Day 7 & 8 - Kalimpong & Siliguri

We left our hotel at sharp 8:30 after having breakfast for our last tourist destination - Kalimpong. It was again a 3 hour drive approximately thru the jungles. We were the lone travelers thru that jungle atop a hill & it was supposed to be a shortcut to Kalimpong.

Kalimpong is a hill station in the Mahabharat Range (Lower Himalaya) situated in West Bengal. It is located on a ridge overlooking River Teesta. The driver mentioned that he would take us to 5 points in Kalimpong. First, he took us to Hanuman Tok where a stylish idol of Hanuman was built in a neat garden atop a small hill. Climbing that small hill only made us tired.

Beside Hanuman Tok was the Durga Mandir, our second point.

Next he took us to Deolo Hill which is the highest point in Kalimpong. Deolo Hill is one of the two hills that the town of Kalimpong stands between. There was a beautifully landscaped garden and a resort atop the hill. It is said that on a clear day, Kanchenjunga & other snow clad mountains of Sikkim are visible. But due to mist on that day, we couldn't get a clear view. Our bad luck.

Our next point was Mangaldham temple, which is located at the heart of the town. This temple is built by some Baba, whose Samadhi is below the main temple. The main temple was huge & colorful, more like ISKCON & the presiding deities were Radha-Krsna. Inside the temple around the walls, colorful models of Krsna's life were displayed.

We then left for our last point - cactus nursery which was at the other end of the town. To go there, we had to cut thru the smallest street lanes & traffic laden roads. The streets looked like Avenue road of Bangalore. We got fed up of the slow moving traffic. Finally we took around 45 mins to reach the nursery.

This nursery is very unique & the first of its kind we have visited. Cacti were grown here & sold. They were housed in a tent like structure. Depending on its size, they were grouped into 6 different tents. For the first time we saw flowers on cactus, baby corn shaped, pumpkin shaped cacti & various other forms. We were spellbound upon seeing the various brands. In one of the tents, entry was itself forbidden, as that cell contained long & ferocious variety of cactus.

The garden around the nursery was neatly maintained. There was a tall X-mas tree and some other peculiar tree which formed arches at the top too..

After seeing all these, we proceeded towards our final destination - Siliguri. It took around 3 hours from Kalimpong to Siliguri and reached Siliguri by 4:30 PM. On the way, we had our lunch in some dhaba. After taking some rest at the hotel, we decided to go out and thought of going to some movie. The receptionist said that there was a theatre close by but didn't know the show timings or the movie which was running. We just casually went out and checked in Biswadeep theatre that My Name Is Khan was running. When contacted the theatre guys about it, they said its almost 45 mins since it started and still tickets were available. As we had nothing else to do, we bought the tickets for just Rs. 25 per head for second class. By the time we entered, Sajda was going on. We couldn’t control our excitement of watching an SRK-Kajol movie in a hopeless theatre for just Rs. 25. It was worth the money spent :)

We came out of the theatre by 7:15 PM and loitered around the place for sometime in search of Bengali sweets. But we couldn't find one. We came back to the hotel, ordered dinner & slept.

The next day we got up lazily, had breakfast & relaxed as nothing much was there to do. Our cab arrived at 11:30 AM for dropping us to Bagdogra airport for our 4:30 flight. We were at the airport by 12 PM and just killed time for almost 3 hours. We thanked our tour operators - darjeeling-travel.com for the pleasant trip we had. We had lunch at the terminal and it was too pricey! We started our flight at 5 PM for Kolkata & from Kolkata to Bangalore via Hyderabad at around 7 PM. The dishes served by KingFisher were good. All thru the flight, we were only talking about our most memorable trip. On our second flight, we watched Paa too. We finally landed at Bangalore airport at around 10:30 PM. By this time, my father-in-law had come to pick us up & went straight to their home.

Mission Chandrayaan was finally accomplished and a huge success. Another most memorable trip in my record. I kept thinking - when there are so many places to see in India itself, why to honeymooners, or common people itself go abroad for vacations? Anyways, I wouldn't stop saying - AMAZING, SUPER, WOW, SAKKATH,...... about our trip.

Day 6 - Tsomgo Lake & Baba Mandir

We were ready by 8 AM after having breakfast, but the cab came 15 minutes late. Also, we got to know that permit hadn't been done yesterday & we had to get on the way. Also that Nathu-la would be closed on Mondays & Tuesdays, we would be getting permit only to Tsomgo Lake & Baba Mandir.

We waited for nearly 20 mins in a huge parking area to get the permit done by our driver. Once we got the permit, we began our long journey to Tsomgo lake. When asked why the permit was required, the driver told that as it was Indian Border restricted area & maintained by Army, one cannot go there without valid permit.

Tsomgo lake, or Changu lake as is popular, is about 35 kms from Gangtok on the Gangtok-Nathula highway which forms a part of the old trade route from India to China. For a few kms, the road was tarred and good. But when the army area arrived, the tar turned to mud & stones. The path was very rugged & narrow, allowing only 1 vehicle in a direction at a time. Sometimes, slow moving huge army trucks interrupted causing big jam on either side. The vehicle carrying tourists had to be strong enough, one error from the driver would cost lives. This had been the most dangerous route we had travelled, more dangerous than that of Darjeeling to Pelling. Very adventurous & holding our breath every time we encountered a rock. We were just praying that the tyres don’t burst!

We finally completed the tiresome 35 km ride in approx 3.5 hours and arrived at Changu Lake. This lake is situated at a height of 12,000 ft & we were awestruck seeing the lake. Heaven on Earth! Pictures speak louder than words..

The driver suggested we visit Baba Mandir first & then come back and visit Changu lake, as the Mandir was further uphill and road repairs were going on in that area. We agreed and without getting down from the cab proceeded further to Baba Mandir, which was 15 kms from Changu lake.

Our way was covered with snow on either side & it was a pleasant drive all thru and took about an hour. We had finally drove thru the Himalayas. For her it was the first time, & second time for me.

Baba Mandir is situated at a height of 13,500 ft. This Mandir is built by army in memory of Baba Harbajan Singh who went missing from this place. At this place there were many water bottles & accessories of other soldiers also. There was a sweet kept there as Prasad, & it was very tasty. I was surprised to see an Union Bank of India ATM at this place!

After spending some time there, we headed back towards Changu Lake. It took almost the same time to reach the Lake. The driver asked us to get down and take a walk beside the lake & spend time as much we want & to come over at the other side where shops were located. The weather was sunny but cold wind blew thru out, so had to take out our gloves, jerkins & monkey caps as well. We felt we were on heaven. The ice had just begun to melt. Its said that this lake would be frozen in winter & would have water in summer. We went in the mid season where both ice & water were there. Totally blissful to view this. As I said, a picture is worth a thousand words..

After playing in snow & taking numerous snaps, our hands were turning black & we had to leave the place. We went to the shop on the other side, had 2 plates of hot Maggi as lunch. Maggi was really awesome for this weather.

We then proceeded to return back to Gangtok. The return journey almost took the same time & by this time the clouds had begun to engulf us. We finally crash landed at our hotel by around 6 PM, took rest, had dinner & slept off. Totally exhausted by the drive. But what a day it was!

We had to get ready by 8:30 the next day to leave Gangtok, following the 9 - 6 no tourist vehicle rule. The plan for the next 2 days had changed, as we got to know that there was a day long strike being called on Thursday in Darjeeling district & hence we couldn't stay back in Kalimpong on Wednesday as per the itinerary. The tour operator had booked a room at Siliguri instead & advised to do the day tour of Kalimpong the next day & go to Siliguri.