Trip to Darjeeling - 4

[Continued from Trip to Darjeeling - 3] The next day morning we went to the Supermarket Taxi Stand. From there we hopped on to a Singamari bound share taxi and told the driver to drop us at the Happy Valley Tea Estate entrance. The entrance to the estate is situated on the main road but the factory is below and one has to walk to reach the factory. It was about 15 minutes walk but the scenery of the tea garden was beautiful. Happy Valley is the only tea garden in Darjeeling town. There was a guide waiting in front of the factory gate. He showed us how the tea plucked from the garden is processed. We saw the various machines and processes by which tea is made. There was a souvenir shop too where we bought a packet of Happy Valley Tea. Then we walked to the Singamari Taxi Stand. From there we took a share taxi to get back to Supermarket Taxi Stand. That day we took rest in the hotel.

Happy Valley Tea Factory

Trip to Darjeeling - 3

[Continued from Trip to Darjeeling - 2] The day after we woke up late in the morning. After breakfast we had a stroll in the Mall and inquired about how to go to Mirik at the Supermarket Taxi Stand. We booked a car which would take us to Mirik tour, the next day  We were told to get ready by 8 o' clock in the morning.

View from Simana

The next day we got ready quickly and reached the place where our car was to wait for us. The car came and we started our journey towards Mirik. On the way we stopped at Simana. The view of the distant hills of Nepal from Simana is awesome. Next we reached Mirik. In front of us we saw the Sumendu Lake, the prime attraction of the place. The lake has an arched footbridge over it linking the two sides of the lake. Firstly we had our breakfast with Momos. This traditional delicacy is much tastier and cheaper in these hilly places than in the cities.

Trip to Darjeeling - 2

[Continued from Trip to Darjeeling] The Darjeeling railway station was a long walk from the Chowrasta. From the Passenger Reservation Counter of the station, we bought tickets for a one way ride from Darjeeling to Ghum. After that we were lucky to witness a joy ride train starting from the station so that we could get the shots. Dhirdham Temple, one of the attractions of Darjeeling is visible from the station. On the way back we booked car for the Tiger Hill tour from a travel agency. The tour consisted of Tiger Hill, Batasia Loop and Ghum Monastery. Then we went to the Bengal Natural History Museum. It is located close to the Mall. The museum hosts an impressive stuffed collection of butterflies, moths, insects and other animals and birds. Various stuffed fishes and reptiles are also kept in this museum. In another room the varied ecosystems of West Bengal has been depicted. After that we came back to our hotel.

Toy Train at Darjeeling Station

The next day we woke up at 3 am and got ready. The car picked us up from the Mall at about 3:45 am. We reached Tiger Hill at about 4:30 am. Although the sky was lighting up but the actual sunrise had not started yet. After a while we saw a small portion of the sun becoming visible. Gradually the whole of it became visible to us. After watching sunrise we got back to our car and then went to Batasia Loop. At this place the toy train traverses a loop. There is a Gorkha War Memorial along with flower gardens. The beauty of the loop has now been damaged by the people sitting on the rail tracks selling various items to the tourists. Our next destination was Ghum Monastery. The scenic view of the distant hills and houses from the monastery is amazing. After that we came back to Darjeeling.

Trip to Darjeeling

It was a scorching summer in Kolkata with news of heat waves and rising temperature coming in the daily weather forecast. I decided it was once more time to move out of the city. To a cool destination - Darjeeling, I thought was the correct place.

We boarded the Kolkata-Haldibari Superfast Express and set out towards New Jalpaiguri. The train reached NJP an hour and a half behind the scheduled time of 18:50 hrs. That night we stayed at Hotel Miami in New Jalpaiguri. The day after we went to Siliguri by auto rickshaw. Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri are actually twin towns and are located very close to each other. Our auto dropped us at one of the many travel agency counters scattered in the town of Siliguri which conduct daily car service to Darjeeling. We bought tickets from the counter and hopped into the car. The car started moving. Soon we saw a narrow gauge railway line by the road side - the track of the heritage Darjeeling Toy Train. But soon our car was diverted to Rohini Highway instead of travelling on Hill Cart Road, the traditional way to reach Darjeeling because of a land slide on that road. The new road was very steep and had a number of pin head curves. It took about three hours for our car to get to Darjeeling. We descended from the car at Super Market Taxi Stand. Since we had made no hotel booking so my first job was to find a hotel to stay at least for that night.

On the way to Darjeeling

Visit to Gangtok (Part - 5)

[Continued from Visit to Gangtok (Part - 4)] We started in good spirit towards Yumthang Valley from Lachung. But luck was not in our favour. After travelling for a while we found that the road in front of us was blocked by debris which resulted from the previous day's evening shower. The sad news had crushed our spirits. We tried to inquire from the army officials present there to know whether the road would open soon. But they replied that it would open at about 3 pm. As a last hope we urged our co passengers to stay for another day so that we could see the Yumthang Valley and then return to Gangtok. But they refused since they had a booking at a hotel in Darjeeling. With all hopes lost we climbed onto the back seat of the car and came back to our hotel. After that we went out to stroll in the roads of Lachung. We went near the Lachung river. The scenery was amazing. On one side was the gushing river with its white water flowing through the rocks and on the other side green hills with a clear blue sky in background. It was wonderful. But it was time to return to Gangtok. Disheartened, we started our return journey. Good Bye Lachung!

Lachung

I tried to fell asleep in the car in order to compensate for the less sleep last night. But the road would not let me do so. Our car was jerking and bumping as we moved on towards Gangtok. So I had to stay awake. Suddenly I caught a glimpse of a white thing protruding out of the clouds. For a moment I could not understand what it was but the next moment I was sure that it was nothing else than the majestic Mt Kanchenjunga. We stopped and got out of the car. Although the mountain was not fully visible but it was still not difficult to understand what it was. After clicking some photos we again started our journey towards Gangtok. At last we reached Gangtok. Our car dropped us at the N. Sikkim Taxi Stand. From there we took a taxi to reach Hotel Woodland. We were shown our room. That night we had our dinner at the Woodland Restaurant.

Visit to Gangtok (Part - 4)

[Continued from Visit to Gangtok (Part - 3)] The next day we were all tired from the previous day's journey. So we started late in the morning. As we had no more plans about where to go or what to see we just strolled around the MG Marg and the NH6 - the road on which our hotel was located. We came to know about Yumthang Valley from a travel agent's office. The photos of the place amazed us and in our minds we had decided that our next destination would be Yumthang. After having lunch we came back to our hotel. In the evening we went for shopping at the M.G. Marg, the heart of the city of Gangtok.

MG Marg, Gangtok

The next day morning we started early. We inquired at different travel agencies office to find out the rates of package tour to Yumthang Valley. The rates of the 2 Days/1 Night tour consisting of Lachung and Yumthang Valley were around Rs. 1200-1600. There was another package of 3 Days/2 Nights consisting of visit to Lachen, Gurudongmar Lake, Chopta Valley along with Lachung and Yumthang. Finally we booked the 2 Day/1 Night tour through Woodland Tours and Travels (the office is at the Woodland Restaurant). That day evening we bought jackets, shoes and other winter clothes from the market as a preparation for our visit to Yumthang Valley.

Visit to Gangtok (Part - 3)

[Continued from Visit to Gangtok (Part - 2)] The next day we woke up early. We got ready quickly and were there at the Alternative Tours & Travels Office by 7:35 am. There we waited for some time. Then we were taken to the taxi stand opposite the office and told to get on one of the cars. The car took us to the North Sikkim Taxi Stand. We had our breakfast at a small dhaba in the taxi stand.

Changu Lake (Tsomgo Lake)

Our car started at around 9:30 am. There was a checkpost on the way where our car stopped for a while. We bought packaged drinking water bottles from there. Again we started our journey. After some time we were not able to see anything on the side of the road. Everything was covered with fog. The road as well as the weather was bad. On the way we saw a few waterfalls. Then we saw Tsomgo Lake on the side. But our driver said that it would be better to first go to Nathula Pass and then see Tsomgo Lake while returning.

Visit to Gangtok (Part - 2)

[Continued from Visit to Gangtok] The next day we slept till late in the morning thus ruining all chances of seeing Mt. Kanchenjunga if it was visible. Talking to local people we came to know that it was raining everyday and hence there was little chance of viewing snow capped peaks. They had also added that if by chance it becomes visible it would be at dawn.

Common Leopard at Himalayan Zoological Park

As we had decided to go to Nathula Pass and Tsomgo Lake, I booked the one day tour to Nathula, Tsomgo Lake and Baba Mandir from Alternative Tours and Travels. The cost of the tour was Rs. 1200/-.per head. We were told to produce xerox copy of Voter ID Card and two Passport size photographs of each member. After that we had lunch at Woodland Restaurant. Bengali food was available there and the food was good. Then we walked to the S.N.T Bus Terminus. There was a local taxi stand near the terminus. From there we hired a taxi to go to the Himalayan Zoological Park. The zoo was located near Ganesh Tok. We had to buy tickets worth Rs. 100/-.

Visit to Gangtok

Gangtok is a hill station located in the eastern Himalayan range. Situated at an altitude of 5600 ft, Gangtok is also known as Switzerland of the East for its cleanliness. It is the capital city of the state of Sikkim. Gangtok is also a popular tourist destination. The city offers beautiful views of the surrounding hills and Mt. Khanchendzonga from the town itself. Gangtok also serves as a tourist base for visiting places like Tsomgo Lake, Nathula, Lachung and Yumthang Valley. This time in the month of June I went to Gangtok.

River Teesta (On the way to Gangtok)

From Kolkata station, we boarded 12363 Kolkata-Haldibari Express. The train left the station at 09:10 hrs and reached New Jalpaiguri at around 19:05 hrs, just 15 mins behind scheduled time. We came out of the station and took a cycle rickshaw and told the rickshawala to tale us in a hotel. where the hotels. We found a room at Hotel Miami. The rooms of the hotel were quite clean but not very good. After keeping our luggages and getting fresh we went down to have dinner. We had our dinner at the restaurant below our hotel.

Deoghar Trip and Visit to Basukinath

From Howrah railway station, we boarded the Howrah-Patna Janshatabdi Express. The train left Howrah station at around 2 pm. But after finding our seat we found that the window beside our seat was jammed and could not be opened. This was quite annoying as we were unable to look out of the window. The train reached Jasidih at 06:40 pm. We quickly came out of the station and took an auto to go to Deoghar. I had thought that if we could reach Deoghar before other passengers then we might get an advantage in booking rooms in hotels. But after going a little distance the auto driver went inside a petrol pump. And snap went my plans. We had to wait about 10 minutes there. Somehow we reached Deoghar and found a room in Hotel Mayur. The room was in the ground floor and there were no windows. That night we had our dinner at Sindhi restaurant. The food was very good.

Baba Baidyanath Dham Temple