We drove from Gangtok to Darjeeling via Rangpo which is at a distance of 100 odd kms. Teesta river is the natural border between Sikkim and West Bengal. Once we crossed Teesta we were in West Bengal. We drove along Teesta till we crossed it again to enter Darjeeling district. On the way lies Peshok which has a Tea Garden and we were glad to see manicured tea gardens on the hill slopes. Then we reached Ghum which a town higher in altitude than Darjeeling. After that there is continuous settlements along the road, shops, houses, hotels and then toy train railway line. The place seemed settled over a long period of time with funsion of old & new and now bursting at seams.
We reached Darjeeling and I was thrilled to see the B-class steam engines of Darjeeling Hill Railway at the station. Our hotel Pink Mountain was up on Gandhi road not very far from The Mall. Both sides of the roads was choc-o-bloc with buildings, congested and crowded on the street. The place seemed overrun by growth. Having been to Shimla for quite some time comparisons emerged in my mind. However, Shimla being state capital is probably more spread out and more population. Darjeeling is smaller but denser hill station.
 |
| One such school more than 100 years old |
After checkin I immediately went to Darjeeling station which had a shortcut from hotel but on a steep alley. After enquiry we figured that Steam hauled tourist train is available for next day evening which I booked right away lest that goes full. I had to fill the Railway reservation form after several years to reserved the seats. The tourist train does up & down upto Ghum with halt at Batasia loop & at Ghum. After that I just strolled around the station trying to bring out nuggets from old era. The station had good upkeep being a UNESCO World heritage site. It has one main platform, a loop line, a turn table. A little beyond the station is parked one carriage and a flat bed wagon which marks the dead end. Across the road is shed for engine maintenance. On request, the staff allowed me to explore the shed and take pictures to my heart's content. After being there, I happened to watch a few movies based in Darjeeling area and found that the station looked almost as it was 50 years back except crowded around.
 |
| Station from inside |
 |
| DHR Route map |
 |
| DHR Loco shed |
 |
| Darjeeling station |
 |
| Loco resting at shed |
 |
| Locos inside shed |
 |
| Another view of the shed |
 |
| Other side of Darjeeling station |
 |
| Information on Joyride |
After lunch and rest we decided to go to Happy Valley which is a little further from main Darjeeling on Lebong Cart Road. It is the the only tea estates within Darjeeling town. We came onto road and caught a taxi which took us down all the way to the factory of the tea estate. We had called their office who run guided tour. Even though were a little late than 4PM last tour but still they welcomed us and took us on a tour of the factory. The woman on duty explained the entire processing contrasting between earlier using wooden tools and hand power versus now mechanised. It was fascinating to look at the insides of the factory and imagine workers working there. After that we tasted different teas - Black, Green and Speciality. After tea tasting and buying some tea from them which was bit expensive considering that most of their produce is exported and not available for sale except this place. After that they let us go into their tea garden. It was getting a little foggy, cloudy and dark but still we went berserk and tried to capture as much as we can in our eyes, lungs and in camera. We soon had to leave to make sure we come back to Darjeeling on time.
 |
| Happy Valley factory |
 |
| Gorgeous tea plants on slope |
 |
| Hues of green |
 |
| Happy Valley tea estate |
Now the problem was climbing all the way to the main road and then catching a taxi. Thankfully, we reached the top just when it started raining. We caught a taxi which dropped us at the Taxi stand. We waited for rain to abate but while doing so had momos and tea at a makeshift stall. While it was still drizzling, we went up via internal road and entered Mall market which is a covered market of makeshift stalls selling warm clothes and other trinkets. We came to Mall road when rain abated but dense fog took over. The Darjeeling Mall or Chowrasta is a small open place on the top of hill with shops on two sides and seating steps on one and a statue. But in the fog and rainy atmosphere we could hardly make out much and on top of that there was paving work going on with material all strewn around. A set of shops on one side were straight from British era, wooden building with triangular facade painted with white on green bold painted names. We entered the Oxford Book and Stationery Co. which has Books on Darjeeling, Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal and The Himalayas put on as a notice. I bought a book on Sikkim by Andrew Duff, a book on history of TEA and Journey to Lhasa apart from a newsletter on Gorkhaland. Darjeeling is in news sometimes due to violent protests. Due to large percentage of Gorkha population which has settled here over a long time, they are struggling to form an independent state of Gorkhaland. The struggle was started by Subhash Ghising in 1980's. Later some autonomy was granted to this region to pacify them including the right to proudly write Gorkhaland on the shops to show their preference. We walked back to our hotel after taking drinking a hot coffee at Cafe Coffee Day. Our room was on third floor with a decent view of Darjeeling town. We spent our late evening watching the lights of Darjeeling town.
 |
| Oxford book shop |
 |
| Shops around Mall market |
 |
| Alleys lined with food stalls |
Next day we woke up really early like 4AM to go to Tiger Hill which is famous for sunrise view of Kanchenjunga range. This ritual is standard for any tourist who visits Darjeeling which was quite visible considering the crowd on the way and at the venue. We reached a little before sunrise and perched ourselves on a vantage point. At around 5AM the show started with light orange glow on the hazy horizon and then it started. The initial ways fell on the top of mountain and slowly lit the entire range. There were clouds and haze on the horizon due to which it wasn't the best view but still it was an OK experience. There were telescopes for rent and tea/coffee to sale by locals. After the sun came well above it was time to head back but we had to spend around 30 minutes in traffic jam. Thankfully, the traffic here was disciplined. We then came to Ghum monastery where all the crowd from Tiger hill descended. There was a instant market of woollens which came up outside monastery which we were told gets over by 8AM when all the tourists depart from here. We were back in hotel by 8AM.
 |
| Peace Pagoda |
 |
| Reclining Buddha |
While coming into Darjeeling town, I finally got a chance to witness the passing of toy train hauled by steam engine. It was music to ears hearing the puffing of engine with synchronised exhaust. We then went to Darjeeling Rangeet Valley ropeway. Our driver warned us that it could take time but we were determined yet skeptical whether we will spend too much time waiting. With lot of patience and watching nervously of any priority or mischievous folks getting into the way, we finally got our chance after an hour and half. The gondolas coming up were empty and only 6 in operation at a time which was slow process. However, the gondolas like other ropeway which we encountered in Namchi had sliding window and one could see naked eye view not through the glass, also the cool breeze.
 |
| Ropeway |
 |
| Gondola |
The ropeway descends into Rangeet Valley passing over tea gardens. It is a 20 minutes ride getting down at what else, a tea garden. During the ride one can view the expansive of tea garden from above like inspection. It truly felt like that when one could see workers working in the field. The valley looked like a carpet of green on undulating mountains. No words to describe the experience just that it gets over pretty soon.
 |
| Village down below |
 |
| gondola coming up |
 |
| Tea leaves plucked from plant |
 |
| Carpet of green |
 |
| Window with a view |
 |
| Tea garden workers |
We hired a local guide for 100 Rs who told a little about place, explained a little about tea plucking and told us to whom does the tea garden belongs. We could just see miles and miles of tea. Some tea was being plucked as well. The lives of people in tea garden is quite different. We are told that they are given some day's effort, ration and place to build their house. The tea gardens have been backdrop of many Bollywood movies which depict them as hardworking people. but alcoholism, violence and backwardness remains a problem with these people. After sometime we rode back to the top trying to take in as much as we can.
On getting out we quickly had our lunch again momos and were happy to do this ropeway stint. From here, we went to Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park & Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. Being an avid trekker who has ventured into Himalayas, I was interested to visit HMI. This is the institute setup for mountaineering which had Tenzing Norgay as the director for some time. It was fascinating to go through all the exhibits and exploits of HMI. Having done Annapurna Base Camp last year trekking above 4000 mtrs battling the cold and hearing stories of mountain climbs, was looking at the stuff curiously. Family visited the park which was very good with leopard, sloth bears and a Royal Bengal tiger who was perturbed at the moment walking the entire length of his enclosure and roaring to gather a crowd. The Darjeeling Zoo is well-maintained similar to Gangtok with animals in enclosures, neat & clean surroundings and decent crowd.
 |
| Himalayan Mountaineering Institute |
 |
| Sloth bears at Zoo |
 |
| Tenzing statue at HMI |
 |
| Zoo & HMI |
From here we went to Shrubbery park which was a manicured garden with benches, fountains and all. Our guide told that sometimes there are evening shows are kept here and in adjacent bungalow stays the chief minister Mamta Banerjee whenever she visits Darjeeling.
 |
| Shrubbery Park |
 |
| Shrubbery park |
After this it was time for our Joy ride on Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (DHR). We reached well before time. This Joy ride is a 2 hour ride from Darjeeling to Ghum and back with a photo-op at Batasia loop. DHR is well-known to most Indians due to it being part of many movie settings. The songs like Mere Sapnon ki Rani (Film: Aradhana) were shot around this train. DHR is one of its kind of railway in the world and duly accorded UNESCO World Heritage award which has ensured its continuity. The railway was opened in 1881 to cater to growing town frequented by Britishers and Indian elites. One would travel by road from Calcutta to Jalpaiguri and from there get on this train to reach Darjeeling which was like an annual pilgrimage to escape summer heat. DHR is a 2ft gauge, the narrowest gauge in the world to make sharp turns around hills possible. Special engines called B class locomotives were made for this line which look like a little toy. The rolling stock or coaches are equally diminutive to earn the moniker of Toy train. DHR is diminutive than Kalka-Shimla line which is 2ft6in gauge which makes the train there bigger. The journey from Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling takes almost 7 hours 15 mins which could be snail's pace for our fast paced life. One can cover this in 3 hours by road. Due to this, there is only one service both ways which goes all the way. There are shorter services upto intermediate stations Kurseong which also has headquarters on DHR.
DHR has been innovative who realized that tourists wish to enojoy the train but not all the way, so they devised this Joyride upto Ghum. The distance is just 8 kms. Ghum is a little higher than Darjeeling which makes is highest train station in India, even higher than Shimla. Our train was on platform for 4PM departure. The steam engine was attached and the staff was busy oiling the engine and its parts. These engines are difficult to maintain due to their age and require frequent maintenance. I got busy enjoying the engine, taking in the aroma of coal smoke mixed with steam. The engine requires a water stop in between as the tanks are small. A small cache of coal was on footplate and one could make out the fire burning in the belly through small boiler opening. I have experienced larger steam run engines in Rewari steam shed which is home to all preserved steam engine and quite fascinated by them.
 |
| Leaving the station |
 |
| Coal smoke |
 |
| Footplate |
At 4PM the train started pulling in put myself on my window seat thankfully near the door trying to capture the curving train and engine. The train alongside the road mostly. The train passes so close to shops that one can literally pick stuff up from shop. It seems both train staff and shops or houses and people around know the protocol to make way for train whenever is comes and there doesn't seem to any anxiety. Slowly we trudged our way to Batasia loop where train takes a full round to ascend/descend the gradient. The round has been a park and now hosts Gorkha memorial in memory of Gorkha warriors and now a manicure park. The park also has some great view of Kanchenjunga range when sky is clear. The park, train and Kanchenjunga range beyond is the quintessential Darjeeling photograph and popular. We got down here and I tried to as much pic as possible.
 |
| On the way to Ghum |
 |
| Curving train |
 |
| Water stop |
 |
| Shrounded in steam |
 |
| At Batasia loop |
 |
| Gorkha memorial |
After this we arrived at Ghum where 20 minutes are given to explore the station and a small DHR museum upstairs. The museum had good exhibits. I explored the station along with son trying to take in as much as of the atmosphere. The engine reversed and attached in the front for reverse journey. The sun was now setting putting great orange light for photography. The return journey was also great and we arrived back at 6PM. One item from the bucket list struck off. However, I resolved to come back once again hopefully this time to take the train all the way from Jalpaiguri and also visiting DHR headquarters at Kurseong. With heavy heart I said goodbye to DHR and we came back to hotel.
 |
| At Ghum station |
 |
| DHR Museum |
 |
| Ghum station |
 |
| Engine resting at Ghum station |
Next day was our tour to Mirik which is a nearby town around 45km away. We drove via Ghum towards Nepal border. We stopped at border crossing over to Nepal to visit Pashupatinagar. The arrangement is quite casual. There were a small office with Immigrations folks who just saw our Aadhar card, noted them down and let us through. Our driver had given a chit we had to show to taxi at the other end which would take us inside a distance of a km only. We didn't have to pay anything to the taxi as the arrangement is settled later. The town was ordinary with a temple. Surprisingly, there were many shops selling elaborate high-end cosmetics which we came to know were cheaper than India. We just visited a temple, strolled through the market, didn't buy anything and were back in half an hour.
 |
| Pashupati Nagar, Nepal |
The scenery all around was great but due to a bit cloudy, it wasn't clear till far. In between, the undulating hills with tea plantations were spectacular. We stopped at Golpahar (round hill) viewpoint to venture into Gopaldhara tea estate which belonged to Goodricke group. The round hills with uniform tea plants and line of tall trees was a sight to behold. We tried to take in as much as we can venturing into the shrubs. The tea stall at the viewpoint sells freshly brewed tea which was great for this setting. There are homestay available here for tourists to stay in salubrious climes. The tea gardens, estates, lifestyle of people too have been backdrop of some hindi movies in the 70's including
Barsaat ki Ek Raat.
 |
| Gopaldhara tea estate |
 |
| Gopaldhara tea estate |
 |
| Goodricke tea comes from here |
 |
| how gorgeous can it get? |
 |
| manicured tea garden |
From here we went straight to Sumendu Lake at Mirik. The lake was serene and big. There is walkway along the lake with tall trees to provide shade. There is a bridge in between which crosses the lake. There were horserides available which we had. One could do a picnic at the sidelines. We just hung around for some time. There were no decent hotels around the lake but found one home eatery which had decent food.
 |
| Bridge over Mirik lake |
 |
| overlooking at Mirik town |
 |
| Around Mirik lake |
After that it was ride back to Darjeeling. It was wet and rainy when we reached back. This was our last day of Darjeeling and the trip, so I decided not to waste evening sitting at hotel. I ventured out to buy Tea to be carry back and gift. Darjeeling is famous for its Black tea and there are vendors like Golden Tips and Nathmulls. There are different varieties depending on when the tea is plucked in the season. There is "first flush" which means the first pick of the season and so on. I just picked up some intermediate flushes from Golden Tips and Nathmull. Even though is stopped raining but there was thick mist and fog in the air which would have made things eerie but thanks to lights, it was enjoyable. The makeshift stalls were out selling momos, chowmein and other stuff. Had sumptuous food and packed some for the folks back. Darjeeling became my one of the favorite towns and I resolved to come back again.
 |
| Walkways around Mall road |
 |
| Shrouded in Fog |
The evening was spent reminiscing the entire trip and looking forward to travel back home. Next morning it was drive back to Bagdogra airport. The drive took us via more tea garden views. There were tea gardens around Bagdogra and would need a leisurely exploration. We reached Bagdogra airport which was packed with passengers. We went back the same way via Delhi to Pune.
No comments:
Post a Comment