It had long been decided between me and my wifey that we would again go to the hills this december (to make it thrice in as many years.. lol ) unless something major came up. We had decide that we would leave on 24th night from Kolkata and come back on 1st Jan. But suddenly the plan changed on 18th December when my cousin and his wife came up with an excellent idea. They told us that they had nowhere to go this Christmas as all the places were booked and also not getting any reservation in trains. We sat together and altered the plan and decided to start on 20th night (thursday) after office and head straight to Darjeeling.
On 20th evening after returning from office I had thought of taking a small nap but there were so many pending works that it was not possible to take any rest. We started at 12:45 am from home and decided to go non stop to Darjeeling via Siliguri. But there seemed to be a problem in the car while taking turns. A strange sound was coming from somewhere whil taking turns which I could not understand for a while. After some investigation it turned out that the car had become so heavily loaded that the metal strips in the mudflaps were scraping the tarmac during turns and resulted in the strange sound. Satisfied that it was not a major problem and praying that the road ahead should be good enough to cross with the even-lowered ground clearance we resume our journey. Reached Panagarh (150 Kms) at 3 'o' clock, had a 10 minute break and went ahead. After Bakreshwar (225Kms) we encountered a patch of bad which slowed us down. But it was nothing serious if driven properly. We reached Moregram (300Kms) at around 6 'o' clock. The road was again bad for about 10 Kms till a Relaince A1 Plaza on the left. After that the road was very good (though two way) and we reached Malda (415 Km) at 7:30 am.
New bridge before Farakka -
We tanked up there and the car returned an FE of 14.5 Kmpl.
Broken Bridge on NH34 -
We reached Bagdogra at 10:30 am, had our breakfast ome lunch. It was quite a big halt of about 1 and 1/2 hours. After that we went to Darjeeling non stop except a few stops for photoshoots. The trip meter read 761 Kilometers at Darjeeling. We stayed at Hotel Plaza near Mall. The hotel was quite good with all the required amenities and it cost only 550 per room (as it was off season).
Kanchenjungha from Darjeeling -
Non veg foodies must visit Darjeeling and particlarly the restaurant called Keventers which is over a 100 years old. Then there is Glenary's which is famous for its buns and chocolates. We also visited a restaurant called Penang where the chilli pork was awesome .
We started for Kalimpong on 23rd December afternoon. Tanked up in between and it returned an FE of 12 Kmpl.
Enroute to Kalimpong via Sevok-
We stayed at Hotel Hilltop on 23rd and shifted to Morgan House on 24th. Visited Delo form Kalimpong which was quite nearby.
Morgan House -
Left Kalimpong on 25th for Gangtok. Had a tire puncture en route. It was very irritating to unload everyhing from the boot and take out the stepney. So it was almost evening when we reached Gangtok. We had arranged for a packaged tour to North Sikkim and the car arrived next morning at 10 'o' clock. It was a 7 year old Armada and was in immaculate condition. We headed for Lachen through some very rough mountain roads and reached Lachen at 5:30 pm.
Next morning we started for Gurudongmar Lake (17,100 Feet) at 5 am and it was teeth-clattering cold. Sonam, the guide and driver tried to clean his vehicle in the morning and poured a bucket of water on it. The result was a thin sheet of ice on the roof . We had our mandatory breakfast at Thanggu (mandatory as tourists are not allowed to go there without breakfast as it creates some sort of problem at those heights due to lack of oxygen).
Gurudongmar -
Stayed for only 20 mins at Gurudongmar (also known as Mini Ladakh) and started for Lachung. Next morning at 6:30 am we started for Yumthang. The real beauty of Yumthang is during March-APril when the valley is full with orchids and is called Switzerland of the east. We missed that view and went on towards India-China border called Zero Point where the road ends. After that there is no man's land between India and China.
We started our return journey towards Gangtok and reached there in the evening (28th December). Stayed at our company's guest house on 28th and 29th. Packed up and started for Kolkata on 30th morning at 7:30 am. Got held up at Chitre for 1 and 1/2 hours as there was a landslide. Reached Siliguri at 10:50, had breakfast and tanked up. Got an FE of 11.5 Kmpl. Had our lunch at Dalkhola and reached Malda at 3:45 pm. Filled up at Malda and got a dismal FE of 10.5 due to some spirited driving. Reached Kolakata at around 12 'o' clock midnight after a few halts en route. An awesome tour came to an end and had to attend office on 31st
. Will post some more pics later.
will upload them once I trim them to size as my picassa is not working. The Morgan House was really a nice place to stay and the manager was very good. Though he was saying that life in Kalimpong is very boring and very different from Darjeeling where he belongs.