With the coronavirus pandemic and the resultant work-from-home, life had become significantly boring and monotonous. The uninteresting everyday schedule of waking up in the morning, sitting with the laptop on the lap for hours, finally logging off with a sigh of relief, eating dinner, and then going back to sleep had turned into a vicious cycle. My mind and body were screaming for a change of pace, for a break from this cycle. It was this time when my friend and I decided to leave all this behind and hop on a bus to Siliguri. Our destination - Tonglu.
After an overnight bus journey from Berhampore, we found ourselves in a chilly dawn sipping tea at the Siliguri Junction. The bus was perfectly on time and it was 6 in the morning. We decided to have a grand breakfast at the Courtyard by Marriot. What an amazing way to start the day!
After breakfast, we walked to Darjeeling More to hire a ride to Dhotrey. We had to negotiate the fare with the driver. After a brief session of negotiations, it was decided that we would share the ride till Sukhiapokhri costing ₹200 per person. From there we could hire another ride to Dhotrey, but we had to reserve the car. Instead of hiring another ride from Sukhia, we asked our driver to take us to Dhotrey for ₹1700 extra(we had googled the cost to reserve a car from Sukhia to Dhotrey earlier, and it was nearly the same amount). The ascend to Dhotrey started right after we crossed Manebhanjang. It was an hour's ride from here, and we spent the time getting to know Mr. Dinesh - our driver.
We reached Dhotrey by 4 in the afternoon where we were welcomed by our host at Sherpa Lodge. Dumping our backpacks into our room, we gulped down the hot egg curry and rice served to us. With our stomachs filled, we decided to explore the trail we were going to hike up to Tonglu, the next day. We did not anticipate the surprisingly chilly wind and had to return to our room just before sunset. Dinner was early, and we slept like a log.
Waking up before sunrise is like a flight of fancy to us. The watch on the bedside table confirmed that it was 6 in the morning. The sun was just peeking from behind the mountains, playing hide and seek with the clouds. It painted the sky with a crimson hue. Accompanied by a lone dog, I settled down on a rock with my morning tea to watch the sun rise to its full glory.
Breakfast was simple and quick. All decked up with our backpacks on our backs, we clicked the final selfie with our hostess at Sherpa Lodge and started for the hike to Tonglu. Accompanying us was a jolly fellow, our guide, Sunil. Although a guide is not mandatory for the trek; it's a rocky trail through dense forest that we had to follow. With the sun on our backs, we started our hike.
The first half an hour saw two enthusiastic lads eager to conquer the mountain trail. Very soon our enthusiasm dwindled, and we took a short break, munching on the chocolate bars we carried in our backpacks. The sun shone brightly on the backdrop of a clear blue sky. We had to peel off the extra jackets that we were wearing.
As we entered the dense forest, a stray dog accompanied us. I don't know much about dogs, but they seem eager to accompany any human with a walking stick on a hilly trail. The walk through the ancient moss-covered pines was an easier one. One reason for that could be the fact that we started talking our hearts out with Sunil. He even taught us how to propose to a girl in Nepali. Chatting with each other, capturing candid selfies, enjoying the cacophony of several unknown birds - the next hour passed by swiftly. We came out of the forest trail to a clearing.
Our destination was visible from here. It did not look like more than a few minutes hike left. But boy, we were so wrong! The climb was steep, and we had to halt every couple of minutes to catch our breaths. As we ascended, the cloud hugged us in its blanket. As we made our way to the top, a sense of victory made all our fatigue fade away. We wobbled through the concrete road to Raju's homestay where we had booked a room.
Raju welcomed us with a warm smile and hot coffee. The exhaustion of the 2-hour mountain trek vanished as we sipped at the coffee. Soon after hot lunch was served and we both attacked it like some hungry ogres. After lunch, we went out to explore the place around the homestay. Visibility was very low due to the clouds. We walked to the GTA trekker's hut nearby. One can stay here too, but booking must be done beforehand. Booking for GTA trekker's hut can be done at the Gorkha Bhavan in Salt Lake, Kolkata.
With nothing else to do for the next few hours, we decided to walk down to the monastery in Meghma. It is just a couple of kilometers downhill. We followed the concrete road that goes all the way down to Manebhanjang. A couple of photoshoot breaks later, we were at the beautiful monastery. Luckily the prayers have just started when we arrived. While my friend was busy listening to the gongs beat in rhythm inside the monastery, I took the opportunity to spin the prayer wheels outside. There is the camp of Seema Suraksha Bal just opposite the monastery, across the concrete road. I just realized then that the monastery is on Nepal's side of the border; the border being the concrete road.
After a tea break, we started climbing back to our homestay. The ascend was not an easy task, especially being tired from the morning hike from Dhotrey. It took a full hour for us to reach Tonglu. It was getting dark and a second round of tea and snacks was waiting for us in our homestay. Electricity is mostly solar here, so we had only one lightbulb in our room. With the limited supply of amenities like water and electricity, we could start to appreciate the comforts they provide in our lives.
I woke up to the crowing of the rooster, next morning. The sun was yet to rise above the horizon. I rushed to the nearby hillock with my camera and tripod to catch the sunrise. The entirety of the ground was covered with frost. It was like wading through a white desert of rimed grass. As the white desert glistened with the golden light of the rising sun, I stood there mesmerized by the grandeur of the scene.
We had some hot egg maggi and tea, basking in the sun. The feline members of our host's family started to become friendly with us. We named the white one, Snowbell. Once Snowbell was done licking her paws in my lap, we set our destination to Tumling, a couple of kilometers away. It's another small hamlet just like Tonglu, but on the Nepal side of the border. People trekking to Sandakphu generally makes their first night halt at either Tonglu or Tumling before moving ahead to Kalipokhri. We could see the morning sun was starting to melt off the snow from last night accumulated on the side of the road.
We had crossed Tumling and reached the gate of the Singalila National park. We had to return to Tonglu for our lunch. So after a coffee break, we decided to head back. This time we did not take the concrete road but hopped on to the narrow rocky trails through the hills that ran parallelly. We got back well in time for us to lay on our backs on the grass and watch the sun set behind the distant mountains.
We had to start early the next morning as we had to descend nearly 11 kilometers down to Manebhanjang. We bade adieu to the sunkissed Kanchenjunga and started our journey at 9. We followed the concrete road and the descent was not very tiring. We crossed Meghma soon. We would sometimes take a detour from the road, or sometimes take a shortcut to avoid the hairpin turns.
We reached Lamaydhura at nearly 10:30 where we decided to take a halt. We rejuvenated ourselves with some coffee at a shop by the road. We encountered another group halting there who were en route to Tonglu on a hired Landrover from Manebhanjang. Landrovers can be booked from the office at Manebhanjang at a fixed price.
Our next stop was Chitrey which was 3 kilometers from Lamaydhura. Chitrey is another quaint hamlet with a beautiful view of the hilly contours. People trekking up from Manebhanjang can stay here at View Points Homestay before continuing their journey. We still had 3 more kilometers left to descend.
The descent from Chitrey was a steep one. Contrary to the popular belief that descending is easier than going uphill, we were having a tough time descending. Our legs were sore, knees hurt, and had to take breaks every 15 to 20 minutes. We were met by several trekkers who were starting their journey from Manebhanjang.
Fortunately, we found a shortcut, series of steps that led all the way down into the Manebhanjang bazaar. Half an hour later we found ourselves crawling into the taxi stand in the bazaar. I looked at my watch, a quarter to 1. We were lucky enough to find a Siliguri bound car immediately. We knew that the fare per person to go in a shared car to Sukhiapokhri from here was around ₹50 and to Siliguri from there was another ₹200. This made it easier to bargain with the driver. He agreed to drop us at Siliguri for ₹500 but would pick up passengers on the way. As we heard from the locals, there is also a bus service from Sukhia to Siliguri that would cost the same, but its availability is based on the availability of the passengers.
We felt the seats of the car were the softest and coziest seats we ever sat on. As I rested my weary legs, I indulged to reflect on the negligible significance of a man before the towering mountains, or the nature for that matter. The mountains can teach us lessons that are far more valuable than the ones we learn in classrooms. The modest livelihood of people living there, the absence of mobile networks, the remoteness of those places gives us time, precious time to reflect on ourselves.
'The greatest gift of life on the mountain is time. Time to think or not think, read or not read, scribble or not scribble -- to sleep and cook and walk in the woods, to sit and stare at the shapes of the hills.' - Philip Connors.
Important Details
Stay at Dhotrey - Sherpa Homestay, Phn: 9476386379
Double bedroom including meals - ₹1000 per person/day
Triple bedroom including meals - ₹1200 per person/day
Stay at Tonglu - Raju's Homestay, Phn: 9635690583, 9547670143
Room including meals - ₹1000 per person/day
Guide - Sunil, Phn: 9593085159 , He charged us ₹900.
Transport
Car shared from Darjeeling More to Sukhiapokhri - ₹200/person
Car reserved from Sukhia to Dhotrey - ₹1700
Car shared from Manebhanjang to Siliguri - ₹250/person
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