If you wanna travel , plan less , travel more ...
It all started with a hectic Puja duty , and the frustration afterwards.At the afternoon of 12th Dipu, called me -" wanna go to Himalayas". Without a doubt in my mind I said "yes". He booked the ticket to NJP (New Jalpaiguri) for 14th and we almost booked a package for Temi, Ravangla, Sikkim. Then the disaster happened.We got the news of land sliding and the NJP-Gangtok route got blocked. But, the four of us (Me,Dipu,John, Souma) was already charged up. We hadn't cancelled our tickets.Fortunately, a colleague of Dipu , who's relative has a Travel agency, made a either way package, so that, we could chose between Temi or Darjeeling depending upon the road condition. Thank god ..
Departed on 14th as scheduled, by one of the most preferable train for going to NJP from Kolkata, Darjeeling Mail. We still were not sure about the destination. There were possibilities of coming back from NJP too.
We reached at about 8:30 in morning. We were surprised and happy to see the sunny weather. But when we came to know that the road to Gangtok is still jammed, we decided to off for Darjeeling with no hesitation and option as well.The ride from the NJP railway station to Darjeeling was smooth and relaxed. We took a halt at a Restaurant. Had some Momos , and it's not for the excitement, but those were one of the best Momos we ever have.
We reached at Darjeeling at about 2:00 in the afternoon. Checked in the Hotel and after having our lunch we were completely in Lyadhkhor (Lathergic) mode. And we saw this -
And at that very moment we became sure , this trip will gonna be a great one.We spent the afternoon in Mall , had the dinner. Enjoyed the night view of the Queen of the Hill for a while and got to sleep.
"You need to come out from your comfort zone, for your career, for you traveling as well" It was a lazy morning , I got up really late. We were about to go for sightseeing at about 2:00. So, I was just enjoying the fresh morning. And then we got the news. Dipu's friend , who was told to book the returned ticket, failed to do so. There were no train for return. We were about to return on the next day. Nobody's data network was working except mine. It might not been happened if we planned it and executed it ourselves. Regarding train, there was no other option except returning in unreserved coach. But there is no point of thinking on the matters you don't have your hand. There's nothing we could do until next day. So , we moved out for sightseeing. The roads were full of cars. Most of them are narrower than the city's one way road. We forced to skip few places for traffic. We should have started in the morning. Some places we missed - Singallila National Forrest ( Famous for rear Red Panda), Tenzing Rock (offers rock climbling).What we enjoyed -
And this princess ...
It was on the way to peace pagoda when we sort out a way of return when Souma informed about his Aunt's place in Malda. We planned to go to Malda by bus , and return back to home from there by train. That was the most comfortable way. Buddha's blessings.
We got back to home, enjoyed the evening at the Mall. And off to the bed early.
We got ready by 4:30 in the morning , as we were scheduled to watch the Sunrise from the Tiger Hill. But the driver got very angry. As per him , 3:30 would be the best time to depart. And while our journey to we realized why. There were hundreds of vehicles were going from there to the same destination. The roads were filled up with cars. As we were already late, the only way to got there before sunrise was fastening our seat-belts and allow the driver to drive as fast as possible. That exactly what we did. That was heck of a driving. Never forget that. But despite of the furious drive, we actually thanked the driver when we reached at Tiger Hill 5:25 am.
The sunrise was at 5:35 am. .. and
Frankly speaking, neither me or any of my friends got the best pic. We actually have failed to capture that moment.Observing the sun-rays falling upon the Kanchenjunga - that's what all the trip about. While returning back to the hotel , some places we have visit -
We left the hotel in about 11 in the morning. Faced a hectic traffic. and reached NJP at about 3:30 pm. But while our return journey two things became very clear to me. Buddha's blessings is not easy thing to get and Comfort is not the thing you'd experience in a unplanned trip. Firstly, it was a rush to returning to Kolkata so, we didn't get a single seat in any private bus towards Kolkata or Malda. Then got a Govt. bus towards Malda at about 5:30 pm, Luckily we got seats. It started off being packed up by people, with a huge traffic ahead from the very beginning.Then at about 7:30pm. the Tyre of one of the back wheel of the bus got punctured badly. It costs us another 1:30 hour.
When we reached at Malda it was already 12:30 am. We reached Souma's Aunt's place. Had some dinner , get some sleep for about 2:30 hrs. We had slept only 2-3 hrs in the last 24 hrs and traveled more than 300 km by road that was too in uncomfortable conditions.
We boarded on the train from Malda at about 6 o'clock. Not that its the best place I have ever visited , but something was special about the Darjeeling trip. There are a lot of things I have learnt from this trip , most importantly -
1. Never delay when you need a trip, no matter whatever it takes.
2. Unplanned trips are better, but only for off seasons.
3. If you want to go for unplanned trips always make sure of two things that you know about the place , and you are physically fit for any type of situation.
4. It is hard to go for a unplanned trip that even in budget. But if you are physically fit enough to stay in any type of room, travel in uncomfortable conditions and not allergic to local foods , you can travel anywhere without planning and within budget too.
5. Traveling makes you wiser, happier and more fearless - if you trust this you can travel anywhere no matter the hurdles comes in your way.
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