hope I can make the most of it and use it to take me to
the places I want to go.
I would love to hear your news. The time I spent in
Sikkim was so special to - Sikkim is a place I
definitely want to come back to. The photo I took of
Gangtok by full moon from my hotel room is a superb
photo - if I get around to scanning it in I will send it
to you. I want to tell you that you made my time in
Gangtok very special, I have such lovely memories of it.
Also for my trek - that was an unforgettable experience
- please try your hardest to keep your country so
unspoiled...
Let me know your news...
With love,
Alex xxx
Alexandra Tomlinson
Hello
The following will appear in the New York Times Travel
section on Nov. 30, as part of an article about
someone's trip to the Singalila ridge about one year
ago. Will you please let me know if it is accurate?
The Indian government requires that treks in Sikkim be
arranged through an agency at least a day or two before
starting. There are several in Gangtok. The one I used
was Yak and Yeti Travels, run by Satish Bardewa at the
Hotel Superview Himalchuli; (91-3592) 21670 or email
slg_yaknyeti@sancharnet.in. A Web site,
www.yaknyeti.com, and it
contains contact information. For four people, the price
per day was $42 each, with food, tent rentals and the
first and last nights' accommodations in basic
guesthouses included. I would recommend bringing all
your own noncooking gear, including sleeping bags and
tents, because the equipment the agency provided was low
quality and less than ideal for harsh weather. The
writer, Edward Wong, used a guide named Raju. Was that
arranged through you? And also he says that the Indian
government banned mountaineering expeditions on
Kanchenjunga because the mountain is sacred to so many
people? Is that so? Do you know when the ban took place?
He also states that the Indian government had opened
this Singalila ridge path to foreign trekkers only in
2000. Is that true? His group walked north along the
ridge for about a week, then traversed a couple of
valleys to join up with a more established trekking
trail that led right up to a 16,200-foot pass called
Goecha La, right next to the imposing ramparts of
Kanchenjunga. How long would such a trek be, in miles
(or kilometers) all together?
Thank you for your help
Sincerely,
Latimes
Carl Sommers
Carl Sommers
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York NY 10036
(212) 556-1580
Dear Satish,
Greetings from autumnal England.
How is life in Gangtok? It feels a frighteningly long
way from life here in England. I have now started my MSc
in Wild Animal Health and I am spending more time in
London than is healthy, but it is fun and I am really
trying to make the most of the opportunity. The course
is excellent - everything I expected and more. I just
hope I can make the most of it and use it to take me to
the places I want to go. I would love to hear your news.
The time I spent in Sikkim was so special to - Sikkim is
a place I definitely want to come back to. The photo I
took of Gangtok by full moon from my hotel room is a
superb photo - if I get around to scanning it in I will
send it to you.I want to tell you that you made my time
in Gangtok very special, I have such lovely memories of
it. Also for my trek - that was an unforgettable
experience - please try your hardest to keep your
country so unspoiled...
Let me know your news...
With love,
Alex xxx
Mr. Satish,
Now that we are back home and settled in, I just wanted
to let you know how much we enjoyed our tour of Sikkim.
We must thank you for coming up with such an interesting
itinerary. We enjoyed everything from the scenery to the
hotels you chose, food, drive etc. Gopal and Bishnu were
unfailingly helpful, pleasant and went to a lot of
effort to make sure that we could did everything we
wanted to.
Thanks once again,
Mrs. Marla |
Dear Sir / Madam
Hereby I wanted to give you some feedback on the 8 days (during 28th May to 4 June,2009) we have spent in Sikkim . I would like to thank you for the very good organization of the activities and thus making it a successful our trip. Please let me forward my thanks to Mrs. Srijana Singh and Mr. Satish Bardewa of Yak and Yeti Travels.
Thank you very much for the hospitality extended to us during our stay in Sikkim . The arrangement done by your travel; Yak and Yeti Travels for the pickup from Bagdogra to Gangtok was very good. Mahindra vehicle was very good for this travel, as we could cover such a long distance without much fatigue. North Sikkim tour was very well arranged. The food on the way was homely and fresh. The food served in their kitchen was very good with very high level of hospitality. The Hotel Apple Valley at Lachung & Gangtok was good and the caretaker family there served good meals. The Driver Mr. Pashang of the Tsomgo Lake tour was very skilled and drove very slowly, so we never had sudden jerks and vomiting scenes through our journey. The vehicle drivers you provided was very helpful & entertained both our children throughout the journey and our whole journey was pleasurable and we enjoyed a lot without any high altitude sickness. Thank you very much for all the planning and execution of the tour, making it a good memory for all of us.
Overall, Sikkim is a place that one should definitely visit. Definitely not for the uptown and modern amenities loving person, but for a break from your hectic schedules of life and it's one trip that none will forget for the sheer experience that Sikkim offered……. Sikkim as a whole is a great place to visit. It may be something different than expected ...... but eventually it has its own share of uniqueness.......But it is definitely a cool spot to explore and watch out for.......
Heartily regards to all members of Yak and Yeti travels.
With Regards
Akshay Padhiyar
Surat (Gujarat)
Mobile : 99988 |
|
from som mitra <som1801@com>
to Satish Bardewa <treksikkim@gmail.com>
date Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 1:05 AM
subject: thanks for the trip
Mar 19/ 2009
Dear Satish & Srijana,
I am now in Kolkata along with my family. Still the nostalgia of Sikkim is with us.
Thank you for arranging such a good tour. The car, the driver (Baichung), the hotel (Super view Superview Himalchuli at Zero Point) was excellent.
It was a great pleasure to spend a day at your resort (waterfall) at Rumtek. We have enjoyed a lot in sharing time with other members of you family.
I will send you very soon the photographs of your Hotel & Resort snapped during our tour.
Hope you are fine.
Wish you a nice and prosperous future.
Joy Ho Yak and Yeti Travels
Thanks & Regards
Somnath Mitra
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 11:30 PM, Alistair Dsouza wrote:
Hi Satish,
We had a nice experience in North Sikkim... it got a bit cold the first night but the experience of staying at the house in Lachen was worth it... It was nice interacting with the locals at a close level.. I have experienced that before but my wife experienced it for the first time..
the Lachung trip too was good... our driver Denzing was good fun to travel with... I liked the nice homely/warm feeling to the north Sikkim trip.. it was always service with a smile... could you send me our driver Denzing's mobile number.
will definitely recommend your travels to other friends... I also plan to with a travelogue about my experience and will mention your travel company in it... I post some of my travelogues on outlook india travellers website...
Also I need a scanned receipt for the trip for LTA purposes... could you scan the receipt and send them to me by email...
Many thanks,
Alistair Dsouza
Amagi Technologies
No 26, NSRCEL, IIM-B
Bannerghatta road
bangalore 560076
karnataka india.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 5:00 PM, rajitha reddy wrote:
Hello Satish, Srijana and Yak n Yeti Staff,
A Very Happy New Year to all. Hope you've had a blast on the eve of New Year.
Hope you remember me, I'm Rajitha from Hyderabad, travelled with you guys, from 26th nov'08 to 01-Dec'08. (Bill to be on Rajitha Kollareddy, Hyderabad) Thank you so much Satish! I will let you know once the courier is received. I forgot to mention my phone number for the courier guys to call me....just hope that they deliver.
Whenever I tour Sikkim again, I will go with yaknyeti for sure. My mom conveyed New Year wishes to you all.
Regards,
Rajitha
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Marie Ducrotoy
To: Yak and Yeti Travels Sikkim
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 4:23 AM
Subject: Re: Yak n Yeti sends you a BIG hello
Dear Satish,
My apologies for the very delayed feedback! I hope you are well. Helen and I had the most amazing trek thanks to your fabulous team. Suren was a fantastic guide and if it wasn't for his encouragement and professionalism I am not sure the two of us would have made it up the mountain! The food prepared by the team exceeded our greatest expectations (I actually put on weight because they fed us so much!). And the jackets did keep us warm during those very cold afternoons.
Thank you and your team for the most amazing experience, one which we will remember and treasure always. We will certainly be recommending your company to other SARAH volunteers.
It was with sadness that we left Sikkim. We are now back in the UK and missing India very much. If I ever return to Gangtok I will be sure to drop by to say hello.
Thanks again for everything,
Marie.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ulf u. Renate Müller
To: Satish Bardewa satish.bardewa@gmail.com
date Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 3:07 PM
subject: Trekking in Sikkim
Hallo Satish,
Hallo Satish,
We are back home again and are glad to have been in Sikkim.
The trekking-tour was very good and we ware lucky to have been at the View Point in broad sunlight and just before the starting snowfall. It was a great view!
Chungda and the crew have been very good in guiding us the 8 days. They have provided us with a good time, perfekt food, nice feeling and a very safe guiding. Chungda was always with us, never too fast, never too slowly and with great patience to tourists with foto-equipment. One problem: the cook always made too much to eat for us; we didn´t intent to come back with more weight than before.
So thank you very much for your organisation! Sorry that your last two mail arrived in Germany when we already had left. I hope it was not too bad for you to arrange the tour.
When friends of us intent to go to Sikkim we will send them to your. And we will make a good posting in the net also.
Best regards
Renate and Ulf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To : Mr. Satish
Goodday Mr. Satish
How r u?
We reached Mumbai on 28/05/2007 at 1000Hrs. Very hectic
journey. Now I settled down in Mumbai. I sent you a card
which I think you got it. But no reply from your side.I
once again thanks to you and your staff for making our
tour successful. You are requested to kindly forward the
complaint copy to my office address as per my visiting
card.Hope you will call me or e-mail me after receiving
this e-mail.Onece again thanks for your arrangements
from NJP to NJP via Pelling, Sikkim etc.
Thanks n Best Regards,
Uday Tikekar
Mobile : 9820123274.
Hello Srijana,
Thank you very much for the hospitality extended to us
during our stay in Sikkim.
The arrangment done by you for the pickup from
Darjeeling to Gangtok was very good. Tavera vehicle was
very good for this travel, as we could cover such a long
distance without much fatigue.
North Sikkim tour was very well arranged. The food on
the way was homely and fresh.
We particularly enjoyed stay at Hidden Hills Lodge,
Lachen, as this is managed by the local Lachenpa family
and it was a great experience to stay with them,
interact with them and see their life from close and we
were made to stay as if we were at our home. The food
served in their kitchen was very good. Very high level
of hospitality.
The Hotel Alpine at Lachung was good and the caretaker
family there served good meals. Still we would have
loved if you had arranged our stay with the local
Lachunpa's. This gives us an opportunity to interact
with the locals, mix with them and that is a different
experience which we miss in the hotel.
We had a nice journey to Gurudongmer as well as Yumthang
Vally. The Driver of the North Sikkim tour was very
skilled and drove very slowly, so we never had sudden
jerks and vomitting scenes through our journey. The
Guide you provided was very helpful & entertained both
our children throughout the journey and our whole
journey was pleasurable and we enjoyed a lot with out
any high altitude sickness.
Thank you very much for all the planning and execution
of the tour, making it a good memory for all of us.
Regards
Narendra
To (Satish) Yak and Yeti Travels
Dear Mr.Satish,
Hello,
This is Mr and Mrs Kulkarni from Mumbai, We would like
to inform you the following :
1) We had a very good trip to North Sikkim, we also
enjoyed our stay at Sonam Palgey.
2) We are impressed with your work and the team of your
members.
3) we were very much impressed with the support ,help
from Mr. Abhinash,Mr Kamal driver, we luckily could meet
Mr. Vikas and we both were impressed with the kind of
knowledge and approach Mr. Vikas has. He too has very
high regard for you.
4) We were also impressed with Mr Nima, and David at
Lachen,and Surja at Lachung.
5 ) We once again would like to Thank you for making it
all possible for us and we had a very very good time.
6) we would certainly like to keep in touch with Yak and
Yeti travels for all our North -East trips, we have
Bhutan in mind now so lets all work on it.
Thanks
With Best Wishes,
Amita Shrikant
Hi Satish,
Subject: Welcome to trek in Sikkim with Yak and
Yeti
Just at Kolkatta airport about to return to the UK and
thought I would drop a quick note - some feedback. The
trek was really fabulous, we both had a great time and
feel it was the highlight of our trip. Prem and the boys
looked after us very well indeed and we still are amazed
are the variety of different tasty dishes that they
cooked for us during the 8 days. The views were great in
the morning and I don;t think we met any other trekkers
until the last day (which was perfect). I guess the only
downside was the fact that as we were both fairly fit
trekkers we were a little bit disappointed that on at
least 5 of the 8 days, we finished our walking by 12 and
had
little to do but try to keep warm until the evening. I
think I would have preferred to squeeze the trek into 7
days to save us from getting very bored and very cold in
the afternoons. Other than that, all I can say is a big
thank you, and I would be grateful if you could pass our
appreciation onto Prem as well.
Thanks, and who knows we may be back one day !!!
John & Lisa
Namaste Satish
Subject: welcome to Sikkim.
Date:Tue, 23 May 2006 12:17:32 +0200
well, our 3 weeks in India are over and we are now back
at home at work. Hereby I wanted to give you some
feedback on the 10 days we have spent in Sikkim. I would
like to thank you for the very good organization of the
activities and thus making it a successful trek. Please
do let forward my thanks to Bikash, Dike and the rest of
the group, who did an excellent job in the mountains.
The food was excellent, sometimes even too much, we
hardly could eat that much as served.
Bikash was an excellent guide, who mastered the altitude
sickness and the split into two groups in an excellent
manner, as well as he was flexible to adjust the program
according to our wishes - early morning/night start to
Goecha La. This gave us the opportunity to be up there
while having perfectly clear sky, see the sunrize and
have beatiful weather until we have returned back to
Lamuni Lake where the breakfast was waiting for us.
I am attaching a picture of the "summit group" being at
Goeacha La early morning during sunrize.
All the best to Sikkim from Austria,
Kind regards, Miro
Dear Satish,
Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 14:04:33 +0200 (MEST)
Subject: tour feedback
just want to drop some lines regarding our Goe che la
trek we did recently.All of us enjoyed it very
much. The people as well the landscape were Just
fantastic. Your guide Abinash did a great job, was
always concerned About our well being, accepted our
wishes | proposals, was excellent in Supervising the
porters and cook. Darwa, the cook, did a fantastic job
too. His food was excellent and very good amounts too.
We wouldn't hesitate to recommend your company and of
course Sikkim. We hope that more people will find their
way to Sikkim in future.
All the best for you and your family!
Stefan, Jens, Jochen
Hi Satish,
We have reached Pune safely and just wanted to thank you
for all your help.
We had a good time with Vishnu; he is a good lad and an
excellent driver. We have all positives with Yak and
Yeti other than Nathula mix-up (which anyway is
not part of your service) and in case you ever need any
reference for your services, please feel free to give my
email address to your clients.
Thanks.
Cordially,
Jagat Pal Singh
Director of Technology
Cybage Software Pvt. Ltd. (An SEI-CMMI Level 5 Company)
Ph(O) : 91-20-56041700 & 56044700 (Ext. 3201)
Ph(R) : 91-20-56248893 & 26690739
Cell : 91-9860000111
Dear Satish,
We have finally returned to Canada from India. Our
entire holiday was a wonderful experience. Thank you
again for arranging such an exciting trek. Joe and I had
a fantastic time on our trek from Yuksom to Guichi La.
As I told you, our guide, Chungda, was great. The entire
team was a pleasure to hike with and we have no
complaints at all about the trek. Kailash and his
cooking team did wonders with a one burner stove, and
the food was a treat. Of course the weather could have
been sunnier, but you have no control over that.Our only
complaint (and that is a minor one) is the cost of the
Himalchuli Hotel in Gangtok. We compared the price to
other options in Gangtok and despite what you told us,
there are cheaper hotels with better value. I think you
arranged that hotel because it is convenient to your
office as well it is owned by your father. The staff
there is very nice and the service was good, but it is
older and could be better presented considering the
price/day.I hope this information is useful to you. Also
we sent a birdbook as a present for Chungda to your
office. I hope you forwarded it to him.Best regards to
you and your family and trekking team. I have no
hesitation in recommending your agency to other trekkers
and friends interested in visiting Sikkim.
Peter Uhlmann
hello satish
tku for yor reply.
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 17:27:52 +0800
i had already given u some feedback. particularly
regarding yukti, bikash,prem n suman doing too much
work. the porters must b trained to set up tents upon
reaching the camp. they must b trained to dismantle the
tents in the morning once clients hv vacated the tents.
this way, the guide (yukti or whoever) need not
personally do everything n supervise even the loading of
the packs n equipment. we always say, "600am bed tea,
700am breakfast n800am start trekking". but, many
mornings, we only start trekking almost at 900am.
because after we vacated the tents (n sometimes, we
clients r late doing so-sorry), yukti has to dismantle
them either alone or with bikash,prem n suman. by the
time he finishes, it is late. so, in order to start
early, the guide must b able to leave this job to the
porters. the porters must b trained n b disciplined to
do this, so the guide can b free to start trekking
early. other things. breakfast. first day, we arrived in
calcutta early, checked in at sikkim house n slept.
christopher n i woke early n found sikkim house
restaurant not ready yet for breakfast. later, they
managed to serve us tea n puri. but outside, there
seems nowhere in calcutta, any shop is open for
breakfast. the day we returned to calcutta, arun sent us
to a hotel at lake town. in the morning, we walked for
one hour up and down lake town street, looking for
breakfast. only snack shops were open selling sweets. no
shop open for breakfast. we finally found a shop after
back-tracking all the way to the main road leading to
the metro station. this shop sells puri n some other
breads but NO hot coffee or water. they only have COLD
coffee or cold lassi in the morning! next time, u must
advise your clients, or recommend to us, where to find
breakfast! lunch was at 400pm after we finished the day
tour during our first day in calcutta. i think the local
guides must b taught that the tour must stop for lunch,
then continue after lunch. the itinerary must allow for
lunch to b at or around 1230pm or 100pm. we went to the
kali temple, we went to another temple near howrah (whc
was closed for repairs). we went to the banyan
tree park/zoo. cannot remember where else we went. but
tour ended only after we told arun we were hungry n he
brought us to hotel lindsay. we can always break day
tour into 2 - before lunch n after lunch. the team was
tired after a long flight from s'pore with a break at
bangkok. so, with no breakfast (except for
christopher n me), the people were hungry n tired. to
promote sikkim internationally, a different strategy is
needed. clients fr s'pore n southeast asia generally r
not as rich as the westerners. we r also more conscious
of budget. while we want clean n safe hotels with
working (!) hot water heaters, we r not keen to pay for
5-star or even 4-star hotels. most of the time, we r out
n do not enjoy or get to use the hotel facilities. so,
no point paying expensive rates for high-class hotels.
if u can arrange for clean n safe hotels with clean
sheets n blankets, clean toilets with working hot water
heaters n hygienic restaurant for meals, we r satisfied.
we also want to b told in advance what we r supposed to
pay n what is pre-paid. for example, that day upon
arrival in pelling at hotel chiminda, u told me the
hotel had prepared snacks for us. u did not tell me i
had to pay. all of us, including the clients, thot it
was complimentary. so, we ate n being full, skipped
lunch. as i was supposed to supply lunch for them (paid
by x-trekkers), i told them i will compensate them w/ a
lunch back at calcutta. the next day, when leaving, the
gen manager presented me with the Rs1694 bill for the
snacks. of course i had no budget. i had already
promised the clients i will buy them lunch back in
calcutta. now, if i had paid this bill, i would have no
money to buy them lunch. not nice to go back on my word,
so i told u i have no money for the snacks. also, i felt
Rs1694 for simple sandwiches, pakoras n tea were too
expensive! if u had told me i had to pay for them, i
would not have accepted. i'd rather buy lunch for
the group. also, we again travelled so long, we did not
stop for lunch at 1230pm or 100pm. whn we arrived
at pelling, it was already 300pm. u must b aware of the
time because clients r used to eating at 1230pm or 100pm
at home. even for westerners, they r also used to
mid-day lunch so u must, if marketing sikkim
internationally, ensure your people stop for lunch. u
must plan the itinerary such that there is a place to
stop for lunch before continuing on to wherever we
r supposed to go.other than that, i think yak n yeti has
met most of our needs. of course,at darjeeling, the
clients at first, were not happy at your absence. u were
supposed to meet us on nov8 then at 300pm on nov9, whc
was changed to 500pm then we finally met u after dinner
at 900pm. as yak n yeti were supposed to supply dinner
on the 2 nights, if the grp is less than 10 n i was not
around, then they wld hv a problem. if u cannot make it
a spromised, u must
get someone to meet the clients n ensure they get their
dinner. your representative must pay for the dinner
first n claim back from u. the clients have all paid
their fees n they know they r supposed to get dinner at
darjeeling. 2 nights in a row without anyone to pay for
their dinner - it is not good. it was lucky i was around
to handle this for the group. n it is to your
credit that your later performance, n the good efforts
of yukti, bikash, prem n suman, won back the goodwill of
the group. at darjeeling, they were not happy. after the
trek, back at your brother's hotel, they were
happy. the good performance of your trekking crew
rescued the situation.
Dear Satish,
Subject:Appreciation for a Great Trip
Thank you for organizing our recent trek to Goechela
Pass. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience, especially
the beauty of Sikkim and its friendly people. We are
completely satisfied with Yak & Yeti Travels and will
not hesitate to recommend your company to our friends.
Ang Sherap Sherpa was an excellent trekking guide. He
did a good job setting the walking pace according to our
abilities, so that we were able to make it to the pass.
It was clear that he was highly respected by all the
other guides and staff we met along the trail.
Dawa was an outstanding cook with a warm and bright
personality. We still can't believe how he was able to
produce such a wide variety of tasty dishes for so many
days on the trail. His assistants were attentive to
making sure our trek was a pleasant one.
Our thanks also to the Yangri Gang Hotel in Yuksom. It
was very comfortable and the manager was most friendly
and helpful.
Please send our regards to Ang Sherap and Dawa. We will
send some photographs when we get them ready.
Best regards,
Eric and Stephanie Richter
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Dear Satish,
I am turning back to our great holiday. Beginning was
not so excellent due to absence of your representative
on
Bagdogra airport. In the agreement has been written that
transport costs were paid by your agency. Advance
payment asked by taxi driver did not boost our
confidence to all the deal.All subsequent steps were OK.
Small trouble with delay and following replacement of
our guide/sirdar I do not consider as a problem. I had
to force our trek start the first morning in Yuksom, but
it was normal folklore for Himalaya range, and I had to
persuade our guide Ningma,that we were able to carry on
our personal items with limited number of porters but
without delay.Following trek was excellent. I prefer
limited comfort not to overload nature by crowds of
people, kitchen tents and huge littering. The guide
Ningma did not disturb our sensation of nature but he
was on the right place all the times. The meals were
excellent the amount of food was a little bit surplus.
We were shy to return so good meal. Our dome (cupola)
shaped tents were better than A-shaped tents used by
your agency in case of wind in the highest camp with
windy conditions and cold. The interior is completely
protected by two fabrics. I can recommend Czech designed
products JUREK or HANAH tested in extreme conditions.
Due to my present overload I can continue later.
Vladimir Prihoda
Dear Satish
Hi, how are you?
We are both fine and settling back into life in the heat
of Chennai after our wonderful trek to Goecha La. We
just wanted to write with some feedback on the trek.We
had a fantastic time and were very well looked after.
Everything was very well organised.UT, our guide was
superb. He was very knowledgeable about the surrounding
area, wildlife and the customs and cultures of the
people and we really felt that we got to know and
understand Sikkim, its beauty and its wonderful people.
He made sure that we were comfortable and had everything
we needed.We would also like to say how much we enjoyed
Prem's cooking. It was really amazing that he could make
such tasty and filling meals on the trek for us. We were
very impressed with his skills.We just wanted to mention
a couple of other things:
as you probably know from speaking to Prem and UT that a
bridge on the Yuksum to Tshoka stage has been swept away
by a landslide. This means having to walk down to the
river and back up at present until the new bridge is
ready. This is a fairly steep bit and adds another 1.5 -
2 hours onto this stage making it quite tough. We spent
the night at Sachin which was fine. It is maybe just
something to mention to people when they are booking
their trek (though I suppose you may not have that many
people booking now because it's winter.
I am sorry that we gave you the wrong details for our
bank when we were in Gangtok - we gave you our ATM card
number instead of the account number.
We deposited a cheque for Rs 64,656/- on 12/10/04 which
would probably have cleared 3-5 days later. It was from
account: 112010200000383 HDFC Bank, 7th Avenue, Besant
Nagar, Chennai. I hope these details are satisfactory
for you to confirm with your account. If you still
require me to send you a copy of the receipt please let
me know.Lastly - I tried to email UT but I do not seem
to have his correct email address. Do you have his email
and if not, could you try and get it for me? Thank you
very much.Thanks once again for everything - we had a
wonderful time, and at some point in the future may come
back to do the trek in April/May time to see the
rhodedendrons in bloom!!
Kindest regards
Carolyn and Shouren
yuenlik_wong (11/19/2004
2:53:28 PM):
I arrived back in Singapore on 17th and wanted to report
to you that the 5-D Dzongri Trek was great. Though it
was very short, I enjoyed it thoroughly and I think you
did well with choosing Yak & Yeti. The guide was great
and had a lot of initiative. Satish was very helpful and
responsive and overall, I think went out of his way to
ensure that we had a great time - including our arrival
in Darjeeling at night on Diwali so that we can see all
the candles being lit along the way.
Best regards,
Helen
To,
Satish(yak & Yeti travels)
apart fr what i had already informed u, re tips, meals
n train
tickets, etc, here is the trip report :
a) overall, the participants were very happy. most had
never gone up to 5000m b4 n so were very happy w/ their
achievement of making it up to goecha la. the only 2 who
did not make it were jesline n shirley. both turned back
at dzongri. jesline cld not sleep n had poor appetite.
but she had no nausea or headache so it cannot b a
conclusive case of ams. shirley had classic ams symptoms
- splitting headache, poor appetite. she also had never
trekked continuously for so many hours, n her knees were
sore. both did not go up to the dzongri look-out to
watch the sunrise. after we returned, they informed us
they wld like to return to tshoka, n then to yuksam.
i made arrangements w/ the guide, yukti, to hv the asst
guide, vikash, accompany them down w/ 2 porters. later,
after we met up agn, i was informed shirley had inflamed
knees - both swollen - n they spent 2 whole days resting
at yuksam, not even leaving the hotel.
b) the itinerary was quite well planned. the
acclimitisation at tshoka n phidang contributed to the
team's success. we met another s'pore grp who had made
their own arrangements directly. they were only staying
at lodges. this made them go fr yuksam to tshoka, n then
directly to dzongri. of the 2 guys n 3 girls, one guy
had immediate ams n returned fr dzongri to tshoka. we
later learned he had stomache problems at tshoka n so
went back to yuksam n then to gangtok for a check-p.
shows the importance of acclimitisation. altho phidang
was filthy n muddy, the extra night stay at tt altitude
contributed to the grp being able to take the higher
altitude of dzongri the next day.
c) the original itinerary was to return fr the goecha la
side trip n descend to thangsing. but, the guide wanted
to change it to kokchurong, further down. the grp
initially welcomed the change as it meant they cld stay
at the lodge instead of in a tent. but, i finally vetoed
the change as, after the gruelling 10-hour return trip,
all were tired n had a headache. even i had a headache
on the way dn fr goecha la. so, after lunch, we trudged
our way down to thangsing n stayed thr instead of
kokchurong. i think no grp can make the journey dn to
kokchurong after the goecha la. it is just too tiring.
d) thr was a serious complaint abt a down sleeping bag.
thr was one piece fr s'pore in a x-trekkers stuff sack.
a red piece. darwin peh complained the first night at
bakhim tt he was shivering inside the bag even tho he
was wearing a few layers. initially i thot he had
ignored my advice not to wear too many layers to sleep.
later, whn jesline also used the same bag n complained,
i thoroughly examined the bag. it seems four of the
front panels had the down shifted. the baffles seemed
empty of feathers - just thin lining w/o any insulating
down. so, i marked the stuff sac n told them not to use
it agn. the
trekking staff used it fr then on. not sure if satish
will raise this issue w/ u. thr were no complaints abt
the other bags - either fr s'pore or gangtok. the
weather was cold - some nights below 0 deg C.
e) i was initially not happy w/ satish. he was supposed
to meet us on nov8 at darjeeling. dinner was to b paid
by yak n yeti. he did not turn up altho we conversed on
the mobile. first we said he wld b thr by 500pm. then
later he said he had an urgent meetihng n wld not b in
darjeeling at all. he wld come on nov9 at 300pm. 300pm
came n went but thr was no sign of him. he turned up way
past 900pm. for both nights, i had to foot the dinner
bill n i charged these back to him whn we settled the
accts. these were apart fr the train ticket fiasco. i
must admit tho he did try to make amends. he
called a friend in darjeeling, a tibetan called
tsewang who runs the local trekking co called trek mate.
tsewang arranged our tiger hill trip n the tea estate n
hmi/zoo side trips. he also picked up the food
bill for shirley n jesline whn the 2 were back in
yuksam hotel. the hotel is owned by his brother. as
the 2 girls were back ahead of the trip, they had to pay
for their hotel rooms but their food was charged
to satish.
f) the trip back to calcutta was a hectic rush. we left
pelling at 100pm n drove almost continuously till
new jalpaiguri. the drivers did not know how to
get to the njp station fr siliguri n we had to
double back after travelling almost 20 mins past the
town. dinner was a rushed affair at the railway
station kiosk as we had not time to find a proper
restaurant/coffee shop to eat.
g) for both return journeys on the train, the grp was
split ovr 3 separate coaches. satish claimed our
instructions to them arrived too late to buy all
the tickets together. on nov7, i was alone in coach 2
while chris n sin were in coach 1. the rest were in
coach 3. the same happened on nov21. i arranged
for the girls to b w/ some of the guys (as merlyn
n sherry knew n signed up w/ tin fong n teck hian)
while chris n sin shared coach 1. better for me to b
alone than for anyone of them. in future, we may
hv to hv an earlier closing date? anyway, it is ok
for one (leader?) to b alone while at least 2 others
share a separate coach. but, we shd make sure
satish get all a sleeping berth as it is not good
to ask some to sit while others get to sleep. after all,
all paid the same price. i was fortunate tt arun
was able to change the 2 seaters to sleepers,
altho at a cost. in future, satish shd bear any
additional costs for such changes as i m sure x-trekekrs
wld hv paid them the price based on sleeping
berths for all.
h) as mentioned earlier, we did not hv breakfast on nov8
on arrival at njp on way to darjeeling. we were
split all over 3 coaches n so i had no chance to
arrange breakfast. they ate on their own aboard the
train. whn we came out, the drivers were eager to get to
darjeeling n the grp was already full. so, i
promised to compensate them w/ a breakfast at
calcutta on our return. but, calcutta does not seem to
hv any shop open for breakfast! we were staying at lake
town (nearer airport) bec the sikkim house was
fully booked. at lake town, we walked almost an
hour around our hotel vicinity b4 we came upon a
snack shop whc also had puris n other food suitable for
breakfast. but, they had no hot water nor hot
drinks. it was either cold coffee(!) or cold
lassi. anyway, we ate what we cld. cld satish in future
provide us w/ info on whr r the local shops
selling breakfast, both around middleton row (whr sikkim
house is) as well as lake town? i seem to get the
idea most locals hv breakfast
at home, n thrfore most, if not all, shops only
cater for lunch! having such info may save us time
n frayed nerves early in the morning - searching
for food! i) i think this is abt all i can think
of. food-wise during the trek, quantity was
sufficient. sometimes, wasted (of course, i m sure
the staff ate the leftovers!) bec we cld not eat so
much. i had already feedback to satish, yukti as
well as the cook, prem, abt the combination. thr
were days whn we had either rice or noodles plus
macaroni! no way we cld eat the macaroni. preference was
for rice or the noodles, altho the fried noodles were
badly done - too soggy! overall, the grp was happy w/
the food.my only concern was tt they brought TOO much of
their own food. teck n tinfong's fullpacks were 28kg
each! on the return journey, the guide had to ask teck
to lighten his pack n re-distribute items to another
duffel. it seems his zo (hybrid bet yak n cow) cld not
manage the weight! for future briefing, we may hv to
emphasise they shd not bring too much s'pore food. the
overall weight is really mind-boggling. they produced
cans of luncheon meat n maggi noodles (for prem to
cook), packs of bak kwah, bags of sweets, cough drops,
etc, etc. they had a mini mahjong set, 2 mini mp3
players plus a audio-tecnica foldable stereo speaker
set!
j) lastly, the flight connection. altho the complaints
were not vigorous, most were not very keen on the 8-hour
break at bangkok. thr was no proper place to sleep or
rest. they wandered around the deserted concourse, had
expensive cup of tea/coffee at one half-opened joint, n
generally were restive until the counter opened at
0500hrs. i q'd n collected their boarding passes for
them, so tt they cld continue to lounge longer on the
floor/plastic seats.
dunno if thr is any alternative to this?
Hi Satish!
Subject:Thank you for the nice trekkingtour
First of all we have to apologise for our late
email.Again we want to say thank you for the nice
trekking-tour we did we your company in October this
year. Everything was organised perfectly by you and your
staff. Madan did a very good job as a guide. He was
absolutely professional and he always was concerned
about our wealth and satisfaction. The food (I rather
would call it dishes) couldn't be better. You
always can hire Mr. Bairagi Lama as a cook again. His 15
years of experience in trekking are more than will make
every trek a success at least the feeding parts
of it J All assistant staff and porters we very helpful
to us all the time. The only point you should consider
is the environmental concern of the crew. The biggest
treasure you have in Sikkim is the almost untouched
nature and tourists come to Sikkim because of that. But
if every trekking tour leaves rubbish in the forest and
even on the Gocha La Pass (even if it is hidden under
the stones) this nature won’t last much longer
untouched. On the last day some of the empty plastic
containers, tins and so on were just thrown into the
bushes. It would be a good advice to your crews if they
carry all the staff out of the mountains what they have
carried in.We really enjoyed our time in India and
especially in Sikkim. This place is something special
and we hope to visit it again sometime. For you and your
family we wish you all the best and hope to stay in
touch with you.
Best greetings from cold Germany.
Anja and René
René Liebkopf
Urlasstr. 16
91207 Lauf / Germany
Phone: +49 9123 96 00 10
Dear Mr. Bardewa,
As you asked, we would like to give some feedback on the
trekking we did last September 2002.First of all, I want
to say that despite the rainy weather and the
High-altitude sickness, the trekking was really well
organized. The staff was simply great: very friendly,
and always helpful.My special thanks to Prem, the cook,
who - besides making 3-star restaurant meals - also
guided us in the mountains at Bigbari, and Raju, who
organized help from the valley and stayed with me in the
hospital in Darjeeling after the trekking.It is however
my duty to report that the 1st guide - Raju -
unexpectedly left for 3 days for an important interview
during the trekking (with our permission). However, we
agreed that this was an exception and will not happen
again.The 2nd guide - Nawang - turned not to know the
trail in Bigbari, reason we lost the way there. We
suspect he has not much mountain experience. If you are
hiring him again as a guide, make sure he gets a good
mountaineering training and gets time to become more
experienced.
Apart from this, we were very content with following
things, and you surely would do well to keep them in the
future:
Your help with extending the Sikkim permit
The complete "mobile dining room" - table and little
chairs, including table cloth & candles
The great food served
The spacious tents
The good guesthouse at the end of the trekking in Yuksom
the great tongba will now list the items that
could be improved. Please don't regard them as failings,
but as nice-to-haves, since they give the trekking just
that little bit extra.
1.Clients might break their leg, get ill (especially
because of deseases they picked up in other parts of
India), or get High-altitude-sickness (in spite all
precautions). Currently the staff cannot handle any of
these situations properly. I advise to give the guide a
first-aid training for the 1st 2 situations. Also carry
a professional first-aid box (containing medicines and
bandages)
Also a high-altitude-sickness training is needed (a
training in which he learns recognizing the symptoms,
administering hi-alt-illness medicines and/or using
oxygen bags).Also carry high-altitude medicines or an
oxygen bag.
2.The guide turned out to be educated through very good
HMI mountaineering courses. The cook turned out to have
gained massive experience on professional mountain
climbs.If you would exploit these by noting these kind
of facts in your flyers, emails & website, you might
attract a lot more (western) clients to your agency!
These things are decisive points in the current
trekking-agency market in Sikkim, which is actually very
intransparent.
3.If you could also offer High-altitude-sickness-trained
guides carrying required medicines or oxygen bags for
safety, this would definitely be a BIG selling point.In
a very unpredictable environment such as the Himalayas
where the weather can change unexpectedly, and other
problems may arise, safety is a very essential topic for
a western client. He naturally expects the trekking
agency to take the necessary precautions. He is very
willing to pay extra for this!!
4.Put the (financial) conditions of the trekking on
paper, and hand it over to the clients, so they know
under what their rights are. You could address following
in the paper:
- What happens when the trekking is cancelled on the way
- How accidents are handled and who is responsible for
the cost
- A bad-weather arrangement
- A serious explanation about the risks of High-altitude
sickness:
Make clear what kind of help you can offer, and what you
expect the client to take care of.
5.Check before the trekking if there are food items that
your clients don't eat, and adjust the menu to this.
6.Give the trekking program as a computer print-out, 1
for every client.
For convenience also mention the overnight altitudes and
the walking time for each day.
7.Update the checklist of items to bring along on the
trekking to make it clearer:print them below eachother
in a (numbered) list instead of on a few lines.Also add
a 1-sentence explanation behind each item why this item
is required.
8.Give the checklist as soon as possible to the clients:
Sometimes the clients have to shop for some of the
items, which are available in Gangtok, but not always in
Yuksom
9.Plan some time for the guide to inspect the clients
luggage if requested.
The client not always knows the quality of his material,
so the guide could give some suggestions.
10.Take a kerosine lamp for the evenings on the table.
Much better than candles to read with.
11.The huts that Sikkim Tourism is offering are not very
comfortable.You could put your clients in a private hut
(at least at Tsoka this is possible).
12.it would be great to arrange a dinner and party at
the end of the trekking.
It would be very nice if also the porters would also
join that dinner, as they always eat separately during
the trekking.
I hope this feedback is useful to you, and maybe in the
future it will serve you to offer even more professional
trekkings.
With kind regards,
Joris Alkema & Leo van den Bulck
The Netherlands
Hello Satish and Mr. Shema
we now got to Thailand. We had wonderful days in
Bangladesh. We met a
lot of very nice and helpful people.When we crossed the
border there was no private car to hire for Dhaka so we
had to take an overnight bus to Dhaka. It was a very
nice bus. And we can really recommend this travel
agencie Khushiara. They are very helpful and offer a
good service.Once again thank you for your service and
help. We wish you all the best and send many greetings
from Thailand.
Sandra and Koni
l@gmx.ch
Dear Satish
its nice to hear from you. We hope everything is fine in
Sikkim and that everything is fine with you. We think a
lot of our trip to Sikkim and will never forget your
hospitality and friendliness. It would be great to keep
in touch. What about Karmapa, will he come to Sikkim
soon? We would love to visit Sikkim again but it will be
difficult in the near future. We are going to have a
baby in March, so we will see how to manage our travels
afterwards......
Please say greetings to Tilac and Mr. Sharma (is that
the right name? I dont
remember exactly....).
All the best to Sikkim and we hope to hear from you
again.
Sandra and Koni
From: "wilfried devriendt"
To: "Yak and Yeti Travels, Sikkim"
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 8:38 PM
Subject: Trekking Sikkim, Gocha La, November 2003
Dear Mr Satish,
The Gocha La trekking was wonderful! We have enjoyed the
trekking very
much. The trekking was strenuous, but very rewarding:-
the views of the mountains was superb -life in the
mountains is a special experience: how the people live
up there, how the staff make their living, ...- the team
was excellent:
* Ugen is a very good guide: he is conscious and caring
about everything around and in the Natural Park, and he
loves the mountains. Unfortunately, he had to skip a
couple of days, because his relative had died in
Dzongri, but he arranged an alternative
* Milan is an excellent and creative cook: with
relatively poor means, he succeeded in preparing lots of
good meals! He is also a good guide: hetook good care of
us when Ugen wasn't there.
* the porters Edbi, Kebi and Dawa also were good
quality: they were always very helpful and
entrepreneurial (especially Dawa has good potential for
additional responsabilities): in lots of details, we
appreciated the difference of service level which we
could compare with other teams around us.
- * the yak-man Indra and the 3 yak also performed as
expected.We thank you very much for having taken care of
selecting such a good team, and to arrange that the food
was like we had discussed with you on beforehand.-
unfortunately we had some bad luck with the weather:
most of the days the chilly clouds covered up for the
rest of the day past around 10 am, but on the very day
of reaching Gocha La, we had the best day of the week,
with the sun shining and the rewarding full views until
noon!
However, we also want to share some remarks with you: -
the hotel in Gangtok could provide significantly higher
value for money,when the staff would take care of
additional cleanliness in rooms and restaurant (the
Tashi Gang Hotel in Yuksam is a nice example of this!)
- the tent was of rather low quality: we would suggest
to use a special "iglo" tent, more suited for winter
like nights...- some of the porters were badly equipped:
some didn't have proper (walking)
shoes, or socks, or (down) jacket, or gloves, or a
cap...: these men really suffered from cold nights: we
have seen them shivering...We regret that we didn't had
the opportunity to inspect the clothing of the whole
team before we went on trekking (we saw it only after
our arrival the first trekking day): only Ugen and Milan
had a proper (down) jacket and shoes. We would have
expected that you, as an experienced mountaneer, would
take care of having your staff properly equipped. Why
wouldn't you provide the staff with good gear: this
would enable them to undertake the in optimal outfit,
and it would also be a good commercial opportunity to
show "Yak & Yeti" on their gear (as we saw another
agency doing). - During our contacts with other
trekkers, we found out that we paid much more than most
others. We do agree that there was a certain quality
difference in services rendered, but this was only due
to the extra added value from the staff themselves;
therefore, we would appreciate it very much when you
would invest some of this money in your staff
additionally: they really deserve it.
- Dear Mr Satish, we had an unforgettable journey, and
we thank you for this.We also keep Sikkim and their
people in our heart and memories, and we
wish that the Sikkimese will keep their mountains as
nice as they are now!
best regards
Wilfried Devriendt Boechoutsesteenweg 70
B 2540 Hove (Belgium)
tel/fax: +32 (0)3 455 14 11
Dear Satish jee, at last the result is coming for
us. now papa kurt is
coming with 5 persons for sikkim trek in the coming
autumn. can you
suggest me the itinerary and the price as the following
plan. probably what could be that bills for him ? if it
was not so big amount he expects to consider or let us
know as much as lowest because he is giving us the
business. now he
is also asking me whether go to you directly or through
me. and of course i prefer to go through me this is the
what the business policy. i had suggested him to go
through me also he is afraid that the price will be
higher. of course will expect something when he will go
through me. but will not keep more profit. if i add will
add, maybe 10% or little above. then now you can do one
thing that even if i suggest him to come to you directly
then he will start to correspond with you but that time
give him a price directly and show me the cost putting
my margin in the cost would also be nice. but this
should be confidence wtih you and me only so that he
should think that i am transperant man. but insidely he
will also think that kedar will not happy when i go to
satish directly. in this case when we have above
agreement, then i could tell papa kurt 'no its ok'. do
not write him now just let us discuss and make an
agreement which way to go and will reply him. he is
waiting my reply. please keep confident this matter. can
you give me your latest and currently using hotmail ? or
which is your personal email (which only you open)
please give me it is necessary sometime.
Hello
The following will appear in the New York Times Travel
section on Nov. 30,
as part of an article about someone's trip to the
Singalila ridge about one
year ago. Will you please let me know if it is accurate?
The Indian government requires that treks in Sikkim be
arranged through an agency at least a day or two before
starting. There are several in Gangtok. The one I used
was Yak and Yeti Travels, run by Satish Bardewa at the
Hotel Superview Himalchuli; (91-3592) 21670 or email
slg_yaknyeti@sancharnet.in. A Web site,
www.yaknyeti.com, is still under construction, though it
contains contact information. For four people, the price
per day was $42 each, with food, tent rentals and the
first and last nights' accommodations in basic
guesthouses included. I would recommend bringing all
your own noncooking gear, including sleeping bags and
tents, because the equipment the agency provided was low
quality and less than ideal for harsh weather.
The writer, Edward Wong, used a guide named Raju. Was
that arranged through you? And also he says that the
Indian government banned mountaineering expeditions on
Kanchenjunga because the mountain is sacred to so many
people? Is that so? Do you know when the ban took place?
He also states that the Indian government had opened
this Singalila ridge path to foreign trekkers only in
2000. Is that true? His group walked north along the
ridge for about a week, then traversed a couple of
valleys to join up with a more established trekking
trail that led right up to a 16,200-foot pass called
Goecha La, right next to the imposing ramparts of
Kanchenjunga. How long would such a trek be, in miles
(or kilometers) all together?
Thank you for your help
Sincerely,
Carl Sommers
Carl Sommers
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York NY 10036
(212) 556-1580
Tue, 29 Apr 2003 13:49:40 +0100 (BST)
Dear Satish
I wish to give you some feed back on our trek and onward
travel organized by Yak and Yeti Travels.I was generally
very pleased with the transport and trekking
arrangements, we ended up teaming up with the 3 French
trekkers initially due to one of the cooks taking ill,
however it was fortunate that we all got on and it
worked out well. The trekking crew were excellent,
notably U.T from Yuksom who proved himself to be an
excellent, highly skilled guide who has excellent skills
at looking after the group of us. Also Pucko from
Darjeeling proved to be an excellent guide too, he was
extremely helpful and really went out of his way to get
things done, he also has excellent English which made
things easy for us. The kitchen team where excellent
(Divi was the cook) and produced a fantastic array of
hygienically prepared food. The Man incharge of the
Dzo's was also an excellent crew member. Although there
was a minor hitch when we arrived in Pelling after the
trek re the hotel, Puckoo dealt with the hotel manager
well and I was generally very pleased with how you
sorted it out and changed our travel arrangements to
spend our last night in Darjeeling (the hotel was
excellent). overall I was very pleased with how the
booking went overall as booking things over the internet
can sometimes be full of uncertainty. Maybe you could
post a list of possible itinerary or treks on your
website and possible additions to treks etc. and a clear
guide of the difference between the different levels of
treks. My only concern on the trek was at times I
felt some of the crew had inadequate warm clothing and
sleeping bags and also there seemed to be no medical
first aid kit available and some of the group used their
personal first aid kits to aid members of the trek crew.
I think it would be a good opportunity for you to raise
awareness of first aid and health issues for the
trekking crew and possibly to provide sleeping bags for
them. I know this was a big concern for a lot of
trekkers I met who were with other companies who
expressed the feelings that they would be much more
prepared to join with a trekking companies tour who
actively participated in bettering the welfare of the
trekking crew. However generally I would be very happy
to recommend your company to other people.
best wishes and thanks again
Steve Smyth
Dear Satish,
Thank you for the email.
After discussing with Raymond, we'll get our train
tickets next time with all the hipcups that happened.
Here's Raymond feedback:
(1) IN future, you might like to get the tickets at NJP
and send to Calcatta. Also it'll be great if the tickets
can be delivered to Yuksom instead of the people getting
at NJP. Else, might have as well we get the
tickets on arrival.
(2) The tents are not of good quality as compared to
other trekkers on the trail. The zip is spoilt and
dirty.
(3) Cooks, guide and porters are great.
(4) The trek is not so suitable for Singaporeans.. may
need to extend the trekking days to suit
singaporeans Neverlessly, all have enjoyed the
trek/trip.
Trekking in harmony with nature,
Exploring is delightful to look forward to and back
upon,
but it is not comfortable at the time,
unless it be of such an easy nature as not to deserve
the name
Dear Satish,
dear UT,
I want to take this opportunity to give you a little
feedback about the Kanchenjunga Trekking we had booked
with you. Attached you will also find some photos.
Satish,
as a guide "UT" was an excellent choice. UT must be very
close to the "Perfect" guide. He really looked after us
and made the trip very enjoyable. Moreover he selected
the right team (cook, kitchen boy and yak man). He made
sure we could enjoy the trip as much as possible. And
most important he ÃÂs a really nice guy and a special
person with a good sence of humor.
The organisation of the trip was done by Yak&Yeti very
well. Everything ran smooth and nice. It was very
enjoyable for us. It is propably the only trekking tour
in the whole world whrere you can't loose weight! The
food was fantastic and plenty.....
UT,
here back in Germany, the leisurely attitude towards
things is almost forgotten as everyone is very busy at
work and Christmas is approaching fast. The nice thing
about Christmas is that everything is decorated nicely.
It is getting cold. We had the first snow already (at
sea level)
Hope you are all well. We wish you a Merry Christmas and
a Happy New Year. Maybe we will see you again one day.
Please give my regards to your lovely family. A big hug
to you from Me and Mami.
Kind Regards from Germany,
Frank & Siggi
Hi Satish,
It has been three weeks since our return from Sikkim and
we are still talking about it. Sikkim is truly a
beautiful part of India, far better than we had ever
imagined. We were so happy with our trip up there that
we are now in the process of planning our next trip,
this time to Ladakh.
You asked for a feedback of our trip so here it is.
Your choice of hotel in Gangtok was great. The food was
very good and the room was spacious. My kids still speak
of the food there. The day to Rumtek and the Institue of
Tibetology was very interesting and your friend was
knowledgeable of these places.
Tsomgo Lake awas great for the kids as they managed to
see snow for the first time in many years. My only
comment here was that the guide wasn't really necessary.
She could neither speak English nor was she
appropriately dressed for the snow. She also didn't seem
to know the place very well.
Transfers to and from all the locations were well
appreciated.
The hotel in Yuksom was fine, though food there was
probably the worst we've ever experienced in India. We
understood later why an english group there had their
meals made by their trekking cook!
Now for the trek itself. The forests and the views of
the mountains were magnificent. Even though the skies
deteriorated by midday, we did get some spectacular
views. The trekkers lodge in Tsoka was fine. The
campsite in Phedang was pretty horrible as trekkers and
animals fought for space, however, it was a good place
to acclimaitise. Our stay in Dzongri was also fine,
though a bit cold...which brings me to the subject of
your equipment.
To be honest, the camping equipment that you provide
need desperately to be upgraded. The zips on the tents
didn't work properly. The tents were obviously very old,
but not only that, they weren't suitable for the weather
conditions that we experienced up there. We had below 0
temperatures on a couple of nights. The sleeping bags
were dirty as well as the mats and the extra blanket you
provided.
The food. Breakfasts were great. There was a good
selection. As for lunch and dinner...I think Prem should
know that you shouldn't serve rice, noodles and potatoes
all at one meal!! His preparation and planning of food
also needs to be improved as it was bland and unbalanced
(high in carbohydrate and fat, low in protein) and quite
surprising as in the case of his pizza. He cooked a
pizza with apple puree, tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese.
It was totally inedible!! On the trek there was very
little in fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. I understand
the difficulty in carrying these things but one can make
cabbage and carrot a little more interesting than
serving it the same way for 6 days!! He could also have
bought more interesting vegetables for the beginning of
the trek and left the less perishable vegetables for the
end of the trek. We got served tinned meat and TVP
(protein + protein) on our last evening, which was
probably our best meal of our trek. His cake was
delicious.
Tea is fine as a beverage, but as it is a diuretic, it
shouldn't be consumed too frequently as one dehydrates
enough in the mountains. Is it possible to get herbal
teas in India. Otherwise, you could suggest that your
clients bring their own.
Our stay in Darjeeling was wonderful. After a trek it
was very nice to slowly come back to civilisation. The
hotel was excellent and I welcomed it with open arms!!
My only comment here; it wasn't necessary for Raj to
accompany us to Darjeeling. As long as you had arranged
with a local taxi driver, we could have done all the
sight seeing on our own.
My comments on Raj? He was a great friend and
entertainer for our son Alex. Without Raj, I think Alex
would not have enjoyed his trip half as much. As a
guide? He is still very young and not mature enough to
understand the responsibilities one has as a guide yet
though I'm sure this will all improve with time.
I hope I have given you enough "food" for thought.
Thanks again for organising the trip.
Yours,
Michelle
Dear Mr Satish,
I am writing to say thank you for a very enjoyable trek.
Sikkim is as beautiful as you had promised it would be
and it was very exciting to be surrounded by such
enormous mountains. All the arrangements went very
smoothly and the skill and judgement of your staff
contributed greatly to my enjoyment and the eventual
success of the trip. Please pass on my best wishes to
them all. If I have one criticism it would be that few
of the guides and porters in the many tour groups on the
trail seemed properly equipped. I don't know if there
are any guidelines that groups are supposed to follow
but I think it might be a good idea if essentials such
as sunglasses and basic medicines were provided to the
guides and porters by the trek companies and then
collected back afterwards to guarantee that this does
not happen in the future. I would be interested to hear
your opinion on the matter. Thanks again for a great
trip.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Yates.
Dear Satish,
Here are some feedback from the participants.
1. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the worst, & 5 the
best), please
rate:-
§ The adventure. {3-4}
§ How would you grade our sikkim agent? {3 } but the
guide, cooks &
yak
herders were very good
Comments:
2. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being chicken feet, 2 being
easy, 3 being
average, 4 being hard but manageable and 5 is tough-not
for beginners),
please rate the trek? { 3 }
Comments: As the trekking hours for this trip is short,
we get plenty
of
time to acclimatize and rest. Thou some ppl might still
fall prey to
the
altitude sickness.
3. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being safest, & 5 not safe),
please rate
the safety aspect of the trip/trek? { 2-3 }
4. a. Which is the best moment of the trip that you
remember. Why?
{ moutains, villagers, gompas & of course the friends on
the trip-
eye opener }
Hi Satish,
(Returned with fewer problems than i started out
with..!! haha)
I was VERY pleased with the trek (and would like to do
the whole thing again.- I just loved it!).The weather
got better and better (mostly) though I never minded the
Wet.
The trek crew were super: considerate, thoughtful,
hardworking and always cheerful and i thoroughly enjoyed
being in their company (I felt like a mem-sahib with
their attentiveness and care). Happily, no need to
'beat' Prem (joke!) for feeding me SO well (my fault
that i had many 2nd helpings of food), because I have
actually lost nearly 3kg caused by a 'vomit' bug - i DID
drink some untreated river water on day one (yes, i
should know better..-completely my fault). However, my
tummy now grumbles at the loss of those excellent 7*
Prem-breakfasts .
UT is a very capable, knowledgable guide & i appreciated
his birdspotting & animal tracking- i asked many
questions(!) It was good to see that he cared enough to
pick up the litter on the track & instructed some of the
porters to do likewise. So nice not to see plastic bags
everywhere.
I haven't had much spare time today but i did get the
180 photos downloaded onto a CD - will look at them
later (when i find a computer with CDRom facility...) to
sort, print & send on.
Will photocopy those pages on mountainbiking section of
LP guidebook and send them on Wednesday - OK?
Do you know the magazine Action Asia? website:
actionasia.com It covers countries from Aust,NZ to
China,Nepal, Pakistan -articles on
biking,trekking,mountaineering,enviromental
issues,diving,adventureracing & has a calendar of future
events....but have not ever seen anything on SIKKIM??!.
I can send you a copy - would you like to see it? Let me
know if i can check out any other info which could be of
any use. ThankYOU again for your helpfulness ( and
patience). Also, I really needed the warmth of your
sleeping bag and i think i owe you for the hire.???
Please say. I can't wait to return (have yet to check
out the current regulations). Now, to fix that bike..
And, Happy Vijaya Dashami!
catch you later....Best,
susan
Hello Satish!
I can't believe it is February already, time is flying
by! I wanted to give you my new e-mail address now that
I have a new e-mail set up here in Copenhagen:
Did you manage to get any more information about where
the wire transfer got held up? If not, I can ask my bank
to put a trace on it, it will cost me about $25 but I
would like to help you find the money as it's a huge
amount! If my bank finds out it got "held up" somewhere
in India what are the chances of getting it sent to your
account? I know that corruption can be a problem in
India.
At last I have a bit of time to tell you more about our
trek and give you our feedback. Like I said, it was for
the most part a really wonderful trek. We were really
lucky with the weather. The food was outstanding and
plentiful, Prem is indeed a great cook. He also did very
well doubling as a guide and cook, when Narwong had to
go back down to Yuksom; he is a very hard and diligent
worker, as is Karke, our porter (not sure how to spell
his name), and both were very pleasant and helpful. We
were very well looked after. Prem is clearly very
experienced and knowledgable, we wish we could have
learned more from him and Narwong if the language
barrier was not as much of an issue. Narwong was very
friendly and helpful, but we wondered if he was a bit
too young and inexperienced to be a lead guide. We were
also concerned that Karke might not have enough good
quality clothing for such cold temperatures on a
December trek. We felt that the itinery was very good,
giving us time to acclimatize and keeping moving at a
good pace. I felt quite nauseous on the way down from
Goeche La, but was fine the next day again. Arthur did
very well with the altitude. I think we may have
ascended a bit too fast the day we went to Goeche La,
behind Prem, the mountain goat!
The hotels we stayed at in the villages and towns were
all very nice, with very good service. We also got to
the airport in plenty of time. During our time in the
villages and towns, sometimes we were a little bit in
the dark as to what was scheduled for that day, the
timing of things etc. although we understand this is
part of the Indian culture.
Feedback in general about the Sikkim trekking
experience: overall, a great experience, beautiful
scenery. The only things we feel could be improved are
the toilet facilities up above Tsoka, we wondered how
environmentally sound the pits are - they seem to
eventually drain out to the rivers? Also, the amount of
litter between Yuksom and Tsoka was unsightly, and we
noticed the porters seem to be equally responsible for
this as the trekkers (we actually picked up several bags
of litter on the way down, Prem helped us!) and finally,
there seems to be a big temptation for over-indulgence
in alcohol for the trekking staff in Tsoka!
Thanks for a wonderful trek, and we really hope we can
find out where the other half of your trekking payment
is tied up! I have not had a chance to sort through my
photos yet but when I do I will send some to you for the
staff.
Best regards
Colleen & Arthur
Dear Satish,
Greetings from autumnal England.
How is life in Gangtok? It feels a frighteningly long
way from life here in England. I have now started my MSc
in Wild Animal Health and I am spending more time in
London than is healthy, but it is fun and I am really
trying to make the most of the opportunity. The course
is excellent - everything I expected and more. I just
hope I can make the most of it and use it to
take me to the places I want to go.
I would love to hear your news. The time I spent in
Sikkim was so special to - Sikkim is a place I
definitely want to come back to. The photo I took of
Gangtok by full moon from my hotel room is a superb
photo - if I get around to scanning it in I will send it
to you.I want to tell you that you made my time in
Gangtok very special, I
have such lovely memories of it. Also for my trek - that
was an unforgettable experience - please try your
hardest to keep your country so unspoiled...
Let me know your news...
With love,
Alex xxx
To: Satish
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 11:16 PM
Subject: Hello from Singapore!!
Namaste or Tashik Delek! (whichever applicable!)
Am sending this message to test that your email address
is correct in case the effort to address my feedback 'go
down the drain', haha! Joking lah, just want to ensure
this email reach you as couldnt really be sure of the
spelling on the namecard.
Apart from some hiccups during our trip, would like to
thank you for the trip which was otherwise a very
enjoyable one. We return to Singapore with fond memories
of the Darjeeling & Sikkim, the rich culture, nice cool
weather, beautiful scenery, sumptuous food, & not
forgetting the friendliness & warmth of the people, esp
UT & Bishnu who had taken very good care of us along the
journey. Of course diplomatically, also have to mention
your goodself :) thanyabard!
regards.. leng
From: PhauyLeng
Mr. Satish,
Now that we are back home and settled in, I just wanted
to let you know how much we enjoyed our tour of Sikkim.
We must thank you for coming up with such an interesting
itinerary. We enjoyed everything from the scenery to the
hotels you chose, food, drive etc. Gopal and Bishnu were
unfailingly helpful, pleasant and went to a lot of
effort to make sure that we could did everything
we wanted to. Thanks once again,
Mrs. Marla
Hello Satish!
I can't believe it is February already, time is flying
by! I wanted to give you my new e-mail address now that
I have a new e-mail set up here in Copenhagen:
Did you manage to get any more information about where
the wire transfer got held up? If not, I can ask my bank
to put a trace on it, it will cost me about $25 but I
would like to help you find the money as it's a huge
amount! If my bank finds out it got "held up" somewhere
in India what are the chances of getting it sent to your
account? I know that corruption can be a problem in
India.
At last I have a bit of time to tell you more about our
trek and give you our feedback. Like I said, it was for
the most part a really wonderful trek. We were really
lucky with the weather. The food was outstanding and
plentiful, Prem is indeed a great cook. He also did very
well doubling as a guide and cook, when Narwong had to
go back down to Yuksom; he is a very hard and diligent
worker, as is Karke, our porter (not sure how to spell
his name), and both were very pleasant and helpful. We
were very well looked after. Prem is clearly very
experienced and knowledgable, we wish we could have
learned more from him and Narwong if the language
barrier was not as much of an issue. Narwong was very
friendly and helpful, but we wondered if he was a bit
too young and inexperienced to be a lead guide. We were
also concerned that Karke might not have enough good
quality clothing for such cold temperatures on a
December trek. We felt that the itinery was very good,
giving us time to acclimatize and keeping moving at a
good pace. I felt quite nauseous on the way down from
Goeche La, but was fine the next day again. Arthur did
very well with the altitude. I think we may have
ascended a bit too fast the day we went to Goeche La,
behind Prem, the mountain goat!
The hotels we stayed at in the villages and towns were
all very nice, with very good service. We also got to
the airport in plenty of time. During our time in the
villages and towns, sometimes we were a little bit in
the dark as to what was scheduled for that day, the
timing of things etc. although we understand this is
part of the Indian culture.
Feedback in general about the Sikkim trekking
experience: overall, a great experience, beautiful
scenery. The only things we feel could be improved are
the toilet facilities up above Tsoka, we wondered how
environmentally sound the pits are - they seem to
eventually drain out to the rivers? Also, the amount of
litter between Yuksom and Tsoka was unsightly, and we
noticed the porters seem to be equally responsible for
this as the trekkers (we actually picked up several bags
of litter on the way down, Prem helped us!) and finally,
there seems to be a big temptation for over-indulgence
in alcohol for the trekking staff in Tsoka!
Thanks for a wonderful trek, and we really hope we can
find out where the other half of your trekking payment
is tied up! I have not had a chance to sort through my
photos yet but when I do I will send some to you for the
staff.
Best regards
Colleen & Arthur
Dear Satish,
Greetings from autumnal England.
How is life in Gangtok? It feels a frighteningly long
way from life here in England. I have now started my
M.Sc. in Wild Animal Health and I am spending more time
in London than is healthy, but it is fun and I am really
trying to make the most of the opportunity. The course
is excellent - everything I expected and more. I just
hope I can make the most of it and use it to take me to
the places I want to go.
I would love to hear your news. The time I spent in
Sikkim was so special to - Sikkim is a place I
definitely want to come back to. The photo I took of
Gangtok by full moon from my hotel room is a superb
photo - if I get around to scanning it in I will send it
to you. I want to tell you that you made my time in
Gangtok very special, I have such lovely memories of it.
Also for my trek - that was an unforgettable experience
- please try your hardest to keep your country so
unspoiled...
Let me know your news...
With love,
Alex xxx
Alexandra Tomlinson
Hello
The following will appear in the New York Times Travel
section on Nov. 30, as part of an article about
someone's trip to the Singalila ridge about one year
ago. Will you please let me know if it is accurate?
The Indian government requires that treks in Sikkim be
arranged through an agency at least a day or two before
starting. There are several in Gangtok. The one I used
was Yak and Yeti Travels, run by Satish Bardewa at the
Hotel Superview Himalchuli; (91-3592) 21670 or email
slg_yaknyeti@sancharnet.in. A Web site,
www.yaknyeti.com, and it
contains contact information. For four people, the price
per day was $42 each, with food, tent rentals and the
first and last nights' accommodations in basic
guesthouses included. I would recommend bringing all
your own noncooking gear, including sleeping bags and
tents, because the equipment the agency provided was low
quality and less than ideal for harsh weather. The
writer, Edward Wong, used a guide named Raju. Was that
arranged through you? And also he says that the Indian
government banned mountaineering expeditions on
Kanchenjunga because the mountain is sacred to so many
people? Is that so? Do you know when the ban took place?
He also states that the Indian government had opened
this Singalila ridge path to foreign trekkers only in
2000. Is that true? His group walked north along the
ridge for about a week, then traversed a couple of
valleys to join up with a more established trekking
trail that led right up to a 16,200-foot pass called
Goecha La, right next to the imposing ramparts of
Kanchenjunga. How long would such a trek be, in miles
(or kilometers) all together?
Thank you for your help
Sincerely,
Latimes
Carl Sommers
Carl Sommers
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York NY 10036
(212) 556-1580
Dear Satish,
Greetings from autumnal England.
How is life in Gangtok? It feels a frighteningly long
way from life here in England. I have now started my MSc
in Wild Animal Health and I am spending more time in
London than is healthy, but it is fun and I am really
trying to make the most of the opportunity. The course
is excellent - everything I expected and more. I just
hope I can make the most of it and use it to take me to
the places I want to go. I would love to hear your news.
The time I spent in Sikkim was so special to - Sikkim is
a place I definitely want to come back to. The photo I
took of Gangtok by full moon from my hotel room is a
superb photo - if I get around to scanning it in I will
send it to you.I want to tell you that you made my time
in Gangtok very special, I have such lovely memories of
it. Also for my trek - that was an unforgettable
experience - please try your hardest to keep your
country so unspoiled...
Let me know your news...
With love,
Alex xxx
Mr. Satish,
Now that we are back home and settled in, I just wanted
to let you know how much we enjoyed our tour of Sikkim.
We must thank you for coming up with such an interesting
itinerary. We enjoyed everything from the scenery to the
hotels you chose, food, drive etc. Gopal and Bishnu were
unfailingly helpful, pleasant and went to a lot of
effort to make sure that we could did everything we
wanted to.
Thanks once again,
Mrs. Marla |
|
or before 31st December and enjor 2 Days 1 Night
FREE
stay at Hotel Superview Himachuli. Offer valid till 31st December 2007. 
Enjoy
the village experience with Yak & Yeti Travels.(5 Days 4 Nights). 
Yak & Yeti announces 10% discount on
Dzongri Trek, Labha Trek, North Sikkim Trek
and 20% discount on 
