Another weekend trip to Darjeeling in an esteem Another trip decided in a haste. My colleague Saugata and I were having tea on thursday (20th March)afternoon at our office canteen when we suddenly decided that we could be at Darjeeling this weekend and taste the excellent food at Keventers . Planned to take my Baleno, but we called up Rajarshi, he told us that we should take his esteem as it has a higher ground clearance than Baleno. Called up two more friends and decided to start the trip that night. Rajarshi picked me up at 10:30 pm and the final person was picked up at 12 am after a lot of delays in between. We finally hit the highway at 12:30 am and did not stop till Panagarh at 2:30. Rajarshi and I drove aternatively and we reached Malda at 8:30 am. After quite a few halts reached Siliguri at 1 o clock. Had lunch and went towards Darjeeling. Reached Darjeelng at 4:45 pm and started searching for rooms. Luck was on our side we found a decent 5 bed room at only Rs 1000 per day. Had to bargain a lot though. The initial asked price was Rs.1650, but thanks to Saugata's superior bargaining skills and lack of tourists due to the recent political turmoil we were able to convince the manager. Had dinner at Kev's that night and went to sleep as we were quite tired after almost 17 hours of travel. The road condition through the entire stretch was quite good except a 10 Kilometers stretch after Moregram. Next morning Saugata and started looking out for old jeeps and land rovers, but could not find any. Asked the local cab drivers and a few of them promised to find a good one for us but nothing fruitful happened. We went to Mirik after that and reached Mirik at 2 pm. Spent a lot of time there and met a few local school students and they told us to visit the nearby Helipad. The helipad was at the top of a nearby hill and we had awesome fun there. The helipad was completely deserted and did some 180 degree turns there . Here's a video of one -
Started the return journey to Darjeeling at 5 o clock. After travelling for more than an hour we found that we were completely lost in the hills and that too at night. Managed to find a person in that almost deserted place and he told us that we were almost near Siliguri. He told us that here was short cut ahead but drivers from plains should not try that road as it was very steep. I did not pay any heed to his advice and decided to go ahead. After travelling for a few minues reached a place where the sign board read - Siliguri 21 Kilometers to the right and Pankhabari 4 Kilometers to the left. Now we understood why the person had told us not to take this road as it was the famous Pankhabari road, but thankfully he did not mention the name earlier. As soon as we read the signboard, Rajarshi became skeptical and told us that we should return as his car would never go up that road with 5 people on board. But I was bullish and went ahead and it was the experience of a lifetime. Its the steepest road I have ever encountered and had to gain tremendous momentum before the steep turns. The esteem lived up to its reputation and did not hiccup for once. We reached Kurseyong in flat 30 minutes and passed by the famous Makaibadi tea estate en route. Reached Darjeeling safely at 8:30 pm. Next day all except me went to see the sunrise at Tiger Hill but were disappointed as it was heavily clouded. Passed that day without any major events and planned to start for Kolkata at 1 o clock in the night. Ultimately we started at 12:15 am, went down another road which met at Teesta and then Sevoke. Travelling at night with Teesta on the side under the bright moonlight was an experience many tourists may not have cherished in their lifetime, but I can vouch that it has to be seen to be felt. No amount of words can explain the feeling. We reached Siliguri at 4 am and then Malda at 8:30 am. After that we slowed down quite a bit with a lot of halts and reached Siuri at 1 o clock. We were held up for quite a few hours after that as the highway was blocked due to an accident. Curiosity got the better of me and I did what I should have never done. Went to see what had happened and it was an extremely gruesome scene. A Tata Sumo had smashed into an oil tanker and there were 5 dead bodies lying on the road. I was shaken and took quite a bit of time to clear up my head. The road was cleared after a few hours and we continued our journey. Reached Kolkata safely at 7 o clock. An eventful trip came to an end. The esteem travelled 1661 Kilometers and gave an overall mileage of over 14...
Last edited by BlackPearl : 26th March 2008 at 04:00.
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