The Most Enjoyable Trip to Darjeeling and Sikkim

For the people living in plain areas in West Bengal, the most visited destinations during the holidays are Digha, Puri and Darjeeling. But this time was different as we had planned to go for a tour to Darjeeling and Sikkim.

 Many people thought that we were visiting these places during the off-season, i.e. during February. But according to my personal experience to these places during the months of February and March, it is one of the best times of the year for a tour to these places.  

Our journey initiated from Sealdah and reached New Jalpaiguri on the morning of 18^th February. After landing at the station, we shared cabs on a cheaper rate along with other passengers who were also on a visit to Darjeeling. 

First Day – ON our first day there were not many cabs available at the New Jalpaiguri due to some political reason. After waiting for some 2 hrs, we finally got a cab, which cost was Rs 130 per head. The journey from New Jalpaiguri station to Darjeeling via Kurseong was beautiful. As we drove up the hill, the temperature came down and the hill station was covered with thick fog.  As we entered the main town of Darjeeling, we found that the people of this place were simple yet stylist and colorful. On the way, we also saw the stunning toy train.  

 We reached the main town of Darjeeling at around 3:30 pm. The Queen of Hills, which is also the other name of this quaint little town, sandwiched amid the hills. The name ’Darjeeling’ came from the Tibetan words, ’dorje’ meaning thunderbolt and ’ling’ a place or land, hence ’the land of the thunderbolt’.

After reaching at this scenic hill station, we checked in to Anand Palace, a three star rated hotel, near to Mall Road and just opposite to Inox. Most of the hotels in Darjeeling or Sikkim are decorated with different items that resemble Nepalese or Sikkimese culture. We checked in one of the strikingly decorated rooms where we had our first glance of snowcapped Kanchenjunga from the room window. 

The hotel is very much standard in terms of the interior decorations and cleanliness but the view of the surrounding is now enough visible, accept the towering Kanchen Junga. We were very hungry at that moment and ordered for some quick lunch. After having our lunch, we went for a stroll at the Mall, which is at a walking distance from our hotel.  

 On reaching there, we found that the Mall is empty, either because it was Sunday or due to some other reasons. We could hardly see anything else as it was already dark and the temperature was falling sharply. Luckily we got one travel agent and arranged for our next day’s sightseeing. We stopped at Sangrila restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious dinner and a hot Note that the restaurants in Darjeeling generally shut down by 8 to 8:30 pm.

Second Day – The next day, we woke up quite early, much due to the excitement of the things that lay ahead during the day. First thing that we did was to enjoy the breathtaking of the snowcapped Kanchenjunga, which is the 3rd highest mountain in the world. We ate our breakfast quickly and hopped on to a cab, assigned to us by the travel agency. Our sightseeing started with the Japanese Temple and The Peace Pagoda that showcases four avatars of Lord Buddha. Our next stopover was at Rock Garden. 

The place has a beautiful natural waterfall, called Chunnu Summer Falls. We could not enjoy the blossoming flowers due to the off-season. Next, we went to Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoo where we could see many animals, among which Red Panda is a popular one. Right next to the zoo is Himalayan Mountaineering Institute which was founded after the keen interest from Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary who climbed Mt Everest for the first time in the year 1953. 

This institute provides training for Mountaineering courses. There is also a museum at this place where the equipment, dresses, shoes used by the mountaineers are put on display along with their history. Finally we headed towards The Mall and the atmosphere was completely different than the previous day. It was filled with colorful people with bright smiles on their faces. Also do not miss Glenary’s where we had delicious hot Coffee along with equally delicious Pastry. Then, we retired to our hotel as we were expecting a tiring next day.

Third Day – On our third day, we started off at around 3:30 am in the morning. The weather quite chilly and the driver told us that the temperature was around 2 degrees. We had put almost everything to keep us warm as we were heading towards Tiger Hill to view the sunrise. It is believed that you have to be quite lucky in order to get the scenic views of Kanchenjunga and sun rise from Tiger Hill, as it only happens on a clear day. All the way we were praying that the day turns out to be lucky one for us.

 As we reached the place, we found out that the Tiger Hill is kind of a table top, which was hoarded with several numbers of tourists, at an altitude of around 8500 ft. After some impatient moments, slowly we could make out which part of the sky the sun would be raising. The sky was slowly clearing out from dark and as the light was erasing the darkness, we could see the mountain range, Kanchenjunga, on our left. At first, the color of the mountain range seemed whitish or grayish because of the Fog. But as the first rays of sun were on it, it reflected a pinkish color, slowly the other mountains emerged from the dark and they were too pinkish in color. As the sun rose higher into the sky, the color of the mountains was continuously changing from pink to orange to golden.

Almost the Himalayan range was visible including The Everest but because of the Earth’s oval shape, Kanchenjunga was standing tall like a silent guardian and protecting others. All this time, the sun had slowly risen from half sliced cup to full pinkish to a deadly glowing giant. We were completely awe-struck with view that were experiencing and at the moment were considering ourselves to be the lucky ones. From Tiger Hill we headed towards Ghoom Monastery via Ghoom railway station which is the highest railway station in India, perched at a height of 7407 ft.  At the monastery, we bought some local Darjeeling stuff including the famous prayer wheel. Then we headed for Batasia Loop which is a spiral railway track structured to lower the gradient of ascent of the railway.

Breakfast at Darjeeling – Keventers is a place not to be missed, while you are in Darjeeling. It’s more than 100 yrs old, a perfect place where you can sit at the terrace and enjoy an authentic English breakfast along the picturesque view of Darjeeling town. We had some scrumptious breakfast at this place. Finally, we were leaving Darjeeling and heading towards Gangtok.

Gangtok is much cleaner and beautiful compared to Darjeeling. It is a well planned city, situated at a height of 5800 ft. We had not booked any hotels in advance as it would cost us higher. Gangtok MG Marg is like the Mall, placed right at the heart of the city. After searching for a while we checked in at Golden Pagoda.

The hotel charged us Rs 1,500 per night which was much cheaper due to the spot booking. It was the perfect choice for us as the hotel was located right at the MG Marg and it also offered a superb view of the mountains through the window room. We were quite tired due to our journey and opted for an early dinner at a splendid restaurant at MG Marg, called Gangtalk. 

We enjoyed some fine and delicious variety of dishes for our dinner at this place. After our dinner, we went for a short stroll along the M.G Marg, which extends over a kilometer, decorated with beautiful flowers at the centre of the road where you can it and admire the beauty of the place. MG Marg also includes luxurious hotels, shops, bars and restaurants. Right next to MG Marg is Lal Market where you can buy traditional Sikkimese or Nepali items at cheaper rates.

Fourth Day - We woke up fresh the very next day and we planned to roam around Gangtok which would be less tiring rather going far. As there are plenty of travel agents in the MG Marg, arranging for sightseeing was not much of a trouble. Later in the day, I met the taxi driver who would take us for the sightseeing and he turned out to be a humble person. We set our deal at Rs 900. His car was beautifully decorated and we found that it is the specialty of this place that people are multicolored, very organized and at same time very cheerful. 

Our sightseeing for the day started off with Rope-Way which was very exciting. The Rope-Way covers a long distance offering the aerial view of both city and the mountain. Next we headed for Duddul Chhoedten Stupa which is one of the most significant Stupa in Sikkim.

Neighboring to the Stupa is the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, which holds rare artifacts, manuscripts, paintings from the 17^th to 19^th century. The institute is a leading search centre in Tibetology, which promotes scholarly research in the history, religion, art and culture of Tibet. Then we headed for the largest monastery in Sikkim, the Rumtek Monastery, structured in the early 16^th century. 

The monastery is located in a tranquil place, placed amid the lush green mountains, with a breathtaking view of distant snow peaks and flowing streams around it. The Dharma Chakra Centre and the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute at the monastery is a centre of learning where several with resident monks study Tibetan Buddhism.  

 Within the monastery is a Golden Stupa, which houses the holy remains of the 16^th Karmapa HH Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. As we stood in the huge courtyard of the monastery, we could hear the rhythmic chants of the monks, and the blowing of the musical instruments along with the beating of the gongs inside the main hall of the monastery. The day was overcast and it started drizzling by then. We went to a restaurant and had a special Tibetan lunch of Thukpa, which is a Tibetan soup with noodles in it and Sugar, which is a Tibetan tea prepared by mixing ghee. Then we headed towards Ranka Monastery. It’s a comparatively new monastery where one can find gorgeous paintings decorating the walls of the monasteries.

 It was raining heavily by the time when we headed for Ban Jhakri falls. Ban Jhakri Falls Energy Park is located at a distance of 4 km away from Gangtok and is spread over 2 acres. The park is abounded with forest and is rich with rivers and the renowned Ban Jhakri Falls. We came back to Gangtok and it was still raining heavily. Rain in hill station means very cold weather, so in accordance to the weather we ate hot momos, coffees and hot sizzlers. Later in the evening we explored another restaurant, called Chopstick for our dinner. 

Fifth Day – The day turned to be unlucky for us, as we had to cancel our trip to Changu Lake and Nathula Pass due to heavy snowfall. The package for Lachung-Yumthang is pretty cheap from Gangtok if you are going there in a group. The package we chose cost us Rs 1,100 per head that included everything, starting from Gangtok to Lachung and Yumthang and return along with lunch and dinner. WE started our journey from Gangtok taxi stand at around 10:30 am in the morning. Four more couples joined us at the Bolero leaded by cheerful driver. As we crossed one mountain after another, Lepcha, the driver, showed us the distant snow capped mountain waiting for us. As the journey proceeded we all started to get friendly with the four couples accompanying who were accompanying with us in our journey. 

On the way to Lachung, we stopped by “Seven Sisters Waterfall”. Instead of 7 we saw 3 of them. Most of the roads were in bad condition because of the earthquake that occurred few years back. Lachung is at a distance of 130 km from Gangtok. It is placed in the Northern part of Sikkim and is the last mountain village before Yumthang, close to Tibet border. The road to Lachung is a difficult one but it passes through some of the most exotic terrain in Sikkim, which is filled with captivating waterfalls and scenic views. When we reached Lachung it was already evening, we could see the blocks of ice at the side of the road and the temperature was very cold and chilling. 

The rooms where we stayed for a while were very ragged and cold. Later on we were transferred to a beautiful wooden house which was much warmer and comfortable than the previous one. They served chicken in the dinner that was delicious and hot that made us feel quite comfortable in the cold weather. The night was freezing and we slept with almost every possible dress we had including gloves and socks. The journey form from Gangtok to Lachung was full of picturesque mountains and excitement. 

Sixth Day – The water so freezing cold that I had to face the toughest time of my life while rinsing my teeth after brushing in the morning. As we came out from the house, we found that the whole place is covered with white glittering ice. We could clearly see Lachung now, a small village surrounded by huge snow capped mountains. After breakfast we headed for Yumthang valley. 

 As soon as we crossed Lachung, there was snowfall everywhere. The roads and the mountains were covered with snow and it was white everywhere. Yumthang is just 24 km from Lachung, placed at an altitude of around 11,800 ft. After traveling for another 10 to 12 km, we couldn’t move any further. As there was heavy snowfall everywhere the car tires were skidding. All the other vehicles were halted at this spot. We trekked a bit from there, all the while playing with the snow and clicking photos. We came across mobile tea stalls selling at a distance selling different snacks and tea.  

 They told us that usually leave by 2 to 3 pm as snowfall starts again after that. After enjoying the snow for quite a long time we returned back to the hotel, had our lunch and left for Gangtok by 12 pm. I felt a pinch of sadness while leaving such a beautiful place. We reached Gangtok by late evening and we had planned to travel to South Sikkim with the same group and the same driver. 

Seventh Day - The name Namchi means Sky (Nam) High (Chi) in Bhutia. The place is the capital of the South Sikkim district, placed at an altitude of 5500 ft, at a distance of 90 km from Gangtok. As we had planned, we traveled to Namchi by the same car and the same group. The place provides the picturesque views of the snow capped mountains and vast stretches of valley. The entire Namchi is a lush green area, which is quiet contradictory to what we experienced last 2 days. We tasted the splendid tea made from the fresh leaves of the Temi tea garden, established in the year 1969.

Our next stop was the glorious Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple at Assangthang, Namchi which is the only Sai Baba Temple in Sikkim constructed recently in 2010. Our final destination was to Char Dham, the chief attraction in South Sikkim, which was too built recently in 2011. It is a unique pilgrimage tourism venture of the Sikkim Government as it has been developed as “Pilgrim cum Cultural Centre” including a 108 ft statue of Lord Shiva and replicas of four Dhaams of the country at one place at Solophok hilltop in Namchi. The four most valued Dhams of the Hindus Jagannath, Dwarika, Rameshawaram, Badrinath have been replicated in this fantastic complex for the benefit the devotees and tourists. The place holds many other replicas. We had an opportunity to taste a very delicious Veg lunch inside the premises of Char Dham. We came back to Gangtok by evening time and shopped for our family back home.

 Eighth Day – It is the final day of our trip and nobody was too glad about this fact. Our experience includes everything from the scenic places, the joyous people, the delicious food, the culture and much more. After having our breakfast we headed for a bit more shopping. Then we packed our bags after returning to our hotel and caught a cab heading towards NJP. I think it is the most memorable trip of my life and would certainly visit these places once again.