"When the wind is right and the cloud is gone, you can see down this road as far as Darjeeling," I told her. "But it is a long and difficult road, full of perils, and if a traveller on foot were to look at the length of it, his spirit would be overcome and he would sit down and refuse to go any further. You must not look to the end of the road, Portia. Look only to the step in front of you. That you can do. Just one step. And you will not make the journey alone."
- Deanna Raybourn, Dark Road to Darjeeling -
Mount Everest - Darjeeling
Before you overdose on the countless temples or even just on the heat of the plains, follow the wise example of the long-gone British of Calcutta and get into the hills and greenery which which lead to the lush cool of the celebrated Darjeeling tea gardens.
At 2,185 m (7,100 ft), it's a bit hard to breathe in the rarefied air, but take in the splendor of the Himalayan mountain- mount Kanchenjunga situated in Sikkim and, if you're luck one on a clear day in April and May or in late September and October, Mount Everest itself, up in Nepal.
(Beautiful Buddhist Temple at Darjeeling)
In the year 1835, the raja of the then-independent kingdom of Sikkim was pressured into ceding Darjeeling to the British. The Brits believed it would be a healthy place for soldiers and East India Company employees to recover from the ills of the plains, but above all they found the area strategically useful for controlling a pass into much-contested Nepal. With seed from seeds smuggled out of China and an influx of plantation labor from Nepal, the little village of 100 souls grew up to a community of 10,000 by 1849.
(Magnificent Ghoom Monastery at Darjeeling)
(The - Toy Train)
Now Darjeeling is part of West Bengal, but Nepali remains the official language and most residents are of Nepalese and Tibetan origin. Buddhists account for 18 percent of the population. A major part of the pleasure of Darjeeling is in getting here. Although you're driving along narrow mountain roads, you'll feel much safer than in the plains, because everyone takes infinitely more care; lorry and bus drivers are clearly subdued by the deep ravines.
(Terraced tea gardens)
(Terraced tea gardens)
But the best way to travel up at least part of the way, if you're too impatient to take 6 hours for the whole 80 km (50 miles) is by the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, more popularly an humorously known as the “Toy Train,” which starts out at Siliguri, not far from Bagdogra. Built in 1881, the tiny steam-train on a 60-cm (2-ft) track climbs, loops, and zigzags through dense forests of sal, Chinese cedar, and teak which are alive with jungle birds and mountain streams. Watch for Pagla Jhora, the Mad Torrent, just after Gladstone's Rock (shaped like the statesman's head). Also keep your eyes open for a first view of Kanchenjunga, 8,586 m (28,168 ft) high and the world's third highest peak, after Mount Everest and Pakistan's K2.
The railway builders admitted it might been safer to dig some tunnels, but they preferred to go “round the mountain” to allow for a better view of the terraced tea gardens an the valleys plunging down to the Bengal plains. Certainly when you reach the railway's high point, 2,257 m (7,407 ft), at Ghoom, the view as you hover out on the loop over Darjeeling is in every sense of the word breathtaking.
(Terraced tea gardens)
(Plucking Tea Leaf)
(Plucking Tea Leaf)
(Windamere)
The only relics o the British Raj are the (now) all-India, and still very private, Darjeeling Club, and a couple of tea rooms and Edwardian hotels such as the Windamere (with coal-burning fires and hot water bottles at night). The real British legacy is in the tea gardens, all India-run, which offer a beautiful green setting for the town and insight into tea growing and processing methods. Makaibari and Happy Valley are among those open for visitors without obligation to buy. Your hotel will book for you.
(Tiger Hill)
(Kanchenjunga)
A drive to Tiger Hill before dawn is a popular excursion which Indian an Westerners go on for different reasons, though both show the same almost religious excitement as the night fades. From an observation platform, you can get a terrific view, away to the north, of Mount Kanchenjunga and, on a good day, just a small jagged peak in the distance, yes, Mount Everest. But you'll notice the Indians are facing east. What matters is not the rare opportunity of seeing the world's tallest mountain, but seeing the sunrise.
(Sandakhpu)
For a closer look at the rare roof of the world, consider a seven day camping trek, on foot or pony, to Sandakhpu (3,650 m/ 11,700 ft). You'll get better views of Mount Kanchenjunga and Mount Everest and pass through lovely forests of chestnut, magnolia, and rhododendron. During April and May, the orchids will be in bloom.
(Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary)
Armchair mountaineers invariably enjoy the excellent museum at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. It has on display some fascinating memorabilia of Himalayan expeditions, in particular the equipment used by local Sherpa Tensing Norgay (Indianized as Shri Tensingh), when, with Edmund Hilary, he was the first to conquer Mount Everest in 1953.
(The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling)
Where to stay?
For best information on Darjeeling, hotels for accommodation and travel guidance etc, contact through website with “Darjeeling Tourism Department”. They are the supreme body for Tourist Information along with many other private organizations.
Have a superb experience of the exceptional beauty of the Queen herself!
(Adapted from travel resources)
(AW:Samrat Biswas)
