An incredible journey of a lifetime to Bhutan, Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Gangtok!

[Chevy_lover]

The 10th of January was our second wedding anniversary. We had spent the day in a very adventurous way and loved the experience. We spent the rest of the evening walking around MG Road.

[Chevy_lover]

We then went to “Blue Sheep Restaurant” on MG Road. We had very tasty sizzlers for dinner. It was one of our most memorable wedding anniversaries ever!!!

[Chevy_lover]

After our dinner, we went back to our hotel and packed our stuff. I called Ram and arranged for a car to drive us back to New Jalpaiguri. I specifically asked him to send me a Tavera.

I was thinking about buying a Tavera at that time and I wanted to feel the ride on a rough and challenging terrain.

Our car arrived at 10 am sharp. The driver was a Bengali. He had come with passengers from Siliguri, the previous night and he had to pay commission to Ram to get our trip. I felt sorry for him and decided to pay him a bit more at the end of our trip.

We started our journey from Gangtok by 10:30 am. The Tavera was superb and I decided then and there to buy it. It was an awesome journey back to New Jalpaiguri through many Tea estates and breath taking scenery. We stopped en-route and had some Momos for one last time from Sikkim. Needless to say they were so tasty!

We reached New Jalpaiguri by 1 pm. We had reservation in Guwahati - Dadar Express on the 12th of Jan. The expected time of departure of the train was at 12:30 am. So we decided to rest for some time and went back to Siliguri and checked into a nice little hotel in the middle of the city.

We then decided to do what we always do, whenever we go to a new city. We explore all new places by foot. We went to Siliguri market and did some shopping. We did not like the city much as it was very very crowded and the traffic was utter chaos.

We returned to the hotel by evening and had our dinner. We left for New Jalpaiguri railway station by 10 pm in an Auto. We were thrilled to see that the whole station was enveloped in fog. We were informed that our train was running 4 hours late, and the expected arrival time was around 4 am.

We got two beds in the upper class dormitory and slept till 3:30 am. We finally boarded our train by 4 am. The journey back to Mumbai was uneventful. We spent the whole time talking about the wonderful trip we had just completed.

It was truly a trip of a life time. We feel lucky and blessed that we were able to go on such a beautiful journey. We promised ourselves that we would surely go back one day and re-live all the wondeful memories!

Finally a word of thanks to all dear members of Team BHP. Thank you for reading and coming along with us on our journey!

[arindamray]

It was gripping to say the least. Read the first to last post without break. Awesome narration, and amazing pictures.

Few of the things I would like to mention, Rangit is a tributary of Tista. One can actually drive down to the confluence of Rangit and Tista, and can see white water of Rangit slowly getting merged into green water of Tista.

IIRC you could have saved some travel, if you have chosen Kalimpong - Gangtok - Darjeeling, instead of the reverse.

[RufRoc]

@Chevy_lover: Lovely travelogue ... makes me want to be there 'soon'

[rajeevn]

Originally Posted by Chevy_lover

After our dinner, we went back to our hotel and packed our stuff.
=================
Finally a word of thanks to all dear members of Team BHP. Thank you for reading and coming along with us on our journey!

I am new to Team BHP and chanced upon this only now. Spectacular stuff, and beautifully done. The appreciation belongs to you, entirely, for sharing that wonderful trip with us. Awesome stuff—and I am now going to watch out very, very carefully for anything that you do!!

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by arindamray

It was gripping to say the least. Read the first to last post without break. Awesome narration, and amazing pictures.

Few of the things I would like to mention, Rangit is a tributary of Tista. One can actually drive down to the confluence of Rangit and Tista, and can see white water of Rangit slowly getting merged into green water of Tista.

Thanks for the comments Arindamray. We were lucky to get an awesome view of the confluence of the Rangit and Teesta rivers. We got a bird's eye view from the hills. I had posted the pics in my travelouge earlier.

I am posting it again. I hope members will enjoy these pics.

[skartik2]

Chevy_lover

Thanks very much for the narration and the pictures. Enjoyed the travelogue thoroughly.

K

[Dzire2Travel]

Read it start to stop, in Office, and I definitely feel I earned my salary for the day :-).
Superb travelouge, so simply written, straight from the heart. Wonderful Snaps.. Kudos Mr Chevy Lover..let your Tavera Roll.

[Majic]

Chey lover, just been through your posting, it is really amazing, i have spend a whole afternoon reading through your travelogue, absolutely wonderful experience going through all those informations and excellent photos. At some point of time i go so involved in the reading that i had to switch of the AC as i was feeling very cold just by your narration. Good Job, please keep posting more of your experiences. By the way i am still a newbie and have given my intro last week. Cheers!

[Indizen08]

The pictures of the clouds were too good! Very beautiful indeed!

[Sea Cruiser]

Hi
I am planning a trip with family to Darjeeling-Gangtok-Nathula Pass- North Sikkim from 19-26 Sep 09. On my return I will be submitting a detailed report . But I require help of fellow Team-BHPians. I have got certain queries. If someone can help me with the answers. My itinery and questions are as follows:
19 Sep (Day 1) : Depart Mumbai by AI flight at 0615, reach Kolkata, board Flight for Bagdogra, reach at 1400. Therafter depart for Darjeeling.
Q1) What is the best way for a group of 04 adults and 01 to travel. And how much shall I shell out?

20 Sep 09 (day 2) : Explore Darjeeling
Q2 ) Which are the places to visit and name of good resturants?

21 Sep (day 3) Depart for Gangtok, Local Sight seeing of Gangtok.
Q3) Is it possible to do river rafting on the way from Darjeeling to Gangtok? If yes, any contact nos.
Q4 )What is the best way to travel. And how much shall I shell out?

22 Sep 09 (Day 4) Visit Nathula Pass and other places in between.
Q5 ) Any special permits required? How much shall I shell out?

23 Sep (Day 5) Local Sightseeing of Gangtok (Rest Day!!)
Q6 ) Which places are recommended for travel in Gangtok and nearby and good eateries?

24-25 Sep (Day 6-7) Visit Yumthang valley(North Sikkim) and return to Gagtok on PM 25.
Q7) What about good accomodation in North Sikkim and the way to reach it.

26 Sep 09 (Day 8) Return to Mumbai via Bagdogra
Q8) Is helo service available from Gangtok to Bagdogra. If Yes, what are the timimgs and the tarrif and the way to book it?

My questions are slightly exhaustive in such a short time frame, but then I then I thought I can count on fellow Team-BHPians.

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by rajeevn

I am new to Team BHP and chanced upon this only now. Spectacular stuff, and beautifully done. The appreciation belongs to you, entirely, for sharing that wonderful trip with us. Awesome stuff—and I am now going to watch out very, very carefully for anything that you do!!

@ Rajeevn, Majic, Skartik2 and Dzire2travel, thank you very much for your comments. This was an unforgettable journey and I still have such fond memories of each and every place we visited. Truly spectacular!

[navan49]

Originally Posted by Chevy_lover

The Thimpu experience continued....

Day 6;

We had a very touching experience on our last day, Jan 2nd, in Thimpu. I will come to that later.

We decided to spend our last day in Thimpu, exploring the city and shopping. We spent the entire day walking around the city. We also got the opportunity to watch two football matches, between local clubs. We were lucky enough to see the finals too! I think a club from Punakha region won. I was very impressed with the soccer skills of Bhutanese youth. One club team even had a foreign coach!
Football is a passion for Bhutanese!

The archery competition was also going on in full swing on a ground adjacent to the football stadium.

Later, we went to some supermarkets and bought some imported Thai goods. We could see that most of the shops in Bhutan stock Thai and Chinese products the most!!! Indian products come a close third!

We explored different restaurants and tried new cuisines. I must say that the food was simply awesome! Food was quite cheap too!

As I mentioned earlier, all hotels and restaurants close down in Bhutan by 10 pm. Some pubs and discotheques remain open till 1 am. During our window shopping, we saw an advertisement about a pub with live music. We decided to try it out.

That evening, we went to ‘Boomerang’ pub. It had a great rock band. The pub was very good and it had Snooker tables also. Almost all international brands of liquor was available and it was cheap too. The rock band was really good and we enjoyed their music thoroughly. They sang almost all the hottest English rock songs.

We spent some quality time there and had supper and drinks. We were so engrossed in the lovely, pulsating music, that we totally forgot about the time factor. We had forgotten to inform our hotel that we would be coming late.

We reached our hotel by 10.15 pm and to our shock, we found that the main door was closed! We rung the bell and kept on knocking on the door for half an hour. Still no one heard or answered us. The hotel owner and family stay on the third floor and they were probably asleep! We saw that all the lights were out.

We spent the next hour yelling and knocking on the door. But no one heard us. The worst part was that we were freezing in the stinging cold weather! The whole street was deserted and we were the the only people outside. My mobile was latching on to Bhutan Telecom network, but I was not allowed to make calls. We saw that all phone booths on that street had closed down. We found a small shop with a telephone, but the owner was not willing to allow us to make a call to the hotel!! We explained our predicament to her in all the languages that we knew! But still she said, “Shop close”. I still cannot understand why she refused to help us!!!

As a last resort, we went back to the pub and told about our plight to the pub owner, who also did the work of the bar man. He was very kind and immediately called up the hotel’s number, which was on my room key. But no one answered. By this time, we had accepted the fact that we may have to sleep in the pub!!!

There was no one else in the Pub, other than the band boys and the owner and his wife. They were getting ready to wind up and have dinner. The rock band’s drummer heard our story and immediately offered to help us. He was a young guy of about 18. We were so happy and gladly accepted his offer.

He came with us all the way to our hotel, which was about a kilometer away from the pub, and started shouting along with us in Bhutanese language. By now the time was 1am. The area behind the hotel was a small hill, about two stories high. I asked my wifey to keep on knocking at the door. The drummer boy and I went to the top of the the hill, in an attempt to wake up the owner’s family. But we were chased away by street dogs and we had to run back to the street. The drummer boy used his mobile to call the hotel's landline.

After a lot of shouting and banging on the door, the owner’s daughter opened the third floor window and said "No Room". We had a tough time making her understand that we already had rooms there!!! Finally she came down and opened the door for us. The only expression on her face, was a silly smile!

We will never be able to express the relief we felt to be inside the hotel. We thanked the drummer boy as earnestly as we could. He did not even wait to tell me his name and ran off. I really think God sent him to help us!

This was an example of the friendliness and sincerity of Bhutanese people.


Coming up later tonight, pics of "Boomerang" and journey to Paro...
One of the most amazing scenes ever caught on film!!! Do check this thread!!

Hi,

It is really a great experience you had. It is common that the hotels shut down at 9.30 or 10Pm.Most of the hotels are having side entrance. Some times you may have to sleep or spend the night awake even on the high way due to landslide or snow. These are all the part of Bhutan Life. I lived there for 28 years. We took everything easy. During rainy season landslides are common.

Once I climbed up a mountain top and climbed down the mountain to reach the road across the washed away roads. I saw a Toyota was washed in the sliding with a couple of people. My friend's wife and Engineer was washed away in flash floods on the high way. The people are great helpers and none can compete the Bhutanese in Hospitality and gratitude.The Kings were and is of the part of the people. The ministers are all still simple.Any how your thread reminded of my great Bhutan life.

[Chevy_lover]

Thanks Navan ji for your comments.

I am amazed to learn that you spent 28 years in Bhutan. It is a spectacular land and I consider myself very lucky that I was able to see it in all its grandeur!

We were also suprised to see the selfless nature of the Bhutanese people. They did everything possible to make us feel comfortable. The drummer boy helping us in the middle of the night, the hotel owner's pretty daughter making us a superb salad at 12am, some boys helping us to find a restaurant in the middle of the night, etc, are some of the instances that show the warmth and love of the wonderful Bhutanese!

I will cherish those memories for a lifetime! Truly magnificent!