I booked this travel through makemytrip.com - a 6 days 5 nights package to the enchanting north-east. The forward journey was Bangalore-Delhi-Bagdogra via Kingfisher Airlines. We hardly had any time for the flight connection at Delhi and had to huff and puff out of the departure and back to the arrival - funnily they didn't allow us to go directly from one aircraft to the other on the tarmac. The flight from Delhi to Bagdogra was very scenic for those having a seat on the left side - One gets to see Himalayas towering above the clouds. We reached Bagdogra at 1:30 pm.
The makemytrip deal required us to share the cabs during the course of the trip. We were fortunate to get to know a sweet family from Chennai - a couple with 2 kids and we set out from Bagdogra in a tolerable Sumo Victa to Darjeeling at around 2:30 pm.
Bagdogra is a small town ~15 kms from Siliguri, known because it has the Airport. Before siliguri , we have to take a left and that is the road that takes us to Darjeeling. Slowly but surely, the flat land starts giving way to a hilly climb - we didn't realise then that it would be another 5 days before we saw a flat road ! The road from Bagdogra to Darjeeling is very scenic. Since our trip was just weeks ahead of the real Monsoon start , everything was misty all around, making the surroundings look surreal.
We stopped en-route for an interesting lunch at an all-ladies-owned place. Small but efficient , this was not for those who are finicky about cleanliness and can't close their eyes to flies around tables. Good Baturas , Hot Momos , Rice, Dal , Channa Subzi and i was more than satisfied .
The road twists and winds precariously at times and we were joined by a narrow guage track next to us - the heritage railway from Siliguri to Darjeeling. This track would be with us till we reached Darjeeling. We were told that due to the Gorkaland issue, the train was not operational. En-route we get numerous small towns showing a glimpse of the mountain life. Just before Darjeeling, we encounter Ghoom - supposed to be the 2'nd highest railway station in the world ( the station here is at higher altitude than the one in Darjeeling)
We reached Darjeeling at around 6:30 pm. Darjeeling is a very crowded place - they allow SUVs inside the narrow hilly roads causing jams everywhere - we were to learn later from Gangtok how this could have been managed much better. The driver however showed amazing driving skills by taking a Tata sumo in the reverse gear on a winding downward road. Chaos hones unique talents !
Our hotel was ITC Fortune Central just behind the Chowrasta - the town square where "four roads" meet . It's also called the mall and is a place where vehicles are banned from entering. The vehicle stopped a good distance from the Hotel and the baggages were herded by Porters in a very unique way - 6 suitcases on the back held by a head-band. The strength of the lean Gurkha is to be seen to be believed.
Here's a view from the hotel room window :
The next day we had to wake up at 3 am to be able to see the Sunrise at 5 am on a place called Tiger Hill, the heighest motorable point close to Ghoom. A 40 minute drive from Darjeeling , we were supposed to see the sunrise over Kanchendzonga range of mountains. What we got in turn was a complete haze covered view and no sun anywhere - The mountain eluded us.
On the way back, we visited a not-too-great-looking Monastery and a place called Batasia Loop. This place has the railway track looping around beatifully and they have built a small garden and a war memorial. This is where the sun made a fleeting appearance between the clouds.
Came back to the Hotel for Breakfast and headed to an eminently forgettable itinerary of places - A tea-garden, Tenzing rock , Tibetian refuge centre . To our bad luck, the Mountaineering institute and Zoo (both being the most notable places to visit) were closed on Thursday. All these were done before 12:30 pm and we had to make something to fill our day !
We requested our cab driver to take us to something interesting - and he suggested Mirik which has a lake and Pashupati, which is inside Nepal, famous locally for good shopping. The drive takes more than an hour to reach Mirik and we had our lunch there. The Lake turned out to be another great dissapointment with stink,slosh and garbage all around :-) It was just not to be our day . I buried my dissapointment by tasting good Litchi fruit and some decent looking tea gardens on the way back. we also decided to forego Pashupati shopping, which turned out to be a good decision in the retrospective too.
Tenzing rock and army folks training on this can be seen here :
Beautiful trees on the drive to Mirik.
There was also a rally by the woman wing of supporters of Gorkhaland agitation. Water is really a scarce commodity in Darjeeling - we saw numerous carts pushed by people with cans carrying water . I really think that the something must be done to make life better in Darjeeling.In the evening, we went shopping to the area around the mall,bought a few shawls and sweaters for great deals and my kiddo had a good ride on a horse named Tashi.
The next day morning , we were woken up at morning 5 am and were in for a surprise - A beatiful sunrise view from the window.I would surely like to believe it was the mountain and not just clouds.
Darjeeling after the sunrise :
We left Darjeeling early enough to Gangtok and it was a very wise decision - since the leader of the Gorkha league Tamang was hacked to death. Despite whatever happens, the tourists are not harmed in Darjeeling and the locals try their best to have life go on.However such incidents in any case turn out to be bad for tourists, since you get stuck in a place without hotels and with kids. I guess we had to thank our stars to be able to get out at just the right time !
Teesta River accompanies us almost all along - the river was quite muddy and had very strong currents. We got delayed en-route due to a funeral procession - apparently 3 locals had perished trying to save someone from drowning in Teesta river. Almost the entire village was in mourning. Vagaries of nature ?
Sikkim is much better governed and managed and we feel it right as we enter the border checkpost - the roads get wider , we begin to see much more infrastructure constructions , Sikkim-Manipal university alongway . we reached Gangtok at 3 pm. Since cabs from West-Bengal are not allowed to ply in Sikkim , we were transferred to an Omni from the stand to ferry us to the Hotel. They have a rule that only Maruti Omni vans and owned vehicles are allowed inside the city from 8 am till 7 pm - this rule ensured that the city saw hardly any jams that we witnessed in Darjeeling - a great example of how to manage traffic in narrow roads on a hilly city !
Hotel Himalayan heights is a nice little place - certainly old with no lifts and only staircase. Minimalistic and clean - they have very few staff , so don't expect very prompt room service. The rooms overlook the Palzor Soccer stadium and a very good view of the hills. The hotel itself is on the Palzor stadium road which has a very steep incline - fun to walk up and down on.
Took some rest in the afternoon and in the evening we took a small walk over to the MG Marg - the bustling shopping area of the Gangtok where the entire tourist folk will descend as night falls . I wonder what Mahatma Gandhi would have felt seeing the hep shopping paradises that roads named after him have turned into in every single Indian city :-) The best part about this place was small eateries offering some semblance of south indian foods such as Dosa and Sambar !
The next day morning, after a simple breakfast, we were herded into an Omni along with another couple from Bangalore whom we had befriended. The first place that we went to was the Rumtek Monastery which is a good 1 hour drive from Gangtok perched atop a hill. On the way, we get to see the countryside of sikkim.
To our luck , that day some dignitary was visting the place and hence the monks were chanting from the Buddhist texts and playing the sacred instruments in a very distinct Tibetian way - I have a particular liking to the ancient eastern music renditions including Vedic chants and loved every bit of the Buddhist chanting. Unfortunately , photography is not allowed and i made sure i recorded their sounds standing outside .
A flower outside:
From here, we decided to bypass what was part of the standard itinerary and asked our driver to take us to the Ban Jankhri falls. This is a small garden with a natural falls . They have also showcased several statues depicting the witch doctors and Shamanism rituals of Sikkim , as well as several small operable playthings which explain energy generation to kids. Waterfalls in general has a great soothing effect and i had a good time walking with my kid just at the foot of the falls in cold water. In summary , the place has nothing to write about , but it's something that keeps the kids quieter or diverted perhaps. We also had our lunch here - but please avoid it if you can.
From here, we went back to Gangtok and to the Ropeway . The Ropeway connects people from one place to a place closer to the Legislative assembly. Ropeways in India are very notorious. I double checked the ropes - they seemed stronger and the ropeway wagon itself seemed much more solid. After a wait of 30 minutes, we got in and got a 20 minutes of ride back and forth with a great glimpse of the Gangtok from the top.Kids always have a fascination for a new,unique kind of transport - i know that my kiddo really did enjoy this.
After the Ropeway , we tried our luck to have another view of the Kanchendzonga at the Tashi viewpoint , but dissapointingly it eluded us again with haze covering it all over. From here , our driver took us to a place called Ganesh Tok - a temple and a viewpoint together. Gangtok as seen from Ganesh Tok :
That night, the tour manager came to collect photocopies of our identification and 2 passport photos. The permit to the Tsomgo(pronounced 'changu') lake and Baba Mandir was supposed to be given the next day morning - valid only for that day.
The next day morning, as usual we were herded into another ragged Tata Sumo onto the Changu Lake trip - Omni vans can't make this, since the terrain is harsh. Left early at 7:30 am and we were made to wait on a small strech of ground for another 2 hours before the driver arrived with the permit sheet in hand.
Changu Lake drive is A-W-E-S-O-M-E ! For the first time in the trip, i never asked the driver how far was the destination.Misty mountains,deep gorges,high peaks, Just check out the below snaps.
Changu Lake is very sacred and no other activities are allowed in the lake - Good for the Lake. It has a pristine view surrounded by mountains.
There are a lot of Yaks nearby and everyone had a good ride on the Yaks. I am seen here with a huge grin on a Yak named Chetak.
This road leads to the Nathula Pass and also to the Baba Mandir and is very close to the China Border, a very sensitive zone.Nearly every regiment has it's presence here and one gets to see many Military establishments,bunkers all along and Photography is not allowed close to the Military zones. On the road to the Baba Mandir we start seeing snow capped peaks.
Along the way we also got to see another nice lake called the Elephant lake.we also passed by a road that had a signpost saying "This road is being watched by Chinese posts" reminding us that we are very close to the sensitive Indo-China Border. The road is replete with amazing towering mountains and my eyes couldn't take it all...
Baba Mandir is actually a memorial for a soldier named Harbhajan singh who perished and who later came into the dreams of other fellow soldiers. There are actually 2 Baba mandirs - the first one which the itinerary says and the one which lies much further, called the original Baba mandir near a place called Tukla.
Note that it depends on your persuasive skill and the driver's willingness to take you to the Original Baba mandir - Our driver Baichung Bhutia was a very enterprising guy and made sure he pulled the right strings to go there. I would request anyone to check with the driver before the drive itself whether he can take you to Tukla . Nathula pass is also open , however we need a permit 2 days in advance - with our tour guide not telling us about this, we missed an opportunity to go to Nathula.
Serendipity once again - it being a sunday, an army regiment had sponsored for lunch("Prasad") for everyone visiting the original baba mandir ! I got to shake hands with the soldiers and lieutenants and have the most delicious food in the entire trip at an altitude of 14000 ft - simply unforgettable.I also met an army engineer who hailed from a town close to my native place and we talked in my mother tongue. life never ceases to surprise.
Our driver had promised that he will make sure that we will get to play with the snow and surely there was a small stack of snow on the roadside. we made sure our feets felt the snow and threw snow at each other - good fun.
The ride back was as pleasant as the ride forward - this time around i could get a picture of a mountain which was fully covered with snow.
Just a while after we passed the Changu lake, it started raining - reminding us how lucky we had been that day, given that it was just about the start of Monsoon. It rained heavily after that and the visibility was extremely poor on the drive back. Baichung, our driver drove very well, pacifying the anxious passengers and we reached our hotel safe and sound.
Hotel view of Gangtok at night :
Had a very good night sleep and the next day morning, we set off from the hotel at 7:30 am itself to be able to catch the Bagdogra-Calcutta flight at 4 pm . It was indeed a wise decision to leave early because we faced numerous traffic jams and reached just 30 minutes before the scheduled departure. The small airplane flight to Calcutta was nice and at least this time we were transferred directly from one flight to other at Calcutta Airport.We reached Bangalore at 12:30 am with a Hyderabad stop-over - All of us extremely exhausted but extremely satisfied.
All in all , a memorable trip . Few points to note - Makemytrip surely seems to operate on wafer thin margins given that i paid only 23K/- per head for the entire trip. So , do not expect a great service from them - the local managers are not very prompt and you are better off not trying to call makemytrip, since you will never get any help from them. You need to be very patient, diplomatic and make sure you study/plan for what you really want to see when you get there. Please don't expect the standard itinerary at the place of interest to include good places - So , first get there and pay a little more to go to good surrounding places.
I also felt Darjeeling can possibly be bypassed and you can directly go to Sikkim, especially if you are in for the Himalayas - So , If you have money and willingness to spend time planning before the trip, then book everything yourself. I would also really recommend visiting Lachung (to the stunning Yumthang or Guadongmar lake) and visiting the North Sikkim OR go to west sikkim (Pelling) and trek. But remember that Lachung requires you to stay 1 or more nights at Lachung itself - So plan well for that .
Camera - make sure you take a good one alongwith , since there are tremendous scenic opportunities which we don't get in our cities. I had just purchased a Canon G11 a week before in anticipation of this trip and i already got more than my money's worth.
Also , i was told the best time is February end to March end, if you want snow and flowers together . September is also good. April beginning is best if you have kids alongwith, since their exams would have been over . May was risky , but i guess i "made most of my trip" - Perhaps because i find even the smallest things amusing ? Well , it's for others to judge....
