Darjeeling is a pride of Indian Hill stations. As a Chennaite one has to travel about 2 to 2 and half days by train up to New Jalpaiguri from where you have to hire a share taxi or independent vehicle to proceed to Darjeeling which takes about 3 and half hour. Presently the share taxi rate is Rs.120/- per head and individual taxi hire charges are Rs.1200/-. One can also choose the famous Toy train which starts from New Jalpaiguri station at about 9.20 am and reaches Darjeeling by 3.30 or 4.00 p.m. But it will be a pleasure to travel in the Toy train as one can enjoy the sceneries which will not make one tired. However I would advise that it is better notwithstanding the time take by the Toy train that one should avail the Toy train facility. Even if one goes by the hire taxi he will be reaching Darjeeling around 1.30 or 2 p.m. and it will take sufficient to settled down in a Hotel as you have to walk to certain Hotels with your luggage as approach to certain roads are blocked due to traffic congestion. After settling down you may not find time to see any place as certain places are closed by 5 p.m. and there are no places which can be covered which are near Darjeeling town. Hence instead of wasting one day one can enjoy the ride by Toy train. One can fly up to Bagdogra airport which is the nearest airport to Darjeeling. From here also one has to hire a taxi which takes about 3 and half hours of journey. The airport is about 10 kms from Siliguri town which is a few KMs from New Jalpaiguri. As we had some work in Kolkatta we flew into Kolkatta and then proceeded from Howrah by train to New Jalpiaguri and then to Darjeeling. There are umpteen number of trains emanating from Kolkatta to New Jalpaiguri. But one has to be careful to know that the trains to New Jalpaiguri starts from the old platform. One has to ascertain the platform no. from the coolies rather than from the enquiry as the coolies are more cordial and co-operative. If you happen to proceed to some other platform it will be very difficult and one has to walk a long way to arrive at the right platform which will be consuming lot of time in the bustle of people and carts etc. The train journey takes 12 hours from Howrah to New Jalpaiguri. It is advisable that one takes a train that starts around 5.30 pm and reaches by 5.50 am the next day which enable one to finish his morning cores in the waiting room in New Jalpaiguri and either catch the Toy train which is a little away in another platform which is a narrow gauge train or proceed to Darjeeling by taxi. If you are hiring a share taxi the taxiwala must get enough number of passengers until which you are put in waiting. As we had been there in’off season’ we had to wait for about an hour to muster enough number of passengers for the share taxi. The ride to Darjeeling is absolutely enjoyable. Up to Sukha the toy train rail will run along the road and then it disappears in the mountain and after one hour of our journey the track will reappear and runthrough with us upto Darjeeling criss crossing the road several times. One may also combine a visit to Gangtok. Gangtok is about 3 and half hours journey either from New Jalpiaguri( if your proceeding straight to Gangtok) by taxi and equal times is taken from Darjeeling if one is proceeding from Darjeeling. One must make a programme of about a week to cover both places. It will be economical and time saving if visits to Gangtok and Darjeeling are combined. Lots of local sight seeing places are there in Darjeeling.If you engage a tourist taxi the programme is as under.
Day one - Starts by 4. 00am - Tiger Hills where you can see the sun rise provided the weather is not inclement, Kanchanjanga peak and also the Himalayan peak. Details will be written separately. Enroute you are taken to the Batista loop an engineering marvel of the railways of yesteryears where the main song of Aradhana’mere spano ki ranee’ was shot. Now the place has been covered and made a war memorial. Then you are dropped back for break fast. After break fast you are taken to what they call the’mixed points’ ie. various places. Darjeeling museum, Himalayan mountaineering institute, Padmaja Naidu zoological park - a must place -, Tenzing rock where Tenzing practised climbing after which he attempted the Everest peak, Art gallery, Tea Garden, Japanese Pagoda and some monastery.Day two - Pasupathi nagar, Nepal where one can purchase cosmetics, bags at a relative cheaper price but not electronic items which are not good and certain computer accessories if purchased can corrupt your computer and hence beware. Jhor phokri a picturesque park. Mirik lake.Day three - You can go around the market in Darjeeling for purchase of tea or other material. But it is advisable to purchase tea only tea garden where the price is a little cheap and also you can have different varieties. The Gorkaland agitation is getting stronger and stronger and before our visit there was indefinite bundh which was called off and’Chako rastha’ - road rokho was in vogue from 11 am to 1 pm during which time we will be dropped in a place which will take about 2 and half hours to cover. One has to plan his visit taking into account the Gorkhaland agitation activity. The climate was very good. It was sometime drizzling, foggy and misty too. Overall it was an enjoyable visit. Shall write reviews on individual places of interest separately.