I have never been to North Eastern part of India before. Heard a lot about beautiful Monasteries of Gangtok...Tea Gardens and Toy train of Darjeeling...so as 9 days holidays were coming in June end.. I decided to travel alone and capture beauty of North Eastern India with my DSLR...but while I was planning for my trip two of my friends also came to know and decided to join me to witness the beauty of North East.
We had checked for booking flight from Delhi to Bagdogra but the price was too much (9K one way) ..so we have decided to break and plan our Journey as :
Flight from Delhi ---> Kolkata (cost 4K one way)
Train from Kolkata ---> Jalpaiguri
Taxi from Jalpaiguri ---> Gangtok
Taxi from Gangtok --->Darjeeling
Toy Train in Darjeeling ---> Ghoom
Taxi from Darjeeling --->Siliguri
Bus from Siliguri --->Kolkata (Avoid Local Roadways -Road condition was very bad took 24hrs to cover 12hr distance)
Flight back Kolkata --->Delhi
Kolkata:
Kolkata is really humid and hot in month of June .We have reached Kolkata in morning took hotel at Park Street.
It was difficult to find good budget and clean hotel in that area so better to look for booking in advance.
It’s a city full of lively people and dynamic nature.
One of my friend from Kolkata had also joined us for a day to cover must have places in a single day.
We went to Flurrys Bakery established in 1927 ,the pastry and Cakes were awesome of that place you should try it located on Park street.
Princep Ghat
This place was the best place I had been in Kolkata. The specialty of that place was the boat ride in Hooghly River.
There was an beautiful architecture worth to watch for and the bottom view of bridge from sitting inside the Boat in still and calm water with cool breeze in summers is an must experience to have in Kolkata. The view of Howrah Bridge is clear from the boat while roaring in the river.
Tram Rail we had travelled a bit in that too to have an experience of famous Kolkata transport, which you can just catch up by running and walking on the roads.
Kali Ghat temple, it was about to close so we had given some money to get darshan of Kali Ma.
The Pandit's were totally money minded and asking for more money inside the temple, i really didn't liked their behavior and argued with them.
The temple area was not maintained and full of rush, this place can be avoided in your itinerary if you really willing to go there.
The moment we reached Victoria Memorial it was already late evening and the gates were closed so I have just clicked it only from outside.
We have left Kolkata at night and boarded train to reach Jalpaiguri by morning.
GangTok:
In morning at Jalpaiguri we had booked a package with a travel agent located nearby to railway station.
I advise you to not get into traps of travel agent and try to book hotels in advance, we had to do that because it was difficult to find hotels in Gangtok in the rush hour of June month.
MG Road:
It is the heart of Gangtok, drizzling rain and hot rolls of Khan Chacha were the best thing to have at that time, walking on the streets we had enjoyed Momo's also....we had tried every type of momo as we were hungry we couldn't stop ourselves...later on we had our dinner at Parivar restaurant.
Rope-way
We had booked a local taxi to cover sightseeing of Gangtok. We went to Rope Way first, it was of short distance...you can have a view beautiful Gangtok from inside.. . try to visit in morning as rush will took place later on...
Ridge Park & Flower Garden:
Flower garden..different and unique flower species were there..seeds of different flowers can be bought from counter ...
Hanuman Tok
Hanuman temple maintained by Indian Army. The place was cold and foggy, Kanchenjunga Range can be viewed but there was too much fog we couldn't got that chance.
You have to climb stairs to reach Hanuman Tok temple but it was a good temple.
Ganesh Tok
At the entry we had tried Gangtok local Sikkimese dress and clicked pictures with different poses. There was an old Ganesh Temple.
Banjakhari Waterfall
You can go for paragliding t at this place.There was a big water fall, beautiful statues which depicts the old culture of Sikkim.
Ranka Monastery
It was late evening when we have reached there .Many movies have shot there,we met young LAMA'S of monastery. Due to late evening and bad weather we had to skip Rumtek Monastery,so plan accordingly not to miss that.
Harbhajan Baba Temple:
To visit Nathula pass and Baba Temple you need permission from Army as limited numbers of vehicles are allowed through check post per day. It can be taken through hotel staff only, Please bring your photo id and a photograph.
We woke up early morning to start our day, we had shared our taxi with a family who were very friendly, and it was a good experience with them.
The temp was very cold and height was around 17000ft so better to take winter clothes with you.
We had reached around 12pm at Baba Temple. It was a walk way to reach the temple; it is maintained by Indian army only. There was a beautiful water fall and big statue of Lord Shiva, it was really cold there.
2.Nathula pass And Tsomgo lake:
We didn’t got the permission of Nathula pass we had tried to reach there but we were not allowed to enter Check Post to see the China border as it was too foggy we could hardly see the border as per driver information. .
It was raining but weather was so soothing and cold, We had reached Tsomgo lake around 2pm ,i really loved that place Beautiful YAKS were there ,you can click and take rides.
Coming back we had gone to MG road to have MOMOS again and buy some souvenirs of Sikkim. Next day around 11am we have left for Darjeeling.
Toy Train:
Main attraction of Darjeeling are Tea Garden and Toy Train, we took a taxi from Gangtok to reach Darjeeling-Ghoom Railway station to catch our toy train which was booked for 4pm.
The journey from Gangtok to Darjeeling was really beauty, beautiful tea gardens -Teesta River is flowing side by side.
There was some issue with our Cab we have to push our Cab and Driver to reach Darjeeling by 3:30p.m as we have to catch the Toy Train booked for 4p.m.
There are 2 kinds of Toy Train one is Diesel and other is Coal engine, book the Coal engine
Toy Train because that will give you the actual feel and tickets can be booked at IRCTC only.
Tea Gardens and Rope Way:
We have left in early morning for Rope Way –Tea Gardens and booked a taxi from our Hotel only which was close to Darjeeling Railway station.
It is advisable to reach early morning at Ropeway Ticket Centre as there was a huge Queue of People waiting for their Turn.
Due to heavy fog we could not see much of Tea Gardens but it was an good experience because the distance to cover was about 3km to a height of 7000ft.
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute(HMI)
This place was dedicated to the mountaineers famous Tenzing Norgay, there was a museum in which clothes of famous mountaineers, their tools used to climb and all were present.
It’s a really old institute to train mountaineers in India. Good place for people who have interest in mountaineering.
Darjeeling Zoo-Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park
The main attraction of Darjeeling Zoo was Red PandaThere were Tigers,leoperds and so many endangered species.
It was sprinkling when we were there so it was really good weather to roam around the Zoo and Clicked so many pictures you want.
Next Day morning we had left for Siliguri. But the most thrilling part was about to come in our end of journey. We have reached Siliguri by evening 5p.m and booked a AC bus from a Private service provider. We boarded that bus which were about to reach 7:30a.m next morning but could cover only 150km when we woke up next day around 6am.
That day in night8:30 p.m we had booked our flight but it was really nail biting moment for us to reach flight on time as we were 90km away from Kolkata at 6 p.m in evening as local people had advised us to book a taxi if we want to reach o time. So we had decided to book a Omni but it was really hard to communicate with him in Hindi as he could speak Bengali only.
Some how we could reach airport by 8:30 p.m and thought that our fight have already missed but by God’s Grace the flight was delayed for an hour and we could boarded that flight finally what we have wished so far after a tiring 24 hour journey from Siliguri to Kolkata.
I can never forget this trip as this trip has taken me through diverse culture of Kolkata, Impure beauty of Gangtok and in the end the historical touch of Darjeeling.
I advise you to travel and witness by yourself this beautiful Chapter of North Eastern India
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