[sayakc]

Golam-da,

Thank you for sharing the journey. Apart from your daughter, I believe this time I too have been persistent on a travelogue from you - the writing style gives a great homely feeling of sorts

My two most favourite places in the North Bengal hills. Everytime I think about going to Sikkim, somehow I take a turn towards Darjeeling.
And the same loop - Kev's (though quality has gone down) - Glenary's - Joey's Pub - Buzz - and next day same routine.

But at the end of those 2 days, the battery is fully charged!!

Thank you,
Sayak

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by ARAY

The Zen looks ravishing in the mountainous backdrop. Loved the pictures and your storytelling.

Thanks a lot for your appreciation and I must say that it was a pleasure for me to read your recent Bhutan log.

Originally Posted by sayakc

Apart from your daughter, I believe this time I too have been persistent on a travelogue from you

Yes, that's right Thank you Sayak!

Originally Posted by mi2n

Next season, do invite us for the home-grown mangoes

Mithun, here it goes... it's my pleasure to extend a standing invitation to you for our home-grown mangoes!

Originally Posted by mi2n

Lovely account as always Golam da! ... The photo of the highway at Bethuadahari is unbelievable! Is that a flyover over the railroad crossing? Who could have thought?

Thank you, Mithun. In order to force you to relive the adventure with your Ford Figo at Bethuadahari let me share a video:

Bethuadahari ROB in March 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJb3ZXZ_XRU

[Samba]

Please convey my thanks to your daughter! It's because of her, we got to read this beautiful travelogue. As-usual you have captured the essence of North Bengal beautifully. Rated 5*.

Originally Posted by gmhossain

Possibly two families lost their loved ones ... forever
Attachment 1909341

This made me sad. :(
Was just thinking, what the family members of those two truck drivers have to go through.

[arjab]

Wonderful writeup and equally lovely photographs. I'm an avid reader of all your travelogues and every time I read one of your writings I feel it has outdone the previous one on excellence!

In fact we also drove down to Kalimpong in May this year and almost followed your itinerary
We stayed at Delo, at the Yuru Resort. It's a lovely place with some wonderful hospitality.
Fully second your pains of travelling through
NH-34. I took the Kolkata - Burdwan - SH7 - Moregram route and apart from the usual Kaliachak mayhem of the route was fine. Sharing some pictures taken.

[Sheel]

Thanks for taking out time and making an effort to share this travelogue, I must say, its for kids. They will see it few years down the line and thank us for saving these memories.

Originally Posted by gmhossain

From Teesta Bazar, the road that went towards Darjeeling, was a very steep uphill road with several sharp twisties. Besides, it also had an atrocious double-layered helical twisty.

The very first time when I was at this particular stretch, we never knew what to expect, I was in the passenger seat of a Verna, my best buddy was driving and we had 2 friends at the back.

It was madness, it was well past 9 PM and it was all feelings rolled into one, so much so, that we did this thrice, yes .

It is somehow not fun on 2 wheeler though, I prefer a RWD here

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by Samba

Please convey my thanks to your daughter! It's because of her, we got to read this beautiful travelogue.

Sure, I did and in reply she said "Hiiii" to Samba uncle!

Originally Posted by Samba

This made me sad. :( Was just thinking, what the family members of those two truck drivers have to go through.

I am with you. I too really felt helpless and sad about them and their family members!

Originally Posted by arjab

Wonderful writeup and equally lovely photographs. ... In fact we also drove down to Kalimpong in May this year and almost followed your itinerary We stayed at Delo, at the Yuru Resort.

Thank you arjab and thanks for the pictures! It's good to know about Yuru at Kalimpong. The views from there looks quite stunning! We may try it in future.

Originally Posted by Sheel

The very first time when I was at this particular stretch, we never knew what to expect, I was in the passenger seat of a Verna, my best buddy was driving and we had 2 friends at the back. It was madness, it was well past 9 PM and it was all feelings rolled into one, so much so, that we did this thrice, yes .

Truly, it's was almost like roller coaster ride . Thank you Sheel. In fact, we were discussing about you, while we passed by Boltolbari - Dhantola route.

[Aditya]

Like always, excellent travelogue with great pictures and a wonderful write up. North Bengal has a special place in my heart. The winding roads through the hills with lush green forests on either side are truly delightful. It's been a really long time since I visited that part of the country, but good to see that it's retained its greenery and charm.

Darjeeling is awesome. Unfortunately traffic jams are becoming common in all tourist towns around the country whether it is Manali or Mahabaleshwar. Good that some areas are pedestrian only zones. Wonder what would happen otherwise.

Kalimpong looks like a must visit place though. Clean place with nice views and yummy food!

[Sukanta73]

Excellent travelogue with detail information. Thanks for sharing.

I visited with Hyundai i10 in last year. However I was travel thru Deogarh, Bhagalpur, Purnea route.

[Safedriver76]

Loved reading your TL Golam Da. Darjeeling stays very close to ones heart, irrespective of the number of repeated trips we make. You have a very lucid way of narration punctuated with great photographs which makes the read even more enjoyable. I have a trip planned after the Pujas to Darjeeling too. Hope to come out with another TL after completion of the trip. Your travelogue makes me impatient now to make the trip.

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Like always, excellent travelogue with great pictures and a wonderful write up. North Bengal has a special place in my heart. The winding roads through the hills with lush green forests on either side are truly delightful. ...

Thank you very much, Aditya! Indeed, the lush green nature is always so refreshing.

Originally Posted by Sukanta73

Excellent travelogue with detail information. Thanks for sharing.

I visited with Hyundai i10 in last year. However I was travel thru Deogarh, Bhagalpur, Purnea route.

Thanks a lot Sukanta! I agree, the drive between Kolkata - Siliguri is still a mess. However, I am hopeful that in a year or so, 3 new bypasses could open up (Baharampur, Malda and Dalkhola) which will make the drive more predictable.

Originally Posted by Safedriver76

Loved reading your TL Golam Da. Darjeeling stays very close to ones heart, irrespective of the number of repeated trips we make. You have a very lucid way of narration punctuated with great photographs which makes the read even more enjoyable. I have a trip planned after the Pujas to Darjeeling too. Hope to come out with another TL after completion of the trip. Your travelogue makes me impatient now to make the trip.

Thank you very much Safedriver76. I wish you a wonderful trip to Darjeeling and please do post the travelogue.

Best,

[gearhead_mait]

It has been long since we met!

Lovely to see the travelogue, that too covering the beautiful regions around Kalimpong and Darjeeling. Apart from a few scary moments, your family and yourself have enjoyed a gala time in the monsoon. Each picture speaks for itself and your writing style is evergreen as always.

You went till Pedong and must have thought about the Silk Route. Next trip, may be!

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by gearhead_mait

It has been long since we met!

Yes! That's right. I hope to meet you guys in next Kolkata Team-BHP meet.

Originally Posted by gearhead_mait

Lovely to see the travelogue, that too covering the beautiful regions around Kalimpong and Darjeeling... You went till Pedong and must have thought about the Silk Route. Next trip, may be!

Thank you Soumyajit! Surely, I was thinking about the Silk Route drive, maybe someday in future.

Best,

[haisaikat]

Excellent travelogue, will bug you soon over PM for route suggestions and the nice homestays and serviced apartments, I have plans to make a trip to hills for the first time early next year. Chhobigulo ek kothai oshadharon

[gmhossain]

From hundreds of gigabytes of dashcam footage, finally, I managed to dig out around 15 minutes of video summarizing around 15 hours of drive along Kolkata Siliguri stretch on the first day.

Day 1 : Kalyani - Siliguri drive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS1l60bI86A