[Samba]

Garpanchkot

It was our close friend Bhpian Sayata's birthday and it was a long weekend too. So our plan was to celebrate his birthday in a nearby resort where we can spend the weekend with some good food and comfortable rooms.

We chose Panchet Residency as our stay option.

The Team-

Team Ecosport-

Bhpian Sayata, his wife and son.
Bhpian AviC93 with his wife.

Team Duster AWD-

Bhpian Burnout with his wife.

Team Etios-

Me with Bhpian DogNDamsel12

Team Ecosport left a day early. For them the trip was from Friday to Sunday and for the rest of us, it was Saturday & Sunday.

A few details about the resort-

This resort has different types of room categories.

Agomoni - This is near the entrance and looks like a typical hotel building. The rooms are located above the reception lobby.

Village Telkupi- This looks like a well decorated mud village, and it is the costliest of the lot.



Mrittika - We stayed in this category of rooms. This looked to be a perfect blend of comfort and VFM. We were charged Rs 7,000 for two persons per room, per night including all meals.



Banjara Hut- At first we booked this. This one is VFM, but the rooms are too small. So we upgraded to Mrittika.



Igloo- This one needs to be avoided. Super small rooms, no ac and no attached bath.



The hotel website-

https://www.panchetresidency.com/index.php

No doubt it's the best place to stay at Garpanchkot. I have nothing to say against this resort. The staffs are cooperative, ample of parking space, rooms are comfortable & food is good too. If I want to add some negatives then it should be, the staffs need to be more professional. They goofed up with our dinner menu and later they tried to make it up.
There were options of some outdoor activities too, but we were lazy enough to avoid them!
Over all a thumbs up from my side.
Will rate 4.5/5.

Day 1

Our meeting point at Dankuni toll was at 5 am.

The truck traffic on Durgapur Expressway was literally irritating. They were slow moving and driving all over the road. We reached Palsit in an hour to realize, there was a huge traffic jam from Palsit to Burdwan, & this jam is frequent now a days due to the ongoing road widening work.
Without even thinking we took an 'U' turn and took the Kalna road which meets at Burdwan Renessa more. By the time we reached Burdwan it was 8 am.

From Burdwan till Nituria the driving was pure bliss. Though there were many diversions till Panagarh, but we faced sparse traffic. We were able to make up our lost time. A couple of Km after the Asansol Engineering college, we took left and went through Nituria and reached our resort by 10 am. Odo reads - 262 km.

Rest of the day was spent in the resort, enjoying the swimming pool, with some good food and walking inside our tastefully decorated resort premises.

Some pics-

























Day 2

A lazy Sunday morning in our resort.





After a late breakfast we checked-out at 11-30 am. After a short drive through the jungle, we visited the Garpanchokot ruins.







We started our return journey by 12-30 in the noon.

A small break to beat the heat by having few glasses of sugarcane juice after the Durgapur toll.







On our return leg, we didn't face any traffic jam. The drive was smooth. After a sumptuous late lunch at Azadhind Dhaba, we reached Dankuni by 5-30 pm.

Odo reads- 272 km.

[AviC93]

Adding some clicks from my lense!

Also it is worth wondering what the other two bhpians did on Friday! We just ate to the fullest as all the food items were splendid in taste and more than adequate in quantity. We did not even leave a single bit of poppy seeds ��

Evening was spent by celebrating Bhpian Sayata's "19th" Birthday.

[Samfromindia]

Happy 19th to Sayata The resort looks nice and everyone seem to have a lot of fun ! That's what the TeamBhp brotherhood is all about.

[soumiksett]

Tea Drive to Haldia

19th March 2023, it was a Sunday, in the morning we went to Singur for some personal assignment along with some other families. After lunch we were about to return, just heard a attractive proposal "Lets drive to Haldia Riverside, will take evening tea there and return home quickly".

The day was a rainy day, sky was cloudy and wind speed was high, It will be a marvelous feeling at Haldia riverside. Immediately I accept the proposal and started journey by two car, my Tata Punch and my friend's Tata Nexon.

First we visited Mahishadal Rajbari. Then after reaching the riverside the sky became almost dark, drizzling started and wind speed was so high that we started to feel cold. Overall it was a marvelous environment. Everybody enjoyed a lot. Returned home in next two hours.

Presenting some of my captures :

[TheFonz]

Hi All, I’m looking for suggestions for a weekend family getaway nearby kolkata in early October. I’m looking to drive myself, hence looking for something not very far away as l haven’t done a lot of long drives.

Apologies if this isn’t the correct thread to raise this.

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by TheFonz

Hi All, I’m looking for suggestions for a weekend family getaway nearby kolkata in early October. I’m looking to drive myself, hence looking for something not very far away as l haven’t done a lot of long drives.

Apologies if this isn’t the correct thread to raise this.

You can refer the 1st page of this thread to get the list of all options:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...-tourists.html (West Bengal - A treasure for tourists)

The nearest (below 100KM) you can drive for a weekend getaway are:

1: Diamond Harbor
2: Taki
3: Kolaghat - Sonar Bangla

[TheFonz]

Hi, I’m planning a trip to Mandarmoni, any help on route and things to avoid or look out for will be helpful. I searched the thread and nothing recent on this.

[ssjr0498]

The picture of the car next to the water body, can you please help locate that on google maps!

Originally Posted by soumiksett

Tea Drive to Haldia

:

[soumiksett]

Originally Posted by ssjr0498

The picture of the car next to the water body, can you please help locate that on google maps!

The waterbody is Hooghly River at Haldia. It is just opposite to Haldia Bhawan. You can easily locate Haldia Bhawan in Google map.

[Samba]

Kolkata - Darjeeling - Chatakpur - Senchal - Sittong - Ahaldhara - Shivakhola - Tindharia - Darjeeling - Kalimpong - Dello- Lava - Damdim - Siliguri - Kolkata.

Kolkata to Siliguri & back-

The route we took-

Kolkata - Mogra - Kalyani - Haringhata - Ranaghat - Krishnanagar - Behrampore bypass - Moregram - Malda bypass - Raiganj - Dalkhola Bypass - Bagdogra - Siliguri.

Took the same route during our return journey as well.

The road from Kolkata to Siliguri is in great shape. The only challenge is till Krishnanagar. After Krishnanagar till Siliguri the distance can be covered in 7 hours.

BUT, till Krishnanagar it can be dicey. I took the route from Mogra to Kalyani, then through Ranaghat till Krishnanagar.
Due to the ongoing construction work there is a lot of congestion at the Ranaghat level-crossing. It may take upto 3 hours. While going to Siliguri we were stuck for around 20 mins and on our return journey we were stuck for 1.5 hrs.
On the return leg, we tried to take the STKK road from Krishnanagar, but the bridge at Nabwadip was totally stuck with traffic, so again we returned to the Ranaghat road.

There is a 3rd option which one can try if both STKK and the Ranaghat road are stuck, i.e. via Katwa to Behrampore and then connect to the main highway till Siliguri.

We got the Behrampore bypass open, and it was definitely a time-saver. But again the Bypass will be closed after Diwali, and will open permanently only next year. The work for Raiganj bypass is still going on, and it is expected to open in another 6 months or more.
Kishanganj bypass is now operational.

If one can do kolkata to Krishnanagar in about 3 hours, or Kolkata to Behrampore in 4 hours, then Siliguri can be reached easily in 10 hours.

While going, it took us 10 hours to reach Siliguri, & during our return leg it took us 12 hours due to the congestion at Nabawdip and after taking a 'U' turn we were stuck at Ranaghat for 1.5 hours. These cost us more than 2.15 hours.

Coming to the places we visited.

Darjeeling-

There is nothing new to write about Darjeeling. This place has it's own vibe. So just relax, enjoy the good food and walk around the town! If one wants, can take a ride on the historic Toy Train.

Darjeeling mall





At Glenary's



At Keventers





The mighty Kanchanjungha from Sterling, Ghoom.





View from Margaret's Deck, Kurseong



Margaret's Deck



Ghoom Monastery







A beautiful sunset from Ghoom.

Chatakpur-

This place is beautiful. There are plenty of homestays to stay there. On a clear day the view of Kanchanjungha from Chatakpur will be splendid. This place is worth a visit. Prefer a homestay at Upper Chatakpur.
BUT
The road to this place is not in good shape. From Sonada, one has to take left while coming from the Darjeeling side to go to Chatakpur. The road is steep and narrow. After one enters the jungle, it's off-road terrain.

Can a 2wd vehicle reach Chatakpur?
Yes easily. This place requires high GC. Even my Duster scraped thrice on the way. The local drivers only take Sumos and Boleros on this route. The Altos and Dzires are not preferred by them. An RWD car is preferred, but it is doable in a high GC FWD car too.
Can a hatchback/sedan reach Chatakpur?
Yes, with utmost caution. But be ready for some underbelly hits.







A video from the drive from Sonada to Chatakpur-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxoIkra7FpY

Senchal forest-

Hardly any tourist visits this place. For the 10-km stretch, ours was the only car. The whole jungle was ours to enjoy.
But in one word the drive was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. One must not miss this drive. We took this jungle road for our drive to Sittong from Chatakpur. If one does not have a plan to visit Chatakpur, I will insist to go for a drive inside this jungle trail.

Road condition- There is no blacktop, but any car can be driven on this road with some caution.









A video from this stretch-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZmbuXmSEAk

Sittong-

I felt Sittong to be hyped. If a person is not interested in bird watching and see the seasonal oranges, there are many better places to see.
Even the road is not maintained well. It's full of potholes, but any car can reach Sittong.

Ahaldhara

I liked the 360-degree view from Ahaldhara. On a clear day, the view of Kanchanjungha should be good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHBwD-PcisY

Shivakhola

This is a nice place in the foothills of Himalaya. I liked the place. A good place for a one night stay or a day picnic.
From Shivakhola, we took the old road to Kurseong, which goes via Rongton and Tindharia. The road condition, is superb with sparse traffic, and we loved the scenic beauty of this road. If one has extra time in hand, I will recommend this route over Pankhabari, Mirik and Rohini just for the beauty this road offers.

Kalimpong-

I have nothing to say about this place. It's a common place and everyone is aware of it.
On our return journey to Siliguri, instead of taking the regular route through Melli, we took the longer route via Lava and Damdim, just for the scenic beauty it offers.

At Sterling Park, Kalimpong.









At Lava



The whole trip was completed in 7 days and the total odo reading was 1736 km.

Last year during October we covered a few places of NorthBengal, and here is the link for that travelogue -

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...uster-awd.html (Darjeeling->Rishop->Kolakham->Samabeong->Dooars in a Duster AWD)

[soumiksett]

Lovely blog, enjoyed very much.

Sharing some pictures of my recent North bengal trip covering Chota Mangwa, Peshok, Tinchule and Kanyam in Nepal.

[toppor]

Thanks Samba for the absolutely stunning videos, loved every bit of it and the lovely travelogue, I just dread driving these narrow roads, especially reversing on them due to oncoming traffic, however I see you have handled it very easily. The local taxis just don't care to give way for the uphill traffic. The only reason why I prefer visiting these offbeat locations on a two wheeler. Kudos to you and your AWD, wish you many more miles!

[Samba]

Originally Posted by toppor

however I see you have handled it very easily. The local taxis just don't care to give way for the uphill traffic.

Thanks. Actually what I found was most of the local drivers were co-operative. So it was best not to engage with the non-cooperative ones, and make space for those cars & carry on peacefully.

Here are few compilations of negotiating oncoming traffic on steep narrow hill roads from the same day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZiiliMglOM&t=150s

[toppor]

Yeah, it is the part from 0.42 second onwards which freaks me out, reversing downhill in that kind of narrow roads requires a different skill altogether. I guess you have mastered it.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by Samba

Kolkata - Darjeeling - Chatakpur - Senchal - Sittong - Ahaldhara - Shivakhola - Tindharia - Darjeeling - Kalimpong - Dello- Lava - Damdim - Siliguri - Kolkata.

As always, another excellent travelogue from one of the masters of travelogues, and again I am getting the urge to pack my bags and go to all these places. You go to interesting places Samba and your travelogues provide a wealth of useful information. This one's no exception. Marked it for future reference and hope to visit some of the places where I haven't been before, soon. Thanks for sharing!