After our extensive trip to Bhutan, we had planned not to visit the hills soon. The resolution lasted for a shade above 2 months and one fine evening we found ourselves progressing rapidly towards Siliguri in a white Thar. The destination was Baiguney in West Sikkim
The star of the trip Day 1: Kolkata - Baiguney (650 Kilometers)
We started from Kolkata after office on a Friday night and took the Burdwan-SH7-Moregram-Malda-Raigunj-Botolbari-Islampur-Siliguri route. Caught up with a few friends at Malda. Our routes were same till Siliguri. They were travelling in a Bolero and a Scorpio. The plan to meet at Malda was to cross the Botolbari route in a convoy. We reached Siliguri early in the morning, said goodbye to the others and went on our way towards Sikkim.
The road till Melli was good. About 15 kilometers after Melli the condition deteriorated and pace came down to almost ten to fifteen kilometers per hour. I felt a bit tired and was bored driving at that speed, so stopped the car at a convenient place and slept. Woke up after half an hour and felt rejuvenated enough to continue the trip. Bad roads continued all the way to Jorethang. We had our booking at Club Mahindra in Baiguney which was about 3 kilometers from Jorethang after crossing the bridge.
The statistics of the drive from Kolkata to Baiguney captured by the Garmin eTrex30
It was around 10:30 am when we reached the CMH resort and were absolutely famished. Ordered two non-veg club sandwiches which turned out to be good but exorbitantly priced.
The idea of this trip was to relax in a good hotel for 4 to 5 days. We spent the rest of the day in the resort, reading books and strolling around.
The hotel unit of the CMH Resort Peace of mind when one can see the vehicle parked from the hotel room
In the evening we went to Jorethang market for dinner at a place named Big Belly suggested by the locals. It was a decent little place and the food was average.
Day 2: Baiguney - Darjeeling - Baiguney via a road not on Google maps
Our friend Shaswat had reached Kurseong and the plan was to meet him at Darjeeling later that day. However the CM was visiting Darjeeling and the police were not allowing any taxi to ply via the hill cart road. The tourist vehicles had to go to Darjeeling via Mirik and it created a lot of problem. We could go to go Kurseong to meet him but the return journey to Sikkim at night would be a very long one. We started for Darjeeling at around 11 am hoping that he would be able to make it.
The route was Baiguney - Jorethang - Nayabazar Bridge and then immediate right after the Nayabazar Bridge - Zamune Bridge - Lebong Cart Road - Darjeeling.
Route plotted out by eTrex compared to the one suggested by Google Breathtaking view of the Kanchenjungha en-route
The view was so nice from this place that we parked the vehicle and took a few pics.
We reached Darjeeling at around 1 p.m., found a nice parking spot in front of Planter's and headed straight for Glenary's. Just as we were placing the order for lunch, Shaswat called us to say that taxis were not willing for the Kurseong to Darjeeling trip. It was almost final that he would have to cancel the plan. It was bad news, but not enough to stop us from gorging on the mouth watering dishes.
One cannot beat the price!
After the superb lunch, we got the news that Shaswat was able to use a source and his press card helped in getting a taxi to Darjeeling. It would be a long time before he reached, but spending time at Glenary's was never a problem.
We finished cups after cups of Darjeeling tea as we watched the evening slowly setting in
At around 6:30 p.m. our friend arrived after an epic struggle
The next several hours were spent in The Buzz at Glenary's until we were literally pushed out, but as always, with a smile.
The big expensive camera on the right that substantiated Shaswat's claim of being a press reporter A parting shot before we promised to meet again the next day
We went out from Glenary's into the desolate roads of Darjeeling. Not a single soul was to be seen anywhere and it was bitter cold. The walk back to our vehicles seemed to be an eternity. But the difficult part was yet to come. Finding our way back to Sikkim at night proved to be far more challenging than we had thought. Lost our way multiple times before reaching Jorethang at around 1 a.m. in the night!