In all these years of Travel, somehow never got a chance to go East. When we were young in the 90s the popular Tourist destinations were all in the North and then Goa. By early 2000s Kerala woke up to the Tourist boom and then became a popular destination too. But Northeast is picking up in the last 5 years. So this summer of 2022, we planned our first visit to West Bengal.
Also what you absorb at each age as you travel is very different. This trip came when I was at the fag end of exhaustion. I was too exhausted even to pack or get in the mood of Travel. Being the first Summer season of private practice there was lot of pressures with everyday Surgeries and OPD management. Luckily with my Partner who takes care of packing, travel planning and all I usually have to chill and enjoy the trip.
Our Flight from Hyderabad was delayed and so whenever travelling to the Northeast in Rains, keep in mind the delays because many places like Sikkim have a long travel from the Bagdogra Airport and they do not drive on the hills post 5pm. So keep a Plan B ready for the night stay at Bagdogra if you are reaching late. Luckily for us, Darjeeling is around 3 hours from Bagdogra and the travel up was uneventful except Amey's Severe Motion sickness.
The first breath of the thin cool air itself cleansed away all the fatigue and freshened the mind for a good family adventure. We stopped on the way in a small cafe and were surprised by the spick and clean toilets. This was our experience throughout that everywhere in Darjeeling and surrounding the public toilets were kept very clean, a pleasant experience for travellers in India.
We reached the hotel and had a meal right away and were ready for bed.
The next day we ventured out after breakfast. The first Climb up on the slopy roads of Darjeeling is tough, but then in half a day we became used to the up and down streets and the narrow roads and the art of walking against the upcoming cars. With both the boys not making much fuss about the walking we reached the famous Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoo.
This is India's Highest Zoo where the Animals are kept in the open unlike behind cages. Some animals seen here are like Snow Leopard, huge Bears, Lemurs, Himalayan Blue Sheep, Barking Deer and big Tahrs (look like a combo between a deer and a huge cow, they climb on the mountains carrying their own 500kg weight too!) There are lots of Birds too like Parakeets, Macaws (very colourful ones) and Phesants. The entire place looks spacious and clean. From there we went to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. The tickets to the Zoo includes tickets to this institute and also Natural History Museum.
The Mountaineering Institute has some adventure sports which all can participate in. Ziplining, rope walking and indoor mountain climbing or wall climbing. They celebrate the history of Himalayan Climbs vividly in The museum. Tenzing Norgay, a Nepali who was the first with Sir Edmund Hilary to climb the Everest is celebrated in this region. He gave a lot to India and also taught at this Mountaineering institute. The clothes they wore, the gear they too and an entire model of Himalayan Ranges from Karkhoram in the North, to Mansarovar in China and then the Nepali ranges of Annapurna and Mt. Everest and ending with our Kanchejunga which is seen from Darjeeling is beautifully described and celebrated.
Due to exhaustion we skipped the Natural History museum. We faced something like jet lag on our first day in Darjeeling with the temperature change from 40 degrees in Hyderabad to 18 degrees in Darjeeling. The street food is amazing in Darjeeling with tiny, beautiful cafes selling Maggi, Noodles, Manchurain, Momos and Chocolate Milk.
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| Meri Wali Maggi |
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| My husband called this Hongkong Style Street Food |
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| Momos everywhere |
We stayed at Sinclairs Darjeeling which is a 3 star property. It is a good basic hotel with very courteous staff. The food was very good and they would cater to our pallet and suggest local specials too. With a library and Play Area they had enough to keep all busy. Savoring Freshly made Darjeeling Tea every time when we are in the room was our favorite memory. The walk to the Hotel was tough with an arduous steep slope, but we got used to that in a day too. We had a Kanchenjunga facing suite but due to dense fog it was impossible to get a darshan of the mighty mountains.
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| In the Steam Engine Train |
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The Darjeeling-Ghum-Darjeeling is a 2 hour train ride to and from with halt at the Batasia Memorial Loop and Ghum Museum included. Darjeeling Himalayan Railways is the oldest Mountain Railway in the country. Still functioning Steam Engines give the authentic old era feel. The rail route runs parallel to the road which brings you to Darjeeling and so most of the way you see traffic running by and direct peak into shops on the way. Most of the shops in Darjeeling are tiny little 6 by 6 feet some of them are right on the railway track and you feel you can almost snatch a banana from the shop! Ghum station is the highest railway station in India and they have a wonderful small museum there which depicts how the railways were built then in the 19th century. It makes you wonder if now transport is so tough, there it would have been so tough for the British Designers to stay and design and the sweat and blood of so many Indians would have made this possible!
Batasia Loop has a war memorial for all the Gorkha soldiers who lay down their life for the country. I felt a tinge of sadness there, as I was not aware of any one of these names, and so many young boys were killed in various missions named there. As a Bollywood version of the Army we feel there are only Sardars and never see Gurkhas in this Avatar on screen. There is a beautiful garden around and you are supposed to be able to see the mighty Himalayas from there, which we missed due to the weather. But this apart Batasia loop is an "Engineering Feat" From the highest station in Ghoom to the Way to Darjeeling there is steep fall in height of 140ft. If they had built a slant down it would have been impossible for this small trains to withstand the velocity and risk a fall. To over come this they planned a Loop around itself where the train in slow declivity or ascent loops through and and rejoins the same track through a tunnel.
Batasia Loop: notice the height difference
Old Picture of the Batasia Loop 
Our Foggy View
We walked around to few temples there and one such temple was Mahakal temple. Really felt it is ancient since many Kaals. One of the first temples where I saw, krishna, ShriRam, Ganesh ji, Hanuman ji, Shiv ji and Gautam Buddha all worshipped in the same space. It is serene, peaceful and the multiple bells there make the experience even more serene!
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| The temple Flags |
Walking to the temple is a large city square where we managed to see a very old Bookstore.
The kids bought Postcards and wrote to each set of Grandparents. We made them post that by going to the Darjeeling Post Office, simple pleasures long forgotten by us in the hustle bustle of busy city life and WhatsApp!
The shopping is fun in Darjeeling too. Woolens, pants, Tibetan Jewellery and quaint looking tea pots and Darjeeling Tea
were my buys! In case you havent got woolens to this place, worry not as you will find lots in the mini markets.
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| Tea Shops |
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| The Mall Roads |
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| Savouring Icecreams at Keventer's |
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| Glenary's |
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| Roof top at Glenary's |
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| Imagine a working space like this |
If you or your friends can tolerate Hot Chillies, make sure to buy Dalley Chillies ready available in road side shops or buy Dalley Chilli sauce. We found it available at many places but also saw it for sale in Keventer's.
Another thing I noticed is that the local public is very hard working. You still see people bearing very heavy luggage on their heads and carrying luggage, gas cylinders or daily things for their shops. Lack of transport or rather Lack of roads for transport is very evident. Even on a very heavy rainy day all small kids with their cute raincoats and umbrellas walk to their schools and mother and child on their way to and from the schools or day cares is a common site. Another thing to notice is we saw a lot of old people in workplaces. At Restaurants, in shops or also the Library. They would easily be in their 60s but are fit and keep doing their work! The peace and joy on their face was evident too. The Mountain life surely makes them hardy and happy:)
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| Heavy Luggage on the Back |
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| Old and Happy People in Workplaces |
Some things I wish would change! The waste disposal was horrible. Every Hotel had made their own pile of waste and so much waste was seen lying on the streets. When asked the localite told that most of these hotels are owned by people outside Darjeeling who make no efforts to clean up or arrange for waste pickup. But I think as Individuals also people just threw plastic everywhere, maggi wrappers, chips packets and cold drink cans were seen thrown everywhere along the roads.
Second is the awfully narrow roads. This is the first place where the receptionist particularly told us "It is 20 minutes by walk and 5 minutes by car but in this traffic it will take 2 hours by car, so better walk" We agreed with this and did not take the car anywhere in Darjeeling. We had nothing to complain as walking through beautiful cafes, old buildings, clock tower and tea gardens was a joy.
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| Chalte Chalte |
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| Benches kept on all roads |
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| Clock Tower |
But someone who has difficulty in walking or isn't well will definitely have to stay put in the room. There has to be some expansion of road for the same.
Overall it was an amazing trip and now we feel the boys are ready for more trips where they can walk around and develop an appetite for Local Food. Waiting to explore Sikkim on the next travels!
