14th May 2016, 10:52
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| BHPian  | Kolkata-Darjeeling-Kolkata in my Josh Machine Introduction: Quicksilver (as I call my Ikon) has been with our family since more than a decade now. I took possession of her since Jan'15 after my uncle decided it would be a good idea for me to take care of her. Since then, the journey with the Ikon has been full of stories. Being so old, it required a lot of time and part replacements. Though did not clock much on the ODO there was body wear and areas that needed care for longevity. The initial months were spent in the garage and eventually I got her to a "as good as new" condition (picture below).  After that I was longing to take her for a weekend drive and thus made a trip to Bakkhali with family. Story in this thrad Having done this trip and few other long runs I started gaining confidence in the machine and always wanted to take her to the much talked about destination: Darjeeling. Few preps done before the journey 1. Got a new pair of tires. Since the other pair was not even a year old, I had four perfect tires for the trip 2. My car jack gave way a couple of weeks before the journey, so I decided to go in for a hydraulic jack this time. Checking amazon I came across a nice package with good essentials that would come handy on any drive. I was satisfied with the products, obtained at Amazon 3. A thorough car wash and an under-body coat. 4. Got all oils/coolant etc checked a week in advance. Carried extra oils and coolant. Also had the old drive belt handy, just in case. 5. Got new fog lamps ordered and fitted, the stock ones were in a "gone" condition  The Plan: The plan to drive up to the hills was pretty spontaneous. My uncle and family had a marriage to attend at Darjeeling which had got postponed. Having tickets booked, they asked my dad if we were interested to make this a family get-together instead. Initially I was finding it tough getting holidays and obviously the train journey to Siliguri etc. Then, I got this idea about a drive to the hills and my dad was the back bone for everything to work out thereafter. Being children of the hills, my dad and family were well versed with the driving technique, they also knew the local language so there was no scare for me driving there for the first time in my life. I have been there often, years ago and always ride in a driver driven Sumo/Qualis/Tavera/Innova. On an occasion I have also accompanied my uncle and family in their Bolero. The plan stood as follows Day 1 - 6th May'16 - Leave from office in the evening and halt anywhere between Bardhaman and Malda depending on the distance and time Day 2 - 7th May - Move from halted place in the morning and reach Kurseorg (Cochrane place) by evening Day 3 - 8th May - Move from there after breakfast, some sightseeing and onwards to Darjeeling. Stay location - Hotel Montana (Rink Mall) Day 4 - 9th May - Rise early enough to view the sun rise from tiger hills and get back for some rest. Leave for Rock Garden at noon and then to Dudhia by evening. Day 5 - 10th May - Start as early as we can for Kolkata. Thanks to BHPians himadrimondal, BlackPearl and 1100D for the route planning/suggestions. This thread helped a lot, took exactly this route while going, shared by himadrimondal. Link Thanks to PapaBravo's TL for general pointers on the places to visit Link Day 1 - 6th May Met BHPian debarshim in the morning at office as I parked my car next to his Pajero SFX. Would be a good starting pic to the TL.  Starting ODO  And then it was just travel that day. Started at around 6 PM. Stopped for dinner at Azad Hind Dhaba(AHD) on NH2. Went on after that, took a petrol break and finally stopped for the night at around 1:15 AM at a Hotel Nataraj (Farakka). The place was neat and we had a comfortable sleep. AHD Halt  The food, perfect for the Sardar in me!  The road after leaving Bardhaman.  The Hotel at Farakka  Last edited by Rehaan : 19th May 2016 at 15:37. |
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15th May 2016, 15:17
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| BHPian | Re: Kolkata-Darjeeling-Kolkata in my Josh Machine Day 2 - 7th May We left from the Hotel at around 8:30 AM and took a break on the way for tea. Met a truck with the same digits as my car.  Took our next break at Raiganj Tourist Lodge. We took a by pass road after Raiganj to avoid the famous Dalkhola traffic (route, as mentioned in the plan section) and finally reached the hills. Met my uncle and family at Dudhia. They landed at Bagdorga (from Delhi) a few hours before we reached. We had momos and tea and push off to Cochrane place via Pankhabari Road. The slow traffic at Malda  A break for windscreen cleaning/tea/brunch  Met a truck driver who saw my car and got excited. He had a trailer with the same digits. So we got these pics clicked.   Many such diversions en-route. Notice the car covered on the highway   A bad patch of road  Saw this accident  Halt at Raiganj tourist lodge  Good roads after that  Took this diversion as mentioned  The roads were narrow on the diversion stretch  And we soon reached the hills.  Met my uncle and family. That is Bhpian the_doctor giving me direction.  At Dudhia   We started for Cochrane. Few pics of the roads before the hill climb started  PC: the_doctor  Welcome to Cochrane  Day 3 - May 8th We planned to visit my Dad's/Uncle's school on this day. We had a lovely breakfast after our morning tea. I decided to clean my car a little before we were off to Darjeeling, and on our way to Goethals Memorial School (Dad's school). My uncle/dad wanted to cherish their school time memories by taking the foot trail to enter from the back side of the school. It was a narrow terrain which is not suggested to anyone due to the presence of leech and having slippery stones. This is the trail from Victoria Boy's School-Dowhill EcoPark-Via old military road-Goethals Memorial School (approx. 5 Km walk). We ended the day at Hotel Montana - Rink Mall, Darjeeling. Few shots in the morning.   Car wash  These guys came for breakfast to Cochrane A Z800, HD, TNT600i  A part of the breakfast  We started the walk towards Goethals from here    Few shots while walking    To be continued... Last edited by navsjab : 19th May 2016 at 12:54. |
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15th May 2016, 20:18
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| BHPian | Re: Kolkata-Darjeeling-Kolkata in my Josh Machine ....continuing day 3 The trail to Goethals, done ages ago by my uncle/dad    And then the leech experience  Finally the school  Fifth field @Goethals, for people who can relate to it   Our stop en-route Darjeeling  Hotel Montana, Rink Mall   We were seven minutes, too late for Glenary's to serve us.  So this! Notice the board, top left  Day 4 - 9th May We had set the alarms before going to sleep the night before, for 3:30 AM to catch the view of the sunrise from Tiger Hill. So, as planned, we set off for our destination on time. We had booked an Innova for this stretch. The Innova was so that we did not have to bother about parking and to avoid driving back through a highly cluttered early morning tourist traffic. It was fun sipping hot coffee on the hill top. We saw the Kanchenjunga and the sun rise. The pictures of the sunrise are not very clear since they were all mobile shots. On the descend we came across a horrible traffic jam (as we were told before) due to the late comers. The driver said this was a usual sight. On our return, we stopped at Glenary's for Breakfast and ice cream at Keventers. We got back to our hotel and slept. Once we got up, around noon, I went to check on my car. Our plan was to go to Rock Garden. I found some coolant below the coolant elbow and found the pipe fasteners were loose. tightened them and topped the coolant. While setting off for rock garden the other driver (of the Datsun Go - hired by my uncle and family) was showing lack of confidence to do the Rock Garden trail (steep and sharp turns). We approached an Alto and we negotiated for a fare amount. The Rock Garden trail was a good experience for me. After doing Pankhabari, this was a bit more challenging. Steep inclines and sharp turns. By the end of it the local driver (driving the alto) complimented my driving skills. They usually underestimate the capability of a common man (a person driving in the planes  ). The honesty with which he showered praises put a smile on my face.Our plan thereafter was to drive down to Mirik. My late grandparents house was once in Mirik. It was now sold to a Family who was obliged to have us over. My dad/uncle explored the house they lived in, decades ago, lots of sentiments attached. After a cup of tea and some snacks we moved to Dudhia to spent the night at an accommodation provided by this family. Dinner was organised at Dudhia. We filled our stomachs and went to sleep soon so as to get enough sleep before we started early the next day for Kolkata. The rush at Tiget hill  The remains of the coffee cups at the hills. Nuisance we make.  Sunrise  Kanchenjunga far away  The cause of the traffic. And this is the usual thing every morning.  On our way back, to Glenary's now.   Darjeeling station  Keventer's   Flowers at Glenary's  At Chourasta    To be continued... Last edited by navsjab : 19th May 2016 at 12:54. |
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16th May 2016, 21:58
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| BHPian | Re: Kolkata-Darjeeling-Kolkata in my Josh Machine ...continuing day 4 The roads that go down to Rock Garden  Some car shots    Landscape of Orange Valley Tea Estate  Two Leaves and a Bud  Once we parked at Rock Garden  From the lowest point  and one from close to the top  The Team  Wonder why he does the rock garden trail in this condition  The driver who complimented my driving  Train on hills  The stop during our return from Darjeeling, Dudhia bound   On the way to Mirik  Thin fog  The house, once the property of my late grandparents  Day 5 - May 10th We got up by around 3:30 - 4:00 AM and got ready quickly. We had a cup of tea and we (my parents and me) started for our drive back home. My uncle and family had their flight from Bagdogra later in the day. The drive back was smooth with refreshment stops when needed. We started at 4:40 AM from our place for the night  Farakka Barrage  An accident on the return  A picture while waiting for brunch  Getting closer to home  Tea stop, pretty expensive  These guys were travelling at about 60-70kmph. Look at them. Madness!  Lunch at Khargram  The symbol of being back at Kolkata, Vidyasagar Setu  The ODO at the end of the trip  Summary of the return, once back home  Ready for the office travel the next day  Total KMs run - 1341 Total Toll - Rs. 600/- approx Last edited by navsjab : 19th May 2016 at 12:55. |
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20th May 2016, 08:39
| #5 |
| Team-BHP Support   Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay
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20th May 2016, 12:58
| #6 |
| BHPian  | Re: Kolkata-Darjeeling-Kolkata in my Josh Machine What a lovely Travelogue there navsjab !!  Makes me tremendously nostalgic - the place, the car, the places you visited takes me back in time to the numerous visits that I have previously made to Darjeeling and surroundings. Rated 5* for all the above reasons. Your Ikon might be an Old Lad buddy, but your adrenaline punched in with the Josh under the hood of your ride makes a potent cocktail indeed. The things that the car is capable of can put a lot of the new generation cars to shame. It's summer time and the kids have a prolonged vacation as we ourselves were thinking of doing Darjeeling yet once again in the coming week. Though with a twist of just being there this time and pampering ourselves amongst the Tea Gardens and enjoying every bit of Tea Tourism by staying at a Colonial Tea Estate. This would have been my 3 month old son's first road trip. However, the frown on my wife's face said "Darjeeling again ?" and I was compelled to cancel the tentative plan and hunt for another destination instead. Though one of our most memorable road trip was the one when we drove 2 Ford Ikons to Darjeeling; that is when my daughter was 3 months old then. Sharing some pictures of our trip in 2011 : The Ikons setting sail at Sinclairs, Siliguri :  The Gidde Pahar route we chose to drive upto Kurseong :  The Ikons staring at the Hill Cart Road junction :  Some skill with a mere point and shoot camera at The Rock Garden :  The Rink with the Kanchenjunga as the backdrop :  View of Kanchenjunga from our Room :  The Ikons looking into the camera @ Pashupatinagar :  Enroute Mirik :  Daughter catching up with some sleep :  The Machines rebuilding the Josh in them after the driving down Pankhabari :  Keep driving and make the Josh Machine munch on more miles and keep writing such wonderful travelogues and sharing it with us - to make some relive their memories and to inspire some. Cheers !! |
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20th May 2016, 18:33
| #7 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Ipswich, UK
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20th May 2016, 19:08
| #8 |
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21st May 2016, 02:23
| #9 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Kolkata - Pune
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| Re: Kolkata-Darjeeling-Kolkata in my Josh Machine Congrats navsjab on your maiden trip to the hills. Glad to see you had a gala time and the Josh machine performed flawlessly! As someone else mentioned, please update us on the route you took, also i am surprised you did a halt at Farakka, maybe because of family. Did u face any problems parking in Tiger hill & rock gardens as last time i didn't take my car as i was worried about the same. Rated *****  |
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21st May 2016, 20:59
| #10 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: KOL-DEL-LKO
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23rd May 2016, 14:37
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| BHPian | Re: Kolkata-Darjeeling-Kolkata in my Josh Machine Quote:
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Hey, thank you Uprasenjit. You can check this out http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3947053 for the route I took the route via Bardwan-Khargram and then a small diversion to the right before Panchgram as the road becomes really bad there. You get back to this route and go via Morgram-Farakka-Malda then take the Dalkhola bypass, Botolbari route to come on the highway before Islampur. Quote:
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Went up Pankhabari, great experience. | |||||
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23rd May 2016, 23:34
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| Distinguished - BHPian   | Re: Kolkata-Darjeeling-Kolkata in my Josh Machine A very crisp and sweet travelogue. Darjeeling is a place which is very close to every Bengali's heart! Being a Bengali i must say, i have visited Darjeeling 'n' number of times but again by reading your travelogue i feel like packing the bags yet again! Hope to see many more such beautiful travelogues from you in the future. Lastly my 1.5L petrol welcomes his big brother with 1.6L petrol to the hills of Darjeeling !  Last edited by Samba : 23rd May 2016 at 23:47. |
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