This is a series of posts covering my trip to Darjeeling and North Sikkim. You can read about my
Day 3 –
We were supposed to getup at 3 AM in the morning to visit tiger hills in its pink glory when the first rays of sun hit it. Alas, it was raining even at 3 AM and our driver said nothing would be visible from the observation tower. So, we decided to see it later during the day and slept.
We woke up, refreshed, had breakfast and were ready to cover these places
- Rock Garden
- Batasia Loop
- Tiger Hills observatory tower
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| Tea Gardens, Darjeeling |
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| Like a painted canvas... |
Rock garden has no entry fee. It is basically a garden with multiple levels. One has to climb a bit and keep on climbing to reach various levels. There are waterfalls, wild colored flowers, plants and trees everywhere. It is an ideal picnic spot for families.
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| Rock Garden full view |
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| Beautiful pathways |
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| View from above, Rock Gardens |
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| Rock Gardens |
Batasia Loop – here, the toy train goes through a spiral loop. It is also a War Memorial to brave souls from Darjeeling who died during various wars.
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| Batasia War Memorial, Darjeeling |
It was misty just like in those old movies' romantic songs and then, were heard it! The huffing and puffing of a steam engine far far away. Strangely, it sounded to me as if it was a person who was climbing a peak out of breath. We were lucky enough to see the toy train pass the loop. :)
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| Misty railway track, perfect romantic days!! |
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| Darjeeling train, Batasia Loop |
Tiger Hills observatory tower – is near Chowrasta or The Mall. It took us through some wonderful alpine trees. Upon the observatory deck, we were once again disappointed by the presence of clouds, mists and a downcast sky. We couldn’t get a view of any peak surrounding us, let alone Kangchenjunga. :(
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| Yours truly, trying hard to spot a mountain. Alas, it was just not my day. |
Note – One can travel to Tiger hills in a jeep, which is around 11 km from Darjeeling or by foot from Chowrasta (around 2 hours). On a clear day, Mt Everest is said to be visible from Tiger Hills. One can also visit Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary in Tiger Hills.
We returned to our hotel room, had a wonderful lunch and proceeded towards Gangtok. We had already made reservations at Cherry Guest House in Gangtok and also arranged for vehicle pick up from Darjeeling. From the moment we left Darjeeling, luck was upon us and we had the best leg of journey from here. :) :)
Heading Towards Gangtok
Our journey from Darjeeling to Gangtok was a very scenic one, with our cheerful driver who learnt the word "Aaama" (translating to yes). Whenever we converse, he used to finish it with "Aaama aaama". :) River Teesta was running all along with us and we saw the confluence of two rivers from a viewpoint. (Forgot its name)
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| Confluence of River Teesta |
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| A closer look at the confluence |
The sky was clear, it had just stopped raining – so the roads were wet, cool and neat. One thing I noticed in Sikkim was, streams of water just start coming out of nowhere from the mountains, often eroding the roads. We saw one such stream in every corner we turned en-route Gangtok. Personally I felt that the Darjeeling – Gangtok route was much more scenic than Darjeeling – NJP. The least scenic one is Gangtok – NJP route. We reached Gangtok after a little more than 3 hours travel from Darjeeling.
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| Just picture perfect!!! Wish I lived here... On the way to Gangtok. |
Our guesthouse was at the bottom of a downhill road very close to M.G. Road. Climbing up from our guesthouse was bit of an ordeal for the elders. We went for shopping in M.G. Road and Lal Bazaar. We had to buy jackets, gloves etc for our next leg of journey to the snow :) I personally found Lal Bazaar to be much cheaper and one can bargain for price also. M.G Road was just too costly. So armed with all jackets, head caps, gloves and a tummy full of dinner from Agarwal’s (we had all our meals here only, being pure vegetarian) we slept through the night peacefully. A few snaps of MG Road...
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| M.G. Road just after a light drizzle |
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| M.G. Road |
Read about our Day 4 Gangtok here. (to be updated)
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