Darjeeling - 2019

Tinchuley made me travel to Darjeeling again.  Ever since my Sandakphu visit, in which I could not visit Tinchuley, I was hoping to visit this place. 15 Aug provided an opportunity with its long weekend and I took it.  Together with Kanishka, Aarti and Babu. 15 Aug, was also Rakhi. Wasting a day for rakhi seemed too much, so we decided to celebrate it on the way.


Day 1 -
Our flight to Bagdogra was at 6 am. Due to 15 Aug, there are extra security layers and hence we got an SMS saying  to be at the airport 240 mins (4hrs) before the departure. Which meant reaching at 2 am which meant leaving home at 12:30 am, which meant no sleep. To our surprise, there was no queues at the airport and the security was also very organized. We were done with all our checks by 3 am.  We had a meal at KFC at 3 am and then wandered around the airport to rest.

After landing at Bagdogra, we waited for an hr for Babu to arrive from Hyderabad. Once all four were here, we had the Rakhi ceremony at the airport in full view of all travelers and locals.

We had Mr. Rabi,  a polite and calm person as our driver. We crossed Naxalbari and lush green scenery on our way. Our first stop was Mirik lake.  Mirik lake was full of travelers, most likely because of 15 Aug, a lot of locals had come to celebrate their holiday. We went to the other side of the lake and walked 15 mins to get to the bridge. The walk was good, it had started to drizzle lightly.
We were famished and decided to have our lunch at a local dhaba kind  of restaurant. We had momos, egg chowmien and veg chowmein. They were very tasty.

From Mirik, we headed to Pashupati market which is on the Nepal side. This brief detour turned this to an international vacation. It is very easy for Indians to visit Nepal, and that too for shopping. Earlier, Pashupati market used to have a significant value as it was a way for Chinese goods to enter India but now because of sea routes, it has become obsolete for that usecase. Yet, it is a historic place. Market itself was clean and tidy but shops were okayish

From the market, we headed to our homestay - Heyagriva  . Here is my review of Heyagriva via airbnb

Very cozy setup and a delightful host makes Heyagriva a no brainer place to stay in Darjeeling. Watch out as there is no parking outside here and accessibility is a challenge in general in Darjeeling. Heyagriva stands out as it has a very beautiful temple inside the place to stay, fully covered in carpets gives it a very cozy feeling and a view from the terrace balcony makes it a stand out. Paulzor and his newly wedded wife are great hosts and make you very welcome! Paulzor also helped us with local maps and arranging local rice wine which further boosted our spirits ;)

After quickly freshening up, we decided to walk to Mall road, 1.2 kms away. Mall road is this busy commercial place for shopping and hanging out. We went to Glenarys and picked up some cakes and bakes along with coffee day coffee, it is everywhere. Kanishka and co did some more shopping. After coming back, we were treated to this big sumptuous dinner consisting of three veggies and rice wine. The rice wine was very tangy, I just tried a few sips and we returned the full bottle back.

Day 2
It had rained quite frequently on Day 1, so we dropped our 4 am plan to go to Tiger hill to see sunrise as it would be all cloudy. Not to mention that we were really tired. We still woke up at 5 am to see sunrise. It was still some time to see for the sun to come up and I was super tired, so I went back to sleep. Others, still persisted. After having a quick breakfast, we left at 9:15 am.

First stop was the Ghum monastery, almost 100+ years old now. Access was via small lanes but inside, it was devoid of any other tourists. We roamed around, clicked few snaps and moved on.

Next stop was Batasia loop. Batasia loop is an interesting point that it features in the scenic places to visit in Darjeeling but actually it is nothing but a small garden. What makes it interesting is that it was created for a the toy train to take a turn via a loop which was an engineering marvel in those days. It costed a fraction and was very ingenuous at its time. That engineering marvel has made it a point to see. We were lucky as while we were visiting the loop, soon a toy train came, that too a steam engine one and we were able to click some snaps. Otherwise, the toy train ticket is INR 1500 per person.

From Batasia loop, we headed to the Zoo. Darjeeling Zoo is famous for Red Panda, an endangered species. This zoo also had couple of big bears, a Royal Bengal tiger, black leopard and many more animals. It was very clean and animals were given reasonably decent space, not just cages . It rained heavily while we were there and so few animals moved in to their sheds.  We had lunch at the local canteen. We were hungry so the hot food looked awesomely delicious.

Next to the zoo is the Mountaineering institute with museum dedicated to Tenzing Norgay. Mueseum was pretty good with lots of information on the peaks, people who had been on top and gear as well. Edmund Hillary was a New Zealander who went on top and Tenzing's story is very inspiring too.

Post our visits, we did some local shopping and headed to Tibetan refugee centre. This camp had two photographic exhibitions detailing the history of Dalai Lama, Tibet and Chinese aggression. Their story is a story of struggle which ends in a very sad note. It is still going on but it seems like people are getting used to this new world they are living in.

Before leaving Darjeeling we spent 30 mins in Mall road where we had local Pani puri, bhutta and ice creams. My other three companions were all busy with shopping.  The road to Tin Chulhey was very dark and full of mist. Mr. Rabi navigated quite well. At Teen Chulhey, we were quickly taken to our rooms followed by a very lavish dinner.


Day 3

We started Day 3 by going for a morning walk to Sunrise view point which had no views as it was full of mist. We also passed the local monastery along the way. Breakfast was luchi and alu sabji along with a tamarind chutney which was very delicious. With stomach full, we decided to walk to the Lamahatta park, some 5 kms away, but the locals mentioned to take the forest as it would be more "interesting". Forest walking distance is around 3 kms and it was supposed to take about 2 hrs as the trail is slippery and has a lot of leeches for this season. To prepare us for the trip, we were given salt and bamboo sticks.

On the trail, we were quickly in thick jungle and surrounded by leeches. It was meant to be a straight trail but because of rains, the trail was not clear in many places. Also, there was grass on the trail leading others question whether we are on the right way or not. Throughout the trip, there were calls to "lets go back", "this does not look right" and, " leeches are entering my shoes". Indeed, leeches were entering but as people stopped to fix it, more would come. They had to get over the initial phase of accepting it. It took some time. Forest was very beautiful. Green. Like after a good rain.

We reached Lamahatta village in 100 mins. We went to the Lamahatta park and sat under a shed to remove all the leeches. Local tourists to the park had one more amusement thing to watch. Out legs were bloodied. No pain but not a pleasant sight.

After cleaning up, we went to the local restaurant and had Chaang - a millet based beer. This beer is served with hot water instead of a chilled one.

With such interesting first half, we went back to homestay, had lunch and slept. Evening was spent in just relaxing. Mr. Rabi's brother was playing guitar in the evening, playing Nepali songs. Later it got morphed into few Bengali/Hindi songs but not that great.

Day 4
The only agenda for day 4 was to pack and leave early. We were ready and on time. Our breakfast was Chole Bhature which we had with no regrets.  Lunch was at the Bagdogra airport.