[IndiaSierra]

Originally Posted by johy

Hi IndiaSierra,

Really enjoyed reading your travelogue and especially your pictures (of food, I must add). Thanks for sharing!

While the Rohini road's surface is good, I must point out that the older Hill Cart Road, which is now cut off since the earthquake/landslide at Tindharia for a few years, in my opinion, is the more scientifically built road. The Rohini Road has the maximum inclines exactly the turns, which is not at all desirable! The road (I remember the time it was being made) appears to have been made from going uphill and downhill and somehow joined at the turns! The British really made good roads and all credit to them, both the Hill Cart Road and the Resop Road via Mongpoo are by far the best roads on these hills. Do try them the Reshop one when you visit next. Also, the road from Mirik to Darjeeling is very nice.

Thanks for reading!First time when I had been to Darjeeling 10 years back we had gone through Hill-Cart Road as Rohini was not born then! You are right that the road is scientifically built and as the name suggests the road suitable enough for a cart to travel(the gradient is appropriate).Next time I would surely give Reshop one a try!

Originally Posted by aak91

Welcome to TBHP. Very well written travelogue, to the point and with great photos.
Keep the trips and their write-ups coming.
Hoping to see you in the next TBHP meet.

Thanks a lot ! Next time you would probably see me writing a travelogue to Leh,Ladakh Eagerly waiting to see you in the next meet!

[Sommos]

Welcome to the team and congratulations for your first TL. Hope more of these to come in the future.

Coming to the route, you should have listened to the experts and chosen the Bhagalpur-Purnea route.

Originally Posted by 1100D

Verdict : I will take the Dumka Bhagalpur route on the way back (Its about 100km longer but takes shorter time and is far less stressful on man and machine).

Depending on any part of NH34 is ruled out for me in the near future.

Originally Posted by 1100D

However, even then, if I am given a choice today to take a route to Siliguri, I will take the Bhagalpur route. It does have its stoppages, but you do get stretches to drive on, unlike the steady crawl on NH34 (Especially between Farakka and Malda)

Well, any TL of Darjeeling and Sikkim are really attractive for me because they bring back childhood memories. Born and brought up at Durgapur, Darjeeling was the easiest getaway for us in our youth.

[IndiaSierra]

Originally Posted by Sommos

Welcome to the team and congratulations for your first TL. Hope more of these to come in the future.

Coming to the route, you should have listened to the experts and chosen the Bhagalpur-Purnea route.





Well, any TL of Darjeeling and Sikkim are really attractive for me because they bring back childhood memories. Born and brought up at Durgapur, Darjeeling was the easiest getaway for us in our youth.

Thanks!During my visit I had heard that on Bhagalpur route, Deoghar-Banka-Amarpur-Bhagalpur stretch is quite bad, probably not suitable for a low sung sedan! Please tell me about the condition now.

[IndiaSierra]

Summary of Kolkata to Siliguri:-

• Route Details-Kolkata - Darjeeling More through via Durgapur Expressway(AH-1,NH-2) - take right towards Illambazar(SH-14)- left towards Dubrajpur -right towards Suri(NH-60)-Rampurhat-Suri - Morgram(NH-34) - Farakka - Malda - Raiganj -Dalkhola(NH-31)- Nichitpur - Kishanganj - Islampur - Siliguri.
  
• Car used:-Hyundai Verna Fluidic 1.6 CRDI
  
• Time taken for onward journey:-20hrs
  
• Traffic Jams encountered: - Before and after Farraka till Kaliachok. We were stuck for around 5 hrs.
  
• Detours taken:-Barrage Colony Road after crossing Farakka Bridge. The road rises onto a bridge. There is bump while crossing an underpass which scrapped the underbody of the car.
  
• Stops and eating joints:-There is a dhaba right on Darjeeling More operating from 6am to 12am.There are only a few options to have breakfast at Rampurhat. While Golden Park Hotel at Malda is a boon to the travelers. It is a full functioning hotel with all the amenities and houses a multi cuisine restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is a famous stop en-route to Siliguri.
  
• Special Note for this route:-Several stretches of this route are single carriage way without a divider in the middle. There are several man made jams before and after Farraka ,Kaliachok and Dalkhola. The best solution is to drive on the opposite lane. It may sound dangerous but the truckers are quite used to this practice and they respect petty traffickers i.e. small private cars by allowing them to pass.
  
• Road Condition:-The whole route has a mixed combination of single and dual carriageway. Few portions are freshly paved while some have huge craters. The most uncomfortable fact is that on few lane carriage ways there are sudden craters or undulations, which can give the vehicle a sudden jerk and cause discomfort to the passengers. Specially there are areas where the newly paved roads meet the old unfinished road which are not at the same level and can cause massive jerk.
  
• Toll Kit:-Puncture Repair kit which came handy in Kurseong.
  
• Mileage returned:-15.2kmpl on the highways with 100% AC on and 12.3kmpl on the hills without AC

I would let the pictures do the talking!


Panagarh-Morgram Highway



Panagarh-Morgram Highway



Siliguri to Rohini











A broken bridge

[rahulskumar]

Have you changed the headlamp ?

On my recent rental program in Philadelphia, I booked this car for a week. I felt headlamps are really weak. On highways , I couldnt drive during night time and returned within 2 days and moved to Dodge Challenger as the car rental offered me for the same price

[IndiaSierra]

Originally Posted by rahulskumar

Have you changed the headlamp ?

On my recent rental program in Philadelphia, I booked this car for a week. I felt headlamps are really weak. On highways , I couldnt drive during night time and returned within 2 days and moved to Dodge Challenger as the car rental offered me for the same price

Thanks for visiting the thread! The headlights on my car are the stock OEM ones(60/55).I have this concept that the throw of a headlight to some extent depends on the reflector. Correct me if I am wrong. Somehow I did not feel the headlight to be weak though it was not as bright as an xtreme -vision, but it was manageable.I would seriously like to upgrade from my stock OEM to 90/100 before my next road trip. But just imagine the amount of heat it will produce

[rahulskumar]

Dont worry, I had upgraded to 100/90 in my Ritz Diesel as I had issue with the stock ones. If it rained heavily ,it was impossible to drive on the Bangalore-Madurai-Trivandrum route . There was no damage to dome or reflectors till I sold my car ( covered more than 35000 kms in that year and mostly included night drives )

If you modify , just carry a spare relay or make sure you know how to connect it back to the original setting in case of relay failure. I had to drive without high beam for whole stretch between Belgaum and Mumbai without high beam due to this. I learnt my lesson.

Another precaution I took was not to drive on high beam inside city limit. Most of the times i used spot lamps along with low beam as visibility was not a issue in Bangalore. High beams strictly for highways with dividers.

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by IndiaSierra

Thanks!During my visit I had heard that on Bhagalpur route, Deoghar-Banka-Amarpur-Bhagalpur stretch is quite bad, probably not suitable for a low sung sedan! Please tell me about the condition now.

I'm far off from that area to give you any latest feedback. You can have latest feedback from the Kolkata BHPians.

Originally Posted by IndiaSierra

Thanks for visiting the thread! The headlights on my car are the stock OEM ones(60/55).I have this concept that the throw of a headlight to some extent depends on the reflector. Correct me if I am wrong. Somehow I did not feel the headlight to be weak though it was not as bright as an xtreme -vision, but it was manageable.I would seriously like to upgrade from my stock OEM to 90/100 before my next road trip. But just imagine the amount of heat it will produce

Top end models of the Verna comes with projector setup, right. It may be far better to have the projector setup with HID bulbs than the hassles of having 100/90 in your car.

[IndiaSierra]

Originally Posted by Sommos

Top end models of the Verna comes with projector setup, right. It may be far better to have the projector setup with HID bulbs than the hassles of having 100/90 in your car.

My Verna is the top of the line variant SX. The projector setup comes in the new face-lifted Verna Fluidic 4S.So I have no other option other than going in for a upgrade!

[IndiaSierra]

Reviving the thread!
I am adding the dash cam footage shot by my mobile camera for the entire journey from Siliguri to Darjeeling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pWeNMSh8nI

[PointZero]

Hi IndiaSierra,

Welcome to TBHP.
Very detailed travelogue with some wonderful snaps.

It was really hard luck that you were stuck for 5 hrs .

-- PointZero

Originally Posted by IndiaSierra

Summary of Kolkata to Siliguri:-

• Time taken for onward journey:-20hrs
• Traffic Jams encountered: - Before and after Farraka till Kaliachok. We were stuck for around 5 hrs.

[shourya_lahiri]

Very nice summing up my friend! Rohini lookes rather gorgeous I must say. You could have also tried the Cochran place in kurseong. Its quite rejuvenating. About ur abode in Darjeeling, the entry ramp looks heavenly ! (Read : road leading to heaven)..Although the place described is beautiful, but no parking is a let down for me. I just cannot part with my car... Are there any suggestions of hotels will adequate parking in Darjeeling?

[IndiaSierra]

Originally Posted by PointZero

Hi IndiaSierra,

Welcome to TBHP.
Very detailed travelogue with some wonderful snaps.

It was really hard luck that you were stuck for 5 hrs .

-- PointZero

Thanks for visiting my thread! It was indeed frustrating but somehow we got used to. I feel jams are part and parcel of highway travel!

Originally Posted by shourya_lahiri

Very nice summing up my friend! Rohini lookes rather gorgeous I must say. You could have also tried the Cochran place in kurseong. Its quite rejuvenating. About ur abode in Darjeeling, the entry ramp looks heavenly ! (Read : road leading to heaven)..Although the place described is beautiful, but no parking is a let down for me. I just cannot part with my car... Are there any suggestions of hotels will adequate parking in Darjeeling?

I understand your sentiment, even I have the same. I did not part for a single minute with my car. Coming back to your question, you can stay at Darjeeling Tourist Lodge where there is adequate parking facilities. I don't know about the conditions of the room and food but when it comes to the betterment of my car I can put everything at stake!

Source:-Indiamike
A picture for your reference.

[IndiaSierra]

Adding a video of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway joy ride from Darjeeling to Ghum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1Nv7EQp7CY