Himalayas.. after a long time

"Payer tolae sorse" (a Bengali idiom meaning one who cannot settle at one place) - is what my friends call me considering my travel freak nature. During my yearly visit to Kolkata, I try to squeeze a short trip to somewhere close. This year our destination was North Bengal. As we could only spare 4-5 days, we planned to go to three places in North Bengal. Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Charkhole.

Kalimpong 

Padatik express which leaves from Sealdah station at 11:15 in the night took us to New Jalpaiguri the following morning. We had pre-booked a cab to take us to our hotel in Kalimpong. Kalimpong is about 60 km from the NJP, but considering the hilly road and the ascend it took almost 2 hours to reach our destination. Kalimpong is a busy hilly town. We decided to make it our base for tge first two days. We had booked The Kalimpong Park Hotel, located a little away from the proper town.

The ascend starts with Teesta accompanying us all through

The journey uphill was not very pleasant because of the bad road conditions. The roads in the mountains gets very narrow at times, making things very difficult for the driver. Adding to the woe is the bad condition of the road. There is a hydal power plant being built on Teesta, because of which truck loads of heavy materials were being transported to the plant location. This was one more reason for the congestion. But nothing could really dampen our spirit!! Our excitement was beyond measure as we enjoyed the view of the picturesque teesta and the mighty mountains.

Kalimpong Park Hotel is a neat place with a beautiful portico. You can stand there and see the entire ranges of mountains in-front of you. The hotel has two sections - The Heritage section and The new section. The heritage section, where we stayed,  had maintained the British world charm with wooded stairs, wooden flooring, similar kind of majestic furniture, fireplace and other accessories. From the window you can get a view of almost the whole of Kalimpong town and behind that is the vast range of mountains. When we reached our hotel we were greeted by a huge rainbow amidst the mountains which made us forget the tiring journey in a jiffy. 

The rainbow that greeted us

After we settled, we ordered lunch from the hotel. Here I must mention that the quantity of food given was quite a lot and it tasted yum as well. One noodles and one chopsuey was enough for 4 adults and,a child. Post lunch we took a walk down the road from the hotel. The town was crowded and congested with various shops displaying their products and alluring tourists. We strolled through the shops and finally settled in a roadside cafe for some lovely momos. After all you are never too full for a plate of momo!!!

Darjeeling 

The following day was a trip to Darjeeling. When I last went there I was around 15 and because I had fever I could not enjoy much. So this time I was the one most eexcited. We started from Kalimpong after breakfast. Kalimpong to Darjeeling is about 60 km though the hilly roads. The condition of the road was not great here as well.  As we approached Darjeeling the roads became narrow as both sides there were shops and restaurants. 

Ascending clouds

The weather was fantastic! It was a bit cloudy and as we moved up the hill we were being engulfed by the could! As a kid, whenever we visited Darjeeling, we used to look forward to this experience of travelling through the clouds!! My excitement this time was no less. Even my son was super excited to see clouds descend on us. On our way to the mall we stopped at the Batasia Loop. It is a covered area through which the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway passes. We waited to catch a glimpse of the train, enjoyed a hot cup of coffee in the chilly weather and started our onward journey. 

When we reached the Mall area it started raining. The weather became more cold and the mall was less congested because of the rain. We walked down to Gleanery's, a very famous restaurant for lunch. The view from Glenarys was awesome,  with the clouds covering half the town and half of it being sunny. Post lunch we strolled in the mall,  visited the curio shops, indulged in some binge shopping and then headed back to Kalimpong. It was late when we reached our hotel and we were all very tired but Darjeeling will be etched in my memory forever. 

A curio shop in Darjeeling

Charkhole and the way back

On day three we left Kalimpong and headed for Charkhole. Everyone warned us that the road to Charkhole is bad, but little did we know that 'bad' was actually an understatement!! There was actually no road, it was just boulders. No tar, no mud nothing. Lucky the driver was an expert otherwise we don't know what would have happened to us. A mere 30 km took us about 3 hours thanks to the road. But after that journey when we reached Charkhole it was amazing. It is a desolate village on top of a mountain. Not much crowd. Because of that it was very chilly. In October we were really shivering. The resort we chose was the last one on that road and so had an amazing view. The view of Kanchenzungha was amazing from here. There was no hindrance between us and the mountain. It seemed a lot nearer as if we can touch it with our hands. 

The resort is built over a large area with a main building, which had the dinning area and the office. Small cottages for the guests were lined up on one side of the compound. The other side had a nice garden and  the mountains. Unfortunately we had booked only one day in Charkhole. Would have loved to stay there for a day more. 

View of Kanchenzungha !!!

The way back deserves a mention. Again because of the roads. Someone in the resort informed our driver that there is a shorter way down to NJP. Little did we know that the shorter route is through a jungle and on no roads!!! It was a trail. A trail that got created by cars going up and down the hill. It was narrow that had there been a car from the other end we didn't know where to go. It was deserted. If our car had a break down the only option left to us would be to take our luggage and walk down. It was a journey of about 40-45 mins downhill but it made all of us scared to our wits end.

Loved the adventure though !!