Parting Darjeeling & how we reached Gangtok

This is a series of posts covering my trip to Darjeeling and North Sikkim. You can read about my

• Overall trip plan here
• How we reached NJP
• Darjeeling sight seeing

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

Reaching Darjeeling & roaming around

You can read about How we reached Darjeeling here and here.

Day 2 –

At NJP junction, we were offered a taxi to Darjeeling for certain amount and were asked to wait in a hotel while they bring a taxi. Even after an hour there was no sign of taxi. When we enquired, all we got were some indirect answers. Suddenly they said no taxis would run from NJP since a taxi driver was killed (not sure if this was true, but the taxi union there is pretty strong). So we took a shared auto to Siliguri (150 INR for entire auto). From Siliguri we hired a jeep to Darjeeling (1000 INR) – and there started our wonderful journey where I fell deeply in love with The Himalayas.

We had a simple breakfast at a roadside home-cum-inn in Kurseong (4864 ft). It roughly takes around 3 hours to reach Darjeeling (6710 ft) depending on number of breaks you take in-between. I have given a map of the route below (not drawn to scale)

How we reached NJP...

You can read about my trip plan to Darjeeling & North Sikkim here. 

Day 1 –

First day of the journey was a list of firsts for us – it was our first flight travel, our first time to Calcutta, seeing trams there. 

View from our plane

Tram lines in the middle of the road, Kolkatta

Boarding the overnight train (which itself was a huge feat considering there was some pretty tense war of words by few people inside who locked the compartment to do so :X). The train was on time (!!) and morning weather was pleasant enough at NJP junction. We refreshed ourselves and started to look for a taxi when all drama began to unwind. More about it in my next post... 

Darjeeling & North Sikkim Trip

What we read as young children could shape our lives and change our perception. Looking back at my childhood, I realise that I was bitten by a travel bug after reading a textbook lesson on Darjeeling in Class X. The quest for seeing/experiencing new things slowly began. But it took years before I could visit Darjeeling. 

My initial Google searches took me to this wonderful website indiamike.com where like-minded travellers were helping each other plan trips. I read every thread on Darjeeling. The more I read, the more I was inclined to visit North Sikkim and Ladakh (which I did after a few years) than Darjeeling. So, the trip's focus shifted to North Sikkim with 2 days in Darjeeling. Living in Chennai, which almost roasts me daily with its hot sun, I decided to travel during winter to see snow and hence the trip was planned during November. 

P.S - I will write separate posts for each day of my trip and link them below for easy access.