Darjeeling

The journey to Darjeeling can be a bit tiring stuff if u are traveling from other parts of India. first of all very few people know that Darjeeling in situated in West Bengal. thankfully my geography is good and it helps you when u travel such a distance.

I had never been to the eastern part of India and I am talking here of Kolkatta and not North East. I took the early morning Air Deccan flight to Kolkatta from Bombay and I had my evening Darjeeling mail for Darjeeling from Sealdah station .it was only my curiosity to see Kolkatta did I first travel to Kolkatta or else I would suggest fly directly to Bagdora which is the nearest airport to Darjeeling

Well there is nothing much to write about Kolkatta city but thats another story,

Darjeeling mail reaches New Jaipalguri station early morning. and from there you can either take a toy train which takes 8 hours or share a cab which takes around 3.5 hours to reach Darjeeling.

I was thinking of trying the former but I only dawned to me after reaching NJP that there are not more than 3 or 4 bogie’s and very few seats available in the Toy train. But the Toy Train is undoubtlty one of the landmarks of Darjeeling . and it just keeping coming at you from all directions

The moment you reach Darjeeling you immediately fall in love with it. but you can be greeted by some Nepali touts that hang around trying to help you find hotels as they are agents and get paid by the hotels these guys can be very irritating and even aggressive at times so watch out for them.

There are many hotels in Darjeeling some are of average quality and others are expensive. I liked the hotels which are situated on the higher ground thats Gandhi Road as it is known. I would recommend Hotel Shanrigala though it falls on the expensive side but its worth if you are ready to pay for quality.

besides there are many other hotels around it more or less the same but Shangrila is the best

The hotels offer you sight seeing tours which are very expensive the costlier the hotel the costlier the tour. I would suggest you just go for a walk in the bazaar and talk to a few tour operators which are all over the place you will surely get a decent deal. but the Tour guides can be a bit irritating at times and ask you to move faster than you would like to. so u must deal with them

Darjeeling Zoo is a good place situated on the Top of hill its much cleaner and the animal en closers are big and well maintained than some Zoos of the bigger cities in India. you can see the rare mountain leopard which is only found in ladakh and also Red Panda which is the star attraction

The Japanese Temple was a revelation I had not heard about it and This a place u must not miss. There is the towering Buddha Pagoda like structure which is remarkable

But what I liked the best was the beating of the drums. there are several drums placed in the temple. there were 2 women priest playing the drums and singing holy rhymes. the visitors or the worshipers can just join the holy and start playing the drums that are kept there along with them. i must confess this was the best experience I have of the place. but strictly no cameras allowed here.

On the way you find many Lamas in their traditional robes going to the many monasteries that are situated there. Its amazing to see many young men devote their entire life as a monk

Rock Gardens is another good place to visit its actually a artificially created garden in Darjeeling. the water but nevertheless its a beautiful place where you can spend an entire day with your family . there is a natural waterfall and the stream runs through the park. I actually drank that stream water and I must tell you it tastes so sweet. there are artificial sounds of birds in the garden to give it an exotic feel.

The Tour to see the sun rise starts early morning at four but unfortunately when I was there the weather was not good enough to see the sunrise.it was raining and foggy almost throughout the day but i heard from the people its a wonderful spectacle. you can be lucky if you are there at the right time.

There are some wonderful breathtakingly beautiful Tea Gardens which for first timers is a great attraction.

Local people are good and friendly leaving some who are into tourist business.

Food=   the food is reasonable mostly vegetarian but there are some non-veg restaurants too . but being from Maharashtra I missed our Vada-Pav which I felt was ideal for the weather. among the non veg restaurants I liked the one which is near the main bazaar I don’t remember the name but its frequented by foreigners and not easy to miss.

Tourist= most of the tourist are gentle Bengali’s , foreigners and others from rest of India

Shopping = you can buy some good Darjeeling tea which are available in plenty. some good woolen clothes, leather jackets and shawls

Time to visit= best time to visit is nov- jan or April to mid June

Transport= well the nearest railway station is Newjalpiguri and Siliguri and if you are on the wealthier side than please take the aerial route and fly directly to bagdora which is the nearest airport because traveling back to forth to Kolkatta by Train can be a testing journey if you come from distance place

Conclusion= Darjeeling is one of the best Holiday destinations in India and esp if you are a Honey Moon couple you wont imagine a better place. so pack your bags good luck