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Excellent Picture SouraC !!

Loved the Pics of the Natural Habitat at Sunderbans in addition to Samba's Post

Retraced Joypur-Bishnupur-Garbeta stretch as given here in article #2. Made a nice one day trip. Total distance covered from Calcutta & back is around 360Km.

Joypur Forest





Terracotta Wonders Of Bishnupur







Garbeta Canyon

Hey Sam, where is the last picture taken? It looks to be a very promising spot for our next OTR :)

This is Gangani in Garbeta. Please check page 1 for more pics by Samba. The place where i took the snap is not too steep.

It's Gangani and this is what was being planned by the 4x4 owners; the last to last time when we met at the dry pond !!

Looking forward to the OTR there :)

A late realization. I just noticed i have covered many places of West Bengal but i have not covered the details of my very own city Kolkata over here ! stupid:

Better late than ever..! :)

Kolkata

Just pointing out few noted places which can come handy for any one visiting Kolkata as a day trip.

Please pardon the picture quality as i have saved these pics from my Facebook account. To compile all the pictures together from the DVD's will take a lot of time so i have chosen the short cut.

The famous 2nd Hooghly bridge & the Princep Memorial.









The Kolkata Airport



The famous Dakhineshwar Kali temple.



The famous horse carriage at Kolkata (In Bengali commonly known as Ghorar gari )



Bhagirathi commonly called as Ganga over here.













Howrah Station



The local train



If any one visit Kolkata before Durgapuja, a visit to the Kumartoli is a must where one can see the making of Godess Durga.











St.Pauls Cathedral





Park Street During Christmas



The famous Victoria Memorial







The famous Trams at Kolkata-



Few pics on the streets of Kolkata (New market)





Street foods of Kolkata!




Taking pictures of Metro Rail is a strict no. So refrained myself from sharing the pics of Kolkata Metro.

Hotel SonarBangla Kolaghat

If anyone is looking for a relaxed week end with minimum drive, then after Raichak being the sole option near Diamondharbor there is another option now at Kolaghat. Its Hotel Sonar Bangla. The hotel is located right beside the Rupnarayan river. The location is excellent. They offer nice food and rooms are good too. I didnt stay over here, i just went for a drive in the afternoon and came back. But must admit i liked the overall ambiance and the place. :thumbs up

Its just an hour drive from Kolkata. Distance is 60kms each way.

Sharing few pics-












Spotting this jeep was an icing on the cake. :)

Kalimpong – Sillery Gaon – Lataguri – Chapramari – Murti – Suntalikhola

I have done this tour in Dec 2013, long before this compilation of Travelogue has started. I was thinking for quite a long time to add some of my old trips here and finally here I am with the first one. As it is quite an old one, I might have missed minute details of the trip.

Drive Route: We have taken (Kolkata – Siliguri) was through Durgapur Expressway -> SH7 (Burdwan -> Khargram -> Panchgram) -> Moregram -> Farakka -> Malda -> Raigunge -> Dalkola -> Kisangunge -> Islampur.

Drive Details: We have completed this Drive in 2 days with a stop at Malda for both onward and return journey.
On that time road condition for SH7 was mixed and NH34 was very bad. Due to our planned stop at Malda we have started around 9am from Dankuni and we reached Malda around 7pm in the evening. The timing included an elaborate breakfast at Saktigarh, snacks break at Umarpur and a 1.5 hour long Jam break in between Farakka and Malda.
Next day we have started around 10:30am in the morning and reached Siliguri around 6pm with a lunch break in Dalkhola, during that time the Raigunge to Dalkhola road condition was horrible. It was in such a bad shape, that we were not in a condition to take a single picture. It took us an hours’ time to cross a 10km stretch and there were puddle size pot holes where you can entomb a small car easily.:Frustrati
Because of this horrible experience while returning we took Bengal to Bengal route. While coming back we realized that it was the usual route and being used by most of the Kolkata Siliguri busses.

Drive Distance: (approx.) - Dankuni to Malda (Via SH7) 330Km, Malda to SIliguri 265Km,Siliguri to Kalimpong 68Km, Kalimpong to Lataguri (Via Lava, Dumdim) 120Km, Lataguri to Suntaleykhola and Back 80Km, Murti to Malda 335Km, Malda to Dankuni (Via SH7) 330Km. Total Trip comes around 1500kms.

Stay Option: At Malda we have stayed in Kalinga, In Siliguri we have stayed at Mainak, Sood Garden Retreat was our stay in Kalimpong and from there we have visited Sillery Gaon in a day trip and Dynasty Inn at Lataguri from there we have visited Chapramary Wildlife Sanctuary, Murti, Samsing, Suntaleykhola


It was a trip planned late and in a hurry that’s why we were unable to stay in places like Lava, Rishop or Murti. A well planned trip in this part of the state can be enjoyed like anything and you can see from Birds to Rhino and from Mountains to Dense Forest.

I am attaching some of the pictures below.

Pineview Cactus Nursery



Inside Durpin Monastery



Deolo Tourist Lodge



Kalimpong at Night



Flowers !!



Way to Ramitey View Point



Ramitey View Point



Fern



A tree with lot of Moss



Sillery Gaon



Sood Garden Retreat, Kalimpong



Kalimpong at Daytime



Fog / Cloud visible from Lava... We drove through it.. :Shockked:



Dynasty Inn, our stay at Lataguri



Murti River...



Way To Chapramari..



Entrance Gate of Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary



In the Jungle.



View from Watch Tower... We got only Bison.



Our Cars in Sumsing Tea Estate.



Suntaleykhola



Water.. Sooo Clear.



Hope to add more trips here soon..

Been to Mandermani again last week end.

Drive duration and distance- 175 kms from Dankuni. Total trip was around 350 kms. Each way takes somewhere between 3-4 hours.

Route- Dankuni- Kolaghat (Excellent 6 lane highway)- Kolaghat - Nandakumar (Excellent 4 lane highway) - Nandakumar - Chaulkhola (Nice single lane road with rash traffic)-Chaulkhola - Mandermani ( Earlier this was an earth road but this time we found they made it a smooth single lane wide tarred road till the end!)

For food we stopped at Express Food Plaza in Kolaghat. We prefer this place over Sher E Punjab because its less crowded with ample of parking space and has clean modern rest rooms. Food is good but a bit expensive.

Hotel- We stayed at Hotel Dreamland. Over all its a good hotel with parking space available. They allow pets too. Food was really good and rooms were clean and good. On the flip side, A/C do not work 24 hours. It works in the afternoon and in night.

We were 15 adults, 5 kids and 9 cars. :)

Maruti Dzire- Avrendu Majumadar and family (Tbhp handle- avrendu)
Maruti Swift - Souradeep Chaudhury and family (Tbhp handle - Sourac)
Tata Zest - Mr Arindam Bandopadhyay and family (Tbhp handle - Arindamxeta)
Mahindra Bolero - Mr Sumitro Chakravarty and family.(Tbhp handle -Blackpearl)
Toyota Etios - Me, Solo (Tbhp handle -Samba )
Toyota Fortuner - Mr Joydeep das with his pet dog Joey
Fiat Punto -Mr Rana Adhikary and family
Mahindra Scorpio - Mr Indranil Chatterjee and Arghya Pan
Hyundai i10 - Shagnik Saha, Solo

Sharing the pics-

Kalimpong - Chhibo - Lava


Last Year October I have travelled to North Bengal during Puja vacation and visited a new place called Chhibo.

The place is near to Kalimpong (approx. 6 Km) but the road condition was not that good. We have stayed in Chhibi Inn and at that time this was the only place to stay. The arrangements were excellent with 5 rooms, homely food and very cordial people to take care of your requests.
The location was excellent with great view of Mount Kanchenjunga and the surrounding mountain range. If you want to enjoy wilderness, you can travel through a tough trail ( SUV with High GC is required) which can take you to Durpin Monastery which is in the opposite side of Kalimpong.
This can also be a great place for Bird watchers as there are many species of birds around and you can listen to their chirping all day long.

I am attaching few Pictures from that tour.


The Place to Stay.



The View from Chhibo Inn Terrace



Dello Hills






Deolo Tourist Lodge






Lava Monastery



Cactus Flower



The Mighty Teesta





Hope to add more destinations over here soon.

Well its monsoon and Bengal is lush green. One just need to drive out of the city limits. With no proper driving destination, a small 100 kms drive through Durgapur expressway can stun you with scenes like these-

Pics were taken last Sunday on a lazy afternoon drive to Shaktigar to have there famous sweets and some food at Azadhind!




Few days back i took this pic while cycling inside Hindustan motors factory. During monsoons we can witness some really nice sky, specially during the sunset.

Well said Samba !! The West Bengal Highways are by themselves so Lush Green due to the predominance of Agriculture in the State, that the monsoons just put the icing on the cake by those showers which make the Highways look even more scenic and picturesque.

A few days back I paid a visit to Uluberiya & Bagnan on NH-6 for some work where I took these snaps, so thought of sharing :







A short drive of 70 Kms on NH-6 to the legendary Sher-e-Punjab Dhaba @ Kolaghat and the new in town Food Plaza is worth it for a beautifully enjoyable monsoon drive for some 'yummy in the tummy' :)

Also as Samba has suggested the drive on NH-2 (Durgapur Expressway) in the monsoons is just brilliant. In fact I was driving to Raniganj last Sunday itself and enroute I took these snaps :





It's so refreshing !!

The Dhabas on NH-2 definitely do not need a mention, do they ? Enjoy the monsoons by being on the highway & drive safe !!

Dear Samba, if I get one word to describe your post(s), it has to be 'outstanding'.

The way you have gone about describing the places and the process is simply out of this world. Your photography deserves full marks. I would go to any lengths to do what you did with your camera.

By the way, which gear did you use? I'm a believer of man behind the machine. But still out of curiosity, I do want to know your gear. You have done a yeomen service to all those who may or may not have ever planned to zero in on Bengal as a destination!

Cheers!

Thank you for re-igniting the memories of Chhibo, a quaint village with amazing people. The hours spent with friends surrounding the fireplace in their garden on a chilling January night, lingers in my mind still.

The garden with the fireplace :


the fire :


Did Suraj take you out on their secret trail :


to this place:


Is the approach road still from behind the petrol bunk? It was just better than a trail when we visited and the trip in their wretched Omni was horrendous. Incidentally Suraj's father, the owner of the homestay, is also the designated road contractor of the area and I recall he was laying a new road to the Village. Apart from that, however, Chhibo is a great destination for a laid back holiday. Homely food, prepared almost entirely out of their own produce, friendly and helpful people and nestled amidst the best of nature.

P.S. : Sorry for the mobile snaps, which are the only ones I have with me now. I know they do not fit in this thread.

With everyone sharing monsoon pics, couldn't help without sharing this moment captured from 11th floor of Technopolis building last year :)