Day 1 ( 17 hours to do 620kms drive. Kolkata - Siliguri stretch via Bhagalpur. )
We were scheduled to meet at Dankuni toll plaza at 4am in the morning. It was the common meet point selected as different cars will come from different parts of Kolkata. So to reach on time i had to start from my home at 3-30 am. For starting at 3-30am i need to wake up atleast by 2-30am. The excitement level was so high i was constantly looking at the watch resulting in a sleepless night! But finally the magical time arrived and i was cranking my car! The feeling was out of the world. Words cant describe it! We meet at Dankuni toll plaza at 4am. Our hi and hello's continued till 4-30am. So our journey officially began at 4-30am. Crossed Durgapur express way and entered Burdwan. Captdey with along with his wife joined us at Burdwan with his Scorpio as he stayed at his house in Burdwan the last night.
Just after crossing Burdwan we saw the beautiful sunrise. I couldn't resist myself from stopping and clicking the first picture of the trip!
On time we crossed Santiniketan, Suri and we stopped for breakfast at Messanjore at 9am. After a 30 minutes break we crossed Dumka by 10am. Till here roads were good. Once we crossed Dumka the roads from Dumka to Bhagalpur was horrible and this 100kms stretch took us 4 hours. By 2pm we reached Bhagalpur, had our lunch and started off by 3-30pm. Had tea at Purnea during sunset and reached Siliguri around 8-30pm through moderate to heavy rain.We checked in at hotel Mainak. Had our dinner and retired for the day with full of excitement as hills were just a few kilometers away from us!
Day 2 (Siliguri to Gangtok, 112 kms in 4.5 hours.)
After a 17 hours drive the last day we still managed to get up early. By 10am we were ready and set our journey to Gangtok. As-usual Sevoke road was scenic. We crossed the famous Coronation bridge and we were on the winding Himalayan roads. I couldn't resist the smile, rather the grin on my face. My co-passengers must thought, am insane.
Our first stop was at Rongpo.
Roads till Gangtok was mostly good except few broken stretches. We reached Gangtok by 2-30pm. We had our rooms booked at hotel Sonam Delak. The roads to Sonam Delak was steep and narrow, so need a bit of extra care while driving. The location of the hotel and the view from our rooms were just superb.
Our team members having snacks at the roof top restaurant of our hotel.
The view from our room balcony.
In the evening we went for a small walk to the famous MG Marg at Gangtok.
At night we ordered the famous Momo's at our hotel. I love Momo so much that i was contemplating to have only Momo's for the dinner! But at last i ended up having all the items as the food was really tasty.
Day 3 (Gangtok to Dzongu, 85kms in 9 hours)
We woke up early to witness the Kanchanjungha but we were not much lucky to get a very clear view.
Soon we got ready had our break fast and our plan was to drive till Dzongu. I started from the hotel by 10am went to a petrol bunk and refueled my car to its brim. But i cant find others coming. So called one of them and came to know the Swift suffered a dead battery. So he went to a battery shop to purchase a new battery and replace it. We were a convoy of 6 cars. 3 cars decided to drive till Mangan and check out the permits and wait for the rest 3 cars. Then we will head for Dzongu together. So me , Punto and Scorpio were on the way to Mangan. The Swift , Dzire and the Vista will join us at Mangan once the battery is been replaced. Knowing they will be late we were driving slow and taking breaks for pictures. The roads were okay in some places and horrible in some places. We even had to climb steep inclines with boulders. Adding a video as a reference. But it was just a mere tailor of what we are going to get ahead!
Few pics on the way.
Finally after a drive full of breaks for enjoying the scenic beauty we reached Mangan by 2-30pm. The rest of the cars started at 12pm but they drove till Mangan non-stop and reached Mangan one hour after us. By that time i managed to click few pics at Mangan.
After having a late lunch we finally reached the check post for Dzongu by 5pm. It was almost dark and we had to do 16kms through no roads and jungle with deep gorge in one side! The only positive was, the owner of the home stay was with us to accompany us for the full 16kms stretch.
Well as soon we started the drive bad roads welcomed us. We crossed slush, steep inclines with loose pebbles and rocks, narrow slushy and rocky landslide zone with deep gorge in one side and that too with intermittent drizzles.
A small video of a small stretch on that road. It was one of the best road on that 16 kms stretch! On the worst roads we didn't dare to take video's!
At one point just after a right turn the road was very steep, the swift was leading and its wheels just could not get enough grip which resulted in wheel spin. It tried a couple of time but the result was same. On the third attempt with the push of few locals it managed to climb up. Second turn was for the Dzire and it had the same fate as the Swift but finally managed to climb up.
The climb up of the Dzire-
Thirdly it was the Vista's turn. Sriniwas Rao who was in my car is an experienced hill driver. He took the pilot seat and made it in one attempt and with ease. I was a bit relieved seeing it. 4th in line was the scorpio. It went with a higher speed and managed in one go. Next was my turn. I decided to accelerate less , as the car is enough powerful so if i can avoid the wheel spin i can make it in one go. I tried that and succeeded in one go but due to lose pebbles my car skidded a couple of times resulting in a zig zag climb. Later i realized i could have done that on a much cleaner way but at that time i was happy. Last was the turn for the Punto. The owner of the homestay knew the roads better so he took the driving seat and took the Punto up in one go. Finally after a lot of hurdle and drama we managed to reach Dzongu by 7pm. And then we had some more surprise in our store. Due to some grid failure there was no electricity! So we had to spend the whole night in candle light. But i must say it was an awesome experience. Sharing horror stories among ourselves was the icing on the cake. Out side it was pitch dark and we had no clue what was around. So to get a clue of it i tried a long exposure shot and could see this scenic view surrounding us!
Hoping for a great view in the morning we had our dinner and retired for the day. It was a tiring day full of adventure!