East Sikkim & Darjeeling

 

    After a few hours of late, our train reached NJP at 10.30 pm. We took a hotel near the station for night stay. Next day, we set out for our destination, Icche Gaon in the morning. 'Icche Gaon' is a hill village of Kalimpong district of the state of West Bengal. Though the pitch of the road was new, the trees of the two sides of the road were looking fade in the month of May. After crossing the Testa river, we arrived at Kalimpong, an old hill town. The old big castles carry the history of the British rulers. As we had no time, instead of searching the history of the town, we just carried on driving on the road. After crossing Buddha statue & Gumpha, we followed a village route. Especially, in case of the hill, the village routes, are different than normal roads.

    In the case of village route, you will feel more closeness towards nature. We saw many Chinkona plants on the two sides of the route. After a half-hour of driving, we reached Icche. We lived in a home-stay here for the first time in life. So, the feeling was something special. Little hut type wooden colourful house. There was a small green lawn in front of our house.

 

    Af first, what I did was, I just laid down on the green lawn. In one side of the green lawn, there were some hill roses, increasing the beauty of the surrounding. In the noon we had a healthy lunch. In the afternoon, it was raining. So, we were unable to go for sightseeing. We just gossiped the whole evening. Rain refreshed evening with the gentle cold breeze was fabulous. In the evening we had special tea with 'pakoda'. Next day, in the morning, we left the place.

   Before leaving West Bengal, at first, we went to Delo Park & then to Jalsa Bungalow. Delo Park is a must visiting place in Kalimpong. With colourful flowers, green lawns, the park is just awesome. There is also a bungalow inside the park, which offers rental living. There is nothing to see rather than big trees in the Jasla Bungalow. You can't also enter inside the Bungalow.

 














  There is nothing to see rather than big trees in the Jasla Bungalow. You can't also enter inside the Bungalow.

   After this place, we went towards Sikkim. Our next halt was at Rangpo Bazar. We had waited a little bit to get a pass to enter Sikkim.

    At around 2 pm, we reached our destination, Aritar. We stayed in a homestay named Crabland homestay.

 

   That homestay was better than the previous one. It is situated in a hill village. Landlord & family stay on the ground floor, while we stayed on the 1st floor. As we were hungry, taking a bath quickly, we came to the dining room, which was on the ground floor. Amit bhaiya is the mentor of this homestay.

   His mother served us lunch. It was raining in the afternoon. The location of the house was truly in an ideal place, covered with green plants. Next day, in the morning, I with my grandpa, just came out from the house to explore nature. We talked with a hill farmer whom we met in the way.

     We also went to one other villager's house. We met the whole family members of that house. After formal knowing, we had a small gossip with them.

   They served us with tea! Just think, offering tea to the strangers is not a common thing. They are too good kind people not only that, I should say 99% of hill people are good kind of. Most of them are straight-minded. They have to do hard work to live in. As they believe in hard work, they never cheat. The mentality of hill people charms me a lot & at the same time, the difference between plane people & hill people makes me laugh. I still remember the conversation that we had with a cup of tea. I really respect them.

  On that day, we left Aritar & followed Silk Route up to Zuluk. In our way, we stopped at Mankhim Viewpoint. From there, the Aritar Lake looks nice.

 

   Then, We went to Aritar Lake &  Rhenock monastery nearby.

 

   We had to wait for 2 hours at Rongli Bazar for getting the pass to enter Zuluk. Rongli Bazar is a local Nepali market.

Our next halt was  at Que Khola Falls.

     To enter Zuluk, you have to pass three check post. The last Checkpost in this route is Padamchen Check post. Zuluk is situated at a very high altitude. After Padamchen, you will feel a drastic change in the climate. You will also see a change in the type of trees. Pine, Far trees start from here.

   At last, we reached Zuluk & entered our homestay.

   It was afternoon, we reached there. For much cold weather, we decided not to go for sightseeing that afternoon. That night was chilling.

  Next day, in the morning, I first went to a Local Shiva Temple.

  Then, we became ready to ride upwards to get the zig-zag view of the old Silk Route. For, landslide upper portion of the road was closed. So, we had to come back with a sad mind to Zuluk again. Then, we decided to go to Lungchok. In the afternoon, we reached there. In our way, we visited the hanging bridge & Buddha Falls.

   Our homestay at Lungchok was the best homestay we ever had had. We great people, we enjoyed that night.

  Next day, in the morning, we left Lungchok & came to Darjeeling. We spent the afternoon in Darjeeling mall & in the local market.

 Next day was the homecoming day. We took our returning train in NJP.

Hope you loved it.